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Viravax #2
Burn
When the world's most devastating artificial virus, GenoVax, is created in 2015, the entire human race faces painful destruction after the virus, which makes people feel as if they are burning to death, is released. Reprint.
- GenresScience Fiction
Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 31, 2014
Sometimes you just need to read some poorly written crap to remind yourself what artistry really looks like. One of the worst books I've ever struggled through.
August 19, 2020
This was the unusual book that started off pretty awful but grew on me by the end. I started reading it 3 or 4 times and just couldn't make heads nor tails of what was going on, but once I accepted that there were just going to be confusing loose ends until the author hopefully tied them in, I soldiered on this time. Eventually, it became clear that this book is the sequel to Ransom's 'Viravax', which I've not read and was not aware of going into it, so I would definitely recommend reading that one first, as it might cause some of those loose ends to be continuations rather than new threads.
Ransom does recap most of the events of 'Viravax' which is also the name of a genetic research facility in Central America, and it appears something sinister has come from this facility that is causing people to spontaneously combust. Somehow, it falls to the children of each of Viravax's two lead researchers, plus an additional scientist, to figure out what's going on. Somehow, these 3 people survive 2 plane crashes, which aren't part of this book, so they must have happened at the end of 'Viravax', but since one of the researchers is dead and another missing, how anyone knows that the teenagers and their scientist friend are important is beyond me. Plus, the one kid is the granddaughter of the U.S. Secretary of State and was flying both planes when they crashed. It was just weird.
To be honest, I really think Ransom would have done better to make 'Viravax' and 'Burn' one long book because he doesn't do a good enough job in the beginning of the book explaining who everyone is and how they fit together. Eventually, I got enough of the backstory and later events built upon earlier events in this book such that by the end, it turned out I enjoyed it quite a bit. Took about half the book to get to that point though.
Ransom does recap most of the events of 'Viravax' which is also the name of a genetic research facility in Central America, and it appears something sinister has come from this facility that is causing people to spontaneously combust. Somehow, it falls to the children of each of Viravax's two lead researchers, plus an additional scientist, to figure out what's going on. Somehow, these 3 people survive 2 plane crashes, which aren't part of this book, so they must have happened at the end of 'Viravax', but since one of the researchers is dead and another missing, how anyone knows that the teenagers and their scientist friend are important is beyond me. Plus, the one kid is the granddaughter of the U.S. Secretary of State and was flying both planes when they crashed. It was just weird.
To be honest, I really think Ransom would have done better to make 'Viravax' and 'Burn' one long book because he doesn't do a good enough job in the beginning of the book explaining who everyone is and how they fit together. Eventually, I got enough of the backstory and later events built upon earlier events in this book such that by the end, it turned out I enjoyed it quite a bit. Took about half the book to get to that point though.
June 23, 2015
I read this quite a few years ago, but didn't realize at the time that it was a sequel, so I didn't enjoy the book the first time around.
I've just now finished a re-read, but this time I was prepared, and actually read the first book (Viravax) before going back to its sequel, Burn. And now the story makes sense.
So, a warning: this book will make very little sense if you don't read Viravax first. I'm frankly surprised in hindsight that I finished this the first time around.
In this book, the virus developed by the Viravax corporation (owned by the religious group known as the Children of Eden) is released, and able to infect the public. Infection means that you die a horrible death, with your body's cells basically melting into a rancid stench before engulfing into a self-immolating blue flame.
Much better action this time around, but still the clunkiness persists. I strongly recommend you read the books one after the other, because there are so many references here to the first book that you'll want to be sure you remember all of the details. But the timelines are skewed. Some of this book exists in a parallel timeline to the original, so events that already took place in book 1 are repeated here, but through the viewpoint of a different character this time around. In fact, I was sure that a large chunk of one chapter was actually copied and pasted from the first book, with only a few changes. In all other cases, however, the re-telling of an event was through fresh eyes, so it wasn't too dull to go through once more.
Slightly better than the first book, the chapters in this book don't seem to jump too far ahead. There is always an indefinite period of time that elapses when you end one chapter and begin another, but it's less jerky this time (although far from perfect).
The strongest complaint about this book is that once again the reader inhabits the thoughts of a different character in each chapter, and details are given to you in that manner, by listening in as the characters thinks about things. There are more action scenes in this book, so it's better than the first one, but there are also many times when it bogs down as you're stuck in the head of some character.
2.5 stars for this one... a bit better than the previous, and an interesting story if you can get through 2 somewhat flawed books to absorb it all. If you have already finished Viravax, then you've already invested enough to make it more than worth your while to also read Burn, as it does complete the overall story quite nicely.
I've just now finished a re-read, but this time I was prepared, and actually read the first book (Viravax) before going back to its sequel, Burn. And now the story makes sense.
So, a warning: this book will make very little sense if you don't read Viravax first. I'm frankly surprised in hindsight that I finished this the first time around.
In this book, the virus developed by the Viravax corporation (owned by the religious group known as the Children of Eden) is released, and able to infect the public. Infection means that you die a horrible death, with your body's cells basically melting into a rancid stench before engulfing into a self-immolating blue flame.
Much better action this time around, but still the clunkiness persists. I strongly recommend you read the books one after the other, because there are so many references here to the first book that you'll want to be sure you remember all of the details. But the timelines are skewed. Some of this book exists in a parallel timeline to the original, so events that already took place in book 1 are repeated here, but through the viewpoint of a different character this time around. In fact, I was sure that a large chunk of one chapter was actually copied and pasted from the first book, with only a few changes. In all other cases, however, the re-telling of an event was through fresh eyes, so it wasn't too dull to go through once more.
Slightly better than the first book, the chapters in this book don't seem to jump too far ahead. There is always an indefinite period of time that elapses when you end one chapter and begin another, but it's less jerky this time (although far from perfect).
The strongest complaint about this book is that once again the reader inhabits the thoughts of a different character in each chapter, and details are given to you in that manner, by listening in as the characters thinks about things. There are more action scenes in this book, so it's better than the first one, but there are also many times when it bogs down as you're stuck in the head of some character.
2.5 stars for this one... a bit better than the previous, and an interesting story if you can get through 2 somewhat flawed books to absorb it all. If you have already finished Viravax, then you've already invested enough to make it more than worth your while to also read Burn, as it does complete the overall story quite nicely.
June 23, 2015
Gotta quit reading into a series until I've read book 1 first. I really didn't think this was that great. I've got ViraVax now (but didn't have it when I read Burn). I will read it sometime, but was put off enough that it will take some time before I get to it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews