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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
I so wanted to like this book. Most of the US disappears into green ooze? Yes please! What happens next? Here's the actuality, borrowed from another reviewer: 'Take one part clumsier Tom Clancy, add one part S.M. Stirling, shake it up with an anti-Muslim bias' and then don't follow with any science on what may have happened to millions of people.
Loved the premise, and the characters. A good read from on e of my favorite author's
I'm sad to say I found this a little disappointing. Birmingham has great ideas, but I think there's something in the execution that isn't just right. And every chapter, seemingly, ends with someone being knocked unconscious which was a little repetitive. I was looking forward to reading this book for some time, so perhaps that heightens my disappoint.
Interesting concept but too many storylines floating around the place and none had a satisfying conclusion.
Without Warning is a high-concept end of the world thriller, one in which the USA inexplicably disappears behind the Wave, a sci-fi mcGuffin that is never explained. Most of the book explores what happens around the world in the vacuum left behind by the absence of the superpower, particularly to the few million Americans that were either out of the country or were in the few parts not covered by the Wave (basically Seattle, Hawaii and Alaska).
The story is set in 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, which seems an odd time to set it given that it was written in 2013. I would have thought a near future setting would have worked just as well. It did serve to have a higher proportion of the US military be out of the country at the time though. What happens in the aftermath of the deaths of hundreds of millions of Americans (and Canadians and Mexicans, but they don't count in this story), is horrific to say the least. Basically the whole world tears itself apart, with nuclear holocaust in the Middle East only being one thing that happens. How much you believe that this would happens will depend on whether you believe that the USA is the saviour of the world, the only thing that keeps it from disintegrating like this. I personally don't, but the author has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about and researching the possible consequences of such an event. Horrific as it might be, I actually think that something like this might happens, maybe not in the details but in the broad strokes.
When you write this kind of story, the only way to approach it is by taking it from the point of view of one person, or a few people, as the author has done here. When trying to tell this kind of story however, it is important to tell it with a wide variety of points of view, otherwise the story becomes unbalanced. This particular book is mostly told from the point of view of military personnel scattered around the world, so that needed balance just isn't there. There are a few civilians, but even some of them are ex-military. This point of view is fine if you enjoy listening to the American military being right-wing, racist, sexist and obnoxiously disparaging of just about everyone and everything else. I can't say that I am one of those people, and some of the things that happen in this book left me pretty disgusted. Several times I came close to just giving up, but ...
Somewhere along the line, I started to become invested in the stories of these individuals and what happens to them. I just had to keep reading to find out how their stories end, and I shall probably read the other two books in this series for the same reason.
So, the concept would be 4 or 5 stars, but the way in which it is told dragged it down for me, leaving it 3 stars (though saying I "liked" it would be the wrong word).
The story is set in 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, which seems an odd time to set it given that it was written in 2013. I would have thought a near future setting would have worked just as well. It did serve to have a higher proportion of the US military be out of the country at the time though. What happens in the aftermath of the deaths of hundreds of millions of Americans (and Canadians and Mexicans, but they don't count in this story), is horrific to say the least. Basically the whole world tears itself apart, with nuclear holocaust in the Middle East only being one thing that happens. How much you believe that this would happens will depend on whether you believe that the USA is the saviour of the world, the only thing that keeps it from disintegrating like this. I personally don't, but the author has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about and researching the possible consequences of such an event. Horrific as it might be, I actually think that something like this might happens, maybe not in the details but in the broad strokes.
When you write this kind of story, the only way to approach it is by taking it from the point of view of one person, or a few people, as the author has done here. When trying to tell this kind of story however, it is important to tell it with a wide variety of points of view, otherwise the story becomes unbalanced. This particular book is mostly told from the point of view of military personnel scattered around the world, so that needed balance just isn't there. There are a few civilians, but even some of them are ex-military. This point of view is fine if you enjoy listening to the American military being right-wing, racist, sexist and obnoxiously disparaging of just about everyone and everything else. I can't say that I am one of those people, and some of the things that happen in this book left me pretty disgusted. Several times I came close to just giving up, but ...
Somewhere along the line, I started to become invested in the stories of these individuals and what happens to them. I just had to keep reading to find out how their stories end, and I shall probably read the other two books in this series for the same reason.
So, the concept would be 4 or 5 stars, but the way in which it is told dragged it down for me, leaving it 3 stars (though saying I "liked" it would be the wrong word).
How many times have you read a story or seen a film where all seems to be lost until the USA steps in to help? I’m thinking Tom Clancy’s novels, Armageddon, Independence Day, films about World War 2 perhaps even Team America: World Police and so on.
Much of this is because the books and films are written to please their target audience, of course. However, in this alternate history, the saving of the world is not an option for the Americans. You see, without warning (and hence the title) an energy wave has caused the majority of the USA to disappear, with no survivors.
Really does set up a new scenario, doesn’t it?
With such a global event, and as you might expect, there are a broad range of characters having to deal with the issue from a number of different viewpoints.
In Paris we have a covert agent, Caitlin Monroe, who is being hunted by followers of terrorist recruiter Al-Banna and has now been forced out of cover. In Kuwait we have Bret Melton, an American news reporter who finds himself with American troops who have to adjust to a new situation. In Guantanamo Bay, we have General Tusk Musso and the Marine Corps who with Jed Culver, a lawyer trying to bring order, as they find themselves the highest-ranking remnants of the American government. In Seattle, James ‘Kip’ Kipper is the chief engineer of Seattle City Council who, with his family, has to deal with the social panic created by the Wave. In Acapulco, we have Julianne (Jules) Balwyn, an English cabin crew-worker who finds herself dealing with pirates whilst trying to coordinate refugees passage to a safe haven. Clearly, there’s plots and subplots all over the place, which is what a reader of such novels expects.
It is, all the same, rather strange to be set in 2003 whilst reading it in 2012/13, with Tony Blair the Prime Minister in the UK, George W. Bush about to be involved in the Middle East and Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein still around, whilst here in 2013 we’re entering the second term of Barack Obama. But, of course, this is an alternate timeline and therefore OK.
This is a BIG, meaty, novel, and as you might expect, it has big ideas and a broad canvas from the Iraq War in 2003 to Paris in Europe to Acapulco and Seattle. With America gone as primary peace keeper, the world soon descends into chaos as the remaining nations rearrange themselves in to some sort of new world order whilst the Middle East sees the event as some kind of miraculous, if not divine, intervention.
John has mentioned that much of the novel is a ‘what-if’ thought experiment, and two thirds of the book is about that. Without Warning is mainly about the consequences of ‘the Wave event’, which are scarily logical. Europe has to deal with the issues of pollution and a blocking out of the sunlight as a consequence of most of North America being damaged. India and China are in the wings waiting to reposition themselves. In the long term, the loss of global trade with a major superpower and the reorganisation of resources leads to famine, riots and unrest in what remains of the world.
There’s a lot of comments around about this being a Tom Clancey-esque techno-thriller, and I can see why. There are lots of the trappings of the traditional Clancy thriller - a lot of characters in a variety of global locations, lots of technology and action. Admittedly there’s quite a few board meetings and strategic planning, and at times you need to know your Heckler and Koch from your Smith & Wesson. But to define this as such would perhaps mislead or at least do a disservice. Whilst there are many of the clichés you might expect, John manages to put a few twists in that keep the reader guessing.
In the end this was a surprise, and a pleasant one. It is very accessible and although it can be a little long in places, anyone looking for a big, bold blockbuster-type holiday read could do a lot worse than read this one. Might be time to try an alternative to the Clancy and try some John Birmingham instead.
The book ends on a cliff-hanger, which no doubt leads to the next novel. There are now two sequels, After America and Angels of Vengeance, that will appear later in 2013.
Much of this is because the books and films are written to please their target audience, of course. However, in this alternate history, the saving of the world is not an option for the Americans. You see, without warning (and hence the title) an energy wave has caused the majority of the USA to disappear, with no survivors.
Really does set up a new scenario, doesn’t it?
With such a global event, and as you might expect, there are a broad range of characters having to deal with the issue from a number of different viewpoints.
In Paris we have a covert agent, Caitlin Monroe, who is being hunted by followers of terrorist recruiter Al-Banna and has now been forced out of cover. In Kuwait we have Bret Melton, an American news reporter who finds himself with American troops who have to adjust to a new situation. In Guantanamo Bay, we have General Tusk Musso and the Marine Corps who with Jed Culver, a lawyer trying to bring order, as they find themselves the highest-ranking remnants of the American government. In Seattle, James ‘Kip’ Kipper is the chief engineer of Seattle City Council who, with his family, has to deal with the social panic created by the Wave. In Acapulco, we have Julianne (Jules) Balwyn, an English cabin crew-worker who finds herself dealing with pirates whilst trying to coordinate refugees passage to a safe haven. Clearly, there’s plots and subplots all over the place, which is what a reader of such novels expects.
It is, all the same, rather strange to be set in 2003 whilst reading it in 2012/13, with Tony Blair the Prime Minister in the UK, George W. Bush about to be involved in the Middle East and Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein still around, whilst here in 2013 we’re entering the second term of Barack Obama. But, of course, this is an alternate timeline and therefore OK.
This is a BIG, meaty, novel, and as you might expect, it has big ideas and a broad canvas from the Iraq War in 2003 to Paris in Europe to Acapulco and Seattle. With America gone as primary peace keeper, the world soon descends into chaos as the remaining nations rearrange themselves in to some sort of new world order whilst the Middle East sees the event as some kind of miraculous, if not divine, intervention.
John has mentioned that much of the novel is a ‘what-if’ thought experiment, and two thirds of the book is about that. Without Warning is mainly about the consequences of ‘the Wave event’, which are scarily logical. Europe has to deal with the issues of pollution and a blocking out of the sunlight as a consequence of most of North America being damaged. India and China are in the wings waiting to reposition themselves. In the long term, the loss of global trade with a major superpower and the reorganisation of resources leads to famine, riots and unrest in what remains of the world.
There’s a lot of comments around about this being a Tom Clancey-esque techno-thriller, and I can see why. There are lots of the trappings of the traditional Clancy thriller - a lot of characters in a variety of global locations, lots of technology and action. Admittedly there’s quite a few board meetings and strategic planning, and at times you need to know your Heckler and Koch from your Smith & Wesson. But to define this as such would perhaps mislead or at least do a disservice. Whilst there are many of the clichés you might expect, John manages to put a few twists in that keep the reader guessing.
In the end this was a surprise, and a pleasant one. It is very accessible and although it can be a little long in places, anyone looking for a big, bold blockbuster-type holiday read could do a lot worse than read this one. Might be time to try an alternative to the Clancy and try some John Birmingham instead.
The book ends on a cliff-hanger, which no doubt leads to the next novel. There are now two sequels, After America and Angels of Vengeance, that will appear later in 2013.
As an alternative history, post-apocalyptic action thriller, this is quite entertaining. There's also a fair cast of characters - some interesting, some convenient - and multiple plot lines across different continents/arenas that we bounce between. Sometimes they converge with believable joins, other times I wondered how that happened. A few plot points are clearly telegraphed though there is room for a few surprises along the way. But the individual character adventures use an awful lot of bold brush strokes that just ... end abruptly, aaaannnd chapter change cliffhanger! This device happens a lot, few are safe, but I didn't really care for the most part either.
There are also an awful lot of poorly drawn viewpoints which I found annoying and eggshell thin at times. Very non-PC, which I don't normally mind, but just felt like an opportunity for the author to vent as opposed to a character trait.
Conceptually I really liked the idea, and there are some impressive what-if scenarios, but the central idea is so out-there that it just can't be dealt with. Instead we get to read about the brutal consequence.
I kind of want to know what happens next but I'm not driven to immediately pick up the next book in the trilogy.
There are also an awful lot of poorly drawn viewpoints which I found annoying and eggshell thin at times. Very non-PC, which I don't normally mind, but just felt like an opportunity for the author to vent as opposed to a character trait.
Conceptually I really liked the idea, and there are some impressive what-if scenarios, but the central idea is so out-there that it just can't be dealt with. Instead we get to read about the brutal consequence.
I kind of want to know what happens next but I'm not driven to immediately pick up the next book in the trilogy.
Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
The sell on this pulled me in - a rapture like curtain descends on America, causing the breakdown of society as we know it. But that felt like being way back in the background while we went on a bunch of different side stories. The characters all felt the same. Sexist too; my favourite was the line 'never married and never got over it' 🤣
So, I liked the idea, and I liked the story but there were a few things I wasn't sold on.
This will try to be spoiler free.
The book is about the world trying to cope with 99.9 percent of the land mass of continent of North America being decimated by an event. The event kills everyone it touches in those places and keeps anyone from re-entering.
It is part 1 of what looks to be three major books and some online books the author has published.
What I liked
The story, and I was really invested in the characters. Plot twists and characters dying that I didn't expect.
What I didn't like.
It seemed like the author had a little bit of trouble keeping all the times synced up. In one point of the book he writes about the people in one city being x amount of days from the event, but then he would jump to another group of character and it didn't seem like they had made it that long into the time line.
One example was a group of refugees leaving Aruba, they leave one man with his family behind. Later while this group of refugees is still sailing, the man left behind has somehow ended up in Seattle, and for the likes of me I couldn't reconcile the time difference needed for this to happen.
Another annoying issue was the jumps in time. The book goes up to one year after the event. The author goes from the day of the event, to a week after the event, to a few months then finally one year in the epilogue. Yet I do not feel like he left a good clean line of events for what happens between the time period.
For example if your paying attention to the book you know who will be president of what is left at the end of the book. We get to the last chapter before the epilogue and we can see what is starting to happen. The epilogue takes place months later and the president is in power and somewhat settled in the job. It felt a little like seeing a batter going up, ready for the pitch and then the game jumping to the batter now standing on third base. Well you know how he got there, but none of the details.
Still I liked the book and plan on reading the other two.
This will try to be spoiler free.
The book is about the world trying to cope with 99.9 percent of the land mass of continent of North America being decimated by an event. The event kills everyone it touches in those places and keeps anyone from re-entering.
It is part 1 of what looks to be three major books and some online books the author has published.
What I liked
The story, and I was really invested in the characters. Plot twists and characters dying that I didn't expect.
What I didn't like.
It seemed like the author had a little bit of trouble keeping all the times synced up. In one point of the book he writes about the people in one city being x amount of days from the event, but then he would jump to another group of character and it didn't seem like they had made it that long into the time line.
One example was a group of refugees leaving Aruba, they leave one man with his family behind. Later while this group of refugees is still sailing, the man left behind has somehow ended up in Seattle, and for the likes of me I couldn't reconcile the time difference needed for this to happen.
Another annoying issue was the jumps in time. The book goes up to one year after the event. The author goes from the day of the event, to a week after the event, to a few months then finally one year in the epilogue. Yet I do not feel like he left a good clean line of events for what happens between the time period.
For example if your paying attention to the book you know who will be president of what is left at the end of the book. We get to the last chapter before the epilogue and we can see what is starting to happen. The epilogue takes place months later and the president is in power and somewhat settled in the job. It felt a little like seeing a batter going up, ready for the pitch and then the game jumping to the batter now standing on third base. Well you know how he got there, but none of the details.
Still I liked the book and plan on reading the other two.