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Zero World Jason M Hough Books

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Zero World Jason M Hough Books

Disclaimer: I happen to know Jason Hough personally as an acquaintance.

I was very excited to dig into Zero World after having read his previous trilogy that started with Darwin's Elevator. Like his previous works, Jason demonstrates in Zero World a talent for steady, thoughtful character development, building a suspenseful story arc (usually several interlinked), and punctuating it all with quick action scenes that don't drag down the plot.

I read it with absolutely no knowledge of the storyline and came away delighted -- and eager for more (semi-spoiler, the story leaves the reader with threads continuing onto much bigger story, presumably over a couple of books). Plenty of other reviewers provide a decent enough plot synopsis, so I'll offer some comparisons instead:

Zero World has the basic plot of Vernor Venge's "Tatja Grimm's World" (with a better twist and a better ending) combined with both the commando-level action scenes and the solid character development of John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" (or maybe more like "Ghost Brigade"). Despite the comparisons, Zero World is it's own book. The character's motivations, for me, were completely reasonable and the main protagonists had moments of fear and concern yet they maintained composure in crazy situations. Many sci-fi action stories that I've read seem to degrade down to either "who has the biggest guns" contest or "the antagonist has an unbidden epiphany or undisclosed skill that saves the day". Boring! Hough does a great job at foreshadowing enough that everything that comes up seems reasonable. Early into the book, you know the characters well enough. They aren't complex, but they are complete and consistent. Important for me, they are allowed to change their minds as the plot throws new information at them.

Overall Zero World is a light read -- this plot does not plumb the depths of any major social issues or high-level sci-fi concepts, though Hough does a great job at imagining a world where many of our current social issues (racism, misogyny, etc) are better managed than in the real world and the tech tools and weapons he describes for his characters to use are completely acceptable and interesting.

My one pique with the book is perhaps a stylistic thing. A couple of times while reading, I had to backtrack to make sure I didn't miss something when, apparently, there was a sudden and inexplicable shift in either the scenery or the time of day, or both. Weird enough to notice, not bad enough to affect the story line. I feel like the problem is more in the editing; in many books, such mid-chapter jumps are usually indicated by some icon or other visual break. Not so here in Zero World.

That little problem was just enough for me to ponder the difference between 4 or 5 stars. I went with 5 because the story simply delighted me so much. I loved the plot twist in the middle of the book (because suddenly a whole new set of plot arcs opened) and I especially loved both the main protagonists. The bond they form during their encounters starts out contrived -- because hey, sci-fi novel -- but ends up being endearing and the perspective they provide to give the reader a real sense of the world(s) was nicely done. Well done, overall, so 5 stars.


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Zero World Jason M Hough Books Reviews

This was a good read and a new science fiction direction for me. I though Hough wrote a tight, fast paced story about parallel worlds that kept me listening way into the wee hours of the morning when I should have been asleep. I appreciate Hough's take on the parallel universe theory and instead, uses parallel worlds. Very fascinating! His characters are believable and the ending will truly catch you by surprise. I hope for more stories about these characters.
I started with the free sample of this book because I have been burned by multiple books that are rated very well on but I find to be boring, or just plain terrible. The free sample covers the first 3 chapters and as soon as I was finished I bought the rest of the book. The pace is very steady, and the author does not spend an excessive amount of time describing each scene which I prefer. I much rather be given a basic description of a scene in the book and make up the rest in my head as I read.

You will lose sleep over this book. The first night I bought it I had to force myself to stop reading so I would get enough sleep.

This book is also not one of the endless supply of military or end of the world science fiction books that seem to have over populated the science fiction section of .

Highly Recommend.
This was a 5-star story except for the last page. I was disappointed enough in the ending to drop this evaluation by one increment. That said, I still recommend it. And, I'll say, I sincerely hope Mr. Hough writes a sequel that may, if done as well as this book was done (up to the ending) render this single criticism moot. In every other way I loved this story. The parallel universe application is different than any other I've read. The other world in which most of the story takes place is uniquely designed/constructed and it's people are wonderfully different...human but not homosapien. The main character is someone who should not be liked...but has some characteristics that make him at least somewhat redeemable and make reading about him interesting. The second main character is a strong, smart, failable, resourceful, brave, persistent, engaging and thoroughly admirable woman. Kind of like my wife of 47 years in many ways (though younger and alien). I judge a book by several criteria. One, how difficult is it to put down to do the many other things I do each day. This one was very hard to put aside and got more of my time over the past 3 days than 75% of the books I have read previously. Two, did I like the characters? Yup! Three, within it's genre was it believable? Absolutely. Four, was the story interesting, well paced and did it hold together without unrelated tangents and meaningless dialog? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Five, was it properly edited? Yup, no spelling errors, incorrect word use, etc. And, finally, does the ending bring closure or at least, in a book that is part of a series, allow the current story to finish even as it leaves a path for the next installment. This book ends very abruptly, without grace or closure. And it BEGS for a sequel that isn't available at nor hinted about in the Acknowledgments. So, Mr. Hough, you have a ready customer if such a book is forthcoming. (Please)
Disclaimer I happen to know Jason Hough personally as an acquaintance.

I was very excited to dig into Zero World after having read his previous trilogy that started with Darwin's Elevator. Like his previous works, Jason demonstrates in Zero World a talent for steady, thoughtful character development, building a suspenseful story arc (usually several interlinked), and punctuating it all with quick action scenes that don't drag down the plot.

I read it with absolutely no knowledge of the storyline and came away delighted -- and eager for more (semi-spoiler, the story leaves the reader with threads continuing onto much bigger story, presumably over a couple of books). Plenty of other reviewers provide a decent enough plot synopsis, so I'll offer some comparisons instead

Zero World has the basic plot of Vernor Venge's "Tatja Grimm's World" (with a better twist and a better ending) combined with both the commando-level action scenes and the solid character development of John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" (or maybe more like "Ghost Brigade"). Despite the comparisons, Zero World is it's own book. The character's motivations, for me, were completely reasonable and the main protagonists had moments of fear and concern yet they maintained composure in crazy situations. Many sci-fi action stories that I've read seem to degrade down to either "who has the biggest guns" contest or "the antagonist has an unbidden epiphany or undisclosed skill that saves the day". Boring! Hough does a great job at foreshadowing enough that everything that comes up seems reasonable. Early into the book, you know the characters well enough. They aren't complex, but they are complete and consistent. Important for me, they are allowed to change their minds as the plot throws new information at them.

Overall Zero World is a light read -- this plot does not plumb the depths of any major social issues or high-level sci-fi concepts, though Hough does a great job at imagining a world where many of our current social issues (racism, misogyny, etc) are better managed than in the real world and the tech tools and weapons he describes for his characters to use are completely acceptable and interesting.

My one pique with the book is perhaps a stylistic thing. A couple of times while reading, I had to backtrack to make sure I didn't miss something when, apparently, there was a sudden and inexplicable shift in either the scenery or the time of day, or both. Weird enough to notice, not bad enough to affect the story line. I feel like the problem is more in the editing; in many books, such mid-chapter jumps are usually indicated by some icon or other visual break. Not so here in Zero World.

That little problem was just enough for me to ponder the difference between 4 or 5 stars. I went with 5 because the story simply delighted me so much. I loved the plot twist in the middle of the book (because suddenly a whole new set of plot arcs opened) and I especially loved both the main protagonists. The bond they form during their encounters starts out contrived -- because hey, sci-fi novel -- but ends up being endearing and the perspective they provide to give the reader a real sense of the world(s) was nicely done. Well done, overall, so 5 stars.