Customer Reviews

Living Hell

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Picture yourself a teenager at age 17 living on a spaceship because your world is no longer inhabitable. You live day to day, going to school, playing with other kids on a sort of Holodeck like in Star Trek Next Generation, your parents work in labs and maintain the space station, and life is what it is...sterile, monotonous, sometimes exciting and mostly mundane.

The teen in this book, Cheney, is part of a crew that is on the Spaceship PLEXUS, thier mission is to explore the universe and find a new place to live. We get to read about how his daily life plays out, how his food is ready in an instant, how they celebrate birthdays with CGI like parties, how the PLEXUS is run by his parents and the other adults, and just how a teenage boy lives peacefully in such a unique environment.

Untill something goes wrong of course.....a radiation field of some sort passes through the PLEXUS and soon the ship is alive and its after its passengers with a deadly quickness. Imagine your vacuum in your house suddenly becoming organic, alive, and it wants you dead. Imagine doorways becoming like valves on a heart, fleshy and pulsating and gooey. Cheney and his parents and friends must figure out a way to navigate their now hostile environment and figure out a way to survive.

I found this book very entertaining, since I love both Science Fiction and Horror, I thought it was just the right enough of gore and violence for a Young Adult book without going too far. As I was reading Living Hell, it reminded me of a really good episode of The Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collectionor The Outer Limits Original Series Complete Box Set
I would recommend it to any reader who is interested in science fiction or horror with a tiny bit of romance thrown in!

We've all wondered what would happen when our world becomes unsustainable. Ships like the "Plexus" seeking new habitable planets is definitely one of the solutions. All is well until the "Plexus" malfunctions and starts to treat the human inhabitants as an 'infestation' rather than passengers.

While I think the premise might hold some interest for reluctant readers, I am concerned about several issues. The book's gorier than I would expect for teen readers. Despite their fascination with vampires and light horror, there's a high gross-out factor here. Language is more adult than I would expect as well. I was not satisfied with either the science or the story's conclusion.

Rebecca Kyle, June 2010

Seventeen-year-old Cheney Sheppard only knows about life on earth from history books. Most everyone on the Plexus spacecraft have only experienced the calm daily routines on board their self-contained ship. It all changes when Plexus is hit by a mysterious, long drawn-out wave of radiation hurtling through space at the speed of light. Once the energy passes, everyone thought the trouble was over. They were wrong.

In only a few short moments, Cheney begins noticing changes with the ship. Somehow, the ship is being transformed into organic life. The equipment that once helped the people on board, such as street shuttles and remote controlled repair units, are now acting as if they are part of the living ship's biological defenses. Suddenly, people are being targeted and attacked. As the number of people rapidly dwindle, Cheney and his friends must find a way to protect themselves from the very ship that has kept them alive.

***** FIVE STARS! The drama starts almost from the beginning. Only a few pages prepare the reader by letting them see what life on the ship is like, through Cheney's eyes, before the wave of energy hits. Then the story becomes a blend of space horror and biology. I believe almost everyone, from the age of thirteen to one hundred, will be able to identify with the character of Cheney. He is a typical teen who makes the same mistakes as anyone else would. He is scared out of his wits, but will do whatever he must to protect himself and those with him. Fast paced and full of suspense, this book is unputdownable! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Not bad, not that great. I was underwhelmed by the Reformed Vampire Support Group and had a similar reaction to this. Interesting but nothing stellar.

Catherine Jinks has given us her version of one of the classic SF plot devices: disaster onboard a colonizer ship that results in it turning on its crew, though Ms. Jinks would surely never be so politically incorrect as to use the term "colonizer", and while the premise is nearly as old as SF itself, her take on it is not.

Fleeing some unknown disaster that threatened life on Earth (though there are hints it had something to do with the currently popular Global Warming Hoax), the extraordinarily advanced spacecraft, Plexus, runs into an anomalous wave of energy that turns the partially organic spacecraft and its genetically engineered bacteria systems into a gigantic living creature...

that begins to regard its stunned human crew as dangerous parasites.

The best part of this novel is the remarkable way Plexus' complex systems begin to convert themselves into living organs and an increasingly deadly immune system and the challenges and opportunities this offers for human survival; I've literally never read anything like it before! A lot of thought and thorough research went into this, and it shows!

I'm less impressed by the characterization. As other reviewers have pointed out, in many ways they are little more than a collection of stereotypes: coldly logical scientist, rebel misfit who becomes critical to survival, physically handicapped person who becomes critical to survival, young person forced to become a leader before he's ready, panicky and useless crew member, etc., and some pretty old stereotypes at that. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that a 21st Century SF novel, especially one written by a woman, would have so many female characters running the gamut from overly emotional and useless to overly emotional but still useful. Maybe if Ms. Jinks had more pages, her characters would have displayed more of a third dimension.

Finally, the Epilogue struck me as too abrupt, as if Ms. Jinks had wanted to leave room for sequels but had been urged by her publisher to tie up all the loose ends and forget about any sequels. In addition the overly downbeat ending felt forced by the decision to deliver Yet Another sermon against overweening human pride, which has become a total cliché in SF.

Read it for its amazing ideas, not for believable characters or a hopeful ending.

Finally able to read this...it started out rather slow, but picked up FAST the next time I'd started reading. I loved how Living Hell was set, so much so that I'd gone back and re-read from the beginning by the time I was at chapter three. I wish I could say more, but I dont want to spoil a bit of it.

Living Hell / 978-0-1-5206-193-7

I was really geared up to like this novel, but in the end I felt like I was slogging to the finish. Maybe I would have liked it as a kid (if only because of the great premise), but I just feel like there are a lot better choices out there.

For starters, this book is - in my opinion - very poorly written. The narrator breaks flow constantly with useless parenthetical statements like, "I had climbed out of bed and crossed to the door of my room in about four shuffling steps. (It wasn't a very big room.)", which the reader could have figured out easily enough without the parenthetical aside. Narrative leaps into the future are common, like: "I certainly gave his shoulder socket a nasty yank; it troubled him for a long time afterward.", and the overall effect is truly detrimental to the horror atmosphere, because if we know nothing else, we at least know that THAT character isn't going to bite it any time soon, apparently! And the whole "twist" premise of the entire book is utterly *ruined*, in my opinion, by the sheer amount of time and effort that is spent in the first six chapters hyping up that some terrible disaster is going to occur and it totally ruined everyone's lives - by the time the disaster actually occurred, I was expecting something pretty drastic, like DEMONS IN SPACE (a.k.a., "Doom"), so the actual disaster seemed sort of piddly and manageable in comparison.

Let's talk about the big twist - if you're worried about spoilers, drop down to the next paragraph. Remember how in the classic Star Trek episodes, they'd find God every other week, or the meaning of all life in the universe, or something else that was almost more spiritual than scientific in nature? Well, that's what this book is - the spaceship that houses the characters encounters a mysterious phenomena that is the "Universal Life Force" (TM?) and it turns their entire ship into a living, breathing organism. The white blood cells are basically made up of Roombas. And while that frankly sounds like the most original and interesting premise in a book I've read this year, the bad writing and poor handling of the subject matter just completely kills it. It just doesn't make sense that something would turn a ship into a perfect replica of the human body - complete with white blood cells! - and there's not an attempt at Technobabble to justify it, so it edges into "Just Bugs Me" territory very quickly.

Right, plot out of the way, I was annoyed that a book written by a female author would rely so heavily on the standard female stereotypes for characters. Every woman in the story is characterized as daughter, wife, or mother, and while they all have high IQs and nice jobs, the women are limited to the "traditional" medical and navigational roles. I can't think of a single man in this book who doesn't handle the situation with aplomb and/or die with dignity, but the women can't stop crying and vomiting and carrying on - including a bridge officer who abandons her post in a major emergency to check on her husband. The "main" girl character is so silent as to almost be a non-entity, and only pulls herself together when the children of the party need her. And, of course, both the female love interests are great with children. I've come to expect a little more variety and depth in female characters in books these days, and this just feels like a total setback.

Moving on, I was expecting oodles of gore, based on the reviews I'd skimmed prior to going in, but I didn't think this was a very gore-heavy book, at least no more so than the stuff that traumatized me as a 12-year-old. There are some pretty disturbing deaths and situations, mostly of the "dissolved by acid" or "absorbed into another organism" kind, so I guess as a parent, just know your kid's limits and what will or won't keep them up at night with nightmares.

Ultimately, I made it to the end, and this isn't the worst book I've ever read by any means, but I did find it disappointing. The premise was interesting, but the complete lack of attempts to set it up in a realistic fashion was frustrating. Every time I tried to sink into the story, the authorial intrusion of the narrator jumping forward to remind us that they survived in the long run (or else how could he be telling the story "in retrospect") propelled me out again. I couldn't identify with the characters at all, largely because the female characters feel like empty ciphers and the main character rarely seems to have much depth himself. I wouldn't really recommend this book when there's as good or better sci fi out there to read.

NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through NetGalley.

~ Ana Mardoll

My thoughts: (warning - small spoiler alert)
I really enjoyed this younger YA book. It is written with a younger audience in mind but I also enjoyed the feel of the story. It wasn't too complicated and the end result of the conflict was straight forward and satisfying (although a bit quick).

Our story centers around Cheney and the rest of the 1,000 crew who depend on Plexus for their daily survival. If you love the technical know-how, you will love the descriptions of the micro organisms in almost all parts of the haul of the ship. Ms Jinks has a wonderful imagination and I really enjoyed all the futuristic aspects that she brought to the pages.

Plexus is the only hope of survival for planet Earth. We are never clear if earth is already beyond saving or if we are in search for another potential home. What we do know, is that they have been searching for generations as Cheney and his friends were all born aboard the Plexus.

When a red alert sounds an approaching radiation cloud, the crew's calm and tranquil (and a little boring according to Cheney's friends) existence come to an end. (spoiler alert) The ship suddenly transforms into a living, breathing entity trying to get rid of the foreign infection cells (read crew here).


From here on, it is a roller coaster ride of action and suspense while Cheney and the little band of children he finds himself leading, try to survive. They are searching for his parents and other members of the crew after they get separated earlier in the story. The conclusion was a bit easy but I understand that it is aimed at a younger audience.

I really enjoyed that there is a little epilogue at the end - it is nice to know how the story might have gone further.


I would recommend this book for a light and entertaining sci-fi read for the young-at-heart.

I've read other books by Catherine Jinks and have enjoyed them. This book is no different. I enjoyed this from first to last page. The setting is in the future and by the end of the book there is an obvious threading of commentary on the environmental decay wrought by previous generations. And, we know that the protagonists are living on their ship, while they search for a new home. Humans no longer live on Earth.

The ship passes through an electromagnetic field and somehow the ship comes to life and looks at the humans as invaders and sets out to rid the "system" of the invaders. This is where things get really interested, as the kids and few adults have to outsmart the new organisms.

This book is appropriate for YA readers and adults. I look forward to another in this series. One can hope!

What happens when the ship you need to support your life suddenly turns on you? Catharine Jinks book, Living Hell, takes us on board the space ship Plexus where life is idyllic as a group of human's traverse the galaxy looking for an unknown and non discussed place to land. What makes this interesting is about 1/3 of the book is all set up, descriptors of life and times aboard the ship. Meeting the characters, and finding out their individual flaws, contributions, and personalities. We also learn a lot about the physical make up of the ship including holographic systems for virtual reality entertainment and experience. The stage is carefully set for mayhem. The (Spoilers) event that causes the robots and the ship itself to turn on its human cargo happens about 1/3 in the book, leaving the rest of the book dealing with the aftermath and subsequent consequences of the "event".

In all this is an interesting book, drawing on a number of doomsday scenarios that are tightly wound as a subtext to the entire book. If you are a follower of good science fiction dooms day scenarios this is an excellent addition to "humans living in a space ship where everything goes wrong". I also like the idea that this book is science fiction, good hard-core traditional science fiction and one that is sorely lacking in our post cyberpunk or fantasy science fiction world. That alone makes this book an important and meaningful addition to the current science fiction market; it is much like the good science fiction from Niven, Asimov and Heinlein.

I found the book enjoyable for many reasons, the characters are believable, and the disaster is believable with a good set up and a dynamic range of responses. The blood and gore at times were overdone, but that is also ok from the viewpoint of the characters, but for some readers that part of the book could have been toned down a bit, but in the sense of the book, it is more of an objective rather than a counter point. I enjoyed the book, and found that I kept on reading it because I was starting to get engrossed in the book, the characters and the situation. Four of Five stars (the reason this is not five of five is the overdone gore) overall. However, on the broader note, this is good science fiction, and for that reason alone should be part of everyone science fiction's collection.

Tags: Catherine Jinks, science fiction, book, living hell, spaceship, disaster