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A review by hellsfire
Ill Wind by Doug Beason, Kevin J. Anderson
3.0
I love Kevin J. Anderson. I've read a lot of his non-licensed books and have enjoyed him. That said, this is probably his first book that I didn't enjoy as much. I don't know if that's because this was co-authored or what.
There are two reasons I bought Ill Wind: one, because it's Kevin J. Anderson and two, because it takes place primarily in the Bay Area. Now, they capture the Bay Area pretty well. A lot better than most I've seen. They get the bridges right, traffic, and types of people. Although was one thing about flying into SFO instead of OAKAIR if going to Livermore. So the setting was great overall, especially for a Bay Area native.
I also really liked the idea of what was happening. I've read post-apocalyptic books before and most have to do with a great catastrophe that literally changes the world in a usually negative way. Losing fuel and plastics only affects us humans not the planet itself.
Ill Wind reads as two books. I think I enjoyed the first half more because it dealt with the characters and I was interested in them. The impact of the slow build of the plot was also interesting. It was also more local. I didn't care much for the second half.
While having faster pacing, the second half of the book was too localized for me. I wanted to see the impact of what happened in other parts of the world. A few things are mentioned but never shown. Things aren't even shown much in the United States. The entire book takes places in the Southwest and in California.
I also don't like the ending. Things aren't resolved. I want to know what happens to characters or situations. Did they move on? Did the US collapse and people set up their own city-states? Did they find an alternate energy source? I would have settled on an Epilogue. The only thing resolved was the love story.
Ill Wind was an all right book. It wasn't as good as the other Anderson books I've read and I don't know anything about Doug Beason so I can't talk about him.
There are two reasons I bought Ill Wind: one, because it's Kevin J. Anderson and two, because it takes place primarily in the Bay Area. Now, they capture the Bay Area pretty well. A lot better than most I've seen. They get the bridges right, traffic, and types of people. Although was one thing about flying into SFO instead of OAKAIR if going to Livermore. So the setting was great overall, especially for a Bay Area native.
I also really liked the idea of what was happening. I've read post-apocalyptic books before and most have to do with a great catastrophe that literally changes the world in a usually negative way. Losing fuel and plastics only affects us humans not the planet itself.
Ill Wind reads as two books. I think I enjoyed the first half more because it dealt with the characters and I was interested in them. The impact of the slow build of the plot was also interesting. It was also more local. I didn't care much for the second half.
While having faster pacing, the second half of the book was too localized for me. I wanted to see the impact of what happened in other parts of the world. A few things are mentioned but never shown. Things aren't even shown much in the United States. The entire book takes places in the Southwest and in California.
I also don't like the ending. Things aren't resolved. I want to know what happens to characters or situations. Did they move on? Did the US collapse and people set up their own city-states? Did they find an alternate energy source? I would have settled on an Epilogue. The only thing resolved was the love story.
Ill Wind was an all right book. It wasn't as good as the other Anderson books I've read and I don't know anything about Doug Beason so I can't talk about him.