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A review by lkedzie
Atoll X by Russell James
2.0
It's Clerks meets Jurassic Park.
No, wait, stop, that's a better idea than this book. But it has that feeling.
This book is part of a series. There's nothing on the dustjacket to suggest that, but it's really not relevant for the book, except a 4th wall joke in the book about the protagonist writing all the books. Notably, the book has on its cover monsters that do not appear in the book. I will not be reading the other books.
The plot is in the Lost World vein (Doyle, not Crichton). A paleontologist is called out by a tech billionaire to advise on a fossil exhibit, shows up on the wrong day, and ends up trapped with others on a nearby island where dinosaurs still roam. Only it's not dinosaurs (I think that was another book in the series) but ancient reptiles.
What saves the book is its broad comedy. The protagonist is the comic relief, to the point of Holy Fool status. This is brilliant. It means that the competent characters in the thriller can be killed off as the plot needs them to, and it makes the protagonist's acts of competence thrilling because they are kind of a shulb so it feels more extraordinary for them to accomplish anything, plus the author is not beyond making their trivial successes minor.
The death count is high. The author has some weird hangups? I think. There's a lot of quirky characters, and some, I think, are intended as Take Thats. They are oversized, and make some real choice choices. I will note in its favor that I think it avoids transparent racism in its indigenous characters.
I am tempted to give the three or even four star review, because a different way is to judge the book on its own intentions and say that it's perfect schlock, a literary B movie, that knows exactly what it is and wants to give it to you in as efficient a package as possible, and while the comedy isn't always...er...funny, keeping it in that zone is at least a star, but if you want something like this, you best be looking at lower ratings anyway.
No, wait, stop, that's a better idea than this book. But it has that feeling.
This book is part of a series. There's nothing on the dustjacket to suggest that, but it's really not relevant for the book, except a 4th wall joke in the book about the protagonist writing all the books. Notably, the book has on its cover monsters that do not appear in the book. I will not be reading the other books.
The plot is in the Lost World vein (Doyle, not Crichton). A paleontologist is called out by a tech billionaire to advise on a fossil exhibit, shows up on the wrong day, and ends up trapped with others on a nearby island where dinosaurs still roam. Only it's not dinosaurs (I think that was another book in the series) but ancient reptiles.
What saves the book is its broad comedy. The protagonist is the comic relief, to the point of Holy Fool status. This is brilliant. It means that the competent characters in the thriller can be killed off as the plot needs them to, and it makes the protagonist's acts of competence thrilling because they are kind of a shulb so it feels more extraordinary for them to accomplish anything, plus the author is not beyond making their trivial successes minor.
The death count is high. The author has some weird hangups? I think. There's a lot of quirky characters, and some, I think, are intended as Take Thats. They are oversized, and make some real choice choices. I will note in its favor that I think it avoids transparent racism in its indigenous characters.
I am tempted to give the three or even four star review, because a different way is to judge the book on its own intentions and say that it's perfect schlock, a literary B movie, that knows exactly what it is and wants to give it to you in as efficient a package as possible, and while the comedy isn't always...er...funny, keeping it in that zone is at least a star, but if you want something like this, you best be looking at lower ratings anyway.