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    Containment
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    Containment
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    Containment
    Audiobook8 hours

    Containment

    Written by Christian Cantrell

    Narrated by William Dufris

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Audio
    Release dateJun 30, 2011
    ISBN9781452673554
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Containment

    3.5/5

    130 ratings13 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I bought this book based on my understanding it was a classic Science Fiction story. I was able to get through only the first few chapters before losing interest. This seems to be the case when I try to read the Sci-Fi classics. Is this because I am older with more mature taste in literature? Is it because I am jaded after years of fast-paced Sci-Fi movies? I am not sure, although I lean toward the latter.
    • 3/5
      "Containment" is one of the most cerebral novels I've read in a long, long time. The joy of the novel is in defining and resolving problems of planetary colonization. On a more basic level, the novel describes how to think both creatively and scientifically. I'm not a scientist, but the physics appear to be quite solid and well-founded. For this accomplishment, and its rarity, the novel deserves four stars.

      Switching to the right side of my brain, no --- wait --- the left is not finished: The plot is also commendable, with enjoyable twists and puzzles that rival other four-star novels. And, the writing was unobtrusive, if not inspired.

      Okay. The right hemisphere speaks: all those explanations (pages and pages) were inserted throughout the story in a way that interfered with the story's flow, strangling actual action and dialogue. The events and revelation should have been highly dramatic, but weren't -- for me. Actually, I'm a bit upset about that. Cerebral (even non-human) characters can evoke empathy, and tears. With all the intelligence in this novel, further study on character development, creative prose, and sparkling dialogue, could have made this novel top notch. I don't mean to sound harsh. This is a good read for the scientifically curious. I'm glad I picked it up.
    • 5/5
      This book is a "sleeper". I serendipitously picked it off the scifi shelf at my public library, and was pleasantly surprised as I read it. Cantrell weaves a fascinating little story, in traditional scifi fashion, and in the tradition of young people saving the world. Enough twists and turns to keep you interested. I'll buy this and give it to my grandson for his 15th birthday.
    • 3/5
      The story was moderately interesting. The prose could use a lot of livening up. It was far too descriptive, and often read like a science article. The author would be well advised to avoid using this style too frequently, and should try to be a bit more creative in blending the science with the story, such that the explanation of the principles are more implicit than explicit.
    • 4/5
      When Arik Ockley wakes up in a hospital after being rescued from a serious "outside" accident, his life is suddenly turned upside down when he begins to use his genius-like high-tech skills to uncover a well hidden secret that the founders of A1 (a geodesic dome style containment on the planet Venus) have been harboring for decades. To Arik, "outside" means outside the dome of what he believes is the outer atmosphere of another planet where he was born and raised in seclusion. The selected families of A1 were brought on board because of their top level of intelligence and talents, and babies born to the colony were matched at birth with the opposite sex for an assured plan that the colony will survive and continue for many generations. Trouble is they are running out of air. As Arik graduates from school and is ready to use his incredible skills for the purpose of improving the colony, he is asked to participate in the most important unsolved problem A1 has. The founders need him to solve the dilemma of finding more air so that the next generation can reproduce and continue with the mission. Another solution to recycling air or reproducing oxygen must be found. But when Arik starts digging, and hacking into computer mainframes, and investigating both personnel and outer atmosphere conditions, he realizes they have all been seriously duped. Mysteries,and questions begin to surface as Arik begins to discover layers of lies, deceit, and betrayals that will put all their lives at risk. Christian Cantrell's novel paints a vivid picture of what life would be like if Earth was destroyed from a cataclysmic event and was forced to develop programs for space colonization in other parts of the solar system. The author's creative mind stirs up an exciting and unique sci-fi thriller that is beyond the average when compared to other stories being currently pumped out. Containment is a true "science" fiction novel with many detailed descriptions of science and computer related elements from both the present day and in the far future. For some readers there might be too much detailed and complicated science not normally understood by the layman, but then again, others like myself who know nothing about science just might find it incredibly fascinating in spite of the incredibly detailed data. I was ready to give the book 5 stars because I loved the idea of the story and sincerely felt it was well executed. I enjoy creativity and ingenuity and felt Cantrell certainly offered that. But I cut my star review back to four because I did feel the ending was a bit anti-climactic and could have been a little more of a surprise. This reader thinks a little bit more, a longer story, could have helped put more substance into the minor background stories and characters that sort of did not get enough attention, or to a few of the teeny things I believe were not resolved and left open for interpretation. All in all, this was a great story, very fun and entertaining and I look forward to what the author comes up with next.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this book, found it to be a fast read. Ending made me think there will be more, and the key to a good book is a feeling of can't wait to read the next one, I'm in.
    • 3/5
      I bought this book on a complete whim, and opened it up suspiciously; I enjoy science fiction (as you can tell from my library; I read a lot of it) - but I am very picky, and most of what I've read I've put down with a feeling of disappointment. I thought I wouldn't give this book more than two or two and a half stars until I got halfway through - but I found the plot so enjoyable and reasonably clever that I wound up closing the book with a feeling of mild satisfaction. The book centers on one main character, Arik, and his internal experiences as he puzzles out a mystery surrounding the Venusian colony he lives on. The writing is what I would describe as "light" - sparse and sometimes lacking in details, but not juvenile; a quick read, but an engaging one all the same.
    • 4/5
      Arik is part of Gen V, the first generation of humans born off world on the Venus colony. After an accident that he doesn't remember he wakes up to find his wife pregnant. This presents a problem as the colonies population must be strictly controlled to save their resources, primarily oxygen. As Arik strives to discover new technologies to increase oxygen levels within the colony and save his unborn child he also finds out things that he isn't suppose to know - things that will change everyone's future.Containment is a hard core, high tech science fiction story with plot twists that are sure to keep the reader glued to the story. At times it's a little hard to follow due to the story jumping back and forth from past to present, but that hardly gets in the way of an excellent plot. There are surprises throughout the book that will latch on to the reader and make them keep reading to find out what happens next. If you like high tech science fiction then this is a story I'd recommend.
    • 3/5
      The first 75% of the short story was fun and well rounded, yet morphed into a mediocre M Night Shyamalan movie. The plot development was solid and characters were likable enough, but the conclusion simply fizzled out.

      3/5 for a fun read that started strong but ended poorly.
    • 4/5
      Containment by Christian Cantrell

      I loved this book and the character of Arik and it would be nice to give it five stars, but that would be lacking honesty.

      This is good hard science fiction about a group of settlers on the planet Venus. As such, it is necessary to draw the proper picture of why we are there and how we got there and how we survive there so much of this hard science has to be there to support that. Some of the science seems questionable to me but that's only because I didn't stop to look things up to verify them and I'm just not an expert in many of those fields.

      Often the hard science of Containment seems to come at the reader from a distance with detachment. Other times there are moments when Arik resonates with the science. There are long paragraphs about the harshness of the planet and life in the biosphere that contrast to the Arik's feelings because he expresses a few times how he's comfortable within the biosphere that he must live. The exposition often draws on the harshness of the planet almost as though we are portraying the planet as another character, and that didn't work that well with me because I didn't see the plot developing in that direction.

      There also seems to be two stories happening. The present and some flashbacks. Again it's necessary, but at times it's confusing.

      I had this one curious problem, Containment caused what I refer to in my antiquated thinking as the vinyl record skip syndrome. It's like having that scratch on the record where the needle skips and you have no idea how much you just missed. That's where I'm reading along and stumble into exposition and then suddenly reach the bottom of a page that I can't remember reading. It's a bad habit of mine and I believe many other readers might have something similar. I know to catch it because, as is the case with Containment, the parts I nearly napped through have some plot points that I need to know.

      Containment qualifies as a hard science science fiction. The problem with that is that in trying so hard to do this many times hard science becomes hard to read. If the goal is to deliberately alienate readers who hate walls of exposition then it's likely to be successful at that. Most readers will accept a few of those when they clearly drive the plot. But, when a few of them seem to be there just to increase the hard science quotient, some readers end up skipping the important ones later. And, although I can point out many occasions where the exposition does drive the plot forward; for each of those there always two that are questionable.

      I would never ask a writer to give up their babies, especially when they are doing hard science because it does tend to create some lovely images. The problem is that they often serve as a match for the dreaded purple prose that other creative writers get noted for. Neither of these are bad, But out of necessity they should drive the plot or character development and serve a purpose that the reader can identify.

      Over all Containment is one of those curious books that everyone who loves science fiction might like, but it will always have a variety of reactions from love to mild acceptance to confusion.

      Obviously many people do love it, and although it's possible one more good edit might have made those numbers rise, it's just as likely to make it worse. By the numbers (reader response) I can't say that the author made any large mistake in leaving it as it is. It might be a tough read for one out of four readers, but overall it's a tightly written and entertaining read.

      J.L. Dobias
    • 4/5
      In the distant future, man will try to colonize the solar system. If the planet is not destroyed by polluting the atmosphere or nuclear war, there may be a catastrophic event such as a meteor strike that will necessitate a move off of planet earth. Venus is the planet of choice for the first extra-terrestrial colony.V1 is the name given to the first Venus colony. When established, there were 1,000 initial colonists, almost all of them scientists and engineers. Oxygen content inside the containment was the limiting factor in population size, and after the maximum number of plants were grown it was determined that the oxygen produced could support another 100 individuals. Thus was the beginnings of generation V, the 100 children born to the original colonists.Arek was probably the brightest of all gen V children. By the time he graduated high school, he was better with computers than any of the adults. However, he was chosen to work in the Life Pod in order to tackle the problem of artificial photosynthesis (AP) and increase the amount of oxygen produced. Arek married Cadie, a gen V biologists, and they worked together on the AP problem. Arek tried to get approval for a terraforming project, convinced that if the planet could support plant life, it could produce enough oxygen to supply the atmosphere and eliminate the need for the containment buildings. Unable to gain support for his idea, he continued his experiments in secret. Gaining the support of his friend Cam, who worked in the Maintenance Pod, Arek was able to access environment suits and trek outside the containment buildings to plant his test instruments.But Arek had an accident that caused a brain injury. After brain surgery, he finally awoke after almost 3 months in a coma. He had lost some of his memories, but other than that there seemed to be little effect on his brain. When he came to, he found out that Cadie was pregnant. Since there was not enough oxygen to support another life, the pressure was increased to solve the AP problem. Then an error message appeared on all the computers. Nobody was able to translate the code and Arek was asked to take a look at it. What Arek found would forever change his life and ultimately the lives of everyone in V1.I thought this was a very well written book and an enjoyable read. The ending caught me by surprise and raised some interesting questions about human nature. If you are a science fiction fan, then you will enjoy this book.
    • 4/5
      Life on Earth isn’t what it used to be, and in order to ensure the continuation of human life the colonists of V1, the first permanent off-earth settlement, must rush to find viable solutions to colonizing the rest of the solar system.Arik Ockley is the star of Gen V, the first generation of humans to be born on Venus. When he wakes up from a three-month coma after a horrible accident he finds that his wife is pregnant. Normally this would be something to be celebrated, but there’s one huge problem. V1 isn’t producing enough Oxygen to sustain a single additional life. This means that Arik must rush to find the answer to artificial photosynthesis, the key to producing more oxygen for this colony. Yet, things are not what they seem and Arik gets caught up in trying to find the answers to what’s really going on in V1 and on the planet in general.Overall, Containment was actually a really interesting read. Though I still consider myself to be a sci-fi newbie, I think of this book as a pretty awesome hi-tech sci-fi mystery. I read it in a matter of a few hours because I really, really wanted to know what was going to happen. That mystery side of the story kept me absolutely hooked from beginning to end. In addition, the idea of colonizing Venus had me particularly curious, especially since in real life it’s all about finding life on Mars and hardly ever hearing anything about life… elsewhere.All that being said, I have a couple of bones to pick with Containment. First, parts of the book were a bit slow moving. There are a couple of chapters that talk about the history of space exploration and such. A lot of this was stuff I knew already and I found myself skimming because I wanted to know more about what Arik was going to learn and do next. The other thing that bothered me was the ending. I saw it coming, I really did. I even understand why it ended the way it did. But it still left me with this feeling of… ‘what just happened?!’On a positive note, Cantrell left it open for a sequel and according to his Twitter there will be one which I’ll be patiently-ish waiting for. ‘Cause, for reals, I need more. I’m not satisfied.Bottom line, interesting book, but give me a sequel because I need better closure.
    • 2/5
      Well, I really struggled with this one. In fact I would have probably given up with it altogether if I hadn't read several reviews which praised it highly and others which said that it improved markedly in the second half. And it does but in my opinion not enough to make up for the first half.Arik wakes up after a coma of 89 days in the Earth colony of Ishtar Terra Station One on Venus. One of the second generation of colonists he has lived there all his life and has never been to Earth. He has been badly injured in a serious accident the details of which he cannot remember at all. So far, so good, you might think, a reasonably promising start. But then for more than half the book nothing much happens at all: there is no development of plot, or character for that matter. There is a lot of description of the back history of the colony, in the form of a condensed history which the second generation colonists are supposed to read. There are detailed descriptions of the different parts of the Station and of the technology being used. But it feels very much like the author has a list of facts that he wants to convey and he is going to include them all in his book no matter what effect it has on its readability. But then about 60% of the way through the book we have a Revelation and things start to happen. And it does get more interesting but by that stage I had rather lost interest. And rather than being revealed bit by bit in a teasing way to encourage interest the Revelation is revealed in a huge rush, as if the author wanted to get it over as soon as possible.So not my best read ever. If anyone is thinking of reading this I'd point them to Hugh Howey's Wool books instead, which deal with similar themes but manage to generate much more excitement and human interest along the way.Edit | More