Customer Reviews

The Hive

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Seldom have I seen such effort, seldom have I seen so little success.
Whatever you paid to have this run up you should demand your money back.
The story itself is OK, even good for a boilerplate space opera, BUT...
One should have someone *CRITICAL* read ones' manuscripts before publishing.
"Warrior cast" (no matter the alien version since this is in English), should have been "Warrior caste" Cast is not caste. There are transliterations REPEATED all the through the work that a first year copy editor would have red penciled inside of a minute.
There is also the little matter of all those nukes popping next to all those circuits. Have you ever heard of EMP? The one time our military semi-accidentally popped one too high above the horizon FAR out in the Pacific it blew out most of Hawaii.
I finished it in spite of the horrible therbligs such as those mentioned above. The story was OK but it is not a professional work.

Be well.

This is truly to sci-fi what the "Eye of Argon" was to fantasy.
See for context: The Eye of Argon

Berman's offering is a decent story but poorly executed. Numerous mistakes in grammar and punctuation remind us that we're reading a book and prevent immersion into the novel. Deus ex machina abound. We find out that main character Colin is a deadly martial artist on the same page as when he is ambushed by Chinese assassins.

The only redeeming portion was the climactic space battle near the end, after which the story falls flat on its face into a self-serving, melodramatic mush mire. To quote the protagonist's "Mary Sue" love interest: "Colin [sic, no comma] when I heard that half the alien fleet had gotten through and would attack us... I stopped taking my birth control, and these last hours we spent together... well, I think that small girl we had dreamt about may be here in about nine months."

Otherwise, the book makes for a good doorstop or bookend, except that if you're going to use it as a bookend, shelve it with the spine facing in so that your friends won't tease you over having purchased such an awful book.

Chris Berman's The Hive is a great addition to the alien invasion genre. Original and intense, it kept me wanting to read more. Mr. Berman knows how to put the science in science fiction. Well thought out characters that you keep rooting for them against all odds. A must read for scifi fans. Review by R Patrick Widner.

I recently read Chris Berman's "The Hive" and re discovered classic
sci-fi... I finished it at three in the morning having
read this "first contact event" story that made me think of both Bradbury
and Heinlin. We can just have fun reading this
as we solve our problems by out adapting a more powerful foe. First contact
is either the sweet eating "ET" or someone
like the creatures in the hive. A good story with hope and heroes.

: The author of 'The Hive' is obviously very well versed in 'real science' technology. I have personally researched portions of his work and found it to be based upon factual, true to life science. I found the characters alive, reactive, intense and believable. When I first read the plot summary, I thought it might be based upon old ideas, then as I zipped through the first few chapters, I realized that I couldn't have been any more wrong. The ideas were fresh and the plot transitioned well from chapter to chapter. Unlike many novels that I have read, 'The Hive' kept my interest continuously from the beginning to the end. I found myself anxious to resume reading and forcing myself to put it down. The author's writing style reflected both his technical know-how and his passions. I found the relationship between the two main characters to be intense but not overwhelming, leaving me with the impression that they were probably based upon true-life characters connected personally to the author. The over-all appearance of the book, though a little dark in color, was very well done. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Science Fiction, Thrillers, Adventures or just simply a 'Good Read'.

I enjoyed The Hive very much. THought Chris's material was well thought out and factually based. While I noticed some of the other reviews were heavy on proof reading, be that as it may. I enjoyed the book very much and was not distracted by those mechanics. It kept me wanting to come back time and again to finish the book! Looking forward to his newest work.