This is the cover that was shown via Amazon Vine. It is for the paperback version which will be released beginning of August. The ARC was blank. If it would have been the Kindle cover I would have recognized it from the Top 100 lists on Amazon and I don’t believe I would have requested it.
PJV Quickie: When you compare a novel to Isaac Asimov and Orson Scott Card you better bring it. I had high hopes for this novel and just ended up chucking it to the side in exasperation. I really am disappointed and I’m scratching my head as to why this came up via Amazon Vine. I didn’t realize that this was the same novel that had been on the Top Kindle charts for so long.
Title: Containment Author: Christian Cantrell
Type: Adult/Science Fiction
Amazon has listed: This title will be released on August 7, 2012. But, this title was recently released as a self-published novel and still is available for download on kindle.
“ARC” give as review from Amazon Vine Progam
Rating: 
Purchase Goodreads
This is the beginning of the synopsis and the reason I instantly wanted this book for review, it is not on the product page, just on my Amazon Vine page:
In the tradition of Orson Scott Card, Christian Cantrell takes readers to an off-Earth colony where its greatest scientist risks everything in the name of truth, freedom, and love.
Review
In Christian Cantrell’s future, Earth is in a crisis (climate change, what else) and the powers-that-be have devised that the only way to save the human race is to establish off-planet colonies. Because, of course, Venus has a much better climate than Earth. In the midst of being wowed by the technojargon and science speak, you are introduced to Arik, one of the first to be born on Venus. Arik is the the most intelligent person ever and he and his wife, the second most intelligent person ever, have to come up with a better way colonize the planet, because she is pregnant and there just isn’t any more room for babies! They also have to dig through all the false-truths they have been fed by the colonies founders.
Look, out of all this, I do have to say that Cantrell can form a sentence in a manner very pleasant to read, even though I did notice a good bit of sentence structure issues. My problems did not revolve around Cantrell’s talent as a writer. The problems that I found in the novel, centered on how the book was structured, the plot behind the words and some of the beliefs that were the founding basis of the novel. I was at once taken in with the story of Arik and really enjoyed that part of the novel, but then the author would digress into long, boring “tellings” of facts and history that would have me yawning. I’m not a fan of “tell-me” type novels and this one was full of them.
Chapter headings that read…”The History of V1, Part 1: The End of the Space Age” should have been my clue-in right there. They read like a history book. Even when the story moved into the character’s lives it was a very dry and more telling instead of showing:
Sentences like this tend to wear on me as a reader and I just find it boring, even though the underlying story might be interesting. I understand what Cantrell did here and that was come up with a great and interesting science fiction tale, full of the knowledge that is needed to tell a tale of this scope. But, I do believe that he has to go a bit deeper and let his characters bloom a bit more and it would make his novel so much better.
Want some more Science Fiction Novels? Check out…
Earth by David Brin
Nemesis by Isaac Asimov
Other 1 Star Reviews on Parajunkee’s View:
- Review: Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
- Review: After the Snow by: S. D. Crockett
- Quickie Review: Howling For My Baby by Beverly Rae
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Great thoughts on this book. I can’t abide telling at all…and even if a book has a minimal amount, it just jumps out at me and I can’t forget that part. Details shouldn’t bore a reader, they should enhance the experience.
Yeah, I think it would be tough as a writer to be compared to some great writers and not be able to deliver. Thanks for your honest review!