Origin: A Thriller Audiobook

" Don't take Origin too seriously. I think Konrath is at his best when he writes humor or anything with his character, Phineas Trout (and this book is still good even without Phineas). Origin has its moments as both an entertaining book and a book that gets you thinking. "

" I'm trying out Lendle and this was one of the few promising-sounding books available. I read the first half and enjoyed it. Mark got into the second half, and based on his descriptions, I decided it would be best for everybody if I just stopped here. I don't do well with true horror, and this book seems to really get into it. I"m giving it two stars, though, because Mark finished it in about 4 days and seemed to like it. "

" This book was awesome! I've enjoyed everything I've read so far by Konrath, but I think this one may be my favorite. "Origin" freaked me out the most! I highly recommend it. "

" Silly fun. Not my favorite Konrath book but entertaining nonetheless. This reads like Jurassic Park meets Alien. "

" I loved the concept for this, but the execution fell a bit short. The great set-up made for an intriguing mystery - the US governent has "Satan" locked in an underground lab for study. But who or what is Bub in reality? Unfortunately, the premise was let down by a couple of things. Firstly, the characters, none of whom felt particularly well-fleshed out (with the exception of Sun, who I loved), and some felt a lot more like plot devices than people. I didn't really connect with anyone (again, except Sun) and often found myself skimming paragraphs of info-dumping on characters' backgrounds. I think this is a real weakness of Konrath's (I particularly hated it in his Kilborn book, Trapped) - he doesn't develop his characters, he just reels off a list of facts and attributes that are usually only there to serve the plot in some way anyway. Harker is the best example of this, I think. Konrath needs a character deranged and unstable enough to do what she does, so he sticks her in there and it doesn't really matter that it's implausible a woman like her would be placed on a project like this. The second half of the book is also problematic as the tone shifts from mystery to gore-fest (although Origin isn't really as gorey as the Kilborn books, which I appreciated as I felt the gore was included less for shock value and more because it was natural to the situation). The change in tone does jar somewhat and it sort of undoes Bub's mystique. He spends the first half of the book as this unfathomable, clever, fascinating being that could push the story in any number of directions, then abruptly changes to a crass murder-beast. I think this disappointed me because I liked Bub and I liked the dynamic between him and the humans studying him, and the cat-and-mouse games he played with them. To see that swapped out for rather generic hack-and-slash horror was disappointing. And the ending...I thought maybe the book was missing a section, it was so abrupt. Apparently Konrath is planning a sequel - good, we need one. I've no objection to ambiguity in books, but this felt less like ambiguity and more like Konrath just forgot to include the epilogue. Am I saying Origin is a bad book? No, definitely not. It has the B-movie feel to it that I enjoy in the Kilborn books and I raced through it despite the problems I mentioned. I just feel such an awesome set-up deserved a better resolution, and that the book deserved more care. It could definitely use a good editor, and given Konrath's resources I don't understand why he hasn't run Origin by one. There are a couple of formatting problems that could and should be easily fixed, for example. He does say in his afterword he's not interested in rewriting the book anymore, but it wouldn't take much time or effort to polish Origin up in this respect. In short, it's a fun read with a few flaws. I'd be on board for a sequel if it showed up cheap, but wouldn't necessarily rush out to buy it. "

" Dull, so I skipped to the end which was lame. DNF "

" Horrible. I should have known better, but the reviews were surprisingly positive. "

" This was actually my favorite of his work. Over all, it's a great read...it got a bit long in the tooth in a couple of spots but soon got to a point I wouldn't put it down! "

" ok just a bit too much religion for me "

" I did write a review on this book but it seems to have disappeared, so my apologies if the review shows up twice. I enjoyed this book, unusual story and exciting finish. "

" Well! This was a fun read! A dysfunctional group of misfit scientists and clerics experiment on the devil. Decent character development, plot and non stop action. "

" Fantastic book. Excellent character development, exciting throughout. I really enjoyed this one. "

" Great read with characters you can get behind. Some twists and turns that keep you reading this fast paced book. Real happy I picked downloaded it though be warned there is some pretty graphic scenes with blood and guts. Not sure how Konrath was able to stomach writing those but I'm sure it was fun. "

" abstemiously love this. "

" It was ok, not the best I've ever read. Pretty predictable. "

" HOLY COW! This book will creepy you out. I had to keep walking away because it was too much to read at once, however I kept getting sucked back to it. "

" I was looking for a scary book for my mom. This isn't it. It was ok but I was left wanting something more. It was more sci-fi than scary really (AGAIN). I might check out some other things by the same author though. "

" Great book really gets you thinking about religion. "

" This was an ebook that had gone unpublished to date, I enjoyed it more than many other thriller sci-fi horror books "

" Hard to put down, but ultimately very unsatisfying. "

" Great and original story. "