Mother of Storms: Amazon.ca: John Barnes: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

This futuristic disaster novel by the author of A Million Open Doors opens in the year 2028, when a preemptive missile strike releases billions of tons of methane trapped in the ocean floor. The resultant atmospheric heat spawns massive supernatural hurricanes that ravage the world's coastlands and claim millions of lives. The only hope of salvation rests with astronaut Louie Tynan--who has become superintelligent, perhaps superhuman, through a computer system linked to his mind--and his desperate plan to shield the earth from the sun until it can cool. Along the way, a well-drawn cast play various roles in combatting the escalating crisis: a canny female U.S. President, an opportunistic capitalist, a spunky journalist et al. Barnes maintains a breakneck pace even while loading his narrative with vital briefings on hurricane formation, information processing and the physics of space travel; some of his speculations, in fact, are breathtaking. This winning blend of gripping thrilller and dazzling SF should establish Barnes as one of the most able and impressive of SF's rising stars.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

When a tactical nuclear strike releases massive amounts of methane from the North Pacific's ocean beds, global weather patterns transform the entire ocean surface into a massive spawning ground for hurricanes. As perpetual storms threaten to decimate Earth's population, politicians, scientists, and visionaries grope for solutions while ordinary people struggle to stay alive. In the best tradition of disaster novels, Barnes (Orbital Resonance, LJ 9/1/92; A Million Open Doors, LJ 10/15/91) juggles multiple plot lines as he builds to the grand finale. Compellingly orchestrated and filled with fascinating bits of weather lore, this novel will have broad appeal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
This is the good part. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

23 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining SF book with some novel ideas, Nov 6 2007

By

Aeneas - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Mother of Storms (Paperback)

A friend suggested this book to read for a bit of relaxation and I wasn't disappointed. Though it starts a bit slow in order to introduce all the myriad characters, it builds up steam and does quite well to keep the attention there. Some of the scenario is not unlike the movie "The day after tomorrow", as the key element is a global superstorm, which effects the whole world, sparing no place.

John Barnes must have gone to a great deal of research as the scenario with massive amount of methane being released from the ocean floor is not so far fetched, as research in the last few years have shown the potentially devastating effect on the climate that this can have. I also liked his take on mass entertainment of the future, where people can plug in to a 3D type reality show, where the audience can experience all the emotions and sensations that the actors go through. Some novel ideas in there and some pretty creepy situations too.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining SF book with some novel ideas, Nov 6 2007

By

Aeneas - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Mother of Storms (Paperback)

A friend suggested this book to read for a bit of relaxation and I wasn't disappointed. Though it starts a bit slow in order to introduce all the myriad characters, it builds up steam and does quite well to keep the attention there. Some of the scenario is not unlike the movie "The day after tomorrow", as the key element is a global superstorm, which effects the whole world, sparing no place.

John Barnes must have gone to a great deal of research as the scenario with massive amount of methane being released from the ocean floor is not so far fetched, as research in the last few years have shown the potentially devastating effect on the climate that this can have. I also liked his take on mass entertainment of the future, where people can plug in to a 3D type reality show, where the audience can experience all the emotions and sensations that the actors go through. Some novel ideas in there and some pretty creepy situations too.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

3.0 out of 5 stars Mainstream SF, Sep 13 2003

By

David W Sparks (Huntsville, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mother of Storms (Paperback)

Looking at reviews of other John Barnes books, it seems as though reviewers can't write three sentences without invoking Robert Heinlein's name, as in "Barnes continues in the vein of..." or "Writing in the spirit of...". Interestingly for this novel, Barnes has cast aside his +5 Mantle of Robert Heinlein and is instead channeling Greg Bear.

Just as in most of Greg Bear's books (such as "Blood Music", "Slant" and "Darwin's Radio") Barnes' tale presents us with a bevy of characters confronted with a looming crisis who are affected by it in different personal ways. Story threads featuring the President, a nervy reporter, the Astronaut, a college student and a Porn Star are thrown at the reader. ("Slant" had most of these, including the Porn Star.)

Often, these story threads intersect. Will the college student meet the Porn Star? Will the Porn Star meet the President? Are the President and the Astronaut star-crossed lovers? (Yes, Yes, and thankfully, No.)

Barnes' strength appears to be in building interesting, internally consistent and plausible worlds. The "device" for this book is XV. XV is like TV, but for your brain. Just plug in and feel what others are feeling. Apparently, this is a wonderful way to sustain a world-wide riot.

For the hard-SF crowd, the book picks up in the middle with computer-brain interfaces leading to Metaphysical Problems of the Self. But I think that this pushes the final portion of the book into metaphysical gobbledygook, making the ending a bit of an anticlimax.

The brisk pacing of the book makes it hard to put down, which makes for good beach reading. I only wish that the ending had more punch.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 23 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 31 reviews 3.5 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars weather and disaster go together!
This story starts a little too slowly for me. The real action begins at about one third of the book. However, I learned a good deal on weather patterns. Read more

Published on April 7 2003 by C. Campagna

5.0 out of 5 stars Father of Posthumanity
On the surface, "Mother of Storms" is basically a book about a global ecological disaster, a calamity novel along the lines of "Lucifer's Hammer" or "The Forge of God", in which... Read more