Offworld

Yep you saw it right, I am reviewing a Christian Fiction book. I was caught WAY off guard about 2/3 of the way through when a character states:

"Life is poetry," said Mae. "Stop. Watch. Listen. There's poetry all over. And the thing about poetry? It don't write itself"

I stopped and went hmmmmm OK, but I highlighted it and saw all the commenters who had also highlighted it and they were obviously Christian readers (insert "Praise Jesus.." "God is Love.." etc.. So I had to go look here on GR to see if this was Christian Fiction I had picked up. Want to talk about a DUH moment? But I was 67% through and it was not bothering me. Heck I just had complained about another book tricking me into reading a rabid conservation commentary and show more spiritual agenda and this was far from that. It was a great read so far! And I cannot say I was tricked!

And then I finished it, and it was full of Christian symbolism in the end, but it was a message of hope and a message of warning, like many of these books but you know what else it was? It was a fun sci-fi thriller. It was post-apocalyptic-ish. It had all the conventions of sci-fi thrillers and PA books are suppose to have. It has a strong message, there is love, heartache, but there is also a lot of violence, so watch it there if you are expecting it to not have any of that because it was written by a well known Christian Author (which I learned later).

I really liked it! So, I am giving it 4 stars, and it is well deserving. I would recommend this to any readers even those who do not read Christian Fiction. I am not Christian, I am a proud pagan priestess. I dig Tolkien, CS Lewis, Frank Herbert and Orson Scott Card and they are all writers who construct stories with strong Christian mythos, ethics, lessons etc. But they are not preaching or witnessing between the written word. They just are telling me a tale, and this was one heck of a great tale!

PREMISE: What happens to a group of astronauts who come back to earth after being the first men on Mars. Back to a world which seems to be completely empty. No humans, no animals, nothing, they all seem to have disappeared. How do people who already have been living in confined isolation cope to living in a world with infinite empty spaces where there should be walking talking people. What if they are not as alone as they thought? What if there seems to be something out there that cannot be explained, can they accept it on faith alone?

Triggers - violence and I was triggered by the idea of an empty world. It was a dark read but the ending made it worthwhile. show less

Offworld by Robin Parrish is a thrilling foray into science fiction that reads so well, the pages disappear. Commander Christopher Burke and his crew are returning from a mission to Mars. They find it odd that they have lost contact with ground control, and their landing is definitely dangerous and strange. However, the icing on the cake is when they step out of the space shuttle and discover everyone everywhere is gone. The mission then becomes to discover who or what has caused the disappearance of all humans on earth.

This story was believable because the astronauts quarrel amongst themselves, they get hungry, wet, injured, bruised, and tired. Their thinking starts out rational and becomes more disorganized and improvisational as the show more story picks up speed.

I liked reading the pages to see how the crew was going to get themselves out of some of the situations they walked into. It felt like I had a vested interest in seeing these astronauts bringing back earth’s people without getting killed in the process.

I would highly recommend Offworld as a fast paced science fiction thriller that is highly satisfying. I was kind of surprised this book was published by Bethany House and am very glad they took this chance. This book is a keeper on my shelf and my son wants me to save the book for him so he can read it. Even my husband is interested. I am so excited by that and really can’t give the book more praise than that. show less

Chris Burke, Trisha Merriday, Owen Beechum and Terry Kessler are astronauts returning from Mars only to find the population of Earth has disappeared. Chris has an experience on Mars, which results in flashbacks linked to a void he sees on Earth. A bright light centred in Houston, Texas, also appears to be linked to his visions and the missing people. The story moves from their landing in Florida through various obstacles to Texas. These obstacles do not seem to add any further explanation as to why the people of Earth are missing, only that they are not alone. Mae is the most sympathetic of all the characters, as an orphan progresses from indifference to affection for her companions. It would have been nice to see some explanation as to show more how the people of Earth disappeared and the reasoning behind it. There is some suggestion that it is to prevent future war and the destruction of the nations via nuclear attack, but this seems to be secondary to the action. The shallow character development, lack of explanation and motivation make this book merely a series of problems to overcome. show less

In 2031, Christopher Burke and his crew of astronauts are the first people to set foot on Mars. They stayed there for two years to do research and conduct experiments. Everything had gone pretty well, save for Chris’s mysterious disappearance of eighteen hours when he only had four hours of oxygen left. They were on their way home when they lost contact with Earth. When they crash land on Earth, the crew finds that every man, woman, child, and animal is gone. Were they abducted? Have they died? What happened here?

The characters are very realistic. At first, all you see of them is this disciplined, business-like façade. As they get deeper into the empty world and they run into obstacle after obstacle, you see the real people show more underneath. My favorite character is Trisha. She’s a strong and disciplined woman, who was a Marine before she was an astronaut. Underneath her tough exterior, she has a painful disease that she works through every day and she is deeply in love. I liked to see the deconstruction of the layers the crew built up. I was impressed that they managed to keep so much from each other while still being in close quarters. Also, the relationship of a group of people that are so close knit is interesting to read.

Offworld is a great science fiction adventure. The plot twists and turns in ways that you would never expect. It’s a mystery, an adventure, science fiction, and an action movie all rolled into one. The plot moved forward from page one and didn’t stop. The narrative was exciting and fluid to read. The only criticism I have is when some answers are given to the problems at hand, it gets a little weird; it was harder to suspend my disbelief. Overall, I would say this is a great read. show less

When astronaut Commander Christopher Burke and his crew return from Mars to Earth they find the planet deserted. Embarking on a journey across a bleak, abandoned landscape they search for signs of life – for clues as to what took place. As the crew struggles to stay together and maintain some sort of order they desperately attempt to solve the puzzle of the missing populace (just as you will as you read along with their journey).

Robin Parrish has this knack of writing books with great hooks. They just keep you reading, wondering where Parrish will lead you, and trying to figure out what’s going on. Offworld – while it may not end up ANYWHERE near where you expect it to – is a great example of this trait of Parrish’s novels. I show more can’t really say more about the reason everyone is missing without removing the suspense that is so titillating, but it’s unexpected, and pretty far out there.

For people who don’t like their sci-fi/speculative fiction to be mixed up with too much romance, Parrish is always a good bet as well – while there is a very subtle theme of romantic devotion in the novel – it’s just that, very subtle, and always takes a backseat to action, adventure, and ‘what’s going on here?!’

In the same vein, while Parrish is classified as Christian fiction, he’s pretty hands-off, keeping mentions of God brief – so brief in fact that his work is amongst the more cross-over style titles available from Bethany House. Thankfully the writing is style is still clean (no language), but you can expect some somewhat gory fight scenes. This is a fun read for those looking for some sci-fi, adventure-style escapism without having to deal with the explicit sensuality that much mainstream sci-fi contains.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com show less

Stopped at just over a third of the way through. There's nothing bad about it really, it just didn't grab me. Kind of dull and slow with characters I just didn't care about.

The first manned mission to Mars returns to Earth to find that everyone on the planet is gone. Not dead - gone. Offworld follows the four astronauts as they try to discover what happened to the rest of humanity (and all animals too by the way.) The initial concept is fascinating to me, and probably made me overly generous in giving a three star rating. The further the plot goes, the more ludicrous it gets. By the end, the mixture of science fiction, military action, religion, and just downright weirdness gets incredibly absurd. Still, it was mostly a fun ride on the way. Tip for the author: do not ever again use the phrase "stood to his full height." It is an absurd phrase to begin with, and you've used it at least ten times in this book.