Review: Well done.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2012
Howard Bell's story continues, moving from an arctic island to an inland jungle. Sadly, Howard has no memory of moving from one to the other. It ceases to matter much when he wakes up alone and must focus on survival.Desolate was written entirely in third person POV, but Desolate 2 opens in first person POV. It was a bit distracting at first, but I thought the change improved the story. Howard is in a bit of shock, and trying to sort out what's happened. As the story progresses, it seems that whatever personality he had prior to his arrest is gone, and he's finding a post-alcohol personality in bits and pieces. He's unable to turn his back on a child in need, an accurate reflection of the past self, the self he'd rather not dwell on in the present. He's no knight in shining armor, but he's finding a basic decency within himself. He's more interesting in this book, and less like a hapless victim.Third person POV is used to portray the other characters, and explain the events Howard has not witnessed. Since chapter breaks are used to separate the two points of view, it works well within the story. The menace portrayed is standard SF fare, developed differently with each author. This story is still very much in progress. It will be interesting to see where Robert Brumm takes the plot from here. There is room for a lot of twists and turns in the path.This installment has less action the than the first, but more description and character development, all well written and interesting.I enjoyed reading Desolate 2, and look forward to the next installment.