Supervolcano: Eruption

Possibly one of the most boring books I've tried this year - I gave up 120 pages in. The characters varied from highly unpleasant to kind of unlikeable. I'd think the author's a bit of a misogynist for the daughter and ex-wife characters and the internal dialog of the cop main character, but really all the characters sucked so perhaps it was all intentional so we'd be happy if they all got smothered in volcano ash. I'm hoping that's what happened in the story, anyway. Not sure how one can make a story about the apocalyptic eruption of a supervolcano under Yellowstone so yawn worthy, but I won't be eager to try another Turtledove novel, that's for sure.

Yellowstone Park is known as a national treasure, and a wonder to behold, but few know about its deadly potential. The park sits atop a gigantic supervolcano, which has gone off in the past, and is due to erupt again virtually any time. Humanity has never witnessed the wrath of a supervolcano... until now. Harry Turtledove begins a new trilogy, Supervolcano, with the first of the series, Eruption.

Synopsis for Eruption:

A supervolcanic eruption in Yellowstone Park sends lava and mud flowing toward populated areas, and clouds of ash drifting across the country. The fallout destroys crops and livestock, clogs machinery, and makes cities uninhabitable. Those who survive find themselves caught in an apocalyptic catastrophe in which humanity

show more

has no choice but to rise from the ashes and recreate the world…

The eruption of a supervolcano would undoubtedly spell doom for huge portions of the US, and would have lasting repercussions the world over--or so you would think. Though Turtledove does an admirable job portraying the effects such a disaster would have, there's still a lot left missing. Specifically, the effects the rest of the world would feel, and not just to the people immediately surrounding the devastation. It's a very tightly-focused novel, and it's slightly unbelievable that weeks or months after this eruption, people would still be going about life pretty much as they always have. Though the author definitely describes the idea of hardships, it never seems to impact any of the characters overly so in the novel. The primary character, Colin Ferguson seems to be quite wealthy for a police officer, even if he is a Lieutenant. The gas shortages, escalating prices of everything, and changing weather don't seem to affect the characters as profoundly as one would expect. Likewise, the author makes the characters seemingly obtuse to the news around them. Our modern society would be glued to the television sets, staring at pictures of the devastation, yet that doesn't seem to happen in Eruption. Instead, the characters seemingly go about their lives as usual, with only a couple--though major--exceptions. Ultimately, it feels that Turtledove did some research into what effects might occur, but leaves out so many details that it's more of an inconvenience, than a catastrophe the world has never known. The author says the right things, but somehow never makes the reader feel the catastrophe. On top of the supervolcano eruption, Ferguson is tracking a serial-killer, which adds an unwelcome story thread which seems not at all necessary.

Eruption follows primarily a single family, the Fergusons, as they go about their normal, everyday lives--though normal might be stretching it just a bit. Though not over-the-top, this family is believably dysfunctional. But the characters eventually fall relatively flat. It's easy to despise nearly every viewpoint character introduced, as none of them have particularly endearing qualities; the ones who do feel withdrawn and distant, never establishing an emotional connection with the reader.

The dialogue is mostly believable, though sometimes rather abnormal. The police lingo used isn't entirely realistic, and the talk amongst the band-members seems artificial most of the time. Speaking of the band, it's an oddly-named group, and is repeated--in entirety--so often that it feels like the author is promoting something, rather than referring to the band. It's an odd group of characters that only serve to further distance the reader from the events going on in the book.

Unfortunately, readers who pick up this book expecting to read about a cataclysmic and earth-changing event will be left very disappointed. The supervolcano eruption itself is unspectacular, the aftermath feels tired, and it's more work than reward to finish reading. For the beginning of a trilogy, it's a weak opening chapter, and leaves no desire to read the remaining ones. show less

Yellowstone Park is known as a national treasure, and a wonder to behold, but few know about its deadly potential. The park sits atop a gigantic supervolcano, which has gone off in the past, and is due to erupt again virtually any time. Humanity has never witnessed the wrath of a supervolcano... until now. Harry Turtledove begins a new trilogy, Supervolcano, with the first of the series, Eruption.

Synopsis for Eruption:

A supervolcanic eruption in Yellowstone Park sends lava and mud flowing toward populated areas, and clouds of ash drifting across the country. The fallout destroys crops and livestock, clogs machinery, and makes cities uninhabitable. Those who survive find themselves caught in an apocalyptic catastrophe in which humanity

show more

has no choice but to rise from the ashes and recreate the world…

The eruption of a supervolcano would undoubtedly spell doom for huge portions of the US, and would have lasting repercussions the world over--or so you would think. Though Turtledove does an admirable job portraying the effects such a disaster would have, there's still a lot left missing. Specifically, the effects the rest of the world would feel, and not just to the people immediately surrounding the devastation. It's a very tightly-focused novel, and it's slightly unbelievable that weeks or months after this eruption, people would still be going about life pretty much as they always have. Though the author definitely describes the idea of hardships, it never seems to impact any of the characters overly so in the novel. The primary character, Colin Ferguson seems to be quite wealthy for a police officer, even if he is a Lieutenant. The gas shortages, escalating prices of everything, and changing weather don't seem to affect the characters as profoundly as one would expect. Likewise, the author makes the characters seemingly obtuse to the news around them. Our modern society would be glued to the television sets, staring at pictures of the devastation, yet that doesn't seem to happen in Eruption. Instead, the characters seemingly go about their lives as usual, with only a couple--though major--exceptions. Ultimately, it feels that Turtledove did some research into what effects might occur, but leaves out so many details that it's more of an inconvenience, than a catastrophe the world has never known. The author says the right things, but somehow never makes the reader feel the catastrophe. On top of the supervolcano eruption, Ferguson is tracking a serial-killer, which adds an unwelcome story thread which seems not at all necessary.

Eruption follows primarily a single family, the Fergusons, as they go about their normal, everyday lives--though normal might be stretching it just a bit. Though not over-the-top, this family is believably dysfunctional. But the characters eventually fall relatively flat. It's easy to despise nearly every viewpoint character introduced, as none of them have particularly endearing qualities; the ones who do feel withdrawn and distant, never establishing an emotional connection with the reader.

The dialogue is mostly believable, though sometimes rather abnormal. The police lingo used isn't entirely realistic, and the talk amongst the band-members seems artificial most of the time. Speaking of the band, it's an oddly-named group, and is repeated--in entirety--so often that it feels like the author is promoting something, rather than referring to the band. It's an odd group of characters that only serve to further distance the reader from the events going on in the book.

Unfortunately, readers who pick up this book expecting to read about a cataclysmic and earth-changing event will be left very disappointed. The supervolcano eruption itself is unspectacular, the aftermath feels tired, and it's more work than reward to finish reading. For the beginning of a trilogy, it's a weak opening chapter, and leaves no desire to read the remaining ones. show less

I will admit right up front that I love a good disaster pr0n book, movie, TV show. It's sick, I know.

This wasn't such a bad book. In fact, the actual story is really good. What happens if the volcanos under Yellowstone blew? What happens if you're away from home and get stuck across the country? What happens if the city you lived in was buried under ash and you just got away in time only to land in a refugee camp? What if you're a single parent, just laid off from her job, trying to make ends meet in a post-eruption world? How do you pay for gas when it's $20 a gallon? What would you do when the electricity is infrequent at best?

How do you survive? Is it even worth it?

The only issue I actually have with the book (and book 2, which I'm show more reading now) is that there are very few sympathetic characters. And the ones you do like get little air time. You have Collin. He's a cop who's wife left him for a younger man citing their dead marriage as the reason for her infidelity (although she rarely ever sees it as infidelity). He meets Kelly who is a volcano/Yellowstone geologist expert. She's a 30-something grad student who at least has interests outside of herself. Collin has three grown children who act like pot-smoking know it all brats. Rob is in a band and is traveling the east coast when the eruption goes. By this point he's pretty much done with the pot and turns out to be interesting. The middle child, Vanessa, is exactly as Turtledove describes her in the book: paranoid, know it all. She's done it and done it better than anyone else but only whines because her life is just so hard. You'd feel horrible for her if she didn't come off as such a whiner from the get go. But it's hard to like someone who's own dad doesn't like. Finally there is Marshall. A slacker, quintessential stereotypical SoCal college student smoking pot his life away trying to stay in college forever so he doesn't have to grow up. He's not bad but the laziness until he finds a bit of his niche gets to be annoying.

And that's why I gave this book 3-stars. The characters just aren't redeeming enough. I mean, I like that all of them are flawed human beings. There's no false happy shiny people here. They're human. Unfortunately, most of the characters are just annoying. I guess, though, in some sick fashion I am kind of okay for the situations that Vanessa finds herself in because she's the one who put herself there. Even though the world is definitely out to get her (by her own admission, not necessarily reality), I'm okay that she's really struggling. I think that is the saving grace of the characters. They either find their way or they keep struggling the way they always have.

I do wish there would be more focus on Kelly and Rob though. To me they're the ones who have the most interesting lives.

As for the writing style, it gets a bit tedious. This is the only book I've read by Turtledove so if I'm wrong about the style don't shoot me. The style is choppy. Thoughts are cut off mid-sentence, mid-thought. There is a lot of backtracking. Multiple characters will give the same information. And it's not necessarily that character's opinion of the information, just giving the same information as the previous character. Each chapter has a couple of paragraphs in which all the characters give the exact same information if not almost the exact same wording. What is the purpose here?

I'm off to book 2. I'm glad the book is popular amongst my library's patrons. I need a bit of time between books because of the heavy, pessimistic tone of the books. It would be hard to be optimistic if the sun rarely shone and life had taken a century jump backwards all of a sudden. But the heaviness of the book can be overwhelming at times.

Overall, a good read. show less

Disappointing! The book title claims to be about the eruption of the supervolcano at Yellowstone Park, but it was more of an afterthought or an idea which the different ribbons of the story kinda sorta wrap around. I couldn't even give it a "volcano" tag in good conscience. This book has too many little stories going on that do not work or complement each other--the only way they connect is that they involve the same family. So it's like domestic, cop, romance, lame thriller and a half-hearted mystery all rolled into one and not well. It was too much of this stuff and not enough about the volcano. If you're looking for that I'd say read "Ashfall" by Mullins. In any event I probably won't be reading any more Turtledove.

This is the first novel by Harry Turtledove I've had the chance to read. It is not one of his alternate history ones, but I thought the title looked interesting so began with this. I do hope the others I have here on TBR mountain are better. I have enjoyed the social commentary sprinkled throughout the book so far.. but the kids of the male main character, while possibly accurate portrayals of those types, leave little to be interested in. Which brings me to Vanessa. I do not care for her (who could?!) but what happened to Pickles made me put the book down and I haven't yet returned. admitted it is a realistic portrayal of some of the actions of relief groups and etc towards people who have pets - but it is still not the right thing to show more do. She could have done something else. I will.. but I'm rather hoping she dies horribly right now. show less

I thought this novel sounded interesting and exciting. It felt written by rote. The exciting bits were bland and over too soon. The rest of it sort of fizzled out with little resolution. This novel could have been so much more than it was. Disappointing.