Post by Matthew on Jan 17, 2014 11:06:52 GMT
www.amazon.co.uk/The-Night-Lights-Went-Out-ebook/dp/B009TSXLOG
First PA book of the year for me.
And its an 'interesting' one.
Basic premise is that an 'E' storm hits the UK and a slice of Northern Europe which effectively wipes out all electrical circuits rendering the nation right in the brown smelly stuff.
The novel follows the exploits of a British squaddie sent back into the UK some months later with a senior officer to ensure that the chain of old Royal Observer Corp bunkers are rendered useless to any dodgy foreign types looking to harm poor old Albion.
Firstly the good points. Its original, well thought out and observed. Most of the usual PA cliches are ignored or else approached from a different direction. There is a certain cold brutality to parts of it that reminded me of the sort of thing you might find in a John Christopher novel and it is a well thought out piece, even if you might disagree with some of the conclusions and so on.
The negatives are that it is rather 'over' written and seems to struggle with the sort of flow that good fiction requires. Also found the portrayal of a character meant to be a British squaddie perhaps not quite ringing true but that might be more about my prejudices.
However the book is free and I am sure we all pay to read much worse.
The novel provides much food for thought about the whats and whys of the 'what if' and I would happily give it a strong 3.5 out of 5 with some slight guilt about not going to the 4 but it does lack something in terms of how the whole thing pans out but the ideas within it almost compensate for that.
To surmise I would sum it up as a novel that would probably not entice a novice reader into a love for the PA genre but for those of us who already have the bug then it is a worthy edition. One for the purists.
First PA book of the year for me.
And its an 'interesting' one.
Basic premise is that an 'E' storm hits the UK and a slice of Northern Europe which effectively wipes out all electrical circuits rendering the nation right in the brown smelly stuff.
The novel follows the exploits of a British squaddie sent back into the UK some months later with a senior officer to ensure that the chain of old Royal Observer Corp bunkers are rendered useless to any dodgy foreign types looking to harm poor old Albion.
Firstly the good points. Its original, well thought out and observed. Most of the usual PA cliches are ignored or else approached from a different direction. There is a certain cold brutality to parts of it that reminded me of the sort of thing you might find in a John Christopher novel and it is a well thought out piece, even if you might disagree with some of the conclusions and so on.
The negatives are that it is rather 'over' written and seems to struggle with the sort of flow that good fiction requires. Also found the portrayal of a character meant to be a British squaddie perhaps not quite ringing true but that might be more about my prejudices.
However the book is free and I am sure we all pay to read much worse.
The novel provides much food for thought about the whats and whys of the 'what if' and I would happily give it a strong 3.5 out of 5 with some slight guilt about not going to the 4 but it does lack something in terms of how the whole thing pans out but the ideas within it almost compensate for that.
To surmise I would sum it up as a novel that would probably not entice a novice reader into a love for the PA genre but for those of us who already have the bug then it is a worthy edition. One for the purists.
