I continue dragging books from the Dark Future Books list, which means the post-apocalyptic sci-fi genre. In my humble opinion, the author of the site is dead wrong in his book reviews, but the list itself - is quite a valuable thing. It's full of trash, but there are also classics of the genre. And books of this specific nature aren't exactly easy to find.
Bottom line, here's a list of what I've reviewed in order of increasing value.
Author: Macdonald, Andrew.
Book: The Turner Diaries.
Strictly for a niche crowd. This is a racist utopia where terrorist fighters for white supremacy cleanse America of stagnation and filth, "caused by the dominance of Black and colored subhumans". As a result of their actions, a huge number of people die and a small nuclear war takes place. In the end, there is universal happiness and joy. Brought on by the fact that only white people live in the newly formed confederacy occupying a part of America. Apparently this book is well-known among fans of such ideas. But any sane person understands: despite the existence of real problems with Black people in America and Europe, killing or deporting them all won't bring about any universal happiness.
Verdict: I read a few dozen pages at the end, at the beginning, and didn't bother clogging my head with this nonsense any further.
Author: Lanier, Sterling
Book: Hiero's Journey.
5000 years after a global catastrophe, a combat-ready telepathic monk on something like a horse sets off on a journey to scout out the plans of a terrible evil. It has long been spinning its web in hopes of enslaving the civilized world ruled by reasonable and peace-loving clerics, to whom our hero also belongs.
I have two complaints: first - in places, an absolutely terrible command of language (the author or the translator?) and style. Second - a rather boring plot, where the main characters do nothing but fight and get horrified by their opponents. The world is, in principle, described decently enough, but there's a bit too much mysticism and fantasy-like bullshit, which I oh so despise.
Verdict: read up to the halfway point and dropped it for now.
Author: McCammon, Robert
Book: Swan Song
A well-thought-out description of a nuclear catastrophe, colorful characters who survived hell. The story is directly about the process of their lives during and after the collapse. No complaints about the language and plot, everything is quite up to par. Once again, the only problem is - everything is mixed with mysticism, sci-fi gets pushed to the background. Of course I understand authors who are too lazy to expand their knowledge. It's easier to invent "miracles" and "mysteries". It's just that this kind of approach makes it hard to build a logical and believable universe, which plays a huge role in any sci-fi book. It's precisely because of the lifelike behavior of the characters and the technology that sci-fi turns into reality, and doesn't remain some stupid fabrication that any hack writer could churn out.
Verdict: read a third of it and put it aside, I'm thinking of finishing it.
Author: Merle, Robert
Book: Malevil
A few old friends, residents of a small French village, coincidentally gather in the cellar of the "Malevil" castle, which belongs to one of them. At that very moment, a very powerful nuclear bomb is detonated over Paris. As a result, practically all the people and animals of France perish, but our heroes are saved thanks to the thick stone walls of the castle, and the rock it sits behind. Having barely survived the catastrophe, they discover that not all is lost yet, because for some reason there is no radiation and a few animals survived. Therefore, the heroes of the book don't despair, but try to establish a normal life. How possible that is, given the small food supplies and the absence of women of childbearing age, only time will tell.
Strictly speaking, there is only one sci-fi assumption in the novel - the existence of a nuclear bomb that doesn't cause radioactive fallout. But the rest in this book actually corresponds completely to reality, and a wonderfully described one at that. Everything is thoroughly thought out, the characters' behavior leaves no room for doubt, there is good humor and strong personalities. And zero mysticism!
Quotes:
1) On the contrary, in Thomas's eyes there isn't a shadow of a doubt: Fulbert is a scoundrel. He thinks so, I am convinced of it, even though I didn't quite grasp the magnitude of the sacrilege that Fulbert had just committed from the perspective of my comrades by asking for a cow.
Dared to encroach upon a cow. Upon our highest shrine next to God (and perhaps even higher). To us, a cow's worth is by no means determined by its market value. That's not the point at all. When it changes hands, we take money for it, but first and foremost in order to express with the help of banknotes
that almost religious respect we hold for it.
2) - If you will, in my opinion, any civilization needs a soul.
- And this soul is religion?
Pronouncing this phrase, he winced. Two words were repulsive to him: "soul" and "religion". Two thoroughly "outdated" concepts. Meyssonnier is an educated party member, he went through the school for party cadres.
- Given the current state of affairs - yes.
He pondered over this statement, which also contained a caveat. Meyssonnier is a slow thinker, he moves forward step by step. But then again, superficial judgments are completely alien to him. He asked me to clarify my thought.
- The soul of our current civilization here, in Malevil?
He pronounced the word "soul" as if putting it in quotes, it even seemed to me that he was manipulating it from a distance, using tweezers.
Verdict: a wonderful book, perfectly readable. Download
P.S. I also don't like the word "Soul", but I accept it in the sense discussed in the dialogue between Meyssonnier and Emmanuel.
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