Total Oblivion, More or Less by Alan Deniro
New York : Spectra/Ballantine Books, c2009.
306 p. ; 21 cm.
Reading this book was an interesting experience for me. I liked it a lot at the beginning - started to dislike it a lot about a third of the way through, but then found myself liking it - and unable to put it down until I finished it. Not bad for a book!
The book opens in St. Paul Minnesota as the US has fallen apart to roving bands of horsemen called the Scythians. Sixteen year old Macy and her family flee, go to a refugee camp, and end up escaping on a boat just before the camp is overrun by marauders.
Along the way they encounter more and more bizarre events, suffer from the plague - which creates the strangest buboes in the world - and split up and reunite. The book has a wacky atmosphere of gloom about it, but is tempered by adventure and genuine family love and loyalty. In many ways, I found this a much better book than this year's Printz winner, Ship Breaker.
I'd recommend this to readers who like Neil Gaiman but want something a little darker. I also think any reader who enjoys an unusual setting - such as the Chaos Walking books - might find this a good read, too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment