Ark of the Apocalypse: (1 The Magellan II Chronicles)

Earth is on the verge of becoming a dead planet. The polar ice caps melted long ago, and it's been decades since the last raindrop fell. Ocean levels rise a dozen meters, and forest fires rage on a global scale. Eleven billion people dying of thirst wage water wars against each other as extinction looms. Humanity needs a new planet. As Earth deteriorates, the nation states desperately work together to build a mechanism for recolonization. And so the Magellan II is born, the first starship capable of interstellar travel. The future of the human race is tasked to ten thousand colonists-now homeless but for the vastness of space and the decks of Magellan II. A distant planet offers hope of survival, but it's a strange, watery world inhabited by giant reptiles. Humanity is starting over, but survival isn't guaranteed.

Review :
The saga spans thousands of years and heavily involves global warming, space travel, and dragons. Yes, you read that right. The funny thing is that these vastly different topics, locations, and story lines are all interconnected in such an ingenious way that nothing seems out of place. There is a red thread that sews everything together, even if the reader is kept in the dark regarding its purpose and outcome. The many characters are properly fleshed out and I was on the edge of my seat all the way until the end of the book. It has an ending that rounds of the story well, while leaving plenty of space for one's imagination to create a vast number of follow-up scenarios. Absolutely fantastic! -Eva Lazar, Goodreads Reviewer Ark of the Apocalypse, a Cinematic Sci-Fi Epic by Tobin Marks. The Bottom Line: A buzzworthy sci-fi epic that sprawls cinematically across timelines and solar systems. Highly recommended. Tobin Marks' Ark of the Apocalypse begins on 1930s-era Earth as a metallurgist braves genocide and impending war to acquire red amber from the Baltic Sea and green amber from Norway. He smuggles the material into Russia, where he eventually creates two medallions ("dragon eyes") which he fits into his eye sockets. The result is something akin to astral projection. Soon after, he's murdered by the authorities while his wife, a physician, and their children are left to endure a hellish journey through World War II and afterward. Years later, a woman astrally projects into Russian cabinet meetings to eavesdrop on classified strategic military discussions. Along the way, the female U.S. president delivers an ultimatum to the Russian president to get his people out of Tehran ahead of an impending U.S. attack which is retaliation for 117 American and 362 British nationals on those oil platforms. The nuclear issue is front-and-center in key sections, which is often the case in stories depicting the demise of Earth. You'll notice that this is a review without character names, and that's deliberate. Like George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series, Marks packs this ambitious 415-page novel with characters and scenes that come and go across eras and timelines. There's no point in getting too attached to any one character en route to the climactic portions of the book, which is essentially an interstellar interpretation of the Noah's Ark story (with a very clever inversion of the role water played in the Biblical version). The effort will send 10,000 colonists on a ten-year voyage to a planet called Kepler 3211a, where they plan to create a colony. While the book cover hints at the exotic life they may find there, I'll refrain from delivering additional spoilers except to say that readers are in for some fiery surprises. On the surface, it would seem that Marks has packed far too much plot into a single book. And yet it actually works. The vast majority of the novel's well-crafted scenes are filled with enough science, fantasy, emotional heft and suspense to work as a largely satisfying stand-alone story. In many ways, Ark of the Apocalypse is a collection of richly drawn vignettes that add up to a complete narrative. Many of the book's major characters are deserving of an entire series, and that is both the novel's challenge and one of its charms. Highly recommended. -Mishka Rao, BestThrillers.com