Deep below a desolate Utah mountain lies the largest platinum deposit ever discovered. A billion-dollar find, it waits for any company that can drill a world’s record, three-mile-deep mine shaft. EarthCore is the company with the technology, the resources and the guts to go after the mother lode. Young executive Connell Kirkland is the company’s driving force, pushing himself and those around him to uncover the massive treasure. But at three miles below the surface, where the rocks are so hot they burn bare skin, something has been waiting for centuries. Waiting …and guarding. Kirkland and EarthCore are about to find out first-hand why this treasure has never been unearthed.
Earthcore by Scott Sigler. Book number 1, but don’t know the series name or if it is a series or duology? Audio book published by Empty Set Entertainment, May 2015, 20 hours and 16 mins. Originally published in 2001. Narrated by Ray Porter.
Earthcore had been on my to be read list for a while. I was already sold on the plot description! Sounded just like the type of thing I love. I kept trying to get any of my book clubs to read it, unfortunately, it never got enough votes. I kept trying anyways. I had a feeling this would be an awesome book and I wanted to see what others thought of it, to discuss it together. After waiting and trying for over a year, I finally just said screw it, I’ll just read it myself. So in April 2019, I finally got to “read” Earthcore.
Ok, it was pretty awesome. I also thought it was pretty long. Not in a bad way. Just putting that out there…. it is a long book. It was highly entertaining, but it does not just jump right to the mining company drilling in to the mountain. There is a LOOOOOOOOTTTTT of set up. It starts with some college kids who go missing in the 40s. Then we go to present time and see a local miner getting info about a super sweet, yet secret, spot in the Utah mountains that supposedly has a lot of silver. Then we see the miner follow the map to the secret location and find some silver. Then you see him go to a specialist to analyze the silver. Turns out to be better then silver. Then you see the miner get in touch with Eartchore. Then Earthcore sets everything up, finds a location, builds a camp, hires people, and on and on and on. So you get my drift here, you see pretty much every step of the way before we even get to what is living deep down in the mountain. Like I said, it is all entertaining, but just don’t expect to instantly get to what is hiding in the mountains. Action doesn’t really start rolling until well in to the book. When the action does begin, though, it never stops. After all the set up, this book goes straight in to crazy scifi-horror-action movie territory and never looks back.
Earthcore had some really interesting characters. There are people you really like, others you love to hate. There are a lot of characters in this book. Don’t get too attached to anyone because you have no clue who is going to make it out alive. There is one character in Earthcore that is pretty terrifying. Farm Girl. An extremely messed up individual. I ended up really cheering for a lot of people to escape the mountain when the story was coming to it’s conclusion. I was like “C’MON!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!! JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE!!”
I really enjoyed Sigler’s writing style. Fun and engaging. Nice amount of horror and scifi. Plenty of tension. Plenty of action (once you get past all the set up). Just the right amount of witty banter. A pretty creative story with what all is going on around this Utah mountain. And Sigler does not disappoint with terrible things to do to people. I really had a lot of fun listening to this story.
I also enjoyed everything about the creatures. I can’t say too much without giving away spoilers. But…they had a clever story. And their look. So crazy! I definitely haven’t seen that look before. Ok, I really can’t say more without giving anything away!
Once upon a time this book was narrated by the author on his podcast. I never got to hear that version. The audio book version I listened to was newer, narrated by Ray Porter. If you read my blog, you know what a huge fan I am of Ray! I’d listen to him read anything, even something like War and Peace. That’s how good he is. Once again, his performance was perfect. Plenty of variety and personality in the voices. Ray is a fantastic narrator and this was another stellar performance by him. I seriously can’t say enough good things about him.
Apparently there is going to be a sequel to Earthcore. According to Scott Sigler’s site, book 2, Mount Fitz Roy, will be out the winter of 2019. If you looked at the info I posted about Earthcore way up at the top, you will notice that it was originally published in 2001. That’s 19 years of waiting for the damn sequel!!! About time, Mr. Sigler, about damn time!! How can you have the sort of ending that Earthcore has and then wait this long to give us a follow up! 😮 Well, whatever the reason is, I’m glad I don’t have too long of a wait now. I’m really looking forward to see how Mount Fitz Roy picks up this crazy story.
I loved this story. It was long, but entertaining. Tons of crazy stuff goes down. Clever monsters, interesting people, lots of blood and body parts. Ray Porter did a great job with narrating the book. I had a blast listening to this story and I can’t wait until the sequel comes out.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 