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Storm Girl
Linda Nicklin's eco-thriller Storm Girl charts a dystopian near future. Planet earth has largely drowned under rising seas, disease is rife, society has broken down. Everything is now owned by the super-rich and exploited for their own personal gratification, including the people still struggling to live on what land remains... Angel, the Storm Girl of the title, has been harvested by a gang of Reapers and is frantic to escape what she knows to be a death sentence. Her only way out is through the treacherous waters of a drowned city. From depths of despair, she begins to find glimmers of hope, and becomes part of a growing resistance fighting back against the wholesale plundering of the planet. However, as the movement becomes stronger, Angel learns a devastating truth about herself. After all she has been through, she never anticipated needing to answer the whose side is she really on?
363 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 1, 2021
A terrific story! This is adventure, mystery, social and political comment, and romance, rolled into one very well structured, compulsive story. The central protagonist, Angel, is feisty, courageous, enigmatic, curious, and a real survivor. Set in a time when climate change has wreaked havoc with the geographical, and therefore the political world, as we currently know it, it deals with the way the elites take what they see as the necessary action to continue their privileged lifestyles.
But it is much, much more. The author has managed to make the reader empathise with almost all the characters on some level, regardless how selfish, wicked, good, generous, or courageous they may be. We encounter elderly heroes and heroines, resourceful individuals and communities, victims, self-serving demagogues, cruel leaders, uncaring servants, unquestioning followers, and a group of talented and determined resistance fighters bent on turning a terrifying world into a just and equable future.
The descriptions of familiar places either drowned or otherwise destroyed by the elements are entirely credible, as are the imagined luxuries maintained at the behest of the elites.
But it is the entwined stories of a search for justice, another search for a lost daughter valued for reasons she does not at first comprehend, and the loyalty and love of partners and groups fighting for a better life that carry this tale forward with an emotional punch of terror, disgust, outrage, admiration, humour, love and, most of all, hope.
There can be few left on the planet who now consider climate change and its associated threats of true crisis anything but highly likely. This novel is an account of a terrifying created outcome, resulting from extensive and sensitive research coupled with deep knowledge of people, and brilliantly applied imagination.
Read it and act.
But it is much, much more. The author has managed to make the reader empathise with almost all the characters on some level, regardless how selfish, wicked, good, generous, or courageous they may be. We encounter elderly heroes and heroines, resourceful individuals and communities, victims, self-serving demagogues, cruel leaders, uncaring servants, unquestioning followers, and a group of talented and determined resistance fighters bent on turning a terrifying world into a just and equable future.
The descriptions of familiar places either drowned or otherwise destroyed by the elements are entirely credible, as are the imagined luxuries maintained at the behest of the elites.
But it is the entwined stories of a search for justice, another search for a lost daughter valued for reasons she does not at first comprehend, and the loyalty and love of partners and groups fighting for a better life that carry this tale forward with an emotional punch of terror, disgust, outrage, admiration, humour, love and, most of all, hope.
There can be few left on the planet who now consider climate change and its associated threats of true crisis anything but highly likely. This novel is an account of a terrifying created outcome, resulting from extensive and sensitive research coupled with deep knowledge of people, and brilliantly applied imagination.
Read it and act.
May 25, 2022
I've read this novel twice and it didn't disappoint on second reading.
Linda Nicklin extrapolates from the current perilous state of the Earth to a horrific future where such scraps of our resources that remain are ruthlessly exploited by the super-rich and the rest of the (much reduced) human population is among those scraps. If you suppose this to be a hysterical over-reaction to the climate crisis by a half-informed zealot, read the Appendix of "Storm Girl" and follow the links. You'll find evidence for some of the wealth of impeccable research that has formed the basis for this story. It will give you cold shudders.
Three main characteristics of the novel make it palatable despite its brutally dystopian theme. First, it's what used to be called "a rattling good yarn", an adventure story, and the pace never slackens. Of course there are rises and falls of tension, as in any good novel, but the plot never congeals. Second, although the horrors of this near-future world are faced full on, they're never dwelt on to a maudlin or distasteful extent. Linda Nicklin presents them to us but doesn't wallow in them. Third, in addition to the wonderful protagonist, whose character evolves and toughens as her story unfolds, the book boasts a wealth of strong, brave and admirable women characters in whose courage and commitment lies a glimmer of hope for the world's future.
Other comments: Some of the "bad guys" can be seen as satirical portraits of certain influential people alive today. I loved them! Also, the protagonist's back-story is fantastical, but that's a necessary plot device and I had no difficulty in swallowing it as such.
Overall: what a debut novel! My first reading started in the afternoon and apart from a break for dinner I didn't stop until the small hours of the morning. Congratulations, Ms Nicklin. Not many authors produce first novels of this quality.
Linda Nicklin extrapolates from the current perilous state of the Earth to a horrific future where such scraps of our resources that remain are ruthlessly exploited by the super-rich and the rest of the (much reduced) human population is among those scraps. If you suppose this to be a hysterical over-reaction to the climate crisis by a half-informed zealot, read the Appendix of "Storm Girl" and follow the links. You'll find evidence for some of the wealth of impeccable research that has formed the basis for this story. It will give you cold shudders.
Three main characteristics of the novel make it palatable despite its brutally dystopian theme. First, it's what used to be called "a rattling good yarn", an adventure story, and the pace never slackens. Of course there are rises and falls of tension, as in any good novel, but the plot never congeals. Second, although the horrors of this near-future world are faced full on, they're never dwelt on to a maudlin or distasteful extent. Linda Nicklin presents them to us but doesn't wallow in them. Third, in addition to the wonderful protagonist, whose character evolves and toughens as her story unfolds, the book boasts a wealth of strong, brave and admirable women characters in whose courage and commitment lies a glimmer of hope for the world's future.
Other comments: Some of the "bad guys" can be seen as satirical portraits of certain influential people alive today. I loved them! Also, the protagonist's back-story is fantastical, but that's a necessary plot device and I had no difficulty in swallowing it as such.
Overall: what a debut novel! My first reading started in the afternoon and apart from a break for dinner I didn't stop until the small hours of the morning. Congratulations, Ms Nicklin. Not many authors produce first novels of this quality.
August 30, 2023
Linda Nicklin creates a highly believable post-climate-catastrophe world where the remaining resources are controlled by super-rich elites, with the rest of the population held in virtual slavery, harvested for their body parts. The story follows Angel, the Storm Girl of the title, in her fight to free herself from the Reaper body harvesters, connect with the shadowy resistance, and in doing so discover her own roots and links to the elites. The book is a highly readable page-turner, which for me could perhaps have benefitted from more detailed characterisation of the main protagonists with more internal exploration and back-story for Angel in particular.
However, the set-up for this story is all too believable, as thoroughly evidenced in the links provided in the Appendix. Storm Girl also gives reasons for hope in the midst of its bleakness, through the wonderfully portrayed Beguinage women’s self-supporting community, the Star network of older people able to operate under the radar due to their ‘redundant’ body parts, and the sense of human resilience against the odds, reflecting that of people and communities already suffering the dire consequences of disaster capitalism’s refusal to tackle the challenges of our climate emergency. Well worth the read!
However, the set-up for this story is all too believable, as thoroughly evidenced in the links provided in the Appendix. Storm Girl also gives reasons for hope in the midst of its bleakness, through the wonderfully portrayed Beguinage women’s self-supporting community, the Star network of older people able to operate under the radar due to their ‘redundant’ body parts, and the sense of human resilience against the odds, reflecting that of people and communities already suffering the dire consequences of disaster capitalism’s refusal to tackle the challenges of our climate emergency. Well worth the read!
August 21, 2020
If you want adventure, family disfunction, mystery, romance, horror, espionage and a squint at what the future may hold, then you have stumble upon the perfect book.
The story flows effortlessly, carrying the reader along on a roller coaster of emotions as Angel (Storm Girl) navigates her way through a nightmarish world destroyed by the effects of climate and greedy, ruthless 'elites'. An orphan raised by her stepfather, Angel is abducted by 'reapers'. She manages to escape and soon realises that she has a huge responsibility that she can not afford to shirk.
Meeting each new challenge head on, we see Angel's character grow and mature into a beautiful, strong, tenacious but well balanced and compassionate young woman.
With reference to actual places, it is easy to visualise and be drawn into the vibe of scenes, some frighteningly so!
Although this is a work of fiction, it would be easy with only a small stretch, to imagine much of these horrendous things happening!
The story flows effortlessly, carrying the reader along on a roller coaster of emotions as Angel (Storm Girl) navigates her way through a nightmarish world destroyed by the effects of climate and greedy, ruthless 'elites'. An orphan raised by her stepfather, Angel is abducted by 'reapers'. She manages to escape and soon realises that she has a huge responsibility that she can not afford to shirk.
Meeting each new challenge head on, we see Angel's character grow and mature into a beautiful, strong, tenacious but well balanced and compassionate young woman.
With reference to actual places, it is easy to visualise and be drawn into the vibe of scenes, some frighteningly so!
Although this is a work of fiction, it would be easy with only a small stretch, to imagine much of these horrendous things happening!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews