Pulse: Book One by B.A. Bellec
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Well, this wasn’t what I expected… and I wish that was a good thing, but unfortunately, I’m just too bothered by what I deem to be problems with the story. Now, look, I didn’t arrive at this conclusion after just finishing the story. It took time for me to come to that conclusion, and here’s why. B.A. Bellec has a pretty strong narrative here, and the plot is exciting enough that I was able to get through this relatively easily.
But, looking back, I did have problems with it and unfortunately those problems were enough that my overall rating dropped quite a bit.
Let’s look into this!
Summary
We open to earth not far in the future. Years of corporate greed have caused rivers and oceans to become acidic, the temperature has risen significantly, and the world is ruled by a select few corporations, one being known as Pulse. Pulse runs a music festival every year, but a few select individuals want to bring Pulse down and expose it as the corporate monster it is.
Will they be able to succeed?
Thoughts
Where to begin? Well, I think one of the biggest issues with this story is the alternating viewpoints in the narrative. To this day, I’ve only seen this pulled off near perfectly in one book, so I understand it’s hard to do. That said, there needed to be more to these characters. I got them confused quite often because there just wasn’t enough information to flesh each one out.
Second, most of the effects of the severe climate change were great and believable! That said, the one thing that bugs me is the giant tapeworm like monsters that people were transforming into because of Pulse. I didn’t find that believable and I just don’t see corporations in the future inflicting that kind of pain on unsuspecting people in order to achieve their goals. The tapeworm monsters, while they did create conflict, were not what I wanted to see. I wanted more on the state of the earth because of the climate change, because I feel like we had it tossed aside in favor of the monsters.
Characters
Alan Sharpe
Yeah, I’m opening this section on the main antagonist. That’s a first.
Anyway, Sharpe does a good job at being the corporate businessman that got under my skin. It’s clear that this guy just doesn’t care what kind of damage he inflicts on other people and the environment as long as he gets what he wants.
Every time he was around, he made me mad because his callous nature reminded me so much of the danger of big corporations not caring about the planet and I saw red whenever he so much as spoke. Despite the fact that I’m dumping on him, though, this is the kind of character I needed to hate, and his sliminess is portrayed perfectly.
I also hated the way he treated his son, Mark. I’m not saying Mark was an angel, but he didn’t deserve to be made to feel like he meant nothing to his own father. Oddly enough, this made me kind of feel for Mark, because if his father really is that bad of a person, I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Mark over the years of being with him as his son.
Amber
So, I’m including a section on Amber because I want to say something about the Anti-Pulse group. The way Amber and the other characters come together to take down Pulse is great! That said, as I mentioned earlier, with characters like Amber, I wanted them fleshed out a little more. We see this a little bit with some characters, but I’m upset that I honestly couldn’t tell you much about Amber besides she hates Pulse.
Her work along with the other characters was awesome to see, but there definitely needed to be more background to her beyond a brief character description and her desire to bring down the company. This is the case with a lot of characters. I think the problem is that there are too many and they’re not checked in upon nearly enough for the reader to learn more.
I liked Amber and what she planned to do, but I can say that about all the Anti-Pulse members. I wanted a lot more about each individually.
Frank
I like Frank a bit more than some of the other viewpoints, because more is built through him. Given he’s one of the first viewpoints we see, we see more about what Pulse has done to the Earth beyond the tapeworm monsters. His opening showed me the beginnings of the Anti-Pulse feeling and I loved it!
I wish there had been more time in his head. Maybe have alternating viewpoints between him, Amber, and Mark, so we can still see the character of Alan Sharpe clearly. That way, the characterizations don’t get lost or confused. I enjoyed seeing Frank’s feelings toward Pulse and what the corporation had done to the Earth.
But, like I said, the problem with this is that I can’t tell you too much about him because there’s not enough time spent with him. And he was a character I wanted to know more about. It’s a shame his voice got lost among all the others (even if I did enjoy some of the other voices).
Structure
So, I’ve talked about the alternating viewpoint structure before. It’s happened in quite a few stories I’ve read. And the sad part is that it’s a difficult structure to build character from. Sure, the plot can be built from multiple angles relatively easily, but too often I see characterization sacrificed in favor of the plot with these structures because there’s too many characters being juggled.
That said, there were pluses with this. I did see tension build up quite easily with this structure and toward the end I was curious how it was going to wrap up. This made the plot quite gripping toward the end and once I’d finished, I was curious what was going to happen next, even if I did have some issues with the elements that were juggled here.
One of the most fascinating things developed through the structure was the technology angle. The orbs that floated and did things like help clean up messes were fun to see and believable given where technology is going right now. I’ve often been told that one day we’ll have self-driving cars. I can see an automated system like the P-7500 driving a car one day.
Writing
The writing for this was actually quite good. I could see each scene clearly in my head. B.A. Bellec is able to build a scene to the point where it’s very easy to see. I could see the lab in one scene, I could see the chaos of the PulseFest concert. Each scene is built with enough flair to make each setting unique and easy to see.
I could also imagine the worm monsters clearly, even if I look back on them now and don’t care for them. In the moment, when I read the book, they were built up as threatening and I was worried about the chaos they would cause! You can see the violence they caused clearly and the threat they posed.
I also have to talk about the writing for one particular character: the Man in Black. The writing for him was great, giving him a mysterious aura and painting him as a frightening adversary for Anti-Pulse. I love mysterious characters, and I wish we had seen him a bit more once he’d been introduced. As intriguing as he was, he got weighed down by all the other characters being juggled.
Conclusion
In the end, I have mixed feelings about this one. The story is good, and the writing is good. However, the structure and the issues with characterization got in the way. I really can only say it was okay for me. I saw an attempt at an easy-to-follow structure, and I did see attempts to flesh out some characters and I appreciate that but looking back it just wasn’t enough for me personally.
That said, if you’re looking for a gripping plot and a fairly realistic look at where the Earth may be headed, this might be for you. B.A. Bellec does a great job building the plot and the tension makes this pretty hard to put down! I’d recommend giving it a shot if you’re into stories on climate change and technology.
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