The Rifter books are gripping, horrible and fascinating all at the same time. Well written prose, unique characters, well thought out speculative science and merciless in the telling of it all :D
I couldn't put them down (burned the midnight oil on my Kindle) and when I was done I was left with the same uneasy feeling I have after watching movies like Sleepers or Mystic River - I regard the movie highly, would recommend it to a friend, but I have no intention of adding it to my DVD library.
I'll say the same thing for the Rifter books - read them, they're fascinating and right up there with some of the best hard scifi. Just don't ask me to read them again :D
Excellent. Really enjoyed the book. I have started the next in the series and will continue to read Watts. He has a knack for taking uncomfortable subjects (abuse) and weaving them as a necessary aspect of the story.
Had bad dreams a few nights, but overall, the fallout was worth the read.
Wonderful read! First time in a long time that I have had to finish as quickly as possible. Enjoyed the characters, the setting, the plot line. Couldn't wait to continue on to the next book in the series.
At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean lies the Channer Vent, a a hydrothermic vent around which monstrous deep-sea fish cluster in the eternal dark. It is here, in the late 21st century, that a major corporation chooses to build Beebe Station, to tap the power generated where two tectonic plates meet. But who would choose to work down there in the dark? Answer, nobody.
Which is why it the criminals, the mentally disturbed, the perverts and murderers, the abusers and the victims of abuse, who are sent down there. Among them is Lenie Clarke, one screw-up among many. With one lung removed and replaced with technology to let her breathe underwater, her body adapted to cope with the extreme pressure, she is equipped with a special wetsuit and strange white contact lenses which allow her to see in the perpetual darkness and sent down to the depths to do her duty.
It's the ones who adapt who survive. And adapting means becoming one with the undersea world, where strangely mutated giant deep-sea fish prowl outside the shelter of the base. Soon, most of the people down there are wearing their white contact lenses all the time, refusing to take off their black wetsuits, spending most of their waking and sleeping hours outside the base. Safe behind their blank eyes, the misfits remain perpetual strangers to each other, away from the world above, where they never fitted. If they do their jobs for the power company, perhaps they'll be left alone to live their strange deep-sea lives. Or perhaps not.
It's a grim, believable world, made all the more authentic by Webb's obvious knowledge of a whole range of sciences and technologies. (There are several pages of references for those who want to follow up the science). Lenie Clarke comes across as a survivor; a perpetual victim, convinced of her own inadequacy, who slowly becomes the de facto leader of the bizarre misfits around her.
I am just reading the book and noticed that for the MobiPocket version on the Gen3 the degree symbol does not work near "Ambient temperature flips from 4..."
on Jun 14, 2009 at 07:55
The Rifter books are gripping, horrible and fascinating all at the same time. Well written prose, unique characters, well thought out speculative science and merciless in the telling of it all :D
I couldn't put them down (burned the midnight oil on my Kindle) and when I was done I was left with the same uneasy feeling I have after watching movies like Sleepers or Mystic River - I regard the movie highly, would recommend it to a friend, but I have no intention of adding it to my DVD library.
I'll say the same thing for the Rifter books - read them, they're fascinating and right up there with some of the best hard scifi. Just don't ask me to read them again :D
on Apr 29, 2009 at 15:39
Excellent. Really enjoyed the book. I have started the next in the series and will continue to read Watts. He has a knack for taking uncomfortable subjects (abuse) and weaving them as a necessary aspect of the story.
Had bad dreams a few nights, but overall, the fallout was worth the read.
on Feb 01, 2009 at 01:04
Wonderful read! First time in a long time that I have had to finish as quickly as possible. Enjoyed the characters, the setting, the plot line. Couldn't wait to continue on to the next book in the series.
on Feb 25, 2008 at 22:41
Review (cross-posted from www.mobileread.com)
At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean lies the Channer Vent, a a hydrothermic vent around which monstrous deep-sea fish cluster in the eternal dark. It is here, in the late 21st century, that a major corporation chooses to build Beebe Station, to tap the power generated where two tectonic plates meet. But who would choose to work down there in the dark? Answer, nobody.
Which is why it the criminals, the mentally disturbed, the perverts and murderers, the abusers and the victims of abuse, who are sent down there. Among them is Lenie Clarke, one screw-up among many. With one lung removed and replaced with technology to let her breathe underwater, her body adapted to cope with the extreme pressure, she is equipped with a special wetsuit and strange white contact lenses which allow her to see in the perpetual darkness and sent down to the depths to do her duty.
It's the ones who adapt who survive. And adapting means becoming one with the undersea world, where strangely mutated giant deep-sea fish prowl outside the shelter of the base. Soon, most of the people down there are wearing their white contact lenses all the time, refusing to take off their black wetsuits, spending most of their waking and sleeping hours outside the base. Safe behind their blank eyes, the misfits remain perpetual strangers to each other, away from the world above, where they never fitted. If they do their jobs for the power company, perhaps they'll be left alone to live their strange deep-sea lives. Or perhaps not.
It's a grim, believable world, made all the more authentic by Webb's obvious knowledge of a whole range of sciences and technologies. (There are several pages of references for those who want to follow up the science). Lenie Clarke comes across as a survivor; a perpetual victim, convinced of her own inadequacy, who slowly becomes the de facto leader of the bizarre misfits around her.
on Jan 12, 2008 at 18:33
I am just reading the book and noticed that for the MobiPocket version on the Gen3 the degree symbol does not work near "Ambient temperature flips from 4..."
on Dec 27, 2007 at 22:10
Brilliant, Simply Brilliant