Talk:The Swarm (Schätzing novel)

Spoiler
Could someone insert some spoilerwarnings here? I dont know how to do it, but there are some major plotspoilers here and the reader should be warned...


 * we shouldn't use them here, see Spoiler --Torzsmokus 02:20, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Right. It's Wikipedia policy to not use spoiler tags on plot summaries as it should be obvious that they give stuff away. Not only that, but there are bots prowling the site that remove them shortly after they've been added. --Safe-Keeper 22:54, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Review
I reviewed the article (my first attempt, so I hope I didn't mess up too badly). IMHO, it really needs better plot summary and perhaps more critcism, parts of the article on Frank Schätzing seems to belong here. Infobox is also missing (I will try and work on these, but I want to finish reading the novel)Losseloth 07:26, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Plot summary
Someone removed my fiction template on the plot summary, so let me explain myself: While the text may (or may) not warrant the template, the summary can clearly be improved. The main problem is that most of it doesn't provide a real-world perspective and is not written in an encyclopaedic style. Instead it uses a "teaser" style and especially the first part sounds like a cover text. Averell (talk) 12:20, 14 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I've now rewritten the plot completely to be more encyclopaedic. It's still for from perfect and maybe still too long. Averell (talk) 19:21, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Factual error?
The article says "methane is described as having a strong smell, when in fact it is odourless". However, it was not directly told that methane is smelly, but the gas that evaporates from the natural methane clathrate. It might refer to trace amounts of hydrogene sulphide. Could someone confirm that? Weather hidrogene sulfide exists or not in methane clathrate, the critism should be rephrased, as it is now a Straw Man Fallacy.


 * Well, the biology(?) professor (iirc, read that in 2001, I think) explaining about methane hydrates is asked about the smell and says "it's the methane". I only remember because I also noted that it was plain wrong and was disappointed. I dn't think this warrants a discussion of "several factual errors" - it was that only factual error that I saw and that stuck to my mind, which, I guess, is not bad for a ... what... 900(?) pages long book. Iridos (talk) 23:18, 12 January 2010 (UTC)


 * here is the actual text from the novel:

'It stinks,' she exclaimed.

Some of the others laughed.

'Yep, like rotten eggs. It's the smell of gas dispersing.' He broke off more chunks and handed them round. 'The dark threads in the ice are seams of sediment. In a few seconds there'll be nothing left but a few specks of dirt and a puddle of water. The ice melts and the molecules of methane are released from their cages to escape into the air. Or, to put that in context, an apparently stable piece of seabed disintegrates, leaving almost nothing behind. That was what I wanted to show you.'


 * and then

'But it smells!'

'Not any more. The gas has dispersed. But if you're worried about it, I'll do it.' —Preceding unsigned comment added by Krisztián Pintér (talk • contribs) 20:00, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Genre
The box out describes the genre of the book as being "Techno Thriller", I'd contend that The Swarm is in fact Science Fiction dealing as it does with an attack on mankind by an alien species (albeit one from inner space rather than outer space).

It would seem to me to have more similiarities with the Science Fiction of John Wyndham (The Kraken Wakes especially) than, for instance, the techno thrillers of Tom Clancy

Doesn anybody else have any thoughts on this? 80.254.146.84 (talk) 15:06, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

@ Efficacious
If you don't like my version, please go over the text yourself; the current structuring of it is utterly stupid and the text as a whole appears to be written by a ten-year-old. -- Imladros (talk) 11:58, 23 February 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't disagree re the plot being overly verbose but merging paragraphs into megaparagraphs doesn't improve it. Efficacious (talk) 07:22, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

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Plagiarism
Besides the concerns expressed in the article, the whole premise of the story seems lifted from George RR Martin's short story "Guardians", part of the "Tuf Voyaging" collection: Tuf_Voyaging 89.136.36.237 (talk)