The
Builders cam to earth and constructed an elevator from Darwin, Australia into
space. No one knows why, or if they will return.
Years later, a virus ravaged the planet. The Rare immunes survived, others became something less than human. How the elevator supresses the disease, and why, remains unknown. But scientist Dr. Tania Sharma has a terrifying theory…
As
Darwin collapses under the onslaught of refuges, reluctant captain Skyler
Luiken and his scavenger crew scour the wasteland outside the elevator’s
protective aura for essential resources. But when the alien technology fails,
will humanity survive?
The Darwin Elevator is the first book in
the Dire Earth Cycle written by Jason M. Hough. The Darwin Elevator is also
Jason M. Hough debut book. The series is a planned trilogy with the other two
books, The Exodus Tower and The Plague Forge being published in August and
September respectively by Titan Books. In the last year I have been reading
some top of the line books of Titan Books both fantasy and science fiction, and
with this addition to their publishing line their portfolio only grows
stronger.
First off, I have to rate The Darwin
Elevator with just a 11 out the possible 10. The main protagonist Skyler Luiken
is from the Netherlands, how can I, as a Dutch born and bred not give marks for
that. Our small country! And with the reference of him being the new “flying dutch man”!!
But no seriously, you’ll be wanting to read this book!! its outstandingly well
put together. Even more so is the fact that this is a debut novel and proves
that Jason M. Hough is someone to watch closely. On to the story now!
First the idea behind The Darwin Elevator.
This idea is so clever and well executed. The story takes place in 2283, our
near future. Years earlier an alien race referred to as the “Builders” came to
planet Earth and constructed an immense link from outer space towards Earth,
right smack in Darwin Australia. Known as the Darwin Elevator. This elevator
made certain people rich and other poor, as the human race ventured and settles
into space along several tiers of the elevator. Think agricultural hubs and
living hubs. However the reason that the Builders interfered is completely
unknown to the people, also they haven’t showed themselves in person. I thought
it a very wise decisions to show the alien interference in this manner, just
simply stating the facts as they were now in the present time, not going around
corners which could have made the story difficult to read. This produced a
direct, upfront and fast paced story. It is the current state of affairs that
are proving to be cumbersome for the inhabitants of Darwin and the elevator. With
the elevator now starting to have power outages… who knows what will happen
The Builders didn’t only gave the people
of Earth the elevator, they also introduced a virus that turned people into
something else, reverting them back to the more primal emotions. I don’t know
whether you can really call them zombies. These subhumans do hunt the normal
humans, I just don’t know, calling them zombies just ruins it for me… The
Darwin Elevator is also the key in keeping them “in-line” as for a spread of
8km around the elevator is the Aura which protects people from getting the
virus. This whole concept was very neatly executed, with only two habitable
places left on Earth, in Darwin or in space… but Darwin and the people living in
space are dependent on each other as there is a food shortage on Earth and no
fresh air in space. Combining this all into a very interesting story that sees
beside a lot of satisfying action also some politics and backstabbing.
The Darwin Elevator is shown through a
few perspectives but the main is from scavenger pilot Skyler Luiken, who
originates from the Netherlands and found his way to Darwin, Australia. Skyler
and his crew are immunes, which is a term for people who are immune to the
virus and can therefore venture outside the protective zone of Darwin. This is
perfect in his line of work as Skyler is send out to go to places to scavenge
lost goods or things that are needed. Skyler is the captain of the Melville. In
science fiction, captains always have a bit of stereotypical personalities but
Skyler doesn’t have many of those, instead Skyler doesn’t really feel like he
is captain at all more like a buddy. He tries to please everyone and finds more
faults in his own doings than in others. I found this approach in showing his
character very cool to read about as it introduced a fresh way of showing an
perspective. And can in the future only be used to show the development of
Skyler as the series continues. But even in the first book 3 quarters in there
is a clear development as Skyler is forced to abandon crew and make due on his
own two legs. Quite a learning moment for Skyler.
There are two other important people
through which the overall storyline is being told. The first is Neil Platz
whose “emporium” greatly expanded when the elevator track hit Darwin, Neil
holds the reigns over the agricultural hubs and many other things regarding the
off planet parts of the elevator. Neil has been making plans for white sometime
already, since he was the only one to keep score of the Builder’s return, and
by his calculations, it is imminent once again. His character gave more the
political insight to the story being a member of the council and such. Directly
opposite Neil sits Russell Blackwood, who is a military brute and lives on the
Earth, in Darwin where he controls the passage from Darwin into space. He comes
over like just carrying out orders but when things started to change, Russell
seems to be much more clever than what on the first impression met the eye. He
actions are quite brutal but do add an imminent sense of added danger for both
Neil and Skyler to the story, Which in turn only made it much richer. There is
a large secondary cast as well and other people who voice their thoughts and
concerns, but then this would turn to be a 5 page review. All in all the
characters introduced so far are fleshed out very nicely and it does seem that
Jason M. Hough created each character with a specific goal in mind, none falter
and none feel like they’re just sitting there. Some fine character creation
right there.
Now I just want to tell one quick thing
about the subhumans. They are always a threat in the book, and in the beginning
there are quite a few scenes in which they make their appearance, yes they were
dangerous but I couldn’t quite get the eerie feeling of them. Until I was
reading this book at about 23.00 in the evening, full dark only a reading light
behind me and the scene between Skyler and a subhuman woman occurred.
Just a short excerpt
“She
tilted her head to one side and whispered again, louder. “Play with me.”
“Not
today. A bit busy.”
“Play
with me”, she rasped, and shook the fence. Her eyes darted up.
She
began to climb”
Now this just gave me the creeps all
over. Really creepy at that moment. This also proves to me that they aren’t the
usual zombies at all.
Just to sum it up: The Darwin Elevator
is an outstanding debut and fantastic book. The idea behind The Darwin Elevator
with the Builders, the elevator itself and how it left the Earth in a state of
constant threat was worked out just amazing, producing a interesting world. Some
questions about the origins are being answered but many more are being raised
in only the last few pages of the book. Luckily book two is out this month, so
the wait isn’t that long. The Darwin Elevator features some nice action scenes
where Skyler and his crew battle it out against the subhuman, but also has the
increase of the political aspect of the book. The characters are all shown in
their true colors and are designed with definite goals in mind. Jason M. Hough
thought of all the big things as well as the small things in his details. This
book is just great stuff, and a contester for one of the best science fiction
books for 2013.