Customer Reviews

Mother of Storms

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I had picked up this book in protest of what was yet again another Hugo award to Lois McMaster Bujold. She certainly has her legions of fans and I've read several of her works, but had enough. Reviewing the Hugo finalists this one appeared to be the most interesting. Was I happy to have picked this.

First off, I think maybe Barnes is compared to Heinlein in that Barnes seems to share the same sense of chivalry and protectiveness towards women (read by some as sexist). The other is that he portrays unsavory characters perhaps more neutrally than many other authors would. He also tends to be slightly libertarian in his writings on government, which Heinlein was known to be. But other than that, he really is his own author and should be considered such.

This novel can be considered your classic disaster novel. Instead of an asteroid or comet coming to impact as in Lucifer's Hammer, a Superhurricane is unleashed on the Earth. And by super, I mean Super. The eye alone of this hurricane is the size of some US states, and I don't mean Rhode Island. Due to a mechanism that heats up the oceans of the planet which is a major factor in the formation of hurricanes, and particularly the spread of the hurricane-sustaining-warmth waters, this hurricane persists indefinitely wreaking havoc on an incredible scale. And in what is probably the most realistic aspect of the novel, that even though this super-hurricane is literally wiping out entire states, that attitude throughout most of America still left is get back to work you slacker. If you're interested in hurricanes, their formation, and driving factors this novel is worth the read for that alone.

On the surface Mother of Storms is a tale of climatological disaster writ large. What I found more fascinating and engaging though were the incredible evolutions in technology Barnes proposes, and the geopolitical changes occuring up to and throughout the story. Barnes draws very plausible and I think subtle rationale to each of the political and technological changes in Storms. I will spare the reader here the details, as I don't want to deprive you of the excitement of discovering each nugget. However, Barnes outperforms his peers at extrapolating from the world of today and creating a surprisingly believable world of tomorow. I highly recommend Mother of Storms.

Years ago, I was a sci-fi freak. Then the market faded.
John Barnes has revived and revitalized that oh-so-sweet science fiction genre where Common Man can lean his elbows on a bar at the edge of space and trade travel tales with a Phyrexian Wanderer over a mug of glfx.

It's 2028. Various border realignments and world peace issues have created Pacificanada and an independent Alaska. Far above the West Siberian plain, and linked to the observing public via Passionet, pilot Hassan Sulari cuts in scramjets and launches his four crambombs (Compression Radiation Antimatter) into the North Slope, aimed to destroy a stash of prohibited weapons.

And what follows, as Mother Nature raises her weary head from the bottom of the ocean and rebels at the centuries of mistreatment, chills the spine and tingles the hairs on the back of your neck. If you're of the opinion that the Winter of '96 California/Oregon floods were dramatic, think again... you ain't seen nothin' yet.

I found myself ducking as unimaginable winds blew rubble and cars around me on the west Mexican coast, huddled on the backside of a crumbling block wall, wailing muddied children shivering with fear and wet and cold pushed up into my armpits with Clem Two ravaging her way through my village. Earlier, I held my breath, pointlessly, as four massive tsunami literally swept away the contents and the very existence of the mid-Pacific island where moments before I'd manned a military observation post.

Pages before, I stretched my mind across a few million miles and hyperlinked to a datarobot scouring the grubby alleyways of phone conversations for the juiciest and most revealing of secrets being discussed as two "gentlemen" determined the fate of the world's satellite launching industry

Louie is an aged but still phenomenally sexy Mel Gibson. Carla must be Sigourney Weaver. Liam Neeson carries off Diogenes, the NOAA primal worrier. Brad Pitt shines as Jesse. Ann Margret portrays XV artiste Synthi (Mary Ann in person). Roving reporter Brenda Starr-type? None other than Rosie O'Donnell in her spare time.

Bottom line: Get it. Read it. Wonder how this guy sneaked into publication without you hearing about him before. Go out and get everything else he's ever written. Inhale deeply and sigh, smile - heck, grin! Sci Fi is back and its shirtsleeves are rolled up and ready to get seriously at it again.

At least, that's what *I* did.

A friend suggested this book to read for a bit of relaxation and I wasn't disappointed. Though it starts a bit slow in order to introduce all the myriad characters, it builds up steam and does quite well to keep the attention there. Some of the scenario is not unlike the movie "The day after tomorrow", as the key element is a global superstorm, which effects the whole world, sparing no place.

John Barnes must have gone to a great deal of research as the scenario with massive amount of methane being released from the ocean floor is not so far fetched, as research in the last few years have shown the potentially devastating effect on the climate that this can have. I also liked his take on mass entertainment of the future, where people can plug in to a 3D type reality show, where the audience can experience all the emotions and sensations that the actors go through. Some novel ideas in there and some pretty creepy situations too.

On the surface, "Mother of Storms" is basically a book about a global ecological disaster, a calamity novel along the lines of "Lucifer's Hammer" or "The Forge of God", in which numerous storylines are followed simultaneously as the world goes to hell. Barnes pulls this off quite well with a solid grounding in science and with characters that are interesting and believable. But what makes the book special is the way he describes the first mating of human and computer intelligence. His may be the best depiction ever written of a positive feedback loop taking effect and the result being a runaway superintelligence. It's stirring.

A friend suggested this book to read for a bit of relaxation and I wasn't disappointed. Though it starts a bit slow in order to introduce all the myriad characters, it builds up steam and does quite well to keep the attention there. Some of the scenario is not unlike the movie "The day after tomorrow", as the key element is a global superstorm, which effects the whole world, sparing no place.

John Barnes must have gone to a great deal of research as the scenario with massive amount of methane being released from the ocean floor is not so far fetched, as research in the last few years have shown the potentially devastating effect on the climate that this can have. I also liked his take on mass entertainment of the future, where people can plug in to a 3D type reality show, where the audience can experience all the emotions and sensations that the actors go through. Some novel ideas in there and some pretty creepy situations too.

This story starts a little too slowly for me. The real action begins at about one third of the book. However, I learned a good deal on weather patterns. The most interesting event is the joining of human and computer. It is very originally presented. The technology in this world is convincing.
Characters are the usual: industrialist, president and aides, astronaut; an exception here is a XV porn star.
Humanity is not wiped out but is given a wakeup call. I suggest this book to everybody who likes this author and disaster novels mixed with science, in this case, meteorology. Not a ground breaking novel but very good in its genre.

A nice ride... one of the books I decided to keep in my library and re-read from time to time, it's that much fun. The science is reasonable, not over-bearing and the images painted by the text are vivid. The characters take awhile to develope, but are memorable.

This was the first book I ever read by John Barnes. Since then I have been hooked on his books. Unfortunately his books are very hard to find here in NZ, but still I managed to accumulate most over the years.
I recently re re-read this book just to see why I loved it so much.

Barnes has a very fluid style in his books and this is no exception. As it is deals with weather disaster theory it is kinda close to home. In this book internet has taken on a whole new meaning with XV. He highlights what it can do and also what harm can be done to the human psyche by it. He shows to what things some scum will go for their pleasure.
The world order has changed, partially due to social unrest partially due to the fact it always changes. Problems start by an unprecedented release of methane into the air. A process that has dire consequences faraway from were the bomb exploded. Super hurricanes form. Devastating entire islands. Barnes weaves in small story lines unrelated to the main characters to illustrate what is happening at ground level and the extend of what is happening.

In between all this destruction he finds room to develop love story lines. Some are doomed some are not Some take a take a very strange turn. One of the story lines between Carla and Louis Tynan can be seen as a precursor to the meme storyline he develops in later books.
The book does not really have a happy ending, more an ending of hope that closure.

I love this book because it weaves well it is a complete book. The whole picture is painted in all it's gory and pretty details. In all it's details it shows a plausible story, something that could happen because we (the human race) are stupid enough to make the mistakes he explores.

A friend suggested this book to read for a bit of relaxation and I wasn't disappointed. Though it starts a bit slow in order to introduce all the myriad characters, it builds up steam and does quite well to keep the attention there. Some of the scenario is not unlike the movie "The day after tomorrow", as the key element is a global superstorm, which effects the whole world, sparing no place.

John Barnes must have gone to a great deal of research as the scenario with massive amount of methane being released from the ocean floor is not so far fetched, as research in the last few years have shown the potentially devastating effect on the climate that this can have. I also liked his take on mass entertainment of the future, where people can plug in to a 3D type reality show, where the audience can experience all the emotions and sensations that the actors go through. Some novel ideas in there and some pretty creepy situations too.