| | |  | Amazon Kindle | Home » » » Containment | | | | | | | Description: | | As Earth's ability to support human life begins to diminish at an alarming rate, the Global Space Agency is formed with a single mandate: protect humanity from extinction by colonizing the solar system as quickly as possible. Venus, being almost the same mass as Earth, is chosen over Mars as humanity’s first permanent steppingstone into the universe.
Arik Ockley is part of the first generation to be born and raised off-Earth. After a puzzling accident, Arik wakes up to find that his wife is almost three months pregnant. Since the colony’s environmental systems cannot safely support any increases in population, Arik immediately resumes his work on AP, or artificial photosynthesis, in order to save the life of his unborn child. Arik’s new and frantic research uncovers startling truths about the planet, and about the distorted reality the founders of the colony have constructed for Arik’s entire generation. Everything Arik has ever known is called into question, and he must figure out the right path for himself, his wife, and his unborn daughter. | | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 414 reviews |
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Average Customer Review:
 ( 414 customer reviews )
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172 of 186 found the following review helpful:
 Proving that writing a short, tight story is not a lost artApr 12, 2010
By A. Scott
Mr. Cantrell has written a very tight story with Containment. The characters are believable. The references to modern science are accurate (at least the ones in my field were) and insightful. I felt like I was given just enough to connect with the main character and to understand his connection (or lack thereof) to the world around him. There was no extraneous fluff in this story which was appropriate for a tale about a space colony surviving on the bare necessities. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and started downloading more of his work as soon as I finished this piece.
157 of 177 found the following review helpful:
Comparable to AsimovApr 05, 2010
By Jason Jackson
"Jason Jackson"
I would compare Cantrell to Asimov in style and substance, which is high praise. Containment contains several of the key ingredients of classic science fiction. The technology, the people, the plot within a plot within a plot, and the questioning of what is real all made me feel like I was reading the work of an up-and-coming scifi genius. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good scifi read.
104 of 117 found the following review helpful:
ABCs of Science Fiction: Asimov, Bradbury, CantrellMar 22, 2010
By Karen P. Oswalt
"ko13"
Just finished Containment and thoroughly enjoyed it! A first rate book with a riveting plot. Christian Cantrell's writing and storytelling are so polished, I'd rate it every bit as good as Asimov or Bradbury. This book is so interesting and very suspenseful. Although I'm "known" for guessing endings, the twist was a complete surprise. The clues were all there, I just didn't put them together. That's really refreshing. Except for work-sleep-eat, I couldn't put this book down. It's fast paced and gripping. You'll love it!
74 of 84 found the following review helpful:
 Too smart for his own good yet.Sep 13, 2010
By J. Burke
"jcburke1"
This author, Cantrell, took a very interesting idea for a plot and extended it into a potentially captivating story line with neat tech, a good dilemma, and likable and interesting characters, but then was overcome by his experience in IT: too many words that are not "action" and do not directly sustain the pace of the story. For instance he spends 4+ pages describing a new computer interface (replaces the mouse, keyboard, etc.) that, while related to plot nuance, did not require a full historic review of more than 1/4th this text. Likewise several chapters on the history of Space Exploration and Colonization. Also he tends to describe "about what happened" instead of actually running the active scene so we can directly experience it. Whoever compared him to Asimov should go back and reread Asimov, he was all about actually "running the scene" so a reader could live it directly. While a fine communicator, Cantrell needs to learn forget most of the background filler and trust his skills to write each moment as it happens. The best author examples of this are Iain Banks and Larry Niven, both pull you excitingly through new tech and surroundings via the action as it unfolds. Cantrell needs better editors who push him to cut the chatter and deliver the electricity of the action.
58 of 67 found the following review helpful:
 Very Disappointing ConclusionMay 25, 2010
By Jason Reedy
To begin, I guess I would say that I was surprised at all of the very highly ranked reviews out there. Many of the reviews talk about how well the story is written, how tightly the plot is woven, and the overall quality of the science fiction. However, the book doesn't end, and this left me feeling cheated that I had committed time to reading a book without a conclusion. In fact, the ending came so quickly that I thought the Kindle edition must have been missing sections that appeared in the print version. It just didn't seem plausible to me that an editor would allow a book to be submitted without it being finished. The best analogy I can think of, would be reading a Sherlock Holmes novel in which Homes states to Watson that the conclusion is "elementary", and then the book ends, leaving the reader to figure out how the crime was actually committed.
This feeling of abruptness started to occur about halfway through the book, right at the same time as the plot starts to grab you. As mentioned in several other reviews, there are several very interesting twists, and they are all very compelling. The reader finds themselves with lots of questions, and trying to figure out what is happening. However, there is one plot twist which is illogical, considering that the main characters are all a group of scientists, who have been extensively studying their environment and performing experiments for the past twenty years. I don't want to give away any surprises from the book, but basically there is something different about the characters' environment which should be glaringly obvious to any individual who is a scientist, and is doing regular testing on their environment. It is sort of like the main character being told that it never rains outside, although they know what rain is, what it looks like, and what happens after it rains (i.e. things get wet). And yet, every day when they go outside to check their experiment, they can't help but notice that the ground and everything in their experiment is wet, as if from a recent rainfall. If it were later revealed in the book that it actually rains every day, you would be aggravated at why the main character didn't notice this years ago. The main plot twist in the book left me feeling this way as well, precisely because the main character is able to verify the difference so quickly, and it should have been apparent in experiments he and his colleagues have been performing for years.
It is very sad, because I was really enjoying this book, but then started to be bothered by the questions weren't being answered by the story. There is no mention of a sequel, and honestly I would be hard pressed to pick up another book by this author, let alone the next book in the series. One of the worst sins in writing that an author can make is to forget his audience, and unfortunately I think that happened with this story. Many reviewers who read this book sounded as if they were very satisfied. I am surprised by this, but respect their point of view. But those of you out there who feel as if you would get aggravated if you were watching a great movie and then had to leave ten minutes before the ending, may feel cheated. ("No Luke, I am your..." whoops! Time to go!)
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