Book Review: Seoul Survivors by Naomi Foyle

Seoul Survivors by Naomi Foyle (Jo Fletcher)

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Stand Alone

Publication Date: February 6, 2014 (Paperback)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy's Rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's only January, but already I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the more "out there" books I'll read this year. As usual, Jo Fletcher Books continues to push the envelope and explore beyond the boundaries of traditional adult speculative fiction with novels like Seoul Survivor.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first read the description. With the impending destruction of earth by a meteor called Lucifer's Hammer providing the backdrop for the story, I wouldn't have been surprised to find something along the lines of an apocalyptic science fiction thriller. What I actually got, however, was something all together different. Strange, too -- but in a good way.

The book follows the lives of four characters: Sydney Travers, a former escort from Canada who hopes to start over with a modeling career in a new country; her boyfriend Johnny Sandman, a vicious, sociopathic and just all around disgusting corporate executive and a sorry excuse of a human being; Damien Meadows, so down on his luck and desperate to leave England that he reluctantly agrees to be a drug mule; and finally Lee Mee Hee, a North Korean peasant woman who is smuggled away from death and famine in the false bottom of a foreign aid truck. Their separate paths all lead them to Seoul, Korea where the brilliant Korean-American scientist Dr. Kim Da Mi is the mastermind behind a plan to redesign humanity with genetic engineering and social experiments, in spite of the killer asteroid hurtling earth's way. 

Beyond these basics, the book gets more complex and difficult to describe. At times it falls into seriously outrageous and bizarre territory. It also may not be for everyone, and indeed it's not for the faint of heart; there are parts that made me feel downright queasy while reading, especially some of the scenes that depicted acts of a deviant nature as well as the few instances which involved graphic descriptions of sexual violence. I didn't expect it from its cover or description, but this novel is dark and at times twisted, containing some disturbing themes. 

At the same time, I couldn't help but be drawn to the characters, and be enthralled by the way their individual dramas unfolded. Confoundingly, none of them are even all that likeable as people, but for some reason their lives are like a car wreck I can't seem to tear my eyes away from. Take the shallow and insecure Sydney who so easily gets manipulated, for example, or timid Mee Hee with the personality meeker than a lamb. Neither of them possess particularly admirable traits, but all the same, their fears and desires make them feel very human. Even megalomaniac Johnny whom I consider to be more monster than man has his part to play, and then of course there is the geneticist Dr. Kim and her eerie charisma worthy of a cult leader.

The setting itself feels like a world in a not-too-distant future, one that feels familiar but also exotic in part due to some of the advanced technology but also because of the foreign culture. From her author's bio, Naomi Foyle spent many years in Asia and it is clear that she drew upon her experiences in Korea to paint a clear picture of the people and places of Seoul. As a reader, you can easily become completely immersed in this milieu.

I also thought the crisis and spectacle of Lucifer's Hammer would feature more prominently in this novel, but aside from Damien no other character takes the meteor all that seriously, and as such it is always in the background but not discussed to a great extent. I wish there had been more; though nonetheless, the all-pervasive undertones of worldwide tension are so strong they are practically palpable. It's interesting because while I wouldn't technically classify this book as apocalyptic fiction, so few novels actually take this "countdown to doomsday" angle. 

To put it simply, Seoul Survivors is a book that defies all expectations. Just sitting back and letting the story be what it is can lead to some pleasant surprises amidst the dark twists and turns. The true nature of it can take a while to unravel, but the never-seen-before ideas and diverse cast of characters make this one an intriguing read. It touched me, and it also shook me to my core.

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Jo Fletcher Books.

Book Review: Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

Genre: Sci-Fi Apocalyptic, Police Procedural

Series: Book 2 of The Last Policeman

Publisher: Quirk Books

Date of Publication: July 16, 2013

Author Information: Website | Twitter


What would you do if the world was going to end in a little less than three months?

Being a wimp, I’d probably hide in the basement closet with a comforter over my head, praying that it’s all a bad dream. Most likely I’d be depressed and wouldn’t be able to go about my everyday life like everything was normal. I definitely wouldn’t be like Hank Palace, the main character of this novel, because even with an asteroid hurtling through space towards earth threatening to wipe out all life on the planet, he’s still out there patrolling the streets trying to be the best damn policeman he can be.

Not that Hank’s even a policeman anymore; he’s been relieved of his duty, after what’s left of law enforcement in the country went through some major restructuring. In the time between Countdown City and the previous book The Last Policeman (my review here), things have gotten worse. Even the last vestiges of institution and pockets of civilization are starting to break down, with electricity gone now and water about to be next.

Hank, though, is still on the job, taking on a missing-persons case to find the husband of Martha Cavatone, the woman who used to be his babysitter. Much like he was in the last book, he becomes rabidly obsessed with the case, but is this merely due to his personal connection to Martha? Or it this just Hank’s own version of hiding in the basement under the covers? I get the feeling that beneath his focused exterior, he’s just as crazy with panic as everyone else. To me, this made him a very interesting breed of unreliable narrator.

Once again, I’m just floored by Winter’s interpretation of a pre-apocalyptic America. While I’ve read tons of apocalyptic novels, most of these take place after the destructive event has already happened, or they take place just before. Very rarely do you see a book like this where everyone knows the end is coming, but the catch is that it’s not coming for a while yet, and the world has to suffer through this plodding march towards doom like watching a slow death.

In circumstances like these, anything can happen, really. But the author makes it so realistic, showing a wide variety of human reactions to the killer asteroid. There’s Hank, who immerses himself in work, and there are also people like his sister, who still believes there’s hope and joins a commune. As you’d expect, there are also those who just lose it and commit suicide (thus giving us the basis of the first book) as well as a significant portion of the population that goes “Bucket List” (which forms an interesting theory for this book). As Hank notes, cases that seemed mundane under normal circumstances take on a whole different meaning in these new times, because there’s no such thing as “normal circumstances” anymore.

A police procedural set against a backdrop like this takes on a brand new twist – and I think this is the key to why I enjoyed this sequel even more than its predecessor. The Last Policeman had a good story, but I felt the details of the case Hank worked on in that book had very little to do with the social climate or the situation with the asteroid. This book, however, has those elements all over his missing-persons investigation. It made the impending armageddon an integral part of the case rather than just the background. Clock’s ticking and it’s getting real now, and this book really makes you feel it.

4 of 5 stars

Audiobook Review: Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey

Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey

 This was an audiobook read, narrated by the magnificent Simon Vance.

The birth of Gordon Black signifies the end of the world. Year after year following his birth, the world slides into more and more poverty and destruction. People call it the Black Dawn and the Crowman becomes its symbol. Whether the Crowman is a harbinger of the final end or the saviour of the world, no one is certain, but when the Ward goes after a teenaged Gordon, they are certain that the Crowman must be stopped by any means and that Gordon, tasked by his family to find the Crowman, must be captured. Meanwhile, in the post-apocalyptic future where life has reverted back to a time before technology with remnants of the old world buried, a young girl named Megan is summoned to take her place as the first ever female Keeper. Her task? To write the Crowman’s story.

This book is a cautionary tale (that occasionally gets a bit too preachy in its warnings against our reliance on technology and modern comforts and convenience, etc) and is told in a very unique way with very interesting characters. Gordon’s journey is intriguing, and I liked the way Megan’s role is worked in, with her seeing the events of the past in order to record the dark and painful tale of the Crowman.

The Crowman himself is a fascinating character. Is he a creature of good? Is he evil? Throughout the book, we get glimpses of his development and his influences on the world, but we’re never quite sure of his purpose and how he will decide the world’s fate. Is the world’s fate a decision for him to make? Or is the Crowman simply just doing his part in an incomprehensible cycle?

I was not overly fond of the Ward. The Ward represents the ruling party who wish to maintain control throughout the chaos and the Crowman is a threat to their hold on everything. They are Big Bad Corporations, The Man, Big Brother and every other example of oppressive regimes that we’ve seen in the past. Personally, I would have enjoyed their part more if they weren’t represented in such a heavy handed manner. In a time of chaos, it is understandable that there are those who try to control and take advantage. But those trying to maintain order and fairness, such as not allowing people to hoard food while others starve, is not necessarily evil. I would have liked it if the purpose of the Ward was as ambiguous as that of the Crowman.

Overall, I enjoyed Black Feathers. It was very good, but there’s a “but” floating around in my head somewhere that I’ve yet to put my finger on... Whatever that may be, for better or for worse, the book has stayed on my mind since finishing it, and I definitely approve of a book that keeps me thinking long after I’ve finished reading the last page.

4 of 5 stars

Book Review: Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Robots determine that humanity is obsolete and must be cleansed. This is simple and common science fiction concept and one I have most recently been dealing with in Mass Effect. I spent a lot of time relating things back to the Morning War and Starchild and, most importantly, to Harbinger. Hell, this entire quote from the book might as well be Harbinger's manifesto:

“I will murder you by the billions to give you immortality. I will set fire to your civilization to light your way forward. But know this: My species is not defined by your dying, but by your living.”

Had I read this at an earlier time in my life, the comparisons would have been to the Terminator saga or Bubblegum Crisis or Battlestar Galactica. As I said, the idea of our robot creations taking over for the sake of our salvation is not new and I can't say this was a stunningly memorable entry into that theme.

One of the major problems I had with this book was its first person narrative. The chapters are retellings as documented by Cormac "Bright Boy" Wallace, a soldier in the New War against the machines. According to the story, at the request of the machines, out of respect for humanity's resistance and resilience, surveillance footage was presented to Wallace that he may record the major events that led to the ultimate destruction of the machine leader. My suspension of disbelief had problems with the fact that there was surveillance to cover all aspects of the story told (even in the robot-free forest), and that Wallace was able to convey the emotions of the people as well. I would have preferred if the author had not bothered with the pretext of Cormac composing the stories of the heroes and allowed the heroes to tell the stories themselves.

That said, the format itself, sans Wallace being the one writing it, worked well enough, though I can't say the characters were given much depth outside of the situations they were presented in. I appreciated that things didn't dwell too much on getting to and from the various places and instead just focused specifically on the characters and exactly what actions made them heroes in the eyes of both humans and robots. Although, by the end of the book when there was a great distance to go and presumably there would have been hardships on the way, the format fell short. It became too easy to move from A to B to accomplish the goal.

Once again, the robot apocalypse concept is not new, but it was retold reasonably well enough to get the point across here. Robopocalypse covered many of the basics, including how humans will behave when faced with such odds, but it was, ultimately, a guide book: In case the robots get uppity, break glass.

2.5 of 5 stars

Book Review: World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

The thing that sets this zombie story apart from the others I've experienced is right there in the title: WORLD War Z. So many other zombie stories are America-centric and work on the vague notion that the epidemic is occurring elsewhere in the world, but there is no interaction with anyone but the small pocket of main characters within the United States. Isolation is a huge part of those stories, which ups the tension and emotion, but it always bothers me that a global apocalypse seems to immediately reduce the world to a handful of people right from the start.

In this case, it starts with a handful of people in China, a small village identified as ground zero, the source of the epidemic, then moves throughout the world as the author interviews various survivors of the horrific events. Brooks has already compiled enough information for an official report on the events, but because of all the information he learned doing so, he is compelled to write a more human report. This is another difference about the book that appeals to me: few of the survivor stories are coming from the "regular" people. A lot of the stories come from people responsible for some of the major decisions and events that took place in the war. It is interesting to note how many interviews take place within various types of institutions, or comment on the breakdowns of the people in power after they are forced to make decisions that amount to the sacrifice of thousands of innocent human lives to contain and ultimately destroy the undead.

The nature of the recounts does not allow for a lot of emotional attachment to any of the characters and the emotions of the characters themselves has to be extrapolated by the reader based on the stories they tell. Ironically, my favourite story was the one of Paul Redeker. An apparently emotionless man who turned the tides of the epidemic in Africa through the implementation of a controversial plan.

I also really liked that this wasn't just about fighting the zombies. It was a surprisingly in depth look at the various government and military institutions around the world. Their reactions to the event are very realistic and remained so throughout. And in the end, no one country could claim any kind of victory. There is also a lot of emphasis on the guilt that comes with "just following orders."

Because the book occurs after the events, there is no sense of immediate danger. This might not work for some readers, and evidently, it doesn't work for the upcoming movie, which clearly pits Brad Pitt against the zombies. I also notice that the zombies are more like freaky carpenter ants in the trailer, speedily climbing over each other to swarm their targets. There is a small moment in the book that describes the zombies as a "swarm," which I suspect is what inspired the movie interpretation of their movement habits, but otherwise, the book maintains the shambling corpse that is zombie flick standard.

My book club is reading this book because of the upcoming movie. We're curious to see how far it strays from the source material, as the trailer already seems to depict. I'll check back later with my report!

4 of 5 stars

Book Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Having really enjoyed Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologist, I became interested in checking out the author's other works and decided to pick up his new young adult book The 5th Wave.

The book tells the story of an alien invasion, happening over a period of time in a series of planned attacks called "waves". The 1st wave was an electromagnetic pulse-like burst that knocked out electricity and almost everything that runs on power. The 2nd wave wiped out all cities on the world's coastlines. The 3rd wave was a plague that decimated the human population. The 4th wave made those still alive mistrust and turn on each other. Cassie is one of the few lucky (unlucky?) survivors, believing that striking out alone is the only way to stay alive. Those that are left now prepare for the worst; they know "the Others" aren't done with humanity yet, and a 5th wave is on the horizon.

I was really excited when I found out the premise behind the book, hoping to see a new take and fresh ideas on the alien invasion concept. Going on a tangent here, but I think most of us today take movies like Alien for granted; the image of the chestburster exploding out of a human chest cavity is a familiar one to us now that it's been propagated in pop culture, but can you imagine actually sitting in that theater seat watching that scene play out for the very first time on the big screen back in 1979? It was before my time, but I can't help but think it must have been one crazy, horrifyingly mind-blowing experience, simply because no one then could have expected it.

You could say I'm trying to I'm chase that feeling, I guess. I live for those moments when I'm surprised by my science fiction, those OMG-I-can't-believe-that-just-friggin'-happened moments. Anyway, I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately it didn't quite get me there. Even so, it was great read. Never mind that some of the waves were based on familiar ideas, and there were themes reminiscent of stories like Invasion of the Body Snatchers or The Thing (TRUST NO ONE!), the horror of their relentless assaults was very well done, making the characters' fears seem very real.

In fact, I only have a very few minor gripes, and they mostly stem from the things the author threw in to make this book feel more mainstream YA, almost like he was deliberately trying for a Hunger Games vibe. There's that aspect of the young girl struggling in a survivalist situation, complete with a sappy romance with a cute boy with a lop-sided grin. Arrgh, seriously, why do they always always ALWAYS have to have the lop-sided grin?! Spare me! 

I know it's a stereotype, and as usual there are going to be exceptions, but some male authors just can't seem to pull off writing convincingly and realistically from the point-of-view of a teenage girl. Some of Cassie's thoughts about crushes and boys are either giggle-worthy or cringe-inducing, and I get the feeling Rick Yancey simply used general ideas found in mainstream movies and books when it came to writing Cassie. She definitely didn't come across as naturally compared to his characterization of Will Henry in The Monstrumologist.

I only mention this because YA romances that feel corny or awkward have a tendency to drive me absolutely bonkers, but thankfully it was only mildly distracting here. Ultimately, there really wasn't much in this book that took away from my overall enjoyment. Despite incorporating a lot of elements I feel like I've seen before, I really have no complaints in terms of the story. It was entertaining, full of action and suspense and all I could ask for.

Final verdict:

 4 of 5 stars 

Book Review: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

This was a book I picked up for a couple of bucks in the Kindle store earlier in the week. I was immediately intrigued after taking a look at the synopsis and seeing what it was about, and who can argue with that price, right? Anyway, now that I've read it, the next thing I'm going to say will probably make this review sound a little harsh, but know that it is not my intention because the book was actually quite good. Truth is, though, the blurb made the book sound a lot more interesting than it really is. 

At its heart, The Last Policeman is a police procedural following new detective Hank Palace's investigations into a suspicious death by hanging. But there's a twist, because all the while there is a killer asteroid hurtling towards the earth, set to end all life on the planet when it impacts in six months. As you can already guess, there have been a lot of suicides since the news broke, which is why Hank seems to be the only person taking this case seriously.

The book is a fascinating interpretation of what the country would be like if everyone knew the end was coming. I find it's actually handled quite realistically; I mean, in a world of billions, it only makes sense that some portion of the population might give up, while others go crazy. Still others might become ambivalent to everything around them, quit work, start living dangerously or hit their bucket list to do everything they've ever wanted to do before the world ends. Humans are so unpredictable. They will react to different situations in very different ways. So really, it's not so unbelievable that there will also be folks like Hank Palace who just want to get on with their lives and give a hundred percent at their jobs like it was any other day.

For me, it was this pre-apocalyptic scenario that made the book so entertaining, not the actual detective story itself. The fun was reading about the general social climate of the country, the descriptions of how society is slowly breaking down, little pockets of order and civility holding on while everything else crumbles around them. People are now thrown in jail for life without trial for even the most minor of offenses. Churches are packed, cell phone coverage is spotty, commodities like gas, alcohol and certain food products are hard to come by. All this creates a context for the "whodunit" story that slowly unfolds, but at a certain point the setting became bigger than the mystery. Ironically, the world became more important to me than actually finding out about "whodunit".

That's not to say that the case itself wasn't interesting to follow. It's your classic mystery plot, well laid out and suspenseful, but quite honestly, without the background of doomsday and all that, I'm not sure that there's anything really that special about it. The book certainly wouldn't have held my attention as much as it did. I just wished there was more of the science-fiction aspect involved in the investigation of the case, with the scenario of the asteroid playing more into the mystery plot. As it is, I didn't get much of that until the very end, practically at the epilogue. The insufficient connection to the sci-fi angle left me somewhat underwhelmed.

Still, the book leaves enough potential for development. It was a very quick and easy read, which made me surprised when I found out that it is actually the first book of what I think is going to be a trilogy. It basically ends with a promise of much more to come. I'm definitely going to pick up the sequel because I'm dying to find out what happens, and something also tells me that the next book will have more of that sci-fi and apocalypse aspect in the mix.

Final verdict:

 3.5 of 5 stars

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

The Twelve is the follow-up to The Passage and the second novel of what is a planned trilogy. In the first book, we saw the world before and after it was ravaged by a viral plague that turns its infected victims into vampire-like creatures. This sequel continues the saga, further chronicling our group of main characters in the post-apocalyptic future, as well as filling in the events of the past leading up to the outbreak.

Plot-wise, our group of survivors in the future -- Alicia, Peter, Michael, Sarah, etc. and of course, the all important and influential Amy -- take action to fight back against the virals and their collaborators, and even aim to take down the twelve original infected plague-bearers from the government experiments performed before the world fell (hence, the title). That's the main story of this series, which I found enjoyable enough, but it wasn't what I liked best.

Actually, even now I am surprised that I like this book as much as I do, given my tepid response to its predecessor and especially considering that The Twelve was written in much the same format and style. Though many of the characters in the first book return for the sequel, a few have perished and a handful more are also added. And not surprisingly, Justin Cronin continues to exhibit his long-windedness by insisting on writing back stories for pretty much every single one of them.

While I'm usually one to welcome any and all forms of character development including back stories or other devices authors use to flesh out their characters, I recall that Cronin's way bothered me greatly in The Passage. The book wasn't what I expected; thinking I was going to get a good old-fashioned apocalyptic story, instead I was bogged down by chapters full of flashbacks and found myself wondering when we'll actually get to the part with the end of the world. I was several hundred pages deep already before it finally happened, and the worst part was, when it came it wasn't even all that great or exciting.

That brings me to what I liked best about The Twelve. Yes, Cronin is still as verbose as ever, but the first part of the book and its focus on the early days of the plague and the downfall of the country was exactly what I wanted from The Passage, and which it didn't deliver. It was good to see some of that covered in the second book, even if it wasn't nearly as much as I'd hoped for. Still, it was something, and it filled in many of the missing pieces.

I am also seeing how all the characters are coming together, their connections and relationships like loose threads finally being tied up. This actually made me feel a lot better about this series, since another one of my frustrations with the first book was how I would get emotionally invested in someone (while irritating at times, those lengthy back stories have a tendency to do that to me) only to see them die or have the story change perspectives or skip ahead in time. Often, this made me feel cheated and almost punished for caring about a character. After all, why spend all that time writing about them, just to kill them off and never return to them again?

Well, The Twelve showed that this wasn't always the case. Some of the characters I never expected to see again from The Passage make an appearance, proving Cronin still has plans for them yet. That went a long way in mollifying me and assuring me that I didn't waste my time, and also gives me hope that the third book will continue this trend in weaving all these seemingly random characters together. After this book, I'm starting to get an inkling of just how big the web is.

Only read this book if you've read the first one already, as this doesn't appear to be a story with a real beginning or end, all its parts seeming more like puzzle pieces coming together to form one overarching, comprehensive epic.

Final verdict: 

4 of 5 stars