- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.; 1 edition (1 Dec 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345446526
- ISBN-13: 978-0345446527
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 2.1 x 20.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,691,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Crawlers
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Product Description
Product Description
In a secret government lab somewhere in Nevada, a young scientist cowers in darkness–waiting, listening, and calculating his chances of surviving the unspeakable carnage that has left him trapped and alone. Or almost alone.
Soon after, a covert military operation “cleanses” all traces of a top-secret project gone horrifically wrong.
Three years later, it begins again–when the quiet of a warm autumn night in a sleepy California town is shattered by a streak of light across the sky, the thunder of impact, and the unleashing of something insidious. Spreading, multiplying, and transforming everything in its path, this diabolical intelligence will not be denied until the townsfolk–and eventually, all living things–are conquered. Until they are all crawling. . . .
Soon after, a covert military operation “cleanses” all traces of a top-secret project gone horrifically wrong.
Three years later, it begins again–when the quiet of a warm autumn night in a sleepy California town is shattered by a streak of light across the sky, the thunder of impact, and the unleashing of something insidious. Spreading, multiplying, and transforming everything in its path, this diabolical intelligence will not be denied until the townsfolk–and eventually, all living things–are conquered. Until they are all crawling. . . .
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is like a photo-negative of Greg Bear's novel, Blood Music, except that here John Shirley depicts the nexus of a possible transformation of humanity that has no element of uplifting transcendence. Living metal that gets under the skin and takes over - shudders aplenty, and your neck hairs will get prickly.
Format:Paperback
As stated above this is a book which is slowly paced to begin with. However, although it is never going to be a classic it is an intriguing read. You know what will happen but end up being interested in HOW it will take place. Some of the dialogue is a bit dodgy. Maybe that is because I'm 33 & British rather than an American teenager! A good way of passing the time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Creepy Crawlers
18 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback
:Wraps wings protectively around self and shivers:
Dude, I grew up reading horror novels and adored horror flicks. It's been well over 15 years since something has had the power to goose my bumps. John Shirley's Crawlers is it. Fifty pages into the book and it scared me so bad I had to walk away and call a friend, so what if it was 3 am? At least my friend is still human... or so I pray. Our story begins in a super secret (aren't they all?) government lab where all that is good and wholesome has gone awry. Crawlers have taken over the lab and are harvesting the remaining living scientists for *scrap* body parts. Their goal is complete assimilation. Yup, the Borg on crack,
True to form the government annihilates the lab in an effort to cover up the failed experiment. Unfortunately for the small Californian town of Quiebra, things suddenly don't seem quite so normal. It appears the mighty establishment didn't do to good of a job. People are acting oddly and in some cases disappearing. The adults of the town are being assimilated one by one and it's up to the children of the town and a few rag-tag straggler adults to discover what is going on in time to stop the travesty that is brewing. Even if they do succeed the authorities don't plan to leave any survivors. All hail civilization!
Through out the entire novel the message most prevalent is to think for yourself. Don't let anyone, most especially those in charge, think for you. All else leads to the unthinkable.
Crawlers is an excellent novel. Despite the fact that it scared me away for at least an hour I couldn't stay away. This to me means John Shirley is a force to be reckoned with. :leaves behind a Faery Queen rating before jumping into bed and hiding under the covers:
Dude, I grew up reading horror novels and adored horror flicks. It's been well over 15 years since something has had the power to goose my bumps. John Shirley's Crawlers is it. Fifty pages into the book and it scared me so bad I had to walk away and call a friend, so what if it was 3 am? At least my friend is still human... or so I pray. Our story begins in a super secret (aren't they all?) government lab where all that is good and wholesome has gone awry. Crawlers have taken over the lab and are harvesting the remaining living scientists for *scrap* body parts. Their goal is complete assimilation. Yup, the Borg on crack,
True to form the government annihilates the lab in an effort to cover up the failed experiment. Unfortunately for the small Californian town of Quiebra, things suddenly don't seem quite so normal. It appears the mighty establishment didn't do to good of a job. People are acting oddly and in some cases disappearing. The adults of the town are being assimilated one by one and it's up to the children of the town and a few rag-tag straggler adults to discover what is going on in time to stop the travesty that is brewing. Even if they do succeed the authorities don't plan to leave any survivors. All hail civilization!
Through out the entire novel the message most prevalent is to think for yourself. Don't let anyone, most especially those in charge, think for you. All else leads to the unthinkable.
Crawlers is an excellent novel. Despite the fact that it scared me away for at least an hour I couldn't stay away. This to me means John Shirley is a force to be reckoned with. :leaves behind a Faery Queen rating before jumping into bed and hiding under the covers:
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
CRAWLERS freakin rocks!
9 Nov 2003
Format:Paperback
In many a story - whether written, filmed, sung or otherwise - there comes a moment when the relevance of the story's title is revealed. It is often a thrilling, unexpected moment when that piece of the puzzle falls into place. In this 1st edition of John Shirley's CRAWLERS that moment occurs in the 1st sentence of the 4th paragraph on page 51. Lying in bed beside my fever-sick wife in our darkened Chicago loft I read that line & I shivered.
I don't read the backs of books b4 I read the books. The only thing I knew about CRAWLERS going-in was that it was about nanotechnology run amok. It wasn't until area - I mean page 51 that I realized and accepted that yes, this is a horror story. A John Shirley horror story. And I was scared.
CRAWLERS uses the Invasion of the Body Snatchers mold to examine issues of nature vs technology, young vs old, chaos vs order, paranoia vs they're-really-after-you, & kinship vs survival.
The nano-machines are countless microscopic Frankensteins set loose in suburban San Francisco through blunders by the U.S. government. The "breakouts" attempt to assimilate every animal & person in the town of Quiebra in order to amass a force with which to build & deploy an instrument of global dissemination.
But first they must learn. And experiment. They enhance living bodies with mechanical & electronic parts. They disassemble & reassemble bodies, trying combinations of parts & species, seeking efficiency & strength of form, all the while communicating with a central "brain" through which all successes & failures are processed, & from which directives are taken.
One scheme of efficiency is to first take over the bodies & minds of people pre-disposed to being easily influenced. Most of those people are the adults in town. It is explained that the pre-disposition is not genetic or biological at all but a mind-set... This suggests that the volatility of the youthful mind has a strength beyond the wisdom (or apathy?) of maturity. The adults who don't easily succumb are inquisitive, creative, & young at heart - or forewarned of the danger. The fate of life on Earth finally rests in the hands of half a dozen adults & a couple hundred children & teens.
The promises of order, vitality, comfort & longevity through assimilation by the breakouts is shunned. Instinctively the pain & conflict of life-as-we-know-it is chosen over world peace. War, decay, death, & differences of opinion all contribute to define humanity, not to destroy it.
And, it's funny, that in John Shirley's CRAWLERS, inexplicably, cats, of all the animals out there, also hold these notions as true.
CRAWLERS is John Shirley's 1st true sci-fi/horror hybrid novel. Yes, it scared me because - like all good "hard" sci-fi - this could happen. And I'd hope that I would be one of the adults that would resist it. I hope I never become a crawler...
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Stephen King, he's not!
8 Sep 2006
Format:Paperback
If Mr. Shirley had cut out about one-third of the words, it might have been a reasonable read. The action would have been sustained. Ngaio Marsh, Charles Dickens used lots of words; but then Mr. Shirley is not in their class.
Once you realize what is happening, the author repeats and repeats the action in different situations. But it's not suspense from here on out, it's just repetition. He makes a good point about technology, but it's necessary to wade through too many useless words to discover the point.
Once you realize what is happening, the author repeats and repeats the action in different situations. But it's not suspense from here on out, it's just repetition. He makes a good point about technology, but it's necessary to wade through too many useless words to discover the point.
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