Daniel is a human guinea pig. Along with many others, he was kidnapped, taken away from his life and family and awoke at UBO. Every day his captors, alien creatures resembling cockroaches, tune his mind to the cruelest humans who have ever lived, and the same happens to his companions. Daniel and the others wonder what is the reason that drives the cockroaches to carry out this experiment, for which they pay a very high price in terms of mental sanity, to the point that someone does not return from the labs and someone else, like Henry, who has come into contact with the mind of Gilles de Rais, goes mad forever.
One day, however, the ruined structure that houses UBO remains without power, and another horror begins...
One of the best dystopian novels I have ever read, really recommended to all those who investigate evil and its reasons.

I was so excited to read this story. The synopsis gave me all the aspects of a sci-fi alienesque dystopia that I was looking for, right down to the creepy and unsettling roaches that are running the show and keeping the characters hostage in the story. Also, the whole aspect of these people having to relive atrocities throughout the history, through the mind of the person that acted them out, had my dark feelers tingling.

Once we get to about the 75% mark though, things start to go downhill for me. The big twist actually brought the story down in my opinion. The original concept that the reader is led to believe is going on, would’ve been much more interesting. As it happened, once the big twist is revealed, I was left with more questions than answers. And not the fun philosophical questions. More of “what was the point of this?” and “what was the reason for the characters’ actions that make zero sense?”. it also created plot-holes and situations within the story that weren’t explained that made no sense and made this feel like some pseudo-spiritual story, or even more paranormal than sci-fi, which I’m not a fan of either. I also didn’t really get a horror feel to this at all, like it is marketed as.

Personally, I would say that if you’re looking for a new kind of sci-fi story, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for something that never answers even half the questions you have, and leaves you to try to fill in the missing pieces when all you have is the leftover junk from unrelated puzzles that don’t fit into the overall picture being created, then this is the story for you.

I really wish I could’ve given this a better review and rating, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for and didn’t feel like it lived up to its potential. If I had stopped reading before the big reveal, I think I would’ve enjoyed this more. But I did give this 3 stars for the fact that I was very enthralled and interested during the first 75% of the book.

Copy received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

By nesting stories within the story, Steve Rasnic Tem has created an unsettling meditation on and look at humanity in its most inhumane moments, without being gratuitous. It is unflinching, unapologetic, and still somehow touching.

About halfway through, I really thought I knew where it was going, what was going to be the reveal--no, i was wrong. I would have been happy to be right, but I was happier with what Tem did in many ways.

My only criticism is that there was an incomplete sense to the world-building outside the space in which the primary action of the novel takes place. Not in the sense that Tem didn't DO the world-building, but that the reader doesn't get the bigger, broader picture. Which isn't necessarily a negative, however; to the contrary, it creates a desire for MORE of the setting and world in which Ubo exists. There are a lot of questions left unanswered, but if you're willing to hold on and go on the ride, it's definitely satisfying.

The story telling is thoughtful and direct, with a solid voice behind it. While I felt some trepidation (both for the storytelling and the story) in the beginning, I'm extremely glad I picked this book out to read!

The world is in shambles. Roaches in lab coats are preforming strange experiments on human captives, forcing them to jump into the minds of history’s most violent and notorious.

The scenarios are taking a toll and Daniel and his fellow prisoners can think of nothing but when (if ever) they will be allowed to go back to their old lives and the families they left behind. Welcome to Ubo. Wherever the hell that is.

*I received an advance review copy of this release from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Daniel went to sleep on earth, but awoke on Ubo---an place of unknown origin, maybe in the future, maybe on another planet. All he knows now is that he was carried here on the membranous wings of the roach-like aliens, who now force him to participate in.... something. An experiment, perhaps, or karmic revenge for every past atrocity humans have committed, though for its participants it's more akin to torture. When the roaches strap them down and activate the machines, they enter the minds of history's most nefarious murderers, re-living someone else's memories of death and violence and bloodshed. Through the killers' eyes, watching millions engulfed in fire and blood before they're ripped back to Ubo. And there they mill about in dystopic squalor until they're thrust back into the eyes of another maniac. There is no explanation. There is no escape. And there is no hope.

There's a long trend of authors using science fiction to examine deep real-world issues, and Ubo uses its frame work of science fictional horror as an examination of violence. Horror is most effective when it creates an atmosphere of fear, and many (if not most) fears are generated by violence. Ubo hops backwards and forwards across humanity's worst atrocities, the endless capacity for cruelty that humans can inflict upon other humans: the Mai Lai massacre, Stalin and his purges, Jack the Ripper's gruesome murders, Himmler and his grim accountant-like ledgers of genocide. It's a fascinating meditation of humanity's dark underbelly, as the participants of this torturous experiment each proclaim their humanity---"we're not like them!"---right before revealing their own dark secrets. That's the fear that Ubo uses, the lurking dread that some capacity for unrestrained violence lurks within us all...

I didn't find out about Ubo's early origins until after I'd read it---in fact, I didn't find out until after I'd already written a draft of this review. To some degree, I'm not surprised; overall, the dialogue is a lot heavier on exposition than in Tem's more recent short stories, and there's a certain throwback pulpiness to having the alien roaches (dressed in lab coats!) herding human cattle through perverse experiments. Yet I can't say that I'd ever guess that the book originated almost forty years ago. Even though the book makes scant mention of today's issues, it still felt relevant and in-tune to today's geopolitical climate, underlying the sad fact that violence continues to be timely.

Ubo deals with a lot of dark themes, and is something of a nightmarish mind-trip that drags Daniel (and the reader) through a complex examination of violence. Just when I thought I knew where the novel was going, halfway through it started to go in another direction, and despite going over some bleak topics it ends on a fascinating note. It's more of a deep and psychological work, relying more on quiet reflection than action or scares---which should be expected, as Tem is one of the best around at writing the "quiet" horror tale. Imagine Thomas Disch's Camp Concentration as written by China Miéville or Jeff Vandermeer and you pretty much have Ubo. In this case, its cool-sounding central idea does live up to its potential, and the result is a thought-provoking novel and a very satisfying read.

Honestly, I believed that I would rave on and on about this book... With an alien race similar to cockroaches basically controlling humanity and forcing them into very uncomfortable situations, the scene could have been set for mayhem. Unfortunately the pace is so slow that I felt no connection at all with any character and felt that the plot was under-developed, leaving much to be desired in the reading...only my opinion.

So, this book is basically the definition of "WTF?" Seriously, all you have to do is read the description, and you'll probably be saying, "Wait, what?" It's the main reason why I requested it in the first place, and I was so excited when I got the e-mail that I was approved.

First, a bit of a warning: this book is slow. SO SLOW. Like, it literally took almost half a month for me to read this. It's just one of those books where I had to read it in spurts, because it doesn't have that binge-able quality. It's not a bad thing, but for those who like faster-paced books, this will probably be the ultimate torture.

There's a cast of characters, but, really, we only focus on the main character, Daniel, who has a rough sort of past. He has a son who suffers from a heart disease, and he feels as if his marriage is quickly falling apart, and before he knows it, he's been dragged off to this torture chamber/science lab where he has to relive history's worst moments. He's one of those main characters that's so easy to cheer for, because you want him to get out of this unimaginably awful situation, but he might not be someone who you'll relate to, just for the fact that I'm a teenage girl who doesn't even want kids, and I know most of you guys reading this probably won't relate either, but he's definitely someone you'll sympathize with.

Of course, the plot is interesting. A weird world where all these people are dragged out of their homes to play the worst men in history? What? And, my God, did it take the weirdest turn. Not like I minded, since I'm a huge fan of super weird sci-fi stories (have you seen Black Mirror? If you haven't, you need to). I thought it was definitely carried out well, and this actually ties into the world-building of the book. We're only stuck with Daniel in the limited world of Ubo, and it's not until we're in the point of view of the God of Mayhem ("Wait, what?" you're probably saying, and that's a 100% accurate feeling) and in the final chapter that we get to see more of the world, so for those who are huge on world-building in sci-fi, you'll probably hate how this one is very light on it.

Honestly, it's so hard to talk about this book without spoiling it, but it's definitely interesting and I thought it was okay. Not the best sci-fi book I've ever read, but it certainly makes me want to see if there's more sci-fi/horror out there! And, also, a real warning: if you're not into/sensitive to reading descriptions of graphic violence from the POV of Jack the Ripper or shooters or horrible men in history, or don't want to read descriptions of horrific events such as the Holocaust, then this book is definitely not for you.

Overall, a solid sci-fi/horror story, and if you're pretty curious to read it, feel free to check it out once it comes out on Valentine's Day!

A novel about violence, memory and awful, awful allegories.

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
Back in the old days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, when the calendar showed the year 1965 or somewhere in that range, a comic book character called Magneto emerged. A Holocaust survivor, who treated mutants like his jewish brothers and sisters, claiming that ordinary humans were basically eradicating them in a repeat of one of the most awful events of history. Now, call me crazy, but I find that plot point: a) occassionally offensive as fuck; b) terribly transparent; c) clumsy and all too obvious.
So why am I talking about it? Well, because that's the big moral of Ubo, a novel that's middling for 3/4 of its length, providing entertainment by leading the reader on with a mystery and churning your guts with disgusting descriptions of violence, before taking one of the biggest nosedives I've ever read in the last quarter of the book. And also it comes out in 2017 and makes the same point (with the same gracefulness) that a bad comic book made 50 years ago.
Yes, the whole point of Ubo, a book that pushes you into the minds of literal serial killers, tyrants, and Joseph Stalin (a bit of column a, a bit of column b with that guy) is that violence is awful, some people are monsters and we must never forget that, but also some people are so monstrous that they will become monsters in order to remember the previous monsters. A lot of that word "monster" huh? Well, repetition is pretty big in this novel, so get comfortable with it.
The novel has good chapters - set in the real world, where our character tries to understand what's happening to him, imprisoned in a concentration camp by horrific insects (it's also not called a concentration camp outright, but that's probably because a smart editor said "Guys, seriously, this is so on the nose that a third-grader would get it"). And it has bad ones - where the character is submerged into the mind of some historic psychopath. These chapters, devoted to the inner workings of awful people, are lengthy and shallow at the same time, spending pages on rambling thoughts and never actually making any solid points about those maniacal musings.
But the "real world" chapters are intriguing enough to keep going, all the way up to an inane, pointless, godawful twist that has no real bearing on the plot whatsoever and, with just a little change, could have been much better, if only Tem stopped to think about what he was doing to the characters. And, of course, the book ends its story with a pointless, pseudo-humanistic whimper. And then closes out with a slap to the face: mentioning how a certain part of the story is "inspired"/"connected" to an actual Holocaust victim. Oy vey, what a clunker.

Overall, an ill-conceived attempt to... honour the victims of violence? Explore the roots of violence? Good lord, I don't know, if you like vivid imagery, read the first three quarters of this, you might enjoy it. Just don't stray too far and fall into the climax of the book. Not a treat.

The Book had an original plot that kept me going but I felt like more background information about the characters in the opening would've made the book stronger. Tem does a great job at blurring the line between logical thought and the prisoners morphing into their roles quite beautifully but at times the pacing was just a bit too slow.

So delightfully creepy, unsettling, and downright disturbing. Recommended for anyone who is willing to give up a good night's sleep.

Ubo is difficult to talk about without sounding insane. There are so many thought provoking questions here, all locked up with roaches holding the keys. I know, I know...insane.

I have to touch on the basic outline here to make any sense at all of this review. Daniel goes from sitting in an airport contemplating walking away from it all, (including his wife and their sickly son), to living out scenarios of the most violent events in the history of the world, with only a vague, surreal, memory of wings and a moon separating the two.

When I say living out violent scenarios, I mean from <i> inside </i> the very heads of those doling out said violence. Jack the Ripper. Jim Jones. Charles Whitman. Here you are, witnessing these crimes as if it were you perpetrating them, while at the same time finding your conscience and your stomach recoiling. What possible good could come out of that? If there IS something good, can it be discovered and/or implemented before humanity destroys itself? You'll have to read this to find out.

I requested this ARC from NetGalley and Solaris because I have been a huge fan of Mr. Tem's short stories over the years. I remember his name always showing up in horror anthologies and knew I could depend on him to give me a good thrill. This book, however, is more of a science fiction novel with horrific elements-but all of his intense, strong writing? It's still here.

There's so much more I want to say, but...spoilers. Many things are going on in the background that beg for your attention, important things. Commentary about humanity really, where it is going and where it has been. Much of it is unpleasant. Somehow though, I found hope at the end. Is that because I couldn't face the stark reality, (not that far off from our current reality, by the way), or because I truly do think there's hope? I'm not sure. This is one of those times where I wish the author was my friend and I could just call him up and ask him. Since that's not happening, I'll settle for hearing what YOU think.

Highly recommended for those readers that enjoy turning over the reigns to a trusted author and believing that they will bring it all home. Go ahead and discover if there's even any home left. Read Ubo.

Ubo is available February 9th. You can pre-order your copy here: Ubo

*Thanks to NetGalley and Solaris for the e-Arc of Ubo in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*

Reading this story is a total mindtrip.

I'll be honest, right all up in the fronty-front: I'm not one for surrealistic dream-sequence-type narratives. It gets tiresome for me really quick. And the very plot of this story made it impossible for sizable chunks to be written any other way. That being said, this never felt like a slog, or a chore. I was right there, in the dream sequence, confused as all hell but interested and invested. (My dream sequences come equipped with "Saved by the Bell" fuzzy pink borders, because that's how I roll.

So the story breaks down like this: Daniel, just some dude, had been kidnapped and is now held in a research facility by a bunch of giant cockroaches that force him to mind-jump into historical serial killers and other evil figures so the insects can discover why humans do bad stuff. Doesn't that sound AMAZING? Good new: IT IS!!

I loved this book. It was trippy, educational, heart-feelzy, unexpected, bloody, and thinky. All that. I've never read a book quite like this before. And I loved it.