I recently finished reading The Swarm which is a very nicely written “Novel of the Deep” by Frank Schätzing. This was one of the books my girlfriend handed to me, telling me I would probably like it. At the beginning I was rather sceptical because I don’t read that much in my time off. It pretty much comes down to two 30 minute train trips a day that are frequently cut down to 20 minutes because I get distracted or have to change trains running. With the paperback featuring 881 pages, it gave me the immediate impression that this will be the book I might be reading for the next 2 months.
My initial impression was not that far off, in fact it was more like two and a half months. But contrary to my prior experiences involving literature this heavy, this novel not only managed to keep me interested but got me reading while walking from the subway station to my flat which is way to go knowing my reading habits.
Schätzing really knows how to build up suspension and keep it on a high level while simultaneously describing is characters, their thoughts and profiles in great detail. So even when he goes on to discuss the family problems of his characters that don’t have a major impact on the story you are absolutely spellbound. Another thing that clearly helps keeping you bound is the fact that it becomes clear in the course of the story that not all is going to end well and not everyone is going to have a big party after everything is over. While this is true for most books Schätzing does not merely sacrifice the character that came on 2 pages ago just to keep the story credible but accepts that some of the major characters have to be sacrificed during the course of the story to keep it from being a classic fairy tail. Contrary to fairy tales not all the characters die in a last heroic act of self sacrifice but sometimes simply happen to be in the wrong place at a bad time.
All in all a book I can definitely recommend.
After reading this I think I should gief! you all the books I want to read and wait 3 months so I can read a resume on your blog an decide if I really want to read those books. I think I’d really do if it wasn’t for you being such a slow reader. But if that ever ever changes you will probably drown in a amount of books you didn’t think someone might be willing to haul from the librery to our flat without a car and a lift, just for a resume…but since you know me, maybe you wouldn’t be too surprised. =)
I liked that book a lot. In my eyes Schätzing’s approach in doing research for a story and then mixing his results with all aspects of a classical tech-thriller is quite similar to Michael Crichton works. I can warmly recommend ‘State of Fear’, ‘Next’ or ‘Timeline’ by Crichton. And there is another german novelist you could check out. Andreas Eschbach. Similar style. I will like it. His latest story ‘Ausgebrannt’ is playing around with the idea of getting out of oil and it implications on the whole connected world. I have read it shortly and loved the insights.