The Afterglow

Darkness and Dawn #3

by George Allan England

Originally published in 1914, "The Afterglow" is part of England's most famous work, the "Darkness and Dawn" series.

Genres: Science Fiction, Classics, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1914

Reviews

[Max · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stink of american superiority complex and the antifeminism in this book are literally, at points, nauseating. The rest of the tale is uninspired and uninterestingly told. The main character's conviction to 'fix the world of the future' by reinstating old american ways and insisting that the 'white barbarians' learn english and do things ONLY his way, and promptly establishing a monarchy with himself as king and his son as next in line for the throne is... stupid. Yes this was written in 1912, but shows zero interest in the evolving ideas of the time and instead sticks to old racist standbys. I will not read this author again.

[Kevin McAllister · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great literature stands the test of time. Well,The Afterglow written in 1913, is not a piece of great literature.It's so outdated it's almost laughable. I say almost laughable, because the dialogue almost drove me crazy. Virtually everything the main character said ends in an exclamation point and it makes the enitre story feel corny, phoney and totally over the top.

[Dave Millard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it was a short book, so I finished it, but boy is it a product of its times. Very outdated, lots of holes in the plot (are the main characters really 1,000 years old?), not all that well written. Oh, well, it passed the time.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have nicknamed this book “Mansplaining in a Dystopian World” set to the tune of “Material Girl” by Madonna. This book was hilarious to me because 95% of it is the main character, Allan Stern, correcting his love interest, Beatrice, on what they should or shouldn’t do to rebuild civilization. What’s funny is Beatrice usually recommends a good idea, Allan then says how silly it is and then ends up restating the same exact suggestion. Beatrice then praises Allan for his survival acumen. It seems completely unintentional and is meant to make Allan this brilliant survivalist but Beatrice is usually the one providing the most appropriate action. With that being said, the book kept my interest and I enjoyed it being one of the earlier versions of dystopian fiction. A little confusing at first since it apparently is book three of a series, but does help explain the world-building enough to get an idea what had happened in the previous books.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was part of a Classics collection. I had not heard of the book or author before, and after reading the book I understand why. Even for 1914, the story was not that innovative nor the writing style very good. You would be much better off with a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose "Princess of Mars" and "Tarzan of the Apes" are from the same time. At least Burroughs was high-quality pulp fiction.

[Korin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book was almost painful. Not because the story was terrible, it was the writing. Over exclamatory, cheesy dialog, and pages of scenery description that does nothing to further the story. Basically? This book could have been a LOT shorter.

I will say, the main character was really interesting. I will go as far to say that his motivations and the way he executes his goals is even admirable.

This book was written in a different time, and I found it interesting to get a glimpse of how White American's viewed themselves in relation to the world and other races. Which, if I were to use this book alone as a reference, seemed to be very limited, yet completely innocent and naive.

So there was some good points to reading this book, and some bad ones. I wouldn't say that it is a masterpiece of modern literature, but it's a good enough read to past the time with.

[Skeeter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in 2190 (I think) after some catastrophe has detroyed all modern civilization on Earth. It seems to start in the middle of the story, which would be fine it was eventually resolved, but it wasn't. The two main characters seem to be over a 1000 years old as they remember how everything used to be. Oh, and they have a plane...and guns. They then proceed to attempt to rebuild the human race with incessant melodramatic dialogue. Lots of exclamation points! However, the story did keep me engaged. I wanted to see how it turned out.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my. I read this because it is included with other classics on my Nook. When I learned that it is third in a trilogy, I first read the other two on Gutenberg. I am not a great writer but I can recognize great writing, and this is not great writing. Oh, the gluttonous overuse of bad poetical descriptions and exclamation marks! The attitude of the author reflects the racism and sexism of the period as nothing else I've ever read from that period or earlier. That being said, the story was interesting if not plausible.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is interesting as an example of early science fiction. It's strong paternalistic and racist themes reflect the prevailing social character of the time. Although very disconcerting in today's world, at the time this was published in the early twentieth century, it is doubtful that it raised many eyebrows.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book in a copy of "50 Classic books" that I downloaded for 99 cents. After I read it, I had to find the other two books, after I found out that it was the 3rd book in a trilogy. It is very dated and some of the language is a crack up, but I thought it was a pretty good story.