Helpful Score: 1
A well-written, thoughtful post-apocalyptic novel that doesn't deliver quite as satisfying a punch as it might have done, given its strong premise.
I am a big admirer of Holly Goddard Jones. She is an exceptionally talented writer, who effortlessly brings literary fiction rigor and style to genre fiction, all the while appreciating what is good ... and fun ... about genre fiction. Here, with the post-apocalyptic novel, she has slightly mixed results. Still beautifully written, still very readable, still very worthwhile -- I just don't feel that she has nailed the "What is this for? Why are we here?" as she did in here first novel, "The Next Time You See Me."
The premise here is terrific: simple and yet, when you stop to think about it, very frightening and effective. Fifty-odd-plus years in the future (never specified, but a familiar yet different future is neatly sketched in), the world as we know it has been completely changed by the emergence of a particularly aggressive and virulent species of tick, whose parasitical and disease-bearing ways have rendered great tracts of the world almost uninhabitable, and caused the break-up of the USA into "zones." If I had been reading this in April 2019, I might have thought interesting, but a bit implausible, isn't it? ... A bit "Hunger Games-y"?
Reading it in April 2020, it feels all too painfully plausible, like headlines straight from the dystopian future that we all fear we have inadvertently strayed into ...
This "ripped from the headlines" momentum keep the narrative going for about two-thirds of the novel with my disbelief suspended, safely anaesthetised, and stowed in an overhead locker. Taking enormous pleasure in how Goddard Jones played with the familiar tropes of science fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction, while keeping a sharp eye on the possibilities for neatly skewering current politics, pop culture and "lifestyle" issues.
When the wheels came off, I felt that it was because Goddard Jones couldn't decide exactly "what it was all for," and therefore the conclusion, the winding things up, the drawing it all together, sadly felt a bit contrived and arbitrary.
BUT Goddard Jones is an author who respects and understands genre fiction -- what makes it tick, and why it's important. "The Salt Line" isn't perfect, but nothing is. It's very, very good. Just, maybe, you might want to wait to read it until Lockdown is lifted in your Zone ...
I am a big admirer of Holly Goddard Jones. She is an exceptionally talented writer, who effortlessly brings literary fiction rigor and style to genre fiction, all the while appreciating what is good ... and fun ... about genre fiction. Here, with the post-apocalyptic novel, she has slightly mixed results. Still beautifully written, still very readable, still very worthwhile -- I just don't feel that she has nailed the "What is this for? Why are we here?" as she did in here first novel, "The Next Time You See Me."
The premise here is terrific: simple and yet, when you stop to think about it, very frightening and effective. Fifty-odd-plus years in the future (never specified, but a familiar yet different future is neatly sketched in), the world as we know it has been completely changed by the emergence of a particularly aggressive and virulent species of tick, whose parasitical and disease-bearing ways have rendered great tracts of the world almost uninhabitable, and caused the break-up of the USA into "zones." If I had been reading this in April 2019, I might have thought interesting, but a bit implausible, isn't it? ... A bit "Hunger Games-y"?
Reading it in April 2020, it feels all too painfully plausible, like headlines straight from the dystopian future that we all fear we have inadvertently strayed into ...
This "ripped from the headlines" momentum keep the narrative going for about two-thirds of the novel with my disbelief suspended, safely anaesthetised, and stowed in an overhead locker. Taking enormous pleasure in how Goddard Jones played with the familiar tropes of science fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction, while keeping a sharp eye on the possibilities for neatly skewering current politics, pop culture and "lifestyle" issues.
When the wheels came off, I felt that it was because Goddard Jones couldn't decide exactly "what it was all for," and therefore the conclusion, the winding things up, the drawing it all together, sadly felt a bit contrived and arbitrary.
BUT Goddard Jones is an author who respects and understands genre fiction -- what makes it tick, and why it's important. "The Salt Line" isn't perfect, but nothing is. It's very, very good. Just, maybe, you might want to wait to read it until Lockdown is lifted in your Zone ...
