[Abyss]

DEEP SKY is available at Chapters!!!

I am in bugnuts line to pay for it as I post this.

[QuickTidal]

Fuck.

I never got out to get it and assumed it wouldn't drop till the 27th date.

Dagnabbit!

I hope to get out later today then to grab it after I return from Xmas lunch with my dad's side of the fam.

Giggety, thanks for the heads up Abyss.

[Abyss]

No worries. Starts a bit slower than the other two (aside from dropping a missile on the President that is...) and them somewhere in the middle omfg....

[QuickTidal]

Picked it up yesterday. Stood in Fuck-off-27th-Boxing-Week-Sale line-ups myself to get it.

Firstly though (after I finish READY PLAYER ONE, thoughts will be in "Reading" thread), I've got the final Michael J. Sullivan Ryria book PERCEPLIQUIS which should be on my doorstep tonight to read (promptly, as I promised ORBIT and the Author I would), but after that I've got both DEEP SKY and THE PRESIDENT'S VAMPIRE to read in the thriller section of the TRP. I'm am going to geek overload on these.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 28 December 2011 - 08:08 PM

[Abyss]

Finished it... i'll throw in some general comments and then block the spoilers ...

DEEP SKY is a slower book than the previous two. I mean, after the president gets a missile dropped on him that is. But compared to the breakneck pace of BREACH and GHOST COUNTRY, the far slower and generally less eventful first half of this book is almost (almost... only almost) offputting. At certain points i was really worried that Lee had lost his mojo... and then a bit past the halfway mark things go nuts. And then MORE nuts. And then holydragonfucknuts did i just READ THAT nuts.

And what makes that all the more impressive is that very little of the truly awesome parts of this book are the kind of action cliffhangers that made the first two so much fun to read. There IS action, and the tension is there, but there's less running and more exposition and, well... put it this way... i was expecting another great thriller. I got a totally unexpected great sci fi book that turned a lot of what we thought we knew of the first two books sideways.


SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS

Spoiler

no, seriously, go read the book first

Spoiler

last chance

Spoiler

i'm warning you.... you'll be soooOOoooorry...

Ok i tried...

After the initial rush of bombing the Pres', things simmer on the whole 'Scalar' mystery. Lee does a nice job of building the wtf, especially by using a new Breach entity, the Tap. Paige's use of this leads to some shocking stuff. Travis' use of it... was frankly kind of boring. At a point where the other two books were already flying, i didn't think Lee choose well by having his protagonist go back in time and be a kid for 100 pages or so. It dragged.

Then Travis got back to real time just as someone drops a bunkerbuster on Bordertown and pretty much wipes Tangent right out. Again. This was arguably another problem with the book because Tangent was nearly wiped out in each previous book too... again... not Lee's best move perhaps, and the point where i was beginning to fear author implosion.

Fortunately Paige, Bethany and Travis hitting the road in search of answers was way more enjoyable, particularly when they find out they are looking for nothing less than another breach.

And then things get REALLY fucked.

We've always suspected, because of events in previous books, that Travis had the potential to become a truly horrible person. And it looks like Paige and Bethany's deaths put hi right there. His revenge-spree is both awesome and vicious...

And not real. So to speak, where the Tap is involved.

But the revelations that come after that...

To some extent i wonder whether Lee felt he HAD to finish the series now, rather than drag the story out longer. I really think he could have... the level of exposition to tie everything up was a bit much, except that the revelations were so mindfucking that i really can't complain.

And then on top of that he brings in the classic sci fi dilemma of going back in time and killing Hitler... only on a way more massive scale.

And it works. I completely didn't expect anything to go that way, but it works.

The breach and the entities are a bit handwaved, but i liked the idea that they were essentially archeological artifacts a billion years old that humans in the far future still couldn't figure out. It didnt need a tidy explanation, in fact i liked that it didnt get one.

My only other real complaint is that Bethany, who rocked in GHOST COUNTRY, is massively underused.

So call me a satisfied customer, and i'll watch for whatever Lee writes next.

- Abyss, ... did not see most of that coming.

[QuickTidal]

Just finished it.

Holy fuck.

HOLY FUCK.

Spoiler

Okay, the whole TAP being used on Travis for half the book, did NOT see that coming. Secondly, the whole sci-fi ending was AMAZING. My mind melted away when I realized that Travis's future decision which would cause the deaths of so many and it evidently became clear to him that he would inevitably choose to say the words, let the Deep Sky crew through the breach to kill the 20 million and save their reality...sort of. That was fucking batshit insane and awesome. Yeah, I agree the first 100 pages or so are only okay, the the rest of the book made up for it. I actually LOVED the idea of the billion year old alien tech being the shit that came through the breach...leaves it mysterious without making me feel gipped. Beyond that, to me this opens the door for Lee to write a futuristic sci-fi about the DEEP SKY or someone else investigating the breach entities/quantum alien computer/wormholes ect. to see where it all comes from. If he fucking does that he will rival Morgan for planting Sci-fi nodes in an altogether different genre. I will be fucking impressed. Great stuff. Love it as a trilogy!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 02 January 2012 - 11:00 PM

[Abyss]

@QT - Good to read that you enjoyed it - because of some of the point i mentioned i vaccilated a bit before coming down on the like/love side. It's a bit jarring when an author takes such a near radical turn in tone and style (and still makes it work brilliantly... with a healthy dose of HOLY FUCK, of course).

SPOILERY QUESTION

Spoiler

did you understand that the Whisper and the two letters Travis intercepted back in BREACH were from an alternate/possible future, or THE future?

Initially i accepted Future-Garner's assumption that they were from an 'alternate' future, but thinking about it, since the letters seem to be a reaction to the filter, it seems likely they were from a point in time AFTER Travis opens the Breach, while the meeting on Deep Sky takes place pre-filter.

Garner even says that the Deep Sky crew found computers similar to Whisper. It would make sense for Future-Travis to be able to retask one, then send it back to a point in time before the filter is used, to pre-empt the letter Future-Paige had sent.

My head hurts.

I really like the almost mundane names Lee uses for the entities. Whisper... the Suit... Tap... even 'blue flare'... sounds so harmless.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 03 January 2012 - 04:17 PM, said:

@QT - Good to read that you enjoyed it - because of some of the point i mentioned i vaccilated a bit before coming down on the like/love side. It's a bit jarring when an author takes such a near radical turn in tone and style (and still makes it work brilliantly... with a healthy dose of HOLY FUCK, of course).

SPOILERY QUESTION

Spoiler

did you understand that the Whisper and the two letters Travis intercepted back in BREACH were from an alternate/possible future, or THE future?

Initially i accepted Future-Garner's assumption that they were from an 'alternate' future, but thinking about it, since the letters seem to be a reaction to the filter, it seems likely they were from a point in time AFTER Travis opens the Breach, while the meeting on Deep Sky takes place pre-filter.

Garner even says that the Deep Sky crew found computers similar to Whisper. It would make sense for Future-Travis to be able to retask one, then send it back to a point in time before the filter is used, to pre-empt the letter Future-Paige had sent.

My head hurts.

I really like the almost mundane names Lee uses for the entities. Whisper... the Suit... Tap... even 'blue flare'... sounds so harmless.

Spoiler

Indeed, I am also of the mind that the convo on DEEP SKY is of an alt future (or at least on that Garner believes to be such), but in a way that is "this is how the Filter use would FIX their timeline?) I dunno....but the notes and whisper do seem to be from Travis' actual timeline...and yeah my head hurts like INCEPTION when I try to think about it too hard

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 03 January 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

Abyss, on 03 January 2012 - 04:17 PM, said:

@QT - Good to read that you enjoyed it - because of some of the point i mentioned i vaccilated a bit before coming down on the like/love side. It's a bit jarring when an author takes such a near radical turn in tone and style (and still makes it work brilliantly... with a healthy dose of HOLY FUCK, of course).

SPOILERY QUESTION

Spoiler

did you understand that the Whisper and the two letters Travis intercepted back in BREACH were from an alternate/possible future, or THE future?

Initially i accepted Future-Garner's assumption that they were from an 'alternate' future, but thinking about it, since the letters seem to be a reaction to the filter, it seems likely they were from a point in time AFTER Travis opens the Breach, while the meeting on Deep Sky takes place pre-filter.

Garner even says that the Deep Sky crew found computers similar to Whisper. It would make sense for Future-Travis to be able to retask one, then send it back to a point in time before the filter is used, to pre-empt the letter Future-Paige had sent.

My head hurts.

I really like the almost mundane names Lee uses for the entities. Whisper... the Suit... Tap... even 'blue flare'... sounds so harmless.

Spoiler

Indeed, I am also of the mind that the convo on DEEP SKY is of an alt future (or at least on that Garner believes to be such), but in a way that is "this is how the Filter use would FIX their timeline?) I dunno....but the notes and whisper do seem to be from Travis' actual timeline...and yeah my head hurts like INCEPTION when I try to think about it too hard

And it's compounded by GHOST COUNTRY...

Spoiler

which DOES feature an alt future and one of the 'things get bad' events that the filter is supposed to prevent, which leads directly to Travis telling Paige 'everything' at the end of GHOST and then again when he returns from Deep Sky, yet seems to set the stage for the conflict between them AFTER the filter is triggered... leading to the events back in THE BREACH...

The more i think about this, the more blown away i am by what Lee put together with this series.

[QuickTidal]

Full DEEP SKY review is up now.

http://icebergink.bl...atrick-lee.html

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 04 January 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:

Full DEEP SKY review is up now.

http://icebergink.bl...atrick-lee.html

Good review. Agree with all points esp "The 3rd act of the book is so batsh*t insane and also so completely amazing that it melted my brain into a puddle of goo. "

These started out as a fun vacation read but that 3rd act just added the whole series to my 'must re-read' list.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, I got a response from Lee about future books:

Spoiler

He said:

"Haha, it would be great to explore the people (beings?) who created all the tunnels and the entities, but it might be a bit beyond me. For the moment, the next series is roughly in the same genre as this series, with somewhat-ordinary characters dealing with very strange things. Always a fun kind of story to tell!"

Sounds okay by me.

[Abyss]

Very cool. I have to give him credit for going sf but not getting bogged down in trying to over-explain how everything works.

I'll be curious to see what he does with 'ordinary' characters - Travis, Paige and Bethany may have been mere mortals but for various reasons they weren't exactly ordinary.

[Nuto]

Thanks guys, was looking for somethin to read, so I ordered the first book last weekend, got it on Tuesday and ordered the other two after reading the first 100 pages or so. Well what can I say, finished Ghost Country yesterday and Deep Sky a few minutes ago. Really really awesome books.

This post has been edited by Nuto: 06 January 2012 - 11:47 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

Had to make a Walmart run today, and I had a couple extra bucks in my pocket, so I swung by the book section and snagged Deep Sky for $6. I'm almost done with The Claw of the Conciliator so I'll probably jump right in after that.

[Abyss]

Nuto, on 06 January 2012 - 11:45 PM, said:

Thanks guys, was looking for somethin to read, so I ordered the first book last weekend, got it on Tuesday and ordered the other two after reading the first 100 pages or so. Well what can I say, finished Ghost Country yesterday and Deep Sky a few minutes ago. Really really awesome books.

Heh... the BREACHCRACK, it growz!

I'm seeing a pattern here... about halfway thru the first = commit to 2 and 3...

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 08 January 2012 - 09:11 AM, said:

Nuto, on 06 January 2012 - 11:45 PM, said:

Thanks guys, was looking for somethin to read, so I ordered the first book last weekend, got it on Tuesday and ordered the other two after reading the first 100 pages or so. Well what can I say, finished Ghost Country yesterday and Deep Sky a few minutes ago. Really really awesome books.

Heh... the BREACHCRACK, it growz!

I'm seeing a pattern here... about halfway thru the first = commit to 2 and 3...

Yep, those were my thoughts when I read the first book as well. LOL

[Salt-Man Z]

All right. That didn't take long. I read like the first 50 pages Saturday night, and then was up until 1:30am last night reading the rest. The last time I powered through a book like that was with the first two Dresden books. But anyway,

Spoiler

I'm not entirely satisfied with how things wrapped up. The spaceship reveal was pretty cool, but it just seemed to come out of left field. And it seemed odd that most of what drove the books--both Breaches and the Entities--were just unexplained side effects of the main conflict. Okay, so obviously in the original (future) timeline, Travis chooses to open the pathway and activate the Filter, future Paige misunderstands/disagrees with the choice, and sends a message back to kill Travis before he do it again, but future Travis sends the Whisper back even earlier to kick everything off.

I'm not convinced Travis will make the same choice this time. I like that Lee left it open-ended like that. Travis realizes that he made the choice before, and he was chosen precisely because he's the type of person who would make that choice. But because Travis has Paige now (remember that in the original timeline, the events of The Breach never happened--Travis wasn't intended to be made aware of any of this until 2016) and they've resolved not to hide anything from each other, I don't see Paige agreeing with the Filter decision. I'm not sure I would, either, which surprisingly makes me think Holt and his people might have been the good guys in this book. (Either way, the two Breaches--especially the second one--still seem to be dangerous loose ends.)

Hm. Maybe I am satisfied. I'm impressed, anyway.

And yes, the twist with the Tap was frigging brilliant.

[Abyss]

MODGOD NOTICE OF FROM HERE ON DOWN SPOILERS ARE
UNBLOCKED

NO BLOCKS
NO NO NO BLOCKS AT ALL

WARNING
WARNING WARNING

WARNING

UNBLOCKED SPOILERS
FOR ALL THREE BREACH BOOKS
THE BREACH
GHOST COUNTRY AND YES
DEEP SKY TOO... AFTER THIS POINT

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, REWARNED, AND JUST FOR GOOD MEASURE A MESSAGE WAS
SENT BACK FROM THE FUTURE TO WARN YOU AGAIN NOT TO KEEP READING FROM HERE ON IF
YOU PLAN TO READ THESE AWESOME BOOKS

WARNING WARNING

SPOILERS

WARNING

FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING CURIOUSITY WE'VE WARNED YOU

FROM HERE ON YOU HAVE ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME

FOR RUINING THESE BOOKS FOR YOURSELF

AND ALSO WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOU LIFE ANYWAYS

GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO MEET SOMEONE YOU LAZY

SLUG FFS TAKE A SHOWER GET OUT THERE MEET A NICE BOY/GIRL/TG/WHATEVER AND THEN COME BACK HERE AFTER YOU AND THEM HAVE READ THE BOOKS

OR SOMETHING

ANYWAYS

WARNING: SPOILERS

Salt-Man Z, on 09 January 2012 - 04:56 PM, said:

...I'm not entirely satisfied with how things wrapped up. The spaceship reveal was pretty cool, but it just seemed to come out of left field. And it seemed odd that most of what drove the books--both Breaches and the Entities--were just unexplained side effects of the main conflict.

I agree and don't... on the one hand, i really wanted that explanation and we never got it.

on the other hand, i didn't NEED that explanation and i sort of like how it's left unexplained as this relic of a billions of years ago civilization... shaded of R Morgan and A Reynolds in that, actually.

Quote

Okay, so obviously in the original (future) timeline, Travis chooses to open the pathway and activate the Filter, future Paige misunderstands/disagrees with the choice, and sends a message back to kill Travis before he do it again, but future Travis sends the Whisper back even earlier to kick everything off.

I'm not convinced Travis will make the same choice this time. I like that Lee left it open-ended like that. Travis realizes that he made the choice before, and he was chosen precisely because he's the type of person who would make that choice. But because Travis has Paige now (remember that in the original timeline, the events of The Breach never happened--Travis wasn't intended to be made aware of any of this until 2016) and they've resolved not to hide anything from each other, I don't see Paige agreeing with the Filter decision...

Yes, unless Future-Travis sent the Whisper back in 'every' timeline knowing it would trigger Past-Travis telling Paige 'everything'.

It occurs to me that Travis' revenge kill spree happens when he thinks Paige is dead... post Ghost Country he would be feeling esp close to her, and knowing post Deep Sky that the filter increases Paige's safety, it's possible he's even MORE likely to go for it.

We know the filter doesn't kill Paige, after all (or Garner for that matter).

Quote

...which surprisingly makes me think Holt and his people might have been the good guys in this book.

That's.... fuck me but this series keeps getting just more complex...
Moreso when you consider the conspirators back in Ghost Country would have probably SUPPORTED the filter being triggered.

Quote

(Either way, the two Breaches--especially the second one--still seem to be dangerous loose ends.)

The second one with the parasite signals is intriguing... i'm stil not certain whether i get it... the signal causes an alien wasp to materialize ... so the wasps are physical manifestations of the signal and more or less a natural phenomenon, unlike the Breach entities...

Quote

Hm. Maybe I am satisfied. I'm impressed, anyway.

It's kind of hard not to be... i can't help but wonder how much of this is reader extrapolation and how much is Lee's deliberate writing, but either way it's hard not to be impressed when an author can tunr everything in a series on its side in the last 50 pages of the third book and make it work.

Quote

And yes, the twist with the Tap was frigging brilliant.

No kidding. Genuine jaw-drop didijustREADthat?!?!? moment.

In retrospect he has at least one of those in every book where someone uses the entity you're familiar with in a completely brilliant/shocker moment.

In Breach it was (arguably) when the Jump Cut kicks in just after Paige and Travis sheboing.

In Ghost Country i'd say it's when Paige and Bethany are running for the portal and Travis turns it on for a few extra seconds but can't move it.

And in Deep Sky that Tap twist was just nuts.

[Salt-Man Z]

I totes agree that I didn't need the origin of the entities explained, it was just mildly disappointing that they turned out to be relatively inconsequential. ("Oh, those things? Dunno. We just want to use the conduit to come back in time and kill half of you.")

What really impresses me is the thought that Lee puts into his entities, the thoroughness of their functionality. He thinks through all the ways they could be abused and makes sure to address those. Want to use the Tap to travel into the future? Sorry, no can do. Want to revisit the same memory over and over again? Sorry, it's been overwritten. Etc.

And yeah, those bugs in the second Breach? That was the part where my pulse really started going. I was all WHAT THE CRAP. Fully expecting alien invasion or something.