After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

At some future point in time, the world has been engulfed by water due presumably to global warming and rising sea levels. Only extremely high mountain peaks remain as scattered islands, with small makeshift communities on them, but many people took to the sea for safety as water levels rose, and have nowhere to settle on land.

Myra and her daughter Pearl live on their boat, catching fish and trading with island communities. It's a precarious, hand to mouth existence but they're doing more or less okay. Then Myra hears a rumour about her other daughter, Row, who was taken away by her father in the early days of the flood. She'd always hoped that somehow, somewhere, their paths would cross, but now, with a specific location to head for, Myra decides to attempt to track her elder daughter down despite the vast distance of ocean that separates them. It's a voyage filled with danger and betrayals, with only hope to keep Myra going.

After The Flood started well, despite its similarities to Waterworld. Its strange flooded 'landscape' intrigued me, and the author seemed to have thought through the ways people would have found to survive. Myra's a gritty, practical heroine, fiercely attached to her daughters, and devastated to have lost one. If there's any way of seeing her again, Myra will grab it.

But somewhere along the way, my interest waned. Maybe there's a point, somewhere around the middle of the book, where the ending becomes too predictable but I didn't feel the last chapters lived up to the earlier ones. Events seemed hurried and plot devices just too convenient.

Maryom's review -  3 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (The Borough Press)
Genre - Adult fiction, dystopian, post apocalyptic 

The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson

When society started to crumble around them, Lynn McBride's extended family left home and headed to the wilds. Here they survive on the animals they can hunt and eat, and the few vegetables that will grow in the inhospitable Arctic conditions. Life's hard and monotonous. Their small settlement hasn't seen other people in years - then one day a stranger, Jax, wanders by, bringing with, or at least behind, him remnants of the old world, and trying to survive takes on a whole new meaning. Lynn is forced to face up to her father's past, to come to terms to what he had been doing, and how it could affect them now.

I've tried my best but there are bound to be spoilers here - sorry.

I seem to be reading a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction recently. I'm not sure if this is reflecting a publishing trend, or just my personal tastes, but, anyway, here we are again after the 'end of the world as we know it', in the Canadian Yukon this time.
The familiar mix of war and flu have cut the population drastically, and if there are more survivors than Lynn and her family, they too are living hand to mouth. One aspect of the past that has managed to survive though is a government scientific programme, which has a particular interest in Jax, and, now she's been brought to their attention, Lynn. What you end up with is part post-apocalyptic survival story, part government conspiracy thriller - and it works well, although ti wasn't at all what I was expecting. After a slowish start, things kick off and you'll be hooked (I was).

The setting is unusual - the cold, snowy north - and brilliantly brought to life, even when I quibbled about some of the details of survival there.


One aspect that marginally disappointed me was that the ending seemed to be setting up for a sequel, maybe even a series. Don't get me wrong, I liked The Wolves of Winter, and it does round off to a nice conclusion, but I'm happy for it to end there, rather than have the story spin-out forever.






Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - HQ 
Genre - post apocalyptic adult adventure/thriller

A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World by C A Fletcher

The world (as we know it, at least) has come to an end - not with the bang of a nuclear bomb, but a whimper as humans lost the ability to reproduce. Babies were born to only the fortunate few, and as the population aged and died, the number of people left plummeted.
A generation or so on, Griz lives on the island of Mingulay, almost but not quite the most southerly island of the Outer Hebrides. It's a hard, barely above subsistence level, life, but above all, it's lonely. Apart from immediate family of parents and siblings, Griz has seen only a handful of  people. The nearest neighbours live far away on Lewis, the northern-most island of the chain (if you're not familiar with Scottish geography, look at the weather forecast map to see series of islands off Scotland's north-west coast to grasp the distance between the two). To see anyone else is extremely rare, so when Brand shows up in his red sailed boat, he's given a cautious welcome, but not entirely trusted. Unfortunately the family are not on guard against his charm and seeming good nature, and the next morning he sails away with Griz's beloved dog, Jess. Filled with anger, Griz isn't prepared to put up with this underhand stealing of Jess, and before the rest of the family are aware of what has happened, Griz is in a boat and underway, chasing Brand - at first through familiar waters off the Scottish coast, then on foot across a country reclaimed by nature.


I seem to have been reading quite a few post-apocalypse books recently (more reviews to come) and this is one of my favourites. It's nice, for starters, to have such a novel set in locations that are familiar to British readers. And it's nice to not be constantly criticizing the ways in which the characters have managed to survive during and after the wiping out of civilisation. I tend to get too involved in the practicalities of post-apocalypse existence, ready to spot anything I consider a mistake, and I was delighted to see Griz's parents having taken some of the measures I would have considered (though I'm a land-based person, and would never have thought of acquiring boats)


The story, as told by Griz in an account scribbled down at a later date, is engrossing and compelling. Despite Griz having set off on what frankly appeared to be a wild goose chase, I really wanted to see the rescue mission succeed and Jess brought home again, but there were just a few little things that let the book down as a whole. I've heard others refer to this as more of  a YA, than adult, novel, and in some respects I'm inclined to agree. The plot structure was just a little too simple for me - a sort of straight run from A to B to C etc, with adventures and surprises along the way, but no real unexpected detours - and somehow it was all just a little too upbeat, not the unrelieved misery that I half-expect from an adult post-apocalyptic novel. Otherwise, it's a great read. Enjoy it, then pass it on to your teens.

Maryom's review - 4 stars

Publisher - Orbit

Genre - post-apocalyptic, road trip

Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff

review by Maryom

Orpen has grown up on a small island off the coast of Ireland, with only Mam and Maeve for company. In her childhood, it seemed an idyllic place - they tended their crops, played on the beach in summer, or huddled cosily round the fire in winter - but as Orpen grows up she realises that in the wider world things are very different. Ireland has been over-run by zombie-like creatures known as the Skrake, and, although Mam and Maeve chose to hide away on Slanbeg while Orpen was young, ultimately their life there isn't sustainable. When Maeve is bitten by one of the Skrake, Orpen has to choose between killing her before her transformation to Skrake is complete, or set out in the vain hope of finding other survivors who may be able to cure her. So, pushing Maeve in a wheelbarrow, with only her trusty dog at her side, Orpen sets off ...

There are countless zombie stories, and to be honest the basic plot outline has a certain familiarity to it, but what makes Sarah Davis-Goff's debut stand apart from them is its strong female 'cast'. From I Am Legend to Shaun of the Dead, there's a tendency for the main zombie-fighting hero to be, well, a hero, ie a man. (yes, there are exceptions like Bird Box but that's one of those exceptions which prove the rule). Here, things are turned around. Not only is the main character female, but men are most noticeable by their absence. There are hints in the stories told by Mam and Maeve of the brutish behaviour of male survivors, and warnings that they should be avoided almost as much as the Skrake rather than rushed to for help. The women are strong, independent, trained to fight off the Skrake - the men Orpen encounters weak by comparison. It's the women who are going to save the day here.

The writing style, too, adds to this compelling read. Told in first person narrative by Orpen, the reader shares her fears, determination, resilience, and hope.

Definitely a readable new twist on an old formula.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher -  Tinder Press
Genre - Adult fiction, zombie, dystopian, post-apocalyptic 

Year One by Nora Roberts

review by Maryom

Out shooting pheasants in the Scottish countryside, businessman Ross MacLeod inadvertently lets loose a deadly virus. Spreading at an alarming rate, it's barely any time before millions are dead, and the survivors struggling to hold the world together. The story follows three separate groups who leave New York, heading for the perceived 'safety' of less populated areas, trying to re-establish their lives there. So far, it's your average apocalypse tale, but there's a twist. Some of the survivors suddenly find themselves gifted with uncanny abilities - to see the future in a person's touch, or to move people and things, for example. Of course, these gifts don't pass un-noted - there are rumours of governmental, scientific or military departments imprisoning them to investigate and harness these talents, and lynch mobs roam the countryside looking to kill them. There's hope though for the survivors, particularly in the shape of three babies born at the height of the plague, and another conceived then.

Now, I'm generally up for a good apocalypse - from Twenty Eight Days Later or I Am Legend to Shaun of the Dead - and yes, they do generally all follow a pattern, with a group of lucky survivors struggling to re-build civilisation (or grab a pint down the Winchester) despite all the forces ranged against them, but Year One just didn't work for me. In part it was too similar to many novels that have gone before; on the other hand, the sudden appearance of paranormal abilities and the whole mystical aspect rather turned me off. I think if you've read /seen less apocalyptic fiction you'd find it more compelling, but as it followed the tried and trusted tropes associated with such stories, it failed to hold my interest. The ending too I found a bit of a  let-down - a lot of sub-lots abandoned as the novel followed one story-line, but these others may be re-visited as Year One is the first book of a planned trilogy. For my money, I'd go for Station Eleven by Emily StJohn Mandel or Micheal F Russell's Lie of the Land

Maryom's review -  3 stars
Publisher - Piatkus (Little, Brown)
Genre - adult post-apocalyptic fiction

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed

review by Maryom

On a small island lives a group of people who believe themselves to be the only survivors of the plague and fires that scourged everywhere else. Their world is small, with no outside contact, patriarchal and repressive, with life following the rules, the "shalt-nots" set down long ago by the founders. The only people allowed to leave the island are the Wanderers, all men, who regularly travel to the "wastelands" in search of things the island cannot produce, and very occasionally bring back a family to settle on the island. Although claiming to hold their women in high regard, the men exploit them; a girl is married shockingly young - the first year she's old enough to bear children - she's allowed two children, and then her husband's sexual desires turn elsewhere. Childhood is brief, and for the most part hedged round by restrictions, but each summer when the mosquitoes are biting, the children run wild and free, naked and covered in mud from head to foot, over the island while the adults stay indoors. But one summer, rumours spread about something one of the girls has seen, which calls into question everything they've ever been taught.
Janey has always been known as an angry, troublesome girl, one who questions the rules they live by, and is determined to avoid marriage and the inevitable child-bearing, so by starving herself has delayed puberty. Her extra years give her a natural authority over the other unmarried girls, and when she decides to run away from home and live wild, they gradually join her. Janey's actions are seen as rebellion against the established order, which must be stamped out at all costs.
Gather the Daughters is disturbing, yet gripping, dystopian read, but a difficult one to review without giving away some of the huge reveals and plot twists within it.
In such an isolated community, whoever is seen as 'in charge' can bend facts to suit themselves - and that certainly seems to have been going on here for many years.  With a hint here and a revelation there, the reader comes to realise that everything is not quite as the islanders believe.  Anything could be happening in the wider world, but everyone has been brainwashed into believing the tradition that they are the few remaining survivors of the devastation; could it be nothing more than a horror story to frighten the islanders into obedience? It's hard to see how they'd accept that, but, with no one to tell a different story, they do. Same for the way girls and women are treated, and the dubious sexual practices considered 'normal' by the islanders; no one knows any different way, and although some feel it isn't right they are considered the odd ones out.
For some the emphasis may fall on the weird cult-like community and the treatment of their daughters, but to me there's a wider issue being raised here; in our alleged post-truth world, with little social media bubbles of like-thinking folk, how do we choose which sources of information to trust, and which beliefs to follow? It's becomes easier to see how people may become indoctrinated into believing almost anything, and convinced that theirs is the right and proper way to live ...

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher -  Tinder Press
Genre - Adult dystopian fiction,

The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis

review by Maryom

With her parents having gone north looking to make their fortune in a new gold rush, and her grandmother dead in a freak storm, Elka has been brought up by a man she knows only as Trapper. Theirs is a harsh isolated life in the forests of post-apocalypse north-west Canada, but Elka quickly adapts and learns the skills necessary to survive - trapping and hunting wild animals, skinning them, curing and preserving the meat - and now in her seventeenth year, Elka is as proficient as her mentor. Then, on a rare trip into the nearest town, she sees a poster, with Trapper's picture on it; his real name is Kreagar Hallett, he's wanted for murder, and, by association, so is Elka.
Her first instinct is to get away, so Elka sets out to journey north to the place her parents had headed for, but gradually she realises that the only way she herself can escape the law, is to hand Trapper over to it.

I think the Wold Road must be the most original book I've read this year - admittedly the basic synopsis of an outsider heading off on a quest-type journey in search of 'home' is not new in itself but the atmosphere, the post-apocalyptic setting, and Elka herself make this a story that stands out from the rest.

The events take place in an alternative 'present day', in which the north of Canada has been laid waste in a (presumably) nuclear war which Elka refers to as the 'Big Stupid' and seems to have taken place sometime during the Reagan/Thatcher era. Civilisation in this corner of the world has retreated to the edges of the vast untamed forests, with small towns scattered here and there acting rather like frontier-settling trading posts. This atmosphere, plus elements such as the wanted posters and a sheriff-style Magistrate, gives the story a gun-slinging 'western' feel, so much so that I envisioned characters dressed accordingly - as ranch hands, trappers and saloon girls. On the other hand, as Elka travels north she encounters devastation that can only have been caused by modern warfare - poisoned lakes, and huge swathes of land completely flattened.

The story is narrated by Elka, in a highly individual voice (though again there's maybe an echo of John Wayne cowboys in there) with every page conveying her strong self-reliance and no-nonsense attitude about the necessities of survival. Her prologue sets the underlying sense of unease, and, as her trek continues, the reader, along with Elka, gradually is brought face to face with the enormity of Trapper's actions. Despite her probable involvement in what he's done, I still wanted Elka's story to have a happy ending; a reunion with her parents, a deal with the magistrate, and a new start; the author wasn't that forgiving ...

I completely loved it though. It's an excellent mix of a lot of things I enjoy in a read, and to make it better, has a strong female 'cast' - even the soft 'townie' proves to have her strengths, even if they are different to Elka's. As you expect on a quest, there are dangers to be faced, both from nature and from mankind, people who talk nice but act mean, companions to help along the way and plenty of new trouble for Elka to land herself in.

It isn't for the squeamish - for Elka, killing and preparing your dinner is more normal than opening a can, so at times she's a little too detailed maybe in how she goes about it - but fans of Bear Grylls and his wilderness survival programmes will love it.

And if I haven't tempted you enough, you can read the first chapter here on Beth Lewis' website


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (The Borough Press)

Genre - adult, post-apocalyptic, western, quest

The Last of Us by Rob Ewing

review by Maryom

On a remote Scottish island only five children are left alive; the rest of its population has died from a deadly disease brought over from the mainland. Led by Elizabeth, the eldest and daughter of the island's two doctors, these children try their best to keep going as 'normal' -  she holds lessons in the deserted school, takes them on 'shopping' trips among the abandoned houses, keeps them remembering the time 'before', makes sure they brush their teeth and that the youngest, Alex, gets his insulin shots every day. But things are obviously far from normal - and childish squabbles that would have no serious repercussions at other times, threaten the fragile community they have. Callum Ian, son of a local fisherman, resents Elizabeth being in charge - she's only a few months older and an 'incomer' to the island. But it's narrator Rona's own actions that lead to the REAL trouble...

Told from the point of view of eight year old Rona, events unfold on two timelines - what is happening 'now' and the events that started three weeks ago and led to the situation that Rona is in. Mingled in with both are Rona's memories of the time 'before', and of her mother who she firmly believes will be back to save her.
The details of what happened are sketchy, as you might expect from a child narrator, but as the full extent of the horror unfolds it becomes apparent that a disease possibly related to small pox spread from the mainland, and overwhelmed the island's meagre medical resources; although the children regularly monitor radio stations, the inference is that no one is alive on the mainland either. 

Post-apocalyptic novels featuring adults are common enough but a scenario where the only survivors are children adds an extra chilling twist to events. Their attempts to cling on to their past, their hope that someone will return and rescue them, the horrors they encounter when having to enter abandoned buildings - and the rapid way in which these have become accepted - are at times heart-breaking. It's a story that will keep you reading- hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (The Borough Press)

Genre - adult, post-apocalyptic

The Stars Seem So Far Away by Margret Helgadottir

review by Maryom


A girl sailing alone over the Northern seas outwits pirates, another guards the seed bunkers established by her father, a boy stumbles across a former astronaut now living in a wrecked plane ..... through the eyes of five different survivors, Margret Helgadottir shares a bleak vision of a dying Earth, devastated by global warming, where only the polar regions are still habitable.

 In this dystopian future, people have fled North and built new cities on Svalbard and Greenland, but even here life is difficult. Plague and famine attack the remaining population, families become separated and, for most, life is just about surviving from day to day. Only in The Green Land, as it's now known, does a ray of hope remain - there are seed banks, artificial animals and enough remaining civilisation to put together a space flight...


At first this seems like a collection of short stories, but gradually they begin to merge into one bigger tale. The picture painted is of a devastated Earth, where all other life has died, and only Man survives - and even Mankind is hanging on by its collective fingertips! Seeing the effects of global warming brought to life in this way, gives them an immediacy that scientists statements often lack. The characters and their stories will hook you but the underlying message about environmental change can't be ignored.
I'm not sure whether this is aimed at teens, adults or both. I really enjoyed it, loved the writing style and world-building, without felling it was aimed at anyone younger - but, with the major characters all being in or around their teens, I still feel younger ages groups would enjoy it.


 
 Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher -  Fox Spirit
Genre - sci-fi, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, adult/teen crossover

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

 

 review by Maryom

"Something" has been driving people to madness and suicide. At first there are just a few isolated cases but soon it builds to epidemic proportions. The only way to avoid the madness is to not see this unknown "thing", which leaves the few survivors huddled behind backed-out windows, and only venturing outside blindfolded. Malorie has survived alone in these conditions for four years, and raised two children. Now she feels it's time to strike out and meet up with other survivors, so, with eyes tightly blindfolded, the three of them head for the river and a terrifying journey in search of safety.

 When Birdbox first came out, I somehow had this logged in my mind as horror fiction which isn't really my kind of thing, so I didn't bother reading it. Then I heard people talking about it on social media, describing it as more of a post-apocalyptic dystopian story, and this was reinforced by a first chapter sampler which left me wanting to read more, so at last, having spotted a copy at the library, I've read it!

Did it live up to my expectations? Well, a little bit 'yes' and 'no'.
Josh Malerman certainly knows how to build up tension and fear, and keep it cranked up! Imagine someone or something was stalking you but that the one thing you shouldn't do was open your eyes to see if this 'thing' was there! In this respect I found it playing on my fears of absolute darkness the way Michelle Paver's Dark Matter did, coupled with a terror of what might be lurking outside my windows. It is most definitely a book you won't want to put down!
The downside for me came when I felt the author had milked the horror for all it was worth, and the post-apocalyptic story-line fell in to the same-old, tried and tested way of such things; a group of survivors make it to a safe house but ultimately everything goes pear-shaped (this isn't a plot spoiler as we know from the outset that Malorie has been living there alone for several years).
It isn't a book I'd re-read, there aren't enough plot twists or character development for that, but on the other hand I'd be very willing to read another by the same author.



I've tagged it as 'adult' which is its target audience, but horror-loving teens will delight in it too.


Maryom's review - 4
Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper Voyager)
Genre - Adult, horror, post-apocalyptic,



harpervoyager

Lie of the Land by Michael F Russell

review by Maryom

Journalist Carl Shewan arrives in the remote Scottish Highland village of Inverlair on the trail of a story about a new government device aimed at tracking and controlling people, but while he's there the system, SCOPE, goes live - with horrendous side-effects. Inverlair is one of the few safe 'not spots' outside the new system, but everyone outside is presumed dead, and there's no way of leaving Inverlair or communicating with any other possible survivors. Almost everyone within the village has lost friends and relatives on the outside, but all they can do

Set in a not-too-distant future, Lie of the Land explores what happens when you survive the apocalypse. There are no aliens or epidemics to bring it about - just careless implementation of a mind-control system (imagine an advanced version of the noises broadcast around shopping arcades to deter teenagers).
The story's a little difficult to get into as it starts several months after the activation of SCOPE, months in which the inhabitants of Inverlair have been struggling to come to terms with events, their personal losses and the greater destruction of civilisation as they know it, then it darts backwards to the events that brought Carl to Inverlair - but bear with it, as it takes a while for everything to be explained.

There are a lot of ways a post-apocalyptic novel can evolve and this isn't an action-style adventure like say 28 Days Later or Julianna Baggott's Pure trilogy, neither is there that sense of re-building civilisation as in Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven . Life for the inhabitants of Inverlair really carries on much as it always did - there are shortages, not the least of which is of tea, but there are plenty of fish to be caught, venison and sheep on the hillsides, chickens, eggs and vegetables from local crofts, solar panels for electricity, wood for heating. There are certain power struggles within the village but nothing on a major scale. The main problems to be faced are of overwhelming grief, and maintaining the instinct to survive.

The focus of the book is Carl and his struggles to cope with guilt, responsibility and inclusiveness of village life. He's used to the anonymity of a city (and even then there's an inference that people tend to meet up more in cyber space than real life) so a small village, where everyone knows everyone else and what they've been doing, comes as a shock. He feels that the villagers hold him in some way responsible for events, and he's certainly escaped the effects of SCOPE, though more by luck than design. Trying to fit in hasn't got off to a good start as a one night stand with the hotel-owner's daughter left her pregnant ...a problem that Carl seems to hope will go away if he buries his head in the sand and ignores it!

An interesting debut, a little slow to get going maybe and definitely more about people having to cope with the unexpected events of life than the actual wiping out of civilisation, but intriguing and readable.

Maryom's review - 4 stars  
Publisher - Polygon 
Genre -post-apocalyptic, adult

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

review by Maryom

1985 - and Peggy is back in her London home, reunited with her mother Ute after 9 years living in a hut buried deep in the Bavarian forests with her survivalist father. She's finding it hard to adjust - her father convinced her that not only her mother but the whole world had perished in some violent apocalypse, and that the only safe place left was their little piece of forest - outside was black emptiness.
Peggy's father James had always been a survivalist - with a group of like-minded friends he plotted the best way to survive armageddon, made equipment lists and stocked his specially constructed cellar - but in 1976, when Peggy was 8, his game-playing turned serious. While Ute was away from home, he received some disturbing news and decided to take Peggy away to a wooden cabin, die Hutte, hidden deep in a forest.  Peggy at first believes they are on holiday but as the weeks pass by she starts to wonder when they'll be going home...then one day, after an horrendous storm James tells her that the rest of the world has perished, that beyond their enclave nothing exists any more....
Now it's 1985 and Peggy is trying to adjust to many things - she's back home in London, the outside world hasn't perished, her mother has been missing her for all these years and she has a brother, born a few months after she and her father departed. But Peggy too has her own share of surprises lined up for her mother....

Our Endless Numbered Days unfolds from two points; 1976 with the background to James' actions, and 1985 as Peggy tries to come to terms with the fact that everything she's believed for the past 9 years has been a lie. Cleverly teasing the reader with just enough information to hold interest but keeping back enough to tantalise, Fuller draws you into the strange mock post-apocalyptic world that James has created for him and his daughter. Everything is told from Peggy's point of view and as events unfolded I started to realise that maybe she wasn't the most reliable of narrators for two reasons. Firstly, the flashback sections are seen through the eyes of the child she was then; with no understanding of her father's behaviour she accepts his word as true, and goes along with his plans because she has no choice. Secondly, as the years pass, Peggy's is the only account of events; there are no other witnesses so no one to contradict the tale. This unreliability left me trying to second-guess what might have happened, and partly prepared me for some of the revelations at the end. I wish to a certain extent that part had been seen from James' point of view - I'd have liked to know more of his motivations and justification of events.
How would I describe it? it's part dystopian post-apocalyptic survival novel - Peggy firmly believes she and her father are the last people on Earth, that when tools break, clothes wear out or food supplies drop dangerously low there is no outside backup; part thriller - as the reader knows something momentous must have occurred for Peggy to have returned home; and part examination into the personal motives and deceptions of James and Peggy. What it is without doubt is a gripping page-turning read. I didn't want to put it down at all, it grabs your attention and doesn't let it go.

4.5 stars rather than the full 5 because I'm just not sure I'd read it again - at least not too soon. Now all the twists have been revealed, it's maybe lost a little of its power over me. 

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Fig Tree (Penguin)
Genre - adult literary thriller

Station Eleven by Emily StJohn Mandel

review by Maryom

One day, much like any other, with people going about their daily routine, the Georgia Flu hits. With a 99% mortality rate, survivors are few and far between and within weeks the world as we know it is only a memory.
Twenty years later, and the initial years of violence and horror have died down, leaving a fairly settled 'armed peace'. Through this setting. a group of performers known as The Travelling Symphony are travelling, taking music and Shakespeare to the scattered communities in the Great Lakes area. Meanwhile in a disused airport lounge, an elderly man has set up a Museum of Civilisation, a collection of curiosities, things that were once part of everyday life  - credit cards, mobile phones - but now seem meaningless.

Station Eleven is a dystopian post-apocalypse novel with a difference - not just about surviving the the initial catastrophe but about how society/civilisation, call it what you will, continues afterwards. The story weaves backwards and forwards from the years before the epidemic, the outbreak and chaos of it and twenty years after, following the intertwined lives of the main characters, all of whom have links back to famous Shakespearean actor Arthur Leander who died the night the epidemic broke; his wife Miranda, son Tyler, best friend Clark,  Kirsten, once a child actor and now part of The Symphony and an excellent knife-thrower and Jeevan the man who came to Arthur's aid as he collapsed on stage.
I think Station Eleven is a book that readers will see many different things in - to me, the motto "Survival is Insufficient", taken by the Symphony as a whole, and Kirsten personally, is the key to the novel. Borrowed from Star Trek Voyager's Seven of Nine, it encapsulates the idea that mere subsistence level living is not enough - that being able to explore one's own individuality, to create, through art, music or words, is key to being human. For the Symphony specifically its what defines them as people - when civilisation started to collapse around them, their musical instruments were the things they saved. Kirsten saves a paperweight for its beauty alone and no practical reason. To quote Chakotay from the same Voyager episode, "There's a difference between surviving and living", which for me sums up the feeling behind this novel.

It's not Shaun of the Dead or 28 Days Later but a deeper, philosophical look at a sudden break-down of society. There's a lot within it to appeal to geeks like me - with references to greek myths, Shakespeare and Star Trek; the latter being particularly relevant as it was never afraid to move beyond science fiction to wider questions of philosophy, morals and humanity in a similar way to Station Eleven itself.


Sadness permeates the book, not just for friends and family lost to the epidemic but for the disappearance of a whole way of life. Overall though the feeling is upbeat and positive, hopeful that people can re-build a world as good if not better than it was before.

I really enjoyed my first read-through and it feels like a book that hasn't revealed all its depths yet but will re-pay further reads with fresh discoveries to be made.

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Picador

Genre - dystopian, post-apocalyptic, adult fiction


Other reviews; Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
 For Winter Nights 
Girl! Reporter

Burn by Julianna Baggott

review by Maryom

Well, here we are at the end of Julianna Baggott's Prime Trilogy - Pure, Fuse and now Burn. If you haven't caught any of it, (though why haven't you?) it's set in a brilliantly-conceived post-apocalyptic dystopia, where the Detonations have changed the world, dividing the population into two groups - the Pure who took refuge in the protected environment of the Dome, and the Wretches who were forced to stay outside and were altered by the blasts, often fused to objects or other people they were near to at the time of the blasts. A bleak world with little hope for either side unless a way can be found for them to live together.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot because almost anything will give away spoilers for the earlier books - and you do have to have read them first. Pressia now feels she has found a possible cure for the Wretches' sufferings but the only people with the knowledge to apply it are inside the Dome - with Partridge returned there, is it possible that the Pure will help? Well, sadly, with Partridge in charge it's not very likely. Power hasn't quite corrupted him, but it certainly seems to have taken away his ability to make decisions; dithering between options he ends up led by others. While Pressia wants to save everyone, and Partridge wants to preserve the status quo,  El Capitan and Bradwell are both determined, for differing reasons, to bring down the Dome whatever the personal cost, and Lyda wants to save herself; after her experiences outside, the Dome now feels fake but she's virtually imprisoned there.

I thought things started out a little lumpy and bumpy - there were so many separate threads up and running that none went far before swapping to another. As events brought the threads back together and the story picked up pace, I became as gripped as before. For a novel of slightly over 400 pages, it certainly flew past!
I had half dreaded that after the first two books, the author might choose to round everything off in some easy, unrealistic, happy ever after finale  - I'm decidedly pleased that she didn't! I think how you view the ending will depend on which character you had most sympathy for, but for me it was a satisfying 'in character' climax, desperately sad but still filled with hope.


Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Headline Publishing
Genre - YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Buy Burn (Prime Trilogy 3) from Amazon

Other reviews; For Winter Nights, 
                       Curiosity Killed the Bookworm

The Killables by Gemma Malley

 review by Maryom

Evie lives in The City an authoritarian place ruled by the Great Leader where people are categorised according to how 'good' they are. She works in the re-grading section of the government so knows how easily a person can slip from an 'A' grade down to 'D' and below to a 'K'. No one quite knows what happens to the Ks - they go away for reconditioning and disappear without trace. Engaged to A grader Lucas, Evie's future looks secure within the System. But looks aren't everything - she's secretly in love with Lucas' brother Raffy who's known to be trouble and when he is threatened with a K rating, they realise they have to escape - and in doing so stumble upon secrets that some will kill to keep.

The Killables was a story that started off really well. A lot of thought has gone into the world-building, creating a believable though strange set-up; a City isolated after devastating wars and creating its own paternalistic but repressive government. But, sadly, the more I read, the less it grabbed me.The more Evie uncovered about the City, the less credible it became; how the Great Leader had ever got away with his policies was a complete mystery. The three-cornered relationship between Evie, Lucas and Raffy didn't seem believable or consistent. Evie was far too passive for my liking and very naive and trusting for her age - though in her defence, the whole of her society was. Lucas, as the more unknown factor in Evie's life, with his secrets, seemed to be the more rounded of the three.
The major failing though for someone who has read a lot of dystopian fiction, and seen even more movies that fit the genre, is The Killables' similarity to so many. It's a good-enough read but there's nothing to make it stand out from so many others.

Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Hodder
Genre - Teens, Dystopian fiction

Buy The Killables (Killables Trilogy 1) from Amazon

Fuse by Julianna Baggott

review by Maryom

"When the end came, the world was divided. Those considered perfect, the Pure, sheltered inside the controlled Dome. Outside, the Wretches struggled in a destroyed world, crippled by the fusings that branded them after the apocalypse that changed everything.

Partridge, a Pure, has left the safety of the Dome in search of the truth. Pressia, a Wretch, is desperate to decode the secret that will cure her people of their fusings forever. Together, they must seek out the answers that will save humankind, and prevent the world's annihilation.

But the betrayal of Partridge's departure has not been forgotten.  As the Dome unleashes horrifying vengeance upon the Wretches in an attempt to get Partridge back, Partridge has no choice but to return to face the darkness that lies there, even as Pressia travels to the very ends of the world to continue their search.

Theirs is a struggle against a formidable foe, and it is a fight that will push them over boundaries of land and of sea, of heart and of mind. They can only hope for success because failure is unimaginable..."


Fuse continues the story begun in Julianna Baggott's amazing post-apocalyptic novel, Pure, set in a world divided into the Pure, living inside a sealed dome, and the Wretches or Fused who were caught outside by the Detonations with devastating consequences. I don't want to mention the plot as it would be too easy to give spoilers for Pure. If you've read Pure, you'll know what to expect; if you haven't, then you should! Suffice it to say that in their various ways and for varying motives Partridge, Pressia and El Capitan are trying to discover what actions brought about the Detonations, if there is a way the Fused can be cured and how they can create a better world out of the ruins of the old one.

Fuse does slightly fall victim to being the second book of a trilogy - the reader is already acquainted with this amazing world and its characters, and there's no way events can be brought to an overall conclusion - but even so is a great read. The plot cracks along at a fair pace with unexpected twists. There's time for far greater character development - I particularly liked that Lyda and El Capitan evolved into more complex people. I was just left wanting to know how things will end.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Headline Publishing
Genre - YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Buy Fuse (Pure Trilogy 2) from Amazon

God Save The Queen by Kate Locke

Review by The Mole

When Alexandra Vardan, a half blood vampire, finds her sister is missing, she risks life and limb by entering goblin territory to find her. Little does she know that the events that follow will change the course of her life - and the lives of those around her. A story of vampires, werewolves, goblins, humans and half bloods. Xandra is in the Royal Guard assigned to protect the sovereign, Queen Victoria, as well as the nobility.

The author's note at the start tries to explain how the history of the world of Xandra's varies from the world we know and to put into context where Xandra fits into this society but I have to admit to still not knowing what to expect from this story. I struggled, for quite a bit of the book, to remember that Xandra was, in fact, female - a fact that is very important and not just 'choice' by the author. I'm not really sure why though... there are frequent dress references etc but she just feels very... masculine.

With a twist at the end. Not really, from about half way through I could see the outcome - OK the detail was not quite there but the overall idea was what I guessed. And it didn't matter one iota! It was the journey that was hugely entertaining and a journey well worth the taking. Yes, there's romance. Yes, there's plain lust. Yes there's violence of all sorts - but it doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of a paranormal adventure.

I am just wondering where book 2 in the trilogy will take us as it feels like the end of the journey already.

Publisher - Orbit Books
Genre - YA Paranormal Adventure

Buy God Save the Queen: Book One of the Immortal Empire from Amazon

Pure by Julianna Baggott

review by Maryom

"Pressia Belze has lived outside of the Dome ever since the detonations. Struggling for survival she dreams of life inside the safety of the Dome with the 'Pure'. Partridge, himself a Pure, knows that life inside the Dome, under the strict control of the leaders' regime, isn't as perfect as others think. Bound by a history that neither can clearly remember, Pressia and Partridge are destined to forge a new world."


The Detonations changed the world for ever and divided it into two groups - the fortunate Pures who were lucky enough to have secured themselves a place in the protected environment of the Dome - and the Wretches who were caught outside and altered by the blasts - and with this premise, Julianna Baggott creates one of the most amazing post-apocalyptic worlds I've encountered, either in book or film. The background of two differing groups of nuclear-war survivors sets the stage for a totally compelling plot. It's told in the third person but from the point of view of teenagers who are unaware of many of the duplicities of the world they live in - so the reader is introduced first to their comparatively innocent view of the world and discovers the even darker background to events as they do.

From the age of the main characters Pure comes under the YA label, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to sci-fi/dystopian fans of all ages. the only draw-back comes from being first of a trilogy. Many questions are answered by the end of the book but not all and obviously events are not brought to a conclusion. Fortunately, the second part of the trilogy comes out next month (February 2013) so there's not too long to wait.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Headline Publishing
Genre - YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Buy Pure (Pure Trilogy) from Amazon

Shadows by Ilsa J Bick

 review by Maryom

In a post-apocalyptic world, where all but children and the elderly have turned into flesh-eating monsters, the few teens and young adults that have remained 'unchanged' are highly prized. Alex, Chris and Tom fall into this category but even for them the danger is not over. No one knows how the 'Change' comes about - who is susceptible, who immune - and who it will strike next. Having become separated Alex and Tom are desperate to find each other again but in a world now populated by armed, zombie-type mobs nothing is going to be simple and straight-forward.

 Shadows is the second book of the post-apocalyptic Ashes trilogy and seems to suffer from being the middle book  Ashes ended on a cliff hanger - sort of to be expected - and Shadows picks up the story there. The only thing is the story doesn't seem to move along much. There's lots of fighting, attacks by mutants, lots of blood and gore but by the ending - another cliff hanger - I didn't feel things had advanced. If anything Shadows introduces more sub-plots and leaves more questions unanswered. Hopefully all will be resolved in Book3....

Maryom's review - 3 stars
Publisher - Quercus Books
Genre - teen,YA, fiction

Buy Shadows (Ashes Trilogy) from Amazon