Review: Adventure game action in a nice mix of faith, science and future history
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2012
An EMP pulse has plunged earth's civilizations into a dark age. For 500 years the Effect has lingered in the sky. But now a new age is dawning, either to terror or to hope.Jeff W. Horton imagines a fascinating post-apocalyptic future history in The Dark Age, Survivors of the Pulse. Some of the premises may seem a little odd but they fit the form of the novel perfectly, rather like rules to an adventure board game. Forces of light and dark gather for war across the countryside. Seven items must be found to save the world. Fractured phrases of Latin hide their secret locations. And a curious cabal of scientists 500 years ago embraced true faith in God and man's ingenuity as they chose how to hide them.Faith in God runs deep in this novel, with Rome the last bastion of Christianity and science. Faith allows for seeming defeat to be redeemed in exciting battles and nicely timed coincidence. But man's ingenuity allows for repeated failures in need of redemption. The author has a nice touch with his unconverted characters, leaving room for ambiguity and delayed or unforced belief, and allowing for a pleasing mix of heroes in the team. Priest, adventurer, archeologist and more combine their efforts in a fast-paced adventure that ranges the globe while remaining firmly centered in the US. And a nice level of detail recreates post-apocalyptic cities, seas and countryside quite convincingly.My Latin balked at some of the clues, and my instincts warred with the risk taken in some of the hiding places. But the story's fun, the environment's intriguing, and the faith and science aspects of future history are nicely done. The Dark Age is a fun novel and I just might look out for its predecessor--The Great Collapse--one day.Disclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review.