Customer Reviews
Not quite the full package. - By: Dazzla, 21 Nov 2008 
I had high hopes for Plague Year, the synopsis read well & it's an interesting twist on a familiar theme. Introducing nanotechnology & it's effects is a good starting point. But from there I'm afraid this book falls down. The concept is good but the characterisation is weak. We never really get engaged with anyone & consequently I read this not really caring what happened to any of the characters & only a passing interest into the outcome of the whole book. Where you want to have some depth, to sense of smell what's happening, never really develops. We skip from one scene to the next & maybe there lies the problem - it feels like it has been written as though there was a filmin mind rather than as a book. In summary, a nice idea but a rather thin execution.
A new version of an old genre - By: R. S. Loch, 29 Feb 2008 
To set the scene the world is infected by a plague of nanites which eat anything warm blooded that they comein contact with, but deactivatein areas where the air pressure is less than 70% that of sea level. This produces mountain top islands that are inhabited by those who have escaped the plague.
Plague Year is a novel variant on the old plague survivor genre that unlike many such stories is actually believable. On the negative side, Carlson's addiction to short sentences can irritating some times & the political parts of the story don't really work.
The book is strongest when it deals with how people cope with the situation, & weakest when it moves into politics & conspiracies but overall is a good read.
Exciting and stimulating - By: blackbour, 21 Dec 2007 
I really enjoyed this book. It was a damn good read. It ended a little fast but that's fine, books 2 & 3 are on their way. I hope the author can develop the plot ideas he has about the USA post nano plague, they are good ones.
Harrowing SF - By: Mr Stephen J Gaskell, 10 Dec 2007 Post-apocalyptic tales usually fall into one of two camps: the plucky lone survivor living hand-to-mouth, or the happy-go-lucky hippy commune who discover modern society was overrated. In Plague Year, Jeff Carlson, avoids both these tired tropes & paints, to my mind, a realistic portrayal of people coping as best they canin terrible circumstances.
Perhaps coping is too generous a word for the day-to-day existence that a band of strangers eke out on a cold, barren mountaintop east of San Francisco. Survive might be a better word. For although there is empathy & a community of sorts, there is also the brutal calculus of existence: if he eats, I don't. Despite these bursts of selfishness, what comes across is how very human these characters are. They make hard choices, & they suffer for it.
The second thread of the novel follows an astronaut who is aboard an international space station & has witnessed the devastation that the machine plague has wrecked on the world below. Unlike the grim physical quest for survival on Earth's high ground, her battle is a psychological one. As a nano-tech expert she is frantic to aid the fight against the machine plague, but how she might do this is unclear. Her confined unease is well depicted & provides a good contrast to the heart-in-mouth adventures of those below.
A "page-turner"in the best sense of the word, Plague Year presents a well-thought out, politically viable apocalyptic scenario, & marries it with compelling characters who you care about. Highly recommended.
Enjoyable but not engaging - 3 and a half stars - By: S. Gorton, 26 Nov 2007 I found the storyline interesting & it carried me through to the end, wanting to know what conclusion would be reached. I did feel that the story ended rather bluntly, where a lot more could have been said. Perhaps there is potential for a 2nd instalment?
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to emphasise with any of the characters & found it difficult to get interestedin their individual plots. For example, I felt that Sawyer could have been more mysterious at the beginning, to pull you through to find out more. But I found his character quite flat & it wasn't until the middle of the story that he became more interesting.
By the end of the novel I felt that there was something missing. Whether it was lack of character development or the end that seems to just fizzle out, I'm not sure. But I look forward to seeing more Jeff Carlson nooksin the future as I think he has the potential to be great. I enjoyed the hard science & his viewpoint of how civilisation would collapse & be re-built, albeitin little pockets, was extremely thought-provoking.
