Ocean of Storms is a fun Sci-fi thriller. It contained some interesting characters and the story line was fair enough to read, although at times a bit predictable. I can't say it's one of the best sci-fi thrillers but it was entertaining enough to keep me interested until the end.

“Ocean of Storms” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by Christopher Mari and Jeremy K. Brown. Mr. Mari has published 8 books and Mr. Brown 7.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story takes place in contemporary times at locations around the US, Tanzania and in space. There are several major characters, but the primary one is Archaeologist Dr. Alan Donovan.

Tension between the US and China are on the rise. China is sword rattling with a fleet around Taiwan threatening invasion. The US fleet is near by to defend the independence of Taiwan. From out of nowhere an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) sweeps the Earth causing extensive damage and death.

Scientists soon identify the source as coming from the Moon and a newly opened 10 mile long rift in its surface. The only viable space powers, the US and China, ramp up programs to return to the Moon to investigate. The most common thought is that the EMP was alien in origin.

Because of what they expect to find, an Archeologist is wanted for the mission. The first choice is Donovan. Both Moon shot programs are plagues by failures and it looks like neither will get to the Moon quickly. World tension is on the rise with many conspiracy theories. In an effort to more quickly get to the Moon and discover the truth, China and the US join forces.

After this a lot happens, but without disclosing spoilers I can’t really say too much. The joint crew starts out at odds with one another, but gradually becomes a team. The effort encounters many ‘accidents’ along the road to reaching the Moon and you soon realize that there is a secret effort to stop their mission.

I really enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 412 page Science fiction novel. I enjoyed the characters in the story and I liked the plot. That said, I was a little disappointed with the end. I think that the novel could have had a better conclusion. I also think that this could easily have been stretched a little and could have become two novels instead of just one. The story followed the team on two separate but related missions. I thought that the cover art was a reasonable choice. I give this novel a 4.7 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

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This is a very believable science fiction story.
Very enjoyable.

Ebook/ARC/Science Fiction: I received this ebook from Net Galley in lieu of an honest review. This is a new book, so no spoilers here. I am only going to tell you my feelings on the story. When I read the book summary, I knew this was a book I wanted to read.

I did like it even if it was not the best with faux facts. But as I have said before, if the writing is good and the characters likeable, then I can go with it. I was surprised it wasn't part of a trilogy the way the ending was starting to run. It is a one-stop with an ending. I liked that I started wanting to Google images of places and Anthropology stuff.

Yes, there are issues with continuity and slow spots, but I forgave lot of it. I liked the crew of heroic characters and their adventure on the Moon and later on Earth.

"She felt both small and part of something greater, a mere piece of stitching in the fabric of the quilt of life and yet something intrinsic to the whole. The idea was remarkably comforting."

Synopsis:
In the near future, an EM pulse surges across the entire Earth, briefly debilitating the technology of the world. When the dust settles, scientists note that this pulse opened a crater on the surface of the Moon in the Ocean of Storms.

In a desperate attempt of control, both the United State and China race to get to the Moon. However, neither has the capabilities on their own. Instead, they must work together to prepare for a dangerous journey into the unknown, sending a group of astronauts and archeologists that will be the first people to step on the moon since Apollo 17 (in 1972).

Review:
This book was divided into three parts.

Part 1: The Signal is comprised of the EM pulse and the subsequent race to the Moon. I really enjoyed this part as I felt it was exciting. I also didn’t mind the science fiction terms because I am in the sciences. Part 2: Oceanus Procellarum (or, the Ocean of Storms), told of the team’s travel to the Moon and what they found there. I also felt that this section was thrilling, though I would have enjoyed more detail about their stay. I felt that the narration was building up to this point, and then it went a little flat. However, for me, it all started to fall apart when they made their discovery on the moon. Part 3: The Caldera reflected the aftermath of what they found on the Moon, and the race to discover more answers before anyone else.

I think the ending of the book was a little too cliché. It was open-ended enough to allow for a sequel, however I still think everything seemed to be tied up too neatly. Without giving too much away, instead of trying to make sense of what was there, the characters (and authors) just lazily labelled it as a conspiracy theory to explain everything away that didn’t make sense. It was a little frustrating.

I am curious as to how the authors split up this book. It might have been just me, but I felt that there was a tangible divide between the first half of the book, which felt more like science fiction with their race to the Moon, and the second half of the book, which felt more like the authors trying to get too philosophical in their explanations. The second half of the book also wasn’t as exciting because it was told primarily on Earth (more specifically, in Tanzania), and it was a bit of a let-down after the excitement of racing to the Moon.

I recently read another book written by two authors whose method was to write alternating chapters, and then try to blend everything together. The end result was that you could see the seams in that book. However in Ocean of Storms, there weren’t that many seams; it was just slightly hard to reconcile the exciting nature of space travel to the characters’ determination of the implications of what they found to the future of mankind.

Another gripe I had with this book was the distinct lack of female characters present. There were only three main female characters to match the slew of their male counterparts.

The President of the United States was female. I thought this was done relatively well, with the authors not making too big of a fuss over the matter, though they mentioned her temperament several times but never her name (this makes me wonder if they purposely intended her character to be modeled after a real person…). However, all of her advisors were men. There were also no other high-ranking government officials that were women. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was apparently also a woman, but she was only mentioned in passing towards the end of the book.

Syd was a badass pilot who had served in the military and was now working for NASA, but the authors made a point of mentioning explicitly that she was “pretty.” I also felt that she was not given enough air time, existing merely as a motivator for Donavan’s storyline.

And finally, there was Soong, a female Chinese archeologist. She reminded me a little of Temperance Brennan from the show Bones: she was a smart, passionate forensic anthropologist who loved her job. She did not play a major part in the first part of the story, beyond her introduction, but she was an integral part to the Moon Mission. And by “integral,” I mean that she took a backseat to the Dynamic Duo, Zell and Donavan. However, I felt that she was robbed of a bigger story because of her implied relationship with a male crew member. She had the world at her fingertips, she could do whatever she wanted. Hell, I wouldn’t even care if she decided to pursue her scientific passion if it was for scientific passion alone, but I felt that she was robbed of a bigger story because the authors wanted to imply an impending relationship with one of her male crewmembers.

(I admit that I am probably reading way too much into this, but I feel passionate about getting more women into science especially. I just felt that the men of the book hogged the spotlight, but that’s from the viewpoint of a female chemistry graduate student who tends to pay attention to little things like these.)

My rating for this review hovered around 3.5-stars for a majority of the book. I thought it was interesting, but unsure if it was worthy of a boost up to a full 4-stars or a demotion to a more average 3-stars. For me, it came down to the ending: conspiracy theories (and the trained scientists’ lack of reluctance to accept these as concrete facts) and the portrayal of women (or lack thereof) throughout the entirety of the book. I would definitely be interested in reading a sequel, if there is one, but might I suggest the introduction of some smart, badass female characters to balance out the testosterone?

Thank you to NetGalley and 47North for a free copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review!

This book tends to state facts and deeds instead of having us living them through people. Thus it becomes quickly boring.