Customer Reviews

Surviving the Fog

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book begins with so much promise, on which it unfortunately doesn't deliver. I was hoping for some suspense, or more relating to the actual fog. Unfortunately, the science fiction element of the fog is incidental in the story. The children could have been stranded anywhere, for any reason, and the main premise is rarely mentioned within the novel.

There isn't really a conflict or resolution, and any problems with rebuilding a society are short lived and easily surmounted. Basically, this book becomes boring in its sheer redundancy and I had to struggle at many parts to keep reading.

I also found the spelling errors and editing problems distracting (sometimes pronouns weren't used correctly, a character is referred to as "he" or "she" when they are of the opposite sex, etc). Basically, this strongly comes across as an independent work, which of course it is- but it could really use someone to go through and proof read it.

I think the author had some great ideas that didn't pan out. This is the sort of book that reads much like "The Swiss Family Robinson", which is basically along the lines of some people get stranded somewhere, find food, build shelter, and explore a little bit, ad nauseam... If you like that kind of story that is fine, but this book goes on for a very long time with descriptions of those activities, and then *****SPOILER ALERT ****** abruptly ends with all of the women happily pregnant and the people entirely at peace with their little world.

I think this author should keep up his writing, I think he has a lot of great ideas and potential, but just needs to learn more about pacing a story. If half of the book was cut, more of a conflict was created, and he explored the world of his original ideas more fully, I think this would be an amazing read.

2.5 stars

This is a pretty good young adult story. The story-telling is a little trite, but the author makes up for it with very adult subject matter and a good knowledge of survival skills. My main objection is the author's grammar and word usage. This is not everyone's strong point, so having a skilled editor to check your book over is a must if you want to write. This author has a hard time with possessives--both singular and plural, seems unsure of the difference between "it's" and "its" and repeatedly uses the phrase "use to" as in, "They weren't use to powdered milk." It's supposed to be "used to". These seem like small quibbles, but many people judge writing both by content and by skill with spelling and grammar. An otherwise good story can be diminished by poor word skills.

This book really confused me. I was able to put most of my questions aside and enjoy the book for what it was- a Swiss Family Robinson story about teenagers.

OK, now for my many quibbles:

1) This book would be YA but there's lots of sexual innuendo and implied sex scenes. Ok, so I guess I'm an old fogey and am forgetting that the young'uns are maturing way faster than before. But this is what I really don't like about the book- the fact the "adults" in the story (defined pretty much as everybody over the age of 20) start pairing off with...the teenagers. Yup. The chief of teens instigates a rule that you cant have sex before age 16, and maybe a couple that is 16 and 20 or 21 is ok. But what we have are, err, a mature mother of two (I think she's close to 30) and a 16 year old (she does joke about robbing the cradle but then follows up confessing she has erotic dreams about him). Then there's a construction worker/handyman who has to be in his mid-20's at least, who gets in bed (but no sex! yeah right!) with a...14 year old girl. I'm sure you will love the scenes where he fantasizes about her perky, err, bottom clothed in skinny jeans, and the day she wears a teeny tiny skirt. Very uncomfortable reading this, to say the least.

2) So, teens will be teens. Referring to my comment #1, the sex between the teens, though slightly unsavory, is realistic in the end. Now, oddly enough, the premise for bringing them all together is the fact they were all attending an abstinence camp. Whizz goes the irony! sorry, though, there were no religious connotations at all in the book. Nor did these seem like your bunch of bad behaving kids sent to labour camp. Is there really, really such a thing as an abstinence camp that is not related to the church? Did the author just choose this setting for the irony?

3) Again, teens will be teens. I'm alright with some of them being more mature and taking charge, even if the Chief is a 15 year old. But what about the emotions? It really seemed the kids took one paragraph to get over the shock of being stuck atop the mountain...then boom, they are back to playing and chatting. No thoughts of mom or dad? Siblings? Friends back home? It's like these kids shrug at the fact life as they know it has changed drastically. Kids are resilient but to have none of them freak out and break down emotionally at the thought of being alone with no family is just really bizarre.

4) The gender issue. Hey, I'm a girl and I once was a teenager. I will admit at one point, all I cared about was getting a phone in my room. I was extremely shallow with my clothing, makeup, friends. So no surprise at some of the girls' behavior in this book. However, for ALL of them to be such sheep? The two girls who join the "inner circle" (the group in charge) admit that most of their acceptance by the guys is because they're the "girlfriends." and then the Chief blurts that fact out loud. Reaction? Nada. I think a few girls toss their hair and/or stomp off to pout. But that's really about it. Geez would it kill to have the girls actually gang up and retaliate a bit?

5) The "science"...or lack thereof. There's a weird fog surrounding the mountain. there's creepy stuff in it that kills. According to the prologue the fog is alien in nature or something like that. Ooooh. But then that's the only mention of the fog in that context. Dang it, would it kill to have one or more of the teens try to investigate the fog? Or the "army specialists" do some research into the fog? Everyone just seems to lie back and accept it all. Not one thought on how to escape. Ugh!

Well there's more but I feel I've ranted enough. If this weren't a free ebook, i would be a lot more pissed but at least I didn't waste money on this.

Although this title only costs $1, I still expected an ending. The sample was good, but I wish the Author had made the story a lot shorter, and then perhaps there would have been room/time to actually write a proper ending.

Be warned if you like the sample, be prepared for a lot more of the same thing over and over and then the story abruptly ends. I wish I had simply stopped with the sample, but I thought what do I have to lose - it's only $1. In retrospect my time was lost. I have so many other titles waiting to be read.

The beginning was fine with the discovery of the fog and what happens just after, but it just turns into a survival story about kids stranded. They could have been anywhere. WTF ?

Spoiler Warning: This book might be an interesting read for young adults. However, most of the situations are highly unbelievable. The setting is a camp full of teenagers with NO adult supervision yet many of the campers still have the "boys have cooties/girls are icky" thing going on. Anyone who has worked with teenagers for any length of time knows how untrue that is! They actually go along with a rule that no one can have sex until they're 16? While we all wish kids would go along with that, I know better. And I don't buy everyone (particularly a major in the Army) falling into line behind a 14 year old kid. If it were a video game world, I would most definitely follow a 14 year old because video games are their life! In the real world, NO WAY! Another issue that I had was that many of the relationship pairings were just as unbelievable as everything else. I understand a teen hooking up with another teen. But an adult mother of two falling for a 17 year old and her kids calling him daddy or the female Army sergeant at the end falling for Mike who is 15 is just too much! And what was up with the gang of bikers? I understand that they were the villains, but where did they come from? Why was a biker gang in the middle of the woods? I found myself skipping whole portions of this book just to get to the ending or lack there of. As one earlier poster said, all of the women end up pregnant and happy. The end. Huh? Overall, this book started off with an interesting idea but failed to deliver on it.

I have never written a book review, but felt compelled after reading this one. Yes, it can be compared to Lord of the Flies, but with a much better ending. The darkness of the psychological battles that took place in Lord of the Flies are not present here. Only real people (kids) making some really hard decisions in order to ensure their survival. I don't want to get too deep in to all this. The book is great. I was hooked immediately and finished it in one evening. I hope to see more from this author in the future.

I picked this up as a free download and, to my surprise, I read it straight through. The characters are well-differentiated and the incidents are captivating. This is teen fiction, but it held my attention all the way through.

Obviously the negative reviewers were expecting more. For them I suggest Henry James.

Surviving the Fog is very close to Swiss Family Robinson and it's a fun read in the same way. True, there's no plot, just a sequence of incidents. Yes, female characters seem to be cardboard stage props. Yes, the last quarter of the book wanders. Yes, it could use more proofing -- although I only noticed 3 errors. But if you accept the book for what it is, it succeeds quite well. I'll definitely try some of Morris's other books.

Plot/Storyline: 2 Stars

The novel started with a storline that was reminiscent of modern day Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Unfortunately, that small similarity of teens building their own society is pretty much it for likeness.

The premise is faulty from the beginning. A bunch of young kids are camping. I'm not certain of the youngest, but the oldest camper is seventeen. I know at least one is as young as thirteen. Then, when communication is cut off with the outside world, five of the six counselors leave the sixth and youngest counselor, a twenty-year old alone with all those teenagers. I cannot imagine any adults making such a decision.

Then, out of all those kids and the one counselor, only one teen decides to try to find out what happened. I would have thought several would have wanted to hike down the mountain to find some adults, but the rest almost immediately start deciding what to do about winter, just assuming they will be there still.

Any sense of suspense is ruined constantly by little remarks thrown in referring to things way into the future. The author seemed intent on making sure the reader knew that the kids would never be `rescued' from the very beginning. The kids certainly don't seem very concerned about being rescued with all of them willing to pretty much blindly follow one of the youngest boys in the group.

The plot has very little to do with the fog or its origins. It simply focused completely on these kids creating a little society of their own. I will say that it was obvious that a lot of thought and planning went into the storyline. But, the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.

Character Development: 1 Star

The characters were flat and lifeless. The author was disinclined to give any back story on the main characters, so the reader must draw their own conclusions as to the kids' personalities and how they came to be.

Writing Style: 2 Stars

Whereas the subject matter may not be appropriate for young teens, the writing style was of that type of simplicity. Not only was the sentence structure coarse and unrefined, but the flow came in staccato bursts that was just exhausting to read. The time flow explanations were confusing, too.

The descriptions were so sparse that I could not picture a character or a scene during the entire novel. The dialogue was decent in some places, but mostly stilted and uninteresting.

Editing/Formatting: 4 1/2 Stars

There were a few editing errors throughout, but not enough to be a big issue. The formatting was of professional quality.

Rating: PG-17 for Violence, Rape, and Adult Situations

This was a good read, kind of a cross between the Lord of the Flies and Swiss Family Robinson. It was fast paced and interesting, the kind of book that makes you think "What woud I do, how would I react?". I would have liked to have seen a little more time spent on character developement and on the fog itself. Also, proofreading would have been a plus. Even taking the negatives into consideration, I would still reccommend this book.