Island 731

Yet again, Robinson - already one of the greatest authors currently writing - outdoes even himself.

We open in WWII, where we get a sense of what is to transpire throughout the book. After the opener, we find ourselves in the middle of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch aboard the Magellan... about to be eaten by a shark!

It never really lets up from there, though when the crew of the Magellan finds a pillbox inscribed with "731", anyone who has heard of the real-life Unit 731 of the Empire of Japan during WWII automatically has a skin-crawl moment.

Robinson has written of chimeras before, but never before has he based a story around such an atrocious real world event - and he even gives a real world history lesson during the course of the show more book.

Just when you think the book is winding down and all the monsters are revealed, you get a plot twist you never see coming. Then the surprises are over, right? Not at all. Indeed, Robinson keeps them coming right until the very last word of this masterpiece.

If you've never read Jeremy before, pick this up - you won't be disappointed. show less

A research vessel, studying the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (i.e., thirty miles of refuse) is marooned on an unchartered island, when the crew members start dying or disappearing. A former Park ranger (Hawkins) launches a rescue mission and finds himself and his team members facing various genetically hybrid chimeras. Neither the characters nor the story were interesting. 1.5 stars, rounded up just for the creativity of the various hybrid species. Skip this one.

I'm not sure why this book is rated so much lower (3.76) than the others in the series (4.00 ) . I loved it, and it's my favorite so far (I read 1 & 2 already ).

Here's a freaky thing that happened to me - I got to the part where Brady is explaining about Unit 730 and how WWII Japan was so horrible, including human experimentation and cannibalism. I was curious, so I looked it up on the internet, and that was all true. I was horrified - I'd never heard of Japanese cannibalism. Less than an hour later I saw an article about a podcast where they planned on discussing WWII Japanese cannibalism. What a crazy page o' shrimp (ref: Repo Man)

Audiobook notes : another great read from R. C. Bray, who'd really made The Martian come alive show more previously. show less

If you're looking for beautiful prose and a touching tale, find another book, but if you want a crazy story that will take you on a wild ride, keep reading. If you like Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" or James Rollins "Amazonia" then chances are you're going to love this book. Monsters, madness and mayhem combine to make a quick-paced thriller that will make you race through the pages.

I rated the book slightly higher until the end of disc 6 when I nearly kicked it to the curb. The only thing that kept me till the end was a morbid curiosity as to which few characters would be allowed to survive. Sympathetic characters was Robinson's only strength, and Bray's reading also helped. (Though it didn't come close to Bray's masterful reading of The Martian.) Half the science was lifted wholesale from the non-fiction book Plastic Ocean, and Robinson's fictionalization does nothing to promote the real issues. Plot and action were cheesy and unbelievable all the way through.

This is a real page-turner. Robinson accelerates quickly and stays on the throttle for the whole book. Even though the pacing never lets up, it doesn't get monotonous or out of hand, nor do the scientific explanations break the pacing. I recently read a sci-fi book by john Ringo and Travis Taylor that had my eyes glazing over with a physics lesson that went on too long. I like a good science lesson, but not at the cost of the pacing and the story's momentum. Robinson doesn't make this mistake.

This is a good book for action, monsters, and mad scientists.

This is a pretty good monster story with a little bit of conspiracy thrown in. For me, it dragged a little in the middle where monsters kept biting off heads and chewing up the red shirts. The characters were very interesting and the theme fascinating. The book felt somewhat like young adult to me. That said, I think that I'll try another in the series.