- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Orion (Jun 16 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1409108155
- ISBN-13: 978-1409108153
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.4 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 640 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #24,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
'An immensely compelling drama, with strong characters and few pulled punches... Afterlight is a gripping read.' SFX 'A pacy, entertaining narrative that never forgets that it is thriller first. It is a cracking good read.' MATERIAL WITNESS 'Afterlight is the terrifying sequel to his acclaimed Last Light in which the very worst and in some cases the very best of human life is explored' PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH 'A harsh, frightening, depressing and all too believable world, but not an unrealistic one. The story is well-paced and the interspersed flash-backs to the early days of the crisis complement the narrative rather than hinder it. Anyone who likes disaster novels is highly unlikely to be disappointed by this book.' REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE ' A compulsive page-turner, I read Afterlight in a single session... A gripping summer read then - one sure to give you pause for thought the next time you switch on a bedside light or fill up the car.' NORTHERN ECHO
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
The world lies devastated after the massive oil crisis that was described in LAST LIGHT. Human society has more or less entirely broken down and millions lie dead of starvation and disease. There are only one or two beacon communities that have managed to fashion a new way of living. Jenny Sutherland runs one of these groups. Based on a series of decaying offshore oil-rigs - for safety - a few hundred people have rebuilt a semblance of normality in this otherwise dead world. But as she and her people start to explore their surroundings once again, they start to realise not every survivor has the same vision of a better future than their catastrophic past. There are people out there who would take everything they have. War is coming, and the stakes are truly massive...
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A World Without Order,
By
This review is from: Afterlight (Paperback)
In my review of the first book in this series, Last Light, I wrote that what followed from that story would make for more interesting material. However, in this follow-up, the author chooses to pick up the action ten years after the world ran out of oil. I was most curious about how people would pick up the pieces immediately following such an event. Scarrow does flashback throughout to show how England suffered as a result but most action takes place years later. Like the first novel, the premise is extremely frightening as is the speculation of what would happen to society.Throughout the book Scarrow lectures on materialism, commercialism, consumerism, short-sighted government planning, and the impact of 8 billion people on the environment. Ten years following the targeted terrorism that shut down refineries and its supply, a character in the novel diarizes "People no longer tucked away in isolation surrounded by an Aladdin's cave of mail-ordered possessions; no longer tapping anonymously on keyboards to an internet world of other lonely people." The author's message is a need to return to simpler values and stresses in his afterword that we cannot "go on consuming the way we're doing now". Beyond the strong messages, the book was on par with Last Light. Curiously, there seemed to be a couple of plot lines or situations closely reminiscent of episodes from the BBC's remake of The Survivors (children rewarded for certain acts by being granted video game time, a leader who who once taught history and sets up a feudal state). The ending was a little too neat but he has hooked me again...I now wonder what the survivors will do from this point forward.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews) 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bleak view of an future where the oil has run out,
By N. Brett - Published on Amazon.com
Alex Scarrow is becoming one of my favourite authors. His books are both compelling and page turners that stay in your head for a long time afterwards. Last Light was a great thriller which had a very scary message which I still talk about a couple of years later.Afterlight is the follow up to Last Light and you could read it without having read that, but you would be missing out big time. I've finished it in a day; no way was I going to leave it until tomorrow to finish! Afterlight is, interestingly, set 10 years after a `big crash' when the oil stopped flowing and the lights went out and the food stopped coming. The Sutherland family are surviving on an oil rig with a community of fellow survivors, but their sanctuary is about to be invaded by an unlikely source.. We are also given flashbacks to the O2 Arena in London, set up as an emergency point and we see how that has evolved over the years and how it might clash with the community on the oil rig. Fast paced, engrossing and very entertaining thriller, certainly of appeal to those who enjoyed the BBC's "Survivors" but also those who might have liked "The Road". But this is not just an action thriller, there is a theme about humanity and one about the choices you have to make. Mr Scarrow does not play in any particular genre, his last (the excellent October Skies) was set in the pioneering Old West, but he is a clever and thoughtful writer and whatever he puts out seems to be very readable. I imagine I will buy his next book, whatever the subject because he has not let me down yet. Recommended. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alex Does it AGAIN!!,
By Historical Fiction Fan - Published on Amazon.com
Set 10 years after Last light Afterlight for me is a book about the last best hope for Humanity (to steal a line from BSG).Alex sets out with some old faces to explore a time after the oil crash, have we changed, can we adapt/ change and create a new future? or are there just too many out there who hunger for the days of old and the power that they can reap for themselves. Following the fates of the Sutherland Children while they explore their past and look to the future. Again alex weaves the story brilliantly with wonderful characters (his truly best writing gift). This book delivers just as much as Last light and then gives you even more, action, pace, characters, depth, humour and sorrow...what more could you ask for in a story. Buy this book you will not be disapointed. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great story relevant to our times--- but feels somehow incomplete,
By Mainak Dhar "Cubicle dweller by day, writer b... - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I read Last Light by Alex Scarrow and enjoyed it so much that I picked up Afterlight. Last Light was a wonderful novel based on the simple premise of what post-oil civilization would look like, telling the story of the rapid breakdown of civilization as we know it when the oil tap is turned off, through co-ordinated acts of sabotage, told through the eyes of one family. Afterlight is a worthy sequel, detailing how the family copes with the aftermath, establishing a colony of survivors on an oil rig and gradually fighting their own battle for survival before they begin to re-establish civilization. A very well written tale, with strong characters, good pacing, the various threads working well together. So, on the whole a novel I would recommend- in fact, I would recommend that anyone read both Last Light and Afterlight for a satisfying read.Being a writer myself, I don't like to get pretentious and slam any fellow writer on reviews- since I know how easy it is to criticize someone else's creation and how tough it is to create something yourself. But what I would offer up as a build to what would have made Afterlight even more complete- the dark powers behind the oil crisis aren't really revealed and we aren't told anything more about them. Even as Afterlight reaches its conclusion, the reader is left wondering what happened to them and what they are up to. If their whole plot was to take over control over the world, where are they now? Perhaps I had all these questions since I was so immeresed in the story, and perhaps Mr. Scarrow has another sequel up his sleeve to close this loop. If that's the case, count me in as someone who will read it as soon as it's out. |
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