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ClareR (5721 KP) rated The Quiet at the End of the World in Books

May 29, 2019

The Quiet at the End of the World

Lauren James | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

A gentle end to humankind.

Another YA book, where I don’t honestly know why it has been labelled YA. Perhaps unless there’s rampant sex and violence in a book, only children will want to read it. Except I’m 45 (for now!). I love a bit of sex and violence as much as the next Science Fiction/ Fantasy reader, but I also acknowledge that a book can be a damn good read without those things - and this IS a damn good read.

It’s a ‘soft apocalypse’. A drift into the end of human kind. An exploration into what it is to be human, and ultimately: would the earth be better off without us on it? We all know the answer to that really, don’t we?

Lowrie and Shen are the two youngest and last born humans on Earth. A seemingly harmless virus rendered the entire human race infertile, although some already fertilised embryos remained. Lowrie and Shen are the last two babies born from those embryos. And there has been no cure discovered for the virus.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a refreshingly gentle take on apocalypse - no one is killed, no cannibalism, there are no murderous dictators. In fact everyone gets along and works together as a community.

There are some great characters other than the main ones: Mitch, the lifeguard robot who communicates using flashing colours is one in particular. I loved the records of Lowrie and Shen’s found objects at the start of each chapter as well. A real mix of the ancient (to the reader as well) and the modern (to the reader alone!).

A very thought provoking read in these times of climate crisis, and told in a way that makes it accessible to both young and old.

Kudos

James Koppert (2698 KP) rated The Possession (The Anomaly Files #2) in Books

Nov 3, 2019

The Possession (The Anomaly Files #2)

Michael Rutger | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal, Thriller

7.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Great follow on from the previous book (1 more)

Don't have to have read the previous book

For the fans of Coast to Coast AM etc

When I reviewed Michael Rutger's previous novel; The Anomaly I said that this was a novel for those of us who love the strange paranormal, supernatural woo woo of things like Fortean Times magazine, Coast to Coast AM, Astonishing Legends and Lore and I am going to say the same thing for The Possession. The title lets it down a little. This isn't some girl gets possessed by a daemon and gets exorcised run of the mill story, Rutger is far more interesting than that.
The story centres round the Berkeley Mystery Walls, strange walls in California that are ancient and don't seem to be marking territory and whom no one knows who built them and what their purpose is, and the disappearance of a girl. Nolan Moore and his Anomaly Files crew turn up to investigate and things start getting more and more strange, creepy and out of this world as they go along.
Do you have to have read the previous book to get any of this? Not at all, you can jump straight into this as a separate story although after reading the Anomaly I was really keen to get The Possession and I wasn't disappointed. It is a tense thrilling hell ride from start to finish with no simple answers and solutions, just the great characters from the first book back bumbling through as best they can to try and save the world. Its great fun, full of well researched strange events and massive adventure. Its refreshing to have a voice in horror that throws away the cliches and instead makes a modern story entirely of their own. Lets hope there are many more novels to come.