Perhaps the best part of "Soft Apocalypse" is the idea itself, for once in the speculative end of the world, struggling to survive isn't fun. The characters aren't people to be jealous of, they are starving, dying, scared and at a loss for what to do. There 'exciting' world isn't the ideal one that's often portrayed, they aren't walking around being a law onto themselves, raiding wide-open grocery stores and saving damsels in distress. They are literally starving to death, they are on the run from people who are stronger than them and life, while it occasionally has it's little joys, isn't easier this way.

Will McIntosh does the incredible with this novel, he breathes new life and real originality into a genre that seemed like it was dying it's own slow death with overly formulaic apocalypse books seeming to be on every shelf."Soft Apocalypse" is frightening in it's realism, terrifying in it's believability and it offers us the most important thing any novel can, it offers us a chance to think about what we would do in similar circumstances, an idea that becomes more and more disturbing as the novel progresses.

So, if you love apocalypse stories, check out "Soft Apocalypse" for a vividly written taken on our tried and true favorite genre. And if you don't like apocalypse stories, check out "Soft Apocalypse" for a realistic, gritty and wonderfully written novel about a group of people trying to survive in horrible circumstances. I thought it was pretty great.