08.21 Empty World by John Christopher

Empty World (1977) by John Christopher
Pbk, Penguin 134 p.

The sampling of John Christopher's (Samuel Youd) oeuvre continues unabated. Having just finished the Tripods trilogy, I ran across this little novella in the bookstore the other day.

From the back: "Neil is alone after the death of his family in an accident. So when a virulent plague sweeps across the world, dealing death to all it touches, Neil has a double battle for survival: not just for the physical necessities of life, but with the subtle pressures of fear and loneliness."

Another post-apocalyptic novel! This is definitely a young adult book but I can't imagine what school district would ever have their kids read it. The British must be far more intellectually sophisticated that us North Americans.

The tone of the story is interesting. There is no self-analysis or moaning - just a lot of stiff upper lip getting on with things. although initially in the country, Neil is an urban boy who has little experience with milking a cow or fixing a car. The plague is relentless and for much of the book Neil is alone however he does have some encounters. Christopher, like other British PA authors, uses these encounters to illustrate something about the human condition. In the end Neil is left with a moral conundrum which seemingly imparts a lesson to the reader. What that lesson is still seems unclear to me.

07.11 The Protector's War

The Protector's War (2005) by S. M. Stirling
Pbk, Roc Books, 590 p.
The second novel in this trilogy begins 8 years after the time of the Change where all forms of power and combustion stopped working across the world and in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Portland is controlled by a psychotic ex-history professor who has modeled his leadership like an overlord. He calls himself The Protector and maintains an expansionist policy against all the other communities in the valley.

As in the last book, the protagonists are the communities led by June Mackenzie and Mike Havel. The Mackenzie clan has become the most successful agriculturally and in the development of a community. It is like a combination of Braveheart and Lord of the Rings. The other colony of Mike Havel's Bearkillers is the toughest army around with deadly archers and mounted knights.

In this book the author brings in a third plotline from England. There, society and survivors retreated to the smaller islands surrounding the UK after The Change and have rebuilt a monarchist system based in the south. An older knight, his son and their companion fall afoul of King Charles (!) and his evil new Danish wife. They eventually end up on a Tasmanian ship and thence to America where they play in integral part in the books conclusion.

The Protector's War comes off as a typical middle novel of a trilogy - the reader is already familiar with the characters and milieu so there is lots of filler to get us through to the climactic final book. In fact, there is not even a war with the Protector; it's all set-up. The book is well written and there are a number of excellent scenes. I just found that the author becomes pedantic in his descriptions. He goes too far into the minutiae of harvesting wheat, building a bow, making clothes or what have you. The pacing suffers.

I have the final novel, Meeting At Corvallis, and will report on it soon.