Tag: Post Apocalyptic

The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Passage
Series: The Passage #1

Author:
Justin Cronin

Published: June 8, 2010
766 Pages

Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3.5 stars

Book Description:

IT HAPPENED FAST.
THIRTY-TWO MINUTES FOR ONE WORLD TO DIE, ANOTHER TO BE BORN.

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. Wolgast is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors, but for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—toward the time an place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Kim’s Review:

How did I like this story so much, but hated reading it so much? I liked pretty much everything about this story. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next and I really liked all the characters, but my gosh was that book slow!!! I felt like I was sludging through it! It got to the point where I lost some of my curiosity and decided not to continue the series because the book took so long. I liked a lot about this story and like I said, I really loved the characters … but I could not get over how slow the reading was!
~~~
This was a book that Jessica DNF’d many years ago, for basically the same issue that Kim had with it: the slowness!  I tried, but just couldn’t keep reading it.  I did watch the one season TV show in 2019 and enjoyed it and wish it had continued!

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
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Book Review: Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky

Metro 2033
Series: Book one of Universe of Metro 2033, Uniwersum Metro 2033
Author: Dmitry Glukhovsky

Published: January 17, 2013
458 Pages/Audiobook

Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: X stars

Book Description:

The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The half-destroyed cities have become uninhabitable through radiation. Beyond their boundaries, they say, lie endless burned-out deserts and the remains of splintered forests. Survivors still remember the past greatness of humankind. But the last remains of civilisation have already become a distant memory, the stuff of myth and legend.

More than 20 years have passed since the last plane took off from the earth. Rusted railways lead into emptiness. The ether is void and the airwaves echo to a soulless howling where previously the frequencies were full of news from Tokyo, New York, Buenos Aires. Man has handed over stewardship of the earth to new life-forms. Mutated by radiation, they are better adapted to the new world. Man’s time is over.

A few score thousand survivors live on, not knowing whether they are the only ones left on earth. They live in the Moscow Metro – the biggest air-raid shelter ever built. It is humanity’s last refuge. Stations have become mini-statelets, their people uniting around ideas, religions, water-filters – or the simple need to repulse an enemy incursion. It is a world without a tomorrow, with no room for dreams, plans, hopes. Feelings have given way to instinct – the most important of which is survival. Survival at any price. VDNKh is the northernmost inhabited station on its line. It was one of the Metro’s best stations and still remains secure. But now a new and terrible threat has appeared.

Artyom, a young man living in VDNKh, is given the task of penetrating to the heart of the Metro, to the legendary Polis, to alert everyone to the awful danger and to get help. He holds the future of his native station in his hands, the whole Metro – and maybe the whole of humanity.

Kim’s Review:

I decided to read this book after I played the video game, which was brilliant! Gas masks and radiation are my new jam! Unfortunately, while the story and characters were good and the philosophies were fascinating, this is a simple translation from the original Russian. So it’s very sludge-y! I would get bogged down, page after page, that I finally had to switch to audio and even then, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish it.

Thankfully, the end was excellent. It was a lot like Lord of the Flies to me. That last page kinda tied everything together and made it all make a little more sense. But even with the good ending, I don’t believe I’ll continue the series and I can’t really recommend it to anybody … go play the games, they’re amazing!!

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

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Engines of the Broken World

Engines of the Broken World
Author: Jason Vanhee
Published: November 5, 2013
272 Pages

Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 2 stars

Book Description:

Merciful Truth and her brother, Gospel, have just pulled their dead mother into the kitchen and stowed her under the table. It was a long illness, and they wanted to bury her—they did—but it’s far too cold outside, and they know they won’t be able to dig into the frozen ground. The Minister who lives with them, who preaches through his animal form, doesn’t make them feel any better about what they’ve done. Merciful calms her guilty feelings but only until, from the other room, she hears a voice she thought she’d never hear again. It’s her mother’s voice, and it’s singing a lullaby. . . .

Kim’s Review:

What a weird book. The whole time, I just sat, puzzled. This animal that wasn’t an animal, but looked like an animal, but kept changing its appearance to different animals . . . What?? I thought maybe, once the mother started moving and talking even though she was dead, things were gonna get good. Not really at all. I had such high hopes with the cover and the description. But by the end, I was more confused than when I started!

I’m not even sure how to describe what I read. I think it was supposed to be some kind of post apocalyptic tale, but even then, I’m not sure. Different worlds that can communicate with each other, ministers that look like animals but aren’t, snowstorm that shrinks the world. But then it just ends with no resolution. I just didn’t like it. I don’t get what happened. I don’t understand what the author was trying to say. I just don’t know. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this book to anybody.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

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