Customer Reviews

Down to a Sunless Sea

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read this book in 1983. Although it has some quirky faults, I enjoyed it greatly and I have re-read it on many occasions.

In the early 1980s, the United States collapses economically from lack of oil. As part of its recovery plans, America is sending people out of the country to cut down its population. This is where Jonah Scott and the crew of Air Britain's Speedbird 626 come in. Shortly after leaving New York in late 1985 with a load of mostly refugees on board, Scott and company receive a message that all out nuclear war has commenced. After all regular landing options are extinguished in nuclear fireballs, Scott manages to land at a NATO airbase in the Azores that has only been partially destroyed in a netron bomb attack. Jonah and company soon discover their refuge is only temporary. A planet wide cloud of atomic particles is slowly floating down on them. Their only option is to fly Speedbird 262 to Antarctica where the air is clear!

There are two versions of this story. I have been lucky enough to read both. The first Sunless Sea novel I bought has a happy ending. I recently came across an older printing that has a sad ending. Strangely enough there is little difference between the versions. The major difference seems to be an extra two pages at the end of the older book. Im curious as to what brought about the change. Havent been able to find out anything.

Having read the older version also helps explain some of what appeared to be improbable events discussed in the first chapters such as the oil crisis that brings down the USA. It seems like reasonable speculation given that the book was originally written in the late 70s rather than the early 80s.

This is easily one of the best end of the world novels. I urge you to get a copy!

I first read Down to a Sunless Sea about ten years ago. This is interesting because it is written in first person, as though related to someone at the South Pole. British passenger jet pilot Jonah Scott lands in New York City about 1983 in the midst of a United States that cannot find or buy enough oil with its ruined currency, has urban lawlessness and poverty, and is about to be destroyed by the Soviet Union and China after a) terrorists poison Israel's water supply and b) Israel executes a nuclear retailatory strike and c) the other two superpowers want to rule the world without America. Then, d) Ireland wants to conquer Northern Ireland, e) Britain threatens "cauterization" and f) British airports are destroyed in the middle of a conversation with Jonah Scott. The aircraft can't find a landing spot and only a chance sighting of a NATO base in the Azores hit by a neutron and not an H bomb lets the plane and passengers land to refuel. A naval officer in the Falklands dies of radiation poisoning to inform Scott that McMurdo base at the South Pole has plenty of food and a nuclear reactor so all 600 on board can fly to safety without needing to carry food and fuel: meanwhile, a Soviet military transport of civilians lands, much to the initial tension of the SAS soldiers with Scott, because it could have been a military team to take the base. More heroism on the way to McMurdo when a few need to die for the good of the many. The combined Soviet, British, and American survivors work to continue humanity while Jonah Scott finds a new love. I read the optimistic version in which unexpected effects of the nuclear war will work to the good of the survivors. I am glad I read this book!

The original had such an astoundingly shocking and appalling 'technical' conclusion, expressed in so few words, I cannot imagine how it could be improved by rewriting it into a 'happy ending'. Now I cannot find a copy of the original anywhere. What an awful shame.

The great book is sandwiched between the time the jetliner takes off from Kennedy Airport in New York to the time the plane lands for the first time. World War III breaks out, the various cities and landing points get snuffed out, and the crew of the plane desperately seeks a place to land that's not either destroyed or saturated with radiation. This section is nail-biting, tense, frightening, and realistic.

Unfortunately, there's lots of logical fallacies that damage the rest of the book, at least for me. It's unclear, for example, given that New York City is in a state of dangerous anarchy, why the pilot hero and his stewardess girlfriend would risk their lives travelling from Kennedy Airport to Manhattan to stay in the City for just one night. Also, when the war is started by a third party, the Eastern Bloc seems almost preternaturally prepared as the Cubans immediately start pouring into Ireland just a few hours after the first bombs are dropped.

The parts of the book that take place on the ground are pretty standard fare. Some people may find the middle aged alpha male pilot protagonist annoying. You wouldn't want to introduce him to your wife - or your 16 year old daughter, for that matter. It's all about him, after all.

"Down to A Sunless Sea" isn't artful, but it's entertaining enough to recommend, with reservations.

I read what might well have been a first edition in the late 1970s. Being in the front line of the Cold War at the time I was fascinated by the subject. At the time, the prospect of the USA running out of oil in a matter of days struck me as a major leap of faith in creating the conditions for the storyline, but latterly it has seemed ever more plausible.
There are moments of heart-rending sadness as the passengers and crew discover they are alone over the mid-Atlantic with nowhere to go. One passage describes the pilot negotiating a diversion to Luton after his destination, Heathrow, disappears in a thermonuclear fireball, only for the ground controller at Luton to be himself snuffed out mid word by the next SS20 to strike.
The book certainly gripped me; I have read it occasionally since and I have made my son read it: he also enjoyed it.
Reading other people's reviews, it would appear that for the second time out of two Amazon book reviews, I seem to have read a different version from everybody else (it also happened with me over The Forever War by Joe Haldeman). Heading for a happy ending, it all turned on its head on the last page.
I read others' comments about the sexist tone used by the author. I have to say it completely passed me by. But then, I was serving in the testosterone-fuelled environment of a Reconnaissance Regiment at the time ...
I'll have to go back and read it again. Then I'll seek out a late copy with a happy ending and see how it compares.

Like a lot of you that also reviewed this book, I read it first years ago, then lost it and eventually re-ordered a new copy two years ago. I just re-read it. It is an amazingly good read, but I was astonished to see that my new paperback had a different (and happy) ending ???) what gives???? - please feel free to email me if you know what happened to the original ( and shocking) ending as I'm completely dumbfounded. Don't they realise that the shock ending was what kept you remembering this great book ???

Read this book, I don't know how many years ago. Then read it again. One of the first apocolyptic books that I read. Has a shocking ending, just when things seem to be looking up for the survivors. Brilliant. My copy went missing some years ago and I have been searching for a new copy ever since. Would love to see it re-printed. Anyone know where I could get a copy?

This book was a treat to discover. The Langoliers meets The Last Ship. What do you do stuck on board an trans-oceanic flight in the middle of an apocalytpic nuclear exchange. Read it and find out. I am a fan of the genre and have read my share of them. This one rates as one of the best. Buy it and enjoy the adventure.

I read this book about 5 years ago and it is probably the best book i've ever read. I really want to get a copy so if anyone knows where I can get one please let me know.

I don't know of an unhappy ending that some of you speak of. The ending I read had flaws, because everyone knows that with such a huge amount of nuclear blasts, the entire planet would be toast! However, having said that, let me add that I have kept my copy ever since I first bought it in the early 80s. It gave me nightmares, because the situations leading up to nuclear war are all too plausible. Every time the price of gas goes up or the Middle East flares up, I think of this book!!! Another idea: It would have been more effective if written in the third person.