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The Snow
by
Adam Roberts
And this is how the world will end...
"The snow started falling on the sixth of September, soft noiseless flakes filling the sky like a swarm of white moths, or like static interference on your TV screen -- whichever metaphor, nature of technology, you find the more evocative. Snow everywhere, all through the air, with that distinctive sense of hurrying that a vigorous snow...more
"The snow started falling on the sixth of September, soft noiseless flakes filling the sky like a swarm of white moths, or like static interference on your TV screen -- whichever metaphor, nature of technology, you find the more evocative. Snow everywhere, all through the air, with that distinctive sense of hurrying that a vigorous snow...more
Paperback, 360 pages
Published
2005
by Gollancz
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Just when i would think that I had a handle on what was going on in this science fiction novel, all of a sudden it would change and become a different kind of apocalypse. It begins with Londoner Tira experiencing the vast snow fall that blots out all of her normal life and then making her way to an office building where she lives with a man who has similarly become a refugee from the snow. Then, when it seems as though this is a pretty standard end of the world narrative, Tira is rescued from be...more
The Snow was loaned to me by a science fiction enthusiast, a friend of mine whose favourite author is Adam Roberts. I began this book not knowing anything about it – not even what my friend thought of it because she wouldn't tell me! – and so I revelled in reading a book where anything could happen.
The Snow is set in a truly post-apocalyptic world: “..the snow doesn't stop. It falls and falls and falls. Until it lies three miles thick across the whole of the earth. Six billion people have died....more
The Snow is set in a truly post-apocalyptic world: “..the snow doesn't stop. It falls and falls and falls. Until it lies three miles thick across the whole of the earth. Six billion people have died....more
This is, for me, Roberts first great book. I've enjoyed everything I've read by him – all his previous novels have been clever, well written stories that at the same time have deep themes and morals woven into their fabric – but The Snow was a real WOW! book.
The basic premise (although absolutely nothing is basic in an Adam Roberts book) is that heavy snow begins to fall and does not stop. The world is soon covered in a blanket many metres – and eventually kilometres – deep, and civilisation qui...more
The basic premise (although absolutely nothing is basic in an Adam Roberts book) is that heavy snow begins to fall and does not stop. The world is soon covered in a blanket many metres – and eventually kilometres – deep, and civilisation qui...more
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Adam Roberts' books. The premises are fascinating, the stories are compelling and I do very much enjoy Roberts' writing style. Unfortunately, none of the works I've read so far contain a single likeable character, major or minor.
His characters are all either seriously emotionally damaged in some way or just selfish or mean or self-important or... Well, you get the idea.
Yet I eat Roberts' stuff up. This is, what, the sixth book of his I've read so far...more
His characters are all either seriously emotionally damaged in some way or just selfish or mean or self-important or... Well, you get the idea.
Yet I eat Roberts' stuff up. This is, what, the sixth book of his I've read so far...more
I came across this book in my local Library, after reading one of Roberts' other books, By Light Alone. Once again, Roberts has created a world so similar to our own, yet spun on its axis by one fantastical (but not entirely unbelievable) trait. As in the best of sci-fi tradition, it's not the snow, or where it comes from, that make the story: it's the interactions between his (largely dysfunctional) characters in extreme environments. And in The Snow, as well as in By Light Alone, Robert's grea...more
Too much about the (weak) emotional relationship(s) between the main protagonist and the people she has, was having, or had sex with. The majority of the book is written as a report, documenting the coming of the 'snow' and the aftermath. This style isn't consistent throughout and at one stage I thought this was going to turn out to be a series of short stories, which would probably have made for a better read. For me, too little attention is given to how and why the snow came about. Yes these a...more
Imagine that the snow starts and never quite stops falling. Like Noah's flood but the world is buried in snow. A few survive. What would life be like? What would change? How can humanity survive? This idea roughly outlines "Snow". It is nearly a great story but ultimately it doesn't quite get there. I think perhaps it is not quite dark and disturbing enough. However it is an excellent story with a great central character. I have also read "Salt" by Adam Roberts and he certainly does big ideas an...more
The Snow is a brilliantly engaging survivor/post-apocalyptic drama about the elusive nature of truth when expressed through the filter of human judgment.
The way it's written through first-hand accounts of witnesses gives a similar effect to that of Philip K Dick's "Flow My Tears". It's cleverly arranged so that you're not sure what the truth really is, and may change your mind several times throughout the story.
The way it's written through first-hand accounts of witnesses gives a similar effect to that of Philip K Dick's "Flow My Tears". It's cleverly arranged so that you're not sure what the truth really is, and may change your mind several times throughout the story.
Even though I know from his past novels that Adam Roberts often takes an unusual tack on classic science fiction tropes, I was still surprised and impressed with The Snow. To say very much about the plot beyond "it begins to snow one day and doesn't stop for years; horrible catastrophe ensues" would risk spoilers, but I will say that The Snow was a well-written and compelling story and the last quarter of the novel went somewhere I didn't expect at all, in a good way. Good stuff.
This starts off as a Wyndham-like apocalypse scenario. It starts snowing, and doesn't stop. For years. This opening is really good, following an Asian woman as she survives in under-snow London.
Later, we are shifted to a colony of survivors on the surface of the snow, where we are fell some government documents that are allegedly banned, including some science mumbojumbo trying to explain the snow. The book kind of drifts through these, until we get back to Tira's story as she adapted to live ab...more
Later, we are shifted to a colony of survivors on the surface of the snow, where we are fell some government documents that are allegedly banned, including some science mumbojumbo trying to explain the snow. The book kind of drifts through these, until we get back to Tira's story as she adapted to live ab...more
I bought this book expecting a post-apocalyptic novel set in a winter world and therefore I was initially disappointed that the actual disaster was only described in the first few pages and the rest of the book described rebuilding society afterwards. However, I kept reading and the ending was actually very readable and thought provoking.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aliens did it. Absolute fucking tosh. I liked the theory of the 'super string' thingys that pumped snow out by accident. Fucking aliens, what a cop out!!! The first bit, Tira making her way across London was interesting, and I like the wee touch of making each chapter an 'official document', but apart from that this book sucked ass.
Aliens did it. Absolute fucking tosh. I liked the theory of the 'super string' thingys that pumped snow out by accident. Fucking aliens, what a cop out!!! The first bit, Tira making her way across London was interesting, and I like the wee touch of making each chapter an 'official document', but apart from that this book sucked ass.
A very enjoyable book. The beginning with its description of a bucolic snowfall that turns into a nightmare is wonderfully conceived and then it all gets weird. I suspect the author was indulging in plenty of his own snow as there are many references to cocaine abuse and the snow itself seems like a metaphor for the way modern-day London is seemingly awash with that nasty drug. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.
Unusual take on the end of the world trope. This second book by Roberts did not disappoint.
Great high concept, meh execution. Judging by Gradisil, he got better at the execution part.
Best scifi post apocalyptic dystopian book I've ever read
Part infuriating., part brilliant, part WTF...
The premise of this book is great, and the beginning had me really hooked but then it seemed to lose it's way horribly. The story fizzled out and was quite unsatisfactory in the end (but I kept on going hoping it would improve), and also the characters were unsympathetic and one-dimensional, and I didn't really care one way or the other what happened to them.
Having said this, I really like Adam Roberts writing style, and will definitely pick up another of his to read sometime, and give him anoth...more
Having said this, I really like Adam Roberts writing style, and will definitely pick up another of his to read sometime, and give him anoth...more
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Adam Roberts (born 1965) is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine. He also blogs at The Valve, a group blog devoted to literature and cultural studies.
He has a degree in English from the...more
More about Adam Roberts...
Adam Roberts (born 1965) is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine. He also blogs at The Valve, a group blog devoted to literature and cultural studies.
He has a degree in English from the...more
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