Book Review: The Human Race by O. C. Heaton

This is the Leeswammes’ Blog Officially Ugliest Book as voted by my readers. And I can tell you, I didn’t get used to it while reading the book, either. In fact, whenever I took a break from reading, I put the book down on its front cover so I didn’t have to look at it.

The book wasn’t a bad read. It was less in-your-face than the front cover might suggest. Part of it takes place in Iceland which I enjoyed a lot but overall, it was a bit too long-winded for me.

I read this book as part of my TBR Slash challenge which stated that I could stop reading at page 75 if I had had enough – I’m happy to say I read the whole book!

The Human Race: What it is about

Uma Jakobsdóttir has the secret to cheap travel that would save the world from a lot of CO2 output. She lives in Iceland when she continues the work of her deceased father. Ethan Rae is one of Britain’s richest investors and he is asked to finance her venture to distribute it all over the world.

There is one problem: in the wrong hands this would be a dangerous weapon. Enter the wrong hands: Samuel Reynolds III, heir to an airline in financial distress. He stops at nothing to get hold of this new technology.

Soon, Uma and Ethan’s lives are in danger as the battle is fought in Iceland and New York.

The Human Race: What I thought

I enjoyed reading this book overall, especially the scenes in Iceland, as I’ve been there myself and I’m fascinated by the country. In fact, I loved the scenes in the Blue Lagoon! They were the best part of the book for me.

There was a mist hanging over the warm waters of the Blue Lagoon and it was night, so the sky was dark. Not much could be seen and then a body floats towards Ethan in the water. I’m not revealing much here, just that it was very suspenseful.

Some of the book was rather technical: there were explanations of physics and environmental politics, as well as computer hacking. I didn’t mind these, but they took too much of the story, I thought. But the same is true for the rest of the book: it was a bit too long for me.

The Blue Lagoon scenes really made the book interesting for me, as well as the scenes in the interior of the country, but otherwise, I found this book just-interesting-enough to finish.

Rating: 3.5/5

I got this book: from the author in a giveaway

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 440

First published: 2009

Genre: science fiction, contemporary fiction