Danger Rising by ED Richards

4 Stars

329 Pages
Publisher: Independently Published, AuthorBuzz
Release Date: May 2, 2018

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi, Fantasy, Futuristic, Climatology

Someone is attacking the earth. It is 2100 in Antarctica. Climatologists are checking a glacier when a strong earthquake created a large fissure. Abbey Bertrand, a famous climatologist and namesake for the Antarctica research station, is called by Mack Widler from Norway. He tells her what has happened and asks her to join in there. Jason Harcourt, an eco-terrorism investigator contacts Abbey and asks her to come to Venice first so he can give her information about the earthquakes. On the way to the transport station, she is approached by a man who threatens her. Now on the run, she is trying to save the earth and stay alive.

The book has a fast pace, the characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. The concept, although considered fiction, is somewhat close to what our future may hold. Changes in the climate must be addressed. If you like action and adventure books with a bit of sci fi and terrorism, you may enjoy reading this book.

Gripping and suspenseful! A very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters. The tension builds at just the right pace as the story unfolds. Will keep you swiping the pages furiously. Worthy of your TBR list.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from in order to read and provide a voluntary and honest review, should I choose to do so.

An amazing book! I couldn't put this book down from the moment I started reading! Very intriguing plot! Interesting characters. You wont want to put this down!

Sadly, climate "change", which is far fetched in the way it's used for this novel is the premise of this book. It's 2100 and "we collapsed the world" is in recovery. With lots of finagling, we are supposed to believe that a worldwide flood happened again, so put on your Sci-Fi cap because you need it. Now that we have science out of the way, there's an ecoterrorist on the loose. However, the characters were hard to impossible to connect to and they often felt "flat". Additionally, it does jump some without a few things being clear. I figured it out, but if that's your pet peeve in books, it will make you upset with this one. Overall, it was like a "D" film, the kind I might turn on to fall asleep to, but that I'd not be able to recommend. I hope that the author can revamp this book, dump a good bit of the totally unrealistic premises, shore up some of the characters and try again. 

I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Net Galley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and this review is left of my own free will.

I tried numerous times to get into this book and just kept losing track of the story and what characters I was supposed to be following at what time. The pacing felt uneven and the plot felt to be all over the place. Maybe it just wasn't the right sort of book for me but seeing as how it was dystopian enough to resemble real life, I was hoping to enjoy it but just so much was wrong with it.

This book was entertaining, but nothing special. I was intrigued by the climate fiction/incoming doom aspects, but the characters and their dialogue weren't quite enough to prop up the plot.

Danger Rising had an interesting premise and tackles an issue that is, unfortunately, a real threat to today’s world. It tackles the idea of what happens when we have pushed the planet too far and even the smallest action could have devastating results for the entire Earth and everyone living on.

When eco-terrorists seek revenge for passed punishments and take it out on the planet, driving it ever closer to extinction, it is up to a select few to not only catch those responsible, but also take drastic action to ensure humanity’s survival.

Although the premise was good, the execution, unfortunately, failed to deliver.

The plot is full of twists and turns. It’s supposed to keep the reader on edge and stop them from guessing what comes next. I found, however, that due to the style of the book where narrations flick quickly between the different characters, I ended up not being able to follow what was going on.

For example, there was one part where the ultimate bad guy was finally revealed. But blame had been flying around for the entire chapter as the author attempted to mislead us. When the big reveal happened, I just blinked and thought I had misread a paragraph and it was only going back to read it again I realised what was going on. It lost the impact and intended effect because I totally missed it.

The characters themselves were also tricky to empathise with. For a while, I wasn’t certain why. Then I realised you never really get any of their emotions. Love, fear, anger… they’re implied in an abstract way, but you never know how the character is feeling. Without that, there is nothing to relate to.

Abbey is the main character. A supposedly brilliant scientist who has helped save the world. The issue I had was that you never see this side of her. Multiple characters mention her brilliance, but you never see her do anything particular astonishing. She is also depicted as being on the edge; she never speaks, everything is a yell or a scream. She is blunt and rude with everyone around her – which may be the circumstances, but unable to compare it to anything else just made her un-likeable. I couldn’t understand why the other characters would put up with being spoken to in that way.

There are a number of secondary characters as well but, as with Abbey, you never connect to how they are feeling. They appear more controlled than Abbey though. Mack was my favourite because you see him actually thinking things through and I felt I could empathise with him a little more.

It’s a fast-paced book – I read it in a couple of hours. It does make you think about the future and the danger of mankind. But as I didn’t care about the characters, the tension fell flat and, as mentioned, the plot left me confused. It was too fast in places.

A great premise that unfortunately didn’t quite deliver.

Normally, some novels start out slow and get better and more engaging from there. Unfortunately, with this book, it went the other way around. While the beginning was thrilling and gripping, the plot became progressively more disjointed and the dialogue was soap opera-like. The premise, however, is relevant and interesting.

I could not put this book down it was well written and fast paced thriller... I liked the futuristic setting, it shows the end result of what is happening because of us to our planet). The lead female character races to save the planet as we are headed to an environmental crisis. I never saw the ending coming....

This is a fun eco-apocalypse type read. I am just getting in to the cli-fi type novels and this one was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading future novels from the author.

I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This futuristic novel grips you but it does have some slow writing that doesn't always want you to keep going. I found it an okay read but not mind blowing sci fi.

Compellingly written, this book establishes a main character. Scenes of peril and solid action work to move the story forward. Nicely done!

This book sounded interesting, and started off well, but fizzled. I was a third of the way through and really wanted to put it down. Some of the action scenes were good, but overall it was just a so-so read.

After reading the blurb for this book, and finding it interesting, I decided to jump right in to reading it (even though it's not my usual genre to read). Sadly, the blurb wss the most interesting part of the book. I just could not get in to it...and found myself skipping lots of pages just to get to the end.
Now I'm not sure if I'll ever read this genre again.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias.

Elections have consequences, and the environmental repercussions of the 2016 election in the United States are being felt in the 22nd century. When I found this reference to the 2016 election, I had high hopes of reading a great book. I was disappointed.

DANGER RISING is a disjointed tale of ecoterrorism in the year 2100… a mere 84 years from right now. It has flashbacks to 2050, where the countries of the world have been dissolved; how this happened is left entirely to your imagination. I could envision an entire book on just this subject. In 34 years, we are told that a great flood caused the world to unite, Star Trek fashion, where climate change is at the top of the world's agenda.

Back to 2100, medicine has advanced from stem cell research to stem cells curing everything. Getting old? Get your annual stem shot. Superficial injuries? We've got a stem gel for that. Broken bones? Damaged organs? Get your stem patch here; you'll be fine in less than 24 hours.

There is, in 2100, a system in place to mitigate earthquakes. You can travel by land, air and under the sea at 1,000 miles per hour, never mind that the safety restraints in these conveyances make it difficult to breathe.

I've been reading speculative fiction for more than 50 years. I even aced a class in speculative fiction in college. So, when I read the author's disclaimer "If I am off with any of the science as I suspect I am, kindly forgive me." I can't help but think back upon the works of Isaac Asimov, a chemist, an actual scientist, and his view of a future with robots and fantastic technology. So no, Mr. Richards, I can't forgive basic lack of scientific knowledge coupled with an obvious lack of any research.

The characters in this book are as haphazard as the science. None of them seem to have actual personalities, since their traits seem to change with every situation. One minute we are reading about a brilliant climate scientist that was instrumental in creating air scrubbers will working on her doctorate at MIT. The next minute she is a screaming shrew. Oh yes, she got that MIT doctorate at the age of 20.

In an attempt to create the sense of mystery, we are kept from knowing just who the ecoterrorist is. Then, pretty much out of nowhere, the criminal is revealed. There is no clever misdirection such as you have come to expect from such luminaries of the art as Conan Doyle and Alfred Hitchcock.

The single redeeming feature here is that there are some pretty exciting action scenes, which, if taken as individual accounts, can be nail biters. If you try to put them into any kind of context, you will find it hopelessly impossible.

I do not read synopses of books before I read them. All I know going in is the genre; romance, thriller, mystery, etc.
So when I started this novel I was impressed and on edge all at once; were the 'out of the norm' earthquakes the result of some newly awakened prehistoric monster? An alien invasion? An angry god from ancient times?


Sadly, none of the above. After the first few chapters set the scene, main characters and story background, it was all pretty ho-hum from there. Several paragraphs and chapters lectured us on the evils of not taking better care of our planet. Informative for sure. But part of a good hold-on-to-your-seat suspense story? Not so much.


There were several chapters that could've brought the thrills back, but they were immediately followed by chapters going back in time to the younger days of the protagonists. This constant time-hopping kept breaking the continuity of the suspense going on in the present, effectively rendering the story a bit boring.

Another strange development in this book was the odd writing style about one third of the way in. Suddenly all the characters 'screamed', 'shouted' and 'yelled', instead of just talking. And don't get me started on the exclamation points! Every other sentence ended with one! Even when folks were just having a simple conversation! See how annoying THAT is ?!

I could see some potential in the plot and different characters, but the twists and turns and double-crosses and introduction of several new characters late in the story were enough to roll my eyes into the back of my head.

After some more experience (and a beginners lesson in 'How to Write'), this writer would have the potential for cranking out a good yarn. But this novel deserves a pass for now.

I was impressed with the debut novel from Richards. I liked the futuristic setting of the end of this century. Richards projects to a time when the nations of the world have finally taken climate change seriously after decades of ignoring it. There are serious consequences for those who commit crimes against the environment. It is an era of amazing pod transport under water and personal devices that fly though the air. I would have liked a little more description of the futuristic machines and how they worked.

The characters were crafted rather well. The hero of the novel was a noted climate scientist. She seemed almost super human in her ability to get out of hopeless situations. Other characters were drawn well. Many were not who they appeared to be. Near the end of the book this made for many twists and turns and surprises.

Richards' writing style is pretty good but there were a few irritations for me. One was the number of people screaming their words. That was too much some times. Something else Richards did that I just will not tolerate is ending a chapter with the hero in an imminent death situation and then beginning the next chapter with the hero all well and fine. We do ultimately find out how she was rescued but I just do not appreciate that technique.

I do recommend this novel to readers who enjoy a plot based on a very possible future and includes plenty of action and suspense.

I received a complimentary egally of this book through NetGalley. My comments are an independent and honest review.

I need to stop trusting blurbs. The blurb sort of matched the book, but the actual book was much less interesting. Perhaps it was I had just finished reading The Expanse series. Perhaps it was because the made up "future" words all had a vaguely Star Trek feel. The science itself was terrible. Hint: a fracture in an ice shelf will not cause or trigger a tsunami. Hell, a chunk of that shelf breaking off won't trigger a tsunami as it is already over/in water and is not falling from land to ocean. Characters are flat and rather two dimensional. Overall, just not an enjoyable read.

There were some good moments in this story but other moments fell flat. It was entertaining but definitely not a great read for me.

An interesting try at foretelling what might possibly be the result of climate change in the next 100 years....BUT...it is not very well written and thus tricky to read. The futuristic science is verging on fantasy and the political comments rather dull. Great ideas here but needs a re work in my opinion.