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    Project Emergence
    Project Emergence
    Project Emergence
    Ebook304 pages9 hours

    Project Emergence

    By Jamie Zakian

    2.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    An ancient Hopi myth says people arrived on tiny silver pods that fell from the sky.

    But the truth is far more terrifying.

    258 teens are sent from a dying Earth to a terraformed Mars as part of the Emergence Program, mankind's last hope before solar flares finish off their planet and species. Among the brave pioneers are 16-year-old Joey Westen and her twin brother, Jesse.

    After only minutes in space, something triggers a total ship lockdown.

    With the help of their roommates, the Matsuda twins (notorious hackers and shady secret-keepers), Joey and Jesse stumble onto an extremist plot to sabotage the Emergence Program.

    But Joey and Jesse didn't travel to the deepest pits of space and leave their mother behind to be picked off in a high-tech tin can. They'll lie, hack, and even kill to survive the voyage and make it to Mars.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIndependent Publishers Group
    Release dateMar 14, 2017
    ISBN9781945107979
    Project Emergence

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    Reviews for Project Emergence

    2.5/5

    19 ratings9 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I have tried to read this, over and over - I just can't. The base concept (Mars colonization because Earth is dying) might be neat, but it's pretty old; the dialog, description, and writing in general would be quite good...for a high school student. It's not ready for publication. And the reason for the sudden pressure is...just stupid. If it's that important, why pull in someone who's basically shown she's a good fighter (but not good at following orders, taking orders, or leading) to manage? It's great for the plot, not so good in terms of suspension of disbelief. I never got to the takeoff, so I have no idea what happens on the trip. I read the very end, which is...also highly unlikely. Either there's been some magic on Mars or they end up going someplace very different...and I'm not willing to subject myself to the writing to find out. Yuck.
    • 3/5
      Project Emergence is about a group of teenagers who are selected to leave earth as it is about to be destroyed and start a new civilization on Mars. There are many secrets and surprises about the teenagers on the ship and the reasons they were selected for this mission. There is also a stowaway on board determined to sabotage the ship. The teens must work together to survive long enough to make it to Mars. I thought Project Emergence was okay. The story was full of action and the characters were fairly likeable. I don't think they were particularly were particularly well developed and the writing was sometimes clunky. While I found the story and characters interesting, for some reason this book didn't grab me. For me it was just a fair read. I was provided with a copy of the book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review through the early reviewers program.
    • 3/5
      The blurb makes this book sound much better than it really is, which is a shame. I was hoping for the ancient Hopi myth, but oh well. Two sets of twins on a spaceship going to Mars soon realize someone is trying to sabotage their journey. Can they go to Mars and save their dying species?This book is not well-written, which is a shame. It could have been epic, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I enjoyed the book overall, but it was tedious to actually read the whole thing. It seems like a first draft. The author has potential.
    • 3/5
      A pleasant, easy read. I found the writing clunky at times, and the characters were inconsistent. There were also too many romantic liaisons, often unrealistic. The ending was a let down, a bit anticlimactic. Needs better editing and further narrative development to make the story more consistent (and the characters).
    • 2/5
      Premise looked interesting. Really too bad that it was such a weak story. It's like expecting a chunky soup, and getting warmed water. It was a big bore reading it. All teenagers are basically same teenager, but with one or 2 traits added on. Over half of book is about kissing and potential liaisons. If i flipped 10 pages a time, plot may have advanced a few minutes. They almost always react the same. Only different people are adults and villain. In fact, I got confused with who is who at points because of this.Villain was so poorly written and just so bad that I cringed at points. "Heroes" isn't any better.World building was very poorly done. I was thinking what the heck is they saving O2 for? Theres whole atmosphere of it! Only MUCH later that they reveal that flare wiped some of atmosphere and even with that, there is plenty plot holes, like one girl surviving seriously damaged and ripped rad suit when there is apparently no atmosphere. And what happened to water? Water + power = H and yes, O, which would attach with another O to make O2. Other very bad plot hole is how badly they managed third space launch after first 2 was blown up by terrorists. Essentially, they make no changes besides sending one Captain in, unprepared, within one day.Rest of problems: "Your", "Flex capacitor", "low frequency laptop works when high frequency is jammed".I was thinking that this might be teenager novel, but nope. Give this a pass, even for teenager because it sucks.
    • 2/5
      The idea beneath this book is interesting, and I think that if a good editor will work on it there could come a great result. But the present plot is too weak. Keep in mind that even there is a science fiction background, the book should be classified as "young adults", which is fine. But there are glaring holes in the plot. [SPOILERS] Why all the piloting crew follow the Earthisum credo? Why Sally, who started as a strong character, somehow got lost in the plot? How come there are no communication at all with the Earth in general or U.N.E. in particular, except at the very end when Rai hacks it? I was also annoyed by Zakian's writing style. Having a paragraph which runs for four lines was a miracle; the text was most dialogues, without actual descriptions. Last, the end of the book was really lame. I can stand an open ending which hints at a sequel, but in this case it seems that even some major subplot was lost somewhere between Earth and Mars.
    • 3/5
      "Project Emergence" by Jamie Zakian has promise. It's easy to read story with potential for the Young Adult market. It has some plot twists but over all the story is a little clunky and really could do with a good edit. The ending was a little disappointing. It's okay.
    • 1/5
      This reads like a rough draft and doesn't appear to have been edited to correct anything—not spelling, not grammar, not clarity of phrasing and certainly nothing as inconsequential as character inconsistencies or plot holes. The writing is clunky and routinely relies on cliches. I did read the whole thing, which I suppose says something about its potential. In the hands of a skillful writer, this could have been interesting.For a decent sized book, there is very little world building. The circumstances of this future Earth are vaguely defined and beyond that you get the feeling that the reader isn't supposed to ask any in depth questions beyond that barely sketched framework. The good news is that even though it weighs in at 292 pages (in e-book format), everything about it is so simplistic, you can just blow through it in a couple of hours without being forced to use your brain almost at all. In fact, it's probably better if you completely shut your brain off while reading this or you'll just be endlessly frustrated with a mounting pile of questions.In a far off future, the Earth is dying and the United Nations of Earth have been sending people to a terraformed Mars to continue the human race. In the first few chapters, we find out that while the government has been telling everyone on Earth that people have made it to Mars and are living happily, every spaceship that has launched so far has been sabotaged by radicals who believe that God doesn't want humans to abandon Earth. This will possibly be the last ship to ever leave Earth because a solar flare will probably kill everyone on the planet soon though the government is keeping that information a secret as well. Despite the fact that they are keenly aware of a terrorist attack on this spaceship, no one really prepares for a terrorist attack on the spaceship. The only person they bring in to prevent the issue is Captain Stone and she's only informed about the issue right before the launch so she has no time to research or prepare. Captain Stone is a "specialist" but it is never made clear exactly what she specializes in. Based on context clues, it may just being punching people in the face. Her specialization definitely isn't in defusing bombs, though, because that skill would have been way too useful. The other main characters are the teenage civilians the government is sending to reproduce on Mars, which makes it super weird that they hand selected a bunch of sets of twins. We're never given a super clear reason why the government chose to send so many twins into space but if they were aware this might be the last spaceship to leave Earth, it seems baffling that they didn't want to provide more genetic diversity for the sake of the species.The main villain is cartoonishly evil. He was never described as having a mustache and yet I still pictured him twirling a ridiculous, old time-y mustache while muttering to himself about his super-duper devious plot. Only the mustache part of that is a joke, by the way. He really does talk to himself in ominous hints while hiding out in shadowy places. Frequently. Luckily for our protagonists, no part of his plan is especially well thought out. A "twist" comes at the end that makes his entire existence irrelevant.A distracting amount of time is spent focusing on how all of the characters are trying to clumsily sex up every other character. I had a theory while reading that there was some drug in the food that was making them all super attracted to each other. I figured it made sense that since they are the only hope humankind has of continuing and the government is kind of shady, there would be somebody meddling with their hormones to make sure they went forth and multiplied. Apparently I was giving this book WAY too much credit. There's just heaps of romantic and sexual tension gracelessly shoved into every single interaction that doesn't involve two people who are related. It makes some sense for the teenage characters to have awkward romantic encounters but why are all the adult characters so confused by their own feelings? It's like the whole crew was kept in gender segregated prisons for their entire lives and this mission is the first time they've encountered the opposite sex. There wasn't a single interaction in this book between a female character and a male character that felt like a natural dialogue between two actual human beings.Its not just that the plot is littered with enough holes to rip the bottom off of your car. The prose is so bad, I actually laughed out loud in places. "Her patience skyrocketed beyond its limit" is one example. That was used to describe someone about to lose her temper. "Her frown hit maximum capacity" was another phrase that tickled me. At one point, the characters are throwing around some technobabble and actually use the phrase "flux capacitor". I also enjoyed descriptions such as "The pinkish hue of her cheeks was adorable. It left him yearning for a kiss, but...the timing." My favorite, though, was when some characters are wandering around the ship and one of them bumps into some pipes that are so hot they burn him. The other character says to him, "Ooh, watch out. Those pipes carry the coolant to the Stardrive's atomic core; they get pretty hot."Also, though it may be a small complaint given the much larger issues with the book, the character of Sally Boone really bothered me. When she is first introduced, we're treated to this brilliant piece of writing: "That thing, where every object in the peripheral fades out and all that's left is a woman in a tight white uniform happened, but in real life." She's in the medical bay, dressed in a sexy white uniform, speaking in cringeworthy stereotypical Southern phrases and everybody refers to her as "Ms. Boone." When she reappears several chapters later, everyone refers to her as "Dr. Boone" and all hints of her Southern-ness (and flirtatiousness) are gone. I certainly don't mind that the silly sexy nurse concept was dropped but it really bothered me that she was just suddenly a different character. On top of all that, I kept thinking they should have had more than one doctor on board if they were planning on starting a whole new civilization on Mars.When I started reading, I thought I'd rate it a 2 or a 3 because there were some cool concepts that peaked my interest but the completely inept writing was simply too frustrating to rate this book that high. Though I have to say, if this is ever made into a low budget movie, I will definitely see it. Provided it's as poorly thought out as the book, it will be enough of a train wreck to be hilarious.
    • 3/5
      "Project Emergence" is a decent read for the young adult market. There are various character types that many young adult readers could relate to. There is an equal balance of male and female heroism which makes the book attractive to both boys and girls. The plot, although futuristic, is reasonable with enough fantasy to keep it interesting. The plot is simple and exciting enough to keep readers engaged. It's not the most in depth story I've ever read, but it would be great for reading on a beach or for fun. There is quite a lot of flirtatiousness and sexual undertones between characters. As an adult I could do without, however younger readers may enjoy this.

    Book preview

    Project Emergence - Jamie Zakian

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