Review: 3.5 stars. Very good debut book
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 2, 2013
Post-apocalypse stories are among my favorite, but I prefer them with a non-paranormal flavor. Said that, this book had a few good things that I think the author should have taken advantage of and that show a lot of promise.I hoped the author would take advantage of the post-apocalyptic setting a bit more. I always found myself glued to the page when there were descriptions of the way nature was taking over cities, of the wild horses, of what was left of the civilization. My favorite parts were those about the journey and the cities, I liked trying to discover the city the author was describing, the landmarks left, especially in Aldar. The fun of post-apocalypse is to be able to superimpose what you know about the place and how the author can demolish your knowledge as the apocalypse demolished those places. There wasn't enough of that, in my opinion.The narrator, Mik, didn't have a gripping voice. It was as if he was telling the story from the sidelines instead of the front of the story. It's true that Mik tends to remove himself from situations: he often takes a step back from sex, from emotional connection. It depends on his past, on the many losses he had to face when he was a child and the fact he has to face the fear of constantly losing the people he cares for. There was a great moment in the book when Mik acknowledged his rage and anger finding a connection with a negative character. It was so powerful, so alive and revealing, and it showed a potential strength. I hope the author will continue on this road in the next books, especially because the choices Mik has to make are not easy, depending on where his loyalties are.Another interesting thing that I think I never found in another book was Mik's considering himself asexual. It's powerful. It denies an obvious relationship dynamics and it's simply cool, because it's a choice that implies power over a basic instinct - if it's not a lack of passion. This wasn't so clear to see, and I think this could be explored a bit more.The book is rather long. The story dragged a bit in a few places and I think the way some information about the past wasn't always given smoothly, but I could see the author was trying to avoid info-dumping. Parts of the world building were not explored or left dangling. Mik's learning of his abilities was done with a lot of repetitions of situations, it could have been more organized. The consequences of Mik's initial meeting with a human outside Rachat on his first mission were not really explained and I felt the issues were abandoned. I don't know, there was a bit of general clunkiness.There were interesting plot twists, very interesting, but I had the impression they had not enough space to have their full impact.It was an intriguing read, a bit frustrating sometimes, but for a debut book it's good. I'm going to read the sequel because it ends in a jaw-dropping way.