Vostok by Steven Alten {Book Review}

Genre: Science Fiction Thriller
Pages: 416
Rating: 2.5 out of 5, rounded to a 3 for review site purposes

East Antarctica: The coldest, most desolate location on Earth. Two-and-a-half miles below the ice cap is Vostok, a six thousand square mile liquid lake, over a thousand feet deep, left untouched for more than 15 million years. Now, marine biologist Zachary Wallace and two other scientists aboard a submersible tethered to a laser will journey 13,000 feet beneath the ice into this unexplored realm to discover Mesozoic life forms long believed extinct – and an object of immense power responsible for the evolution of modern man.

In this sequel to The Loch and prequel to the upcoming MEG 5: Nightstalkers, New York Times best-selling author Steve Alten offers readers a crossover novel that combines characters from two of his most popular series.

I had a really difficult time rating this one. I wanted to be as fair as possible so I felt that straight down the middle was the best option.

I didn’t hate the book, but I didn’t love it.

I didn’t necessary like the book, but I didn’t completely dislike it either.

Confused? So am I.

We start the story off with Zachary at home with his wife and son. In my opinion, it started very slowly.

We know that Zachary is a scientist and that he alone killed the tourist industry (along with his family industry) when he killed the Loch Ness “monster”.

Not a whole lot happens when all of a sudden, there are scientists from Antarctica seeking Zachary’s assistance in researching Lake Vostok. As in actually going under miles of ice into a lake that hasn’t been accessed in millions of years.

He refuses, but his father – who we learned earlier on is really a not so great man – pretty much tricks his way into getting money and Zachary signing on to this little experiment in Antarctica.

Honestly, I was bored until the day that Zachary, the Dr and the ‘sub’ pilot began their trek.

What was found in Lake Vostok, what they encounter – fast action, suspense – I couldn’t put it down (and fell asleep with the book in my hands a few times!)

The time spent in Lake Vostok was by far, my favorite part of the entire book.

Unfortunately, after the suspense and action, I found myself lost again.

I personally had a really hard time with a lot of the language being used. I felt quite dumb really.

And while I say I was lost – I don’t necessarily mean that in a negative way.

I sort of understood what was happening, but it was jumpy. If you got lost on any point, it was hard to find your way back through.

I am not sure if I would categorize this as science based beliefs or spiritual based beliefs or both, but I felt that I had a good understanding of what was happening.

All in all, if you can get passed the scientific terminology and the slowness of the beginning and about three quarters of the way through – it was a good read.

It wasn’t a book necessary in my ‘niche’ but it was a book that I kept telling hubby he would really like. It was a science-y nerdy type topic that I think would hold his attention a lot longer than mine.

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About the Author

Steve Alten is the New York Times and International bestselling author of fourteen novels, including the MEG series about Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 100,000 pound prehistoric cousin of the Great White shark and Domain trilogy, a series about the Mayan Calendar’s 2012 doomsday prophecy. His work has been published in over 30 countries and is being used in thousands of middle and high school curriculum as part of Adopt-An-Author, a free teen reading program, which he founded with teachers back in 1999.