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Hadrian Boone #1
Ashes of the Earth
From the Edgar Award-winning author of The Skull Mantra : An ingenious thriller that “blends the bleakness of The Road with a well-crafted whodunit plot” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review). Thirty years after global holocaust, the colony of Carthage still struggles to build its new world. While steam engines and other early industrial technology have empowered its economy, the fragile society is undermined by secret crimes, rifts between generations, government censorship, and a legacy of casting out those who suffer from radiation sickness. Embittered survivor Hadrian Boone―once a revered colony founder―has fallen into a life of drunkenness and frequent imprisonment for challenging the governor’s tyranny. But when the community’s leading scientist is murdered, Hadrian glimpses chilling secrets behind the killing that could destroy Carthage. He begins a desperate quest into the wrenching camps of the outcasts, escorted by a young policewoman who struggles to cope with the remnants of the prior world. As Hadrian navigates his perilous path, his pursuit of justice becomes a journey of self-discovery.
359 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2012
40 people are currently reading
562 people want to read
About the author
Eliot Pattison
34 books351 followersEdgar Award winning Eliot Pattison has been described as a "writer of faraway mysteries," a label which is particularly apt for someone whose travel and interests span a million miles of global trekking, visiting every continent but Antarctica.
An international lawyer by training, Pattison first combined his deep concerns for the people of Tibet with his interest in fiction writing in The Skull Mantra, which launched the popular Inspector Shan series.
The series has been translated into over twenty languages around the world. Both The Skull Mantra and Water Touching Stone were selected by Amazon.com for its annual list of ten best new mysteries. Water Touching Stone was selected by Booksense as the number one mystery of all time for readers' groups. The newest installment, Soul of Fire, was included in Publisher's Weekly's list of "Best Book of 2014".
Pattison's fascination with the 18th century American wilderness and its woodland Indians led to the launch of his second critically acclaimed Bone Rattler series.
His dystopian novel, Ashes of The Earth, marks the first installment in his third book series, set in post-apocalyptic America.
A former resident of Boston and Washington, Pattison resides on an 18th century farm in Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, and an ever-expanding menagerie of animals.
An international lawyer by training, Pattison first combined his deep concerns for the people of Tibet with his interest in fiction writing in The Skull Mantra, which launched the popular Inspector Shan series.
The series has been translated into over twenty languages around the world. Both The Skull Mantra and Water Touching Stone were selected by Amazon.com for its annual list of ten best new mysteries. Water Touching Stone was selected by Booksense as the number one mystery of all time for readers' groups. The newest installment, Soul of Fire, was included in Publisher's Weekly's list of "Best Book of 2014".
Pattison's fascination with the 18th century American wilderness and its woodland Indians led to the launch of his second critically acclaimed Bone Rattler series.
His dystopian novel, Ashes of The Earth, marks the first installment in his third book series, set in post-apocalyptic America.
A former resident of Boston and Washington, Pattison resides on an 18th century farm in Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, and an ever-expanding menagerie of animals.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
May 31, 2011
It has been thirty years since global holocaust, and the village of Carthage is struggling to build a new society. Hadrian Boone, one of the original founders, has watched a village founded on the desire for a future descend into corruption, greed, and power struggles. Disillusioned and wracked with grief over the family he lost, Hadrian has become an alcoholic and frequent trouble-maker. It is only when the town’s wise man, Jonah, is murdered, that Hadrian is motivated to come out of his drunken haze and try to find the connection between Jonah’s murder, a rash of child suicides, and a shipwreck that may or may not have happened.
In many dystopian novels, the dystopia is the story. In this book, the dystopia is only the setting, but don’t let that word “only” fool you. The mystery is the story, and it exists in a dystopian future so real that I dreamed about it. The settlers of Carthage have managed to build an existence that goes back to the days before technology, and they supplement by salvaging what they can find in the ruins around them. Some people, like Hadrian and Jonah, want to preserve the past and learn from it, while others are determined to censor the literature from before the holocaust, believing that their only hope is to forget their history and look to the future.
One of the things I love most about dystopian literature is the way books become valued artifacts and reminders of the past, often reminders that some people want to suppress. Lucas Buchanan, the governor of Carthage, is one of those people. He’s a dangerous leader – the type who believes that the end justifies the means, that the survival of the village is more important than the rights and treatment of the individual citizen. He uses his police force to control the village and has no problem subverting the path of true justice, if he believes it will advance his goals.
Outside the village are the exiles, those most harmed by radiation sickness. The village council pushed them out, unwilling to deal with the illnesses and birth defects becoming rampant in the population. Hadrian, Jonah, and the village doctor, Emily, long to see a bridge built between the town and the exiles, a sharing of resources and knowledge, but Lucas has managed to place people on the council who he is able to control. Or are they controlling him?
Ashes of the Earth vividly demonstrates the fact that human nature doesn’t change. There will always be people determined to do the right thing, people who value learning and knowledge, people who show compassion and mercy to those less fortunate than themselves. And there will always be people who manipulate and twist events to their own benefit, who see others as tools to be used, who see power as something to be grasped, and believe that the weak exist to serve the strong. Those attributes are magnified in a dystopian setting, where it seems like a person’s true nature rises to the surface.
I highly recommend this book to all fans of dystopian fiction. The mystery got a little confusing at times, but all came together in the end, and the quality of writing and world-building make it a must-read addition to the genre.
In many dystopian novels, the dystopia is the story. In this book, the dystopia is only the setting, but don’t let that word “only” fool you. The mystery is the story, and it exists in a dystopian future so real that I dreamed about it. The settlers of Carthage have managed to build an existence that goes back to the days before technology, and they supplement by salvaging what they can find in the ruins around them. Some people, like Hadrian and Jonah, want to preserve the past and learn from it, while others are determined to censor the literature from before the holocaust, believing that their only hope is to forget their history and look to the future.
One of the things I love most about dystopian literature is the way books become valued artifacts and reminders of the past, often reminders that some people want to suppress. Lucas Buchanan, the governor of Carthage, is one of those people. He’s a dangerous leader – the type who believes that the end justifies the means, that the survival of the village is more important than the rights and treatment of the individual citizen. He uses his police force to control the village and has no problem subverting the path of true justice, if he believes it will advance his goals.
Outside the village are the exiles, those most harmed by radiation sickness. The village council pushed them out, unwilling to deal with the illnesses and birth defects becoming rampant in the population. Hadrian, Jonah, and the village doctor, Emily, long to see a bridge built between the town and the exiles, a sharing of resources and knowledge, but Lucas has managed to place people on the council who he is able to control. Or are they controlling him?
Ashes of the Earth vividly demonstrates the fact that human nature doesn’t change. There will always be people determined to do the right thing, people who value learning and knowledge, people who show compassion and mercy to those less fortunate than themselves. And there will always be people who manipulate and twist events to their own benefit, who see others as tools to be used, who see power as something to be grasped, and believe that the weak exist to serve the strong. Those attributes are magnified in a dystopian setting, where it seems like a person’s true nature rises to the surface.
I highly recommend this book to all fans of dystopian fiction. The mystery got a little confusing at times, but all came together in the end, and the quality of writing and world-building make it a must-read addition to the genre.
October 7, 2011
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
It may sound at first to be the height of cheesy cross-genre gimmickry -- a modern-style crime drama set within a James Howard Kunstleresque post-apocalyptic, neo-Luddite America -- but in Ashes of the Earth, mystery veteran Eliot Pattison takes what could've been an extremely eye-rolling experience and actually makes it taut and fascinating, a thriller that I admit I found more engaging than most other crime novels set within much more workaday surroundings. And that's because Pattison chooses to take a sober, toned-down approach to his world-building here, concocting a crime that fits in very naturally with the quasi-Victorian, surrounded-by-ruins milieu of these kinds of novels, making the story much less about radioactive mutants and hidden caches of Barbie dolls (although both these things are there as well), and much more about how the human capacity for both compassion and greed will long survive whatever circumstances we humans find ourselves in, not a utopia or a wasteland like so many post-apocalyptic thrillers are but simply a new way of life and new ways for people to act both honorably and horribly. The twist-filled plot is best left a surprise, which is why I won't mention anything about what actually "happens" here; but let's just say that fans of both Scott Turow and dystopian sci-fi are likely to be highly satisfied with this quickly paced, always fascinating book, a story that manages to be not only inventive in its plot but even introduces lots of original elements to its details, something becoming harder and harder to do in our post-Road times, when an ever-expanding glut of post-apocalyptic novels seems sometimes to be in danger of cannibalizing itself to death. A pleasant surprise and a much better novel than I was expecting, it comes strongly recommended.
Out of 10: 9.3
It may sound at first to be the height of cheesy cross-genre gimmickry -- a modern-style crime drama set within a James Howard Kunstleresque post-apocalyptic, neo-Luddite America -- but in Ashes of the Earth, mystery veteran Eliot Pattison takes what could've been an extremely eye-rolling experience and actually makes it taut and fascinating, a thriller that I admit I found more engaging than most other crime novels set within much more workaday surroundings. And that's because Pattison chooses to take a sober, toned-down approach to his world-building here, concocting a crime that fits in very naturally with the quasi-Victorian, surrounded-by-ruins milieu of these kinds of novels, making the story much less about radioactive mutants and hidden caches of Barbie dolls (although both these things are there as well), and much more about how the human capacity for both compassion and greed will long survive whatever circumstances we humans find ourselves in, not a utopia or a wasteland like so many post-apocalyptic thrillers are but simply a new way of life and new ways for people to act both honorably and horribly. The twist-filled plot is best left a surprise, which is why I won't mention anything about what actually "happens" here; but let's just say that fans of both Scott Turow and dystopian sci-fi are likely to be highly satisfied with this quickly paced, always fascinating book, a story that manages to be not only inventive in its plot but even introduces lots of original elements to its details, something becoming harder and harder to do in our post-Road times, when an ever-expanding glut of post-apocalyptic novels seems sometimes to be in danger of cannibalizing itself to death. A pleasant surprise and a much better novel than I was expecting, it comes strongly recommended.
Out of 10: 9.3
May 1, 2011
Title: Ashes of the Earth
Author: Eliot Pattison
ISBN: 978-1582436449.
Publisher: Counterpoint
Take a glimpse into the future. Think about your world as it is right now. Trees, markets, stores, technological advances, medical breakthroughs and modern conveniences that everyone takes for granted and rarely gives thanks for. Imagine in one strike of a match your world goes up in flames and the end result is a total global holocaust. What is left is smoke, ash, soot, burned buildings, pieces of glass and human beings so deformed so ill they can barely survive. Humans exposed to radiation and expelled and exiled not to contaminate others. Martial law reigns. Those who question are exiled or punished. Those who dare to challenge the government tortured. Imagine a world devoid of flowers, trees, metal, medicines, books and paper to write on and the basic comforts of life. Picture the devastation shown in Japan just this month. Remember the Tsunamis in Hawaii and Korea as the world comes to an end and the result will rock your world and give the reader much pause for thought.
Hadrian Boone is the main character in this book. Often imprisoned on petty charges and beaten, tortured and abused by those in charge he manages to stay afloat using his intelligence, connections and instincts. A founder of the colony and former professor, he hopes to work to rebuild what is left of Carthage. His long time friend Jonah Beck has been secretly working on many projects including a new public works system, medications to heal the sick and a way to bring both the exiles in New Jerusalem and those in Carthage together. But, what Hadrian learns and what happens to Jonah, will shake their worlds and rock the inner core of what is left of Carthage. Becoming more than a liability to his former friend Governor Buchanan, his often the brunt of many beatings, torturous experiences imposed on him by his one time friend.
Becoming embroiled in the intrigue and the subterfuge of Carthage, learning of the plots and deceit of those in government and in power, just might get him killed. Murders of young men made to look like suicides. His friend Jonah thought to have hanged himself but did he? Any hope of restoring life to its original state and creating a bridge to reach out to the exiles and provide them with food and medicine gone.
Taking him into the underworld of the exiles, unearthing the secrets that lie beneath the walls of a monastery, and uncovering the whereabouts of a ship thought sunk, draws Hadrian and many others into a web so tightly spun they might never survive. The contraband that Hadrian finds buried in a church is startling. A cloud of doubt that hangs over him when dealing with Sergeant Waller and her true reason for shadowing his every move and appearing to help him at times and at others lost and unable to cope. Emily, the head of the hospital faces the death and doom daily dealt to the many brought in who are murdered, maimed and in some cases left for dead. Scouts that go out and never return and people who are hanged just because they are considered expendable or not worth living at least in this world devoid of emotion, caring and anyone who wants civilization to really survive.
This book brings to light many issues that we hope we never have to face. Children forced to do the dangerous dirty work of adults, smugglings, stealing and committing other crimes to stay alive. Pranks played just for fun on the dead. The characters depicted in this novel seem totally devoid of emotions. The vivid descriptions of the deterioration of the world, the disintegration of the human bodies, their minds and spirits are so clearly written you can create you own mental image of the scenes, the characters and what is left of their world.
Sometimes the search for answers brings new questions. As Hadrian Boone reenters the world of those exiled he learns the hidden truth behind his friend’s mission and what he was really creating with those in New Jerusalem as the camp was renamed. Appearance are quite deceiving and people are not always who and what you think they are.
Jackals, young children enlisted to work for the smugglers, men who played both sides of the fence and a directory of names that would shed light on the rest. Who was behind the killings? Who would benefit the most from the smuggling and creating deadly drugs that would silence the inquisitive? A Governor who appears to want to find the answers behind the murders but does he? But, when the final showdown comes to play where will his allegiance lie and just how far will he go to get what he wants.
A plot so diabolical, convoluted and intricate no one will saw it coming nor will they see the end result until it’s too late. The granaries are full, the food supply plentiful and the government blinded by their own greed. An ending so explosive that the world as they knew it, as you know it will never be the same. Who will win? Carthage or Total Carnage?
Fran Lewis reviewer
Author: Eliot Pattison
ISBN: 978-1582436449.
Publisher: Counterpoint
Take a glimpse into the future. Think about your world as it is right now. Trees, markets, stores, technological advances, medical breakthroughs and modern conveniences that everyone takes for granted and rarely gives thanks for. Imagine in one strike of a match your world goes up in flames and the end result is a total global holocaust. What is left is smoke, ash, soot, burned buildings, pieces of glass and human beings so deformed so ill they can barely survive. Humans exposed to radiation and expelled and exiled not to contaminate others. Martial law reigns. Those who question are exiled or punished. Those who dare to challenge the government tortured. Imagine a world devoid of flowers, trees, metal, medicines, books and paper to write on and the basic comforts of life. Picture the devastation shown in Japan just this month. Remember the Tsunamis in Hawaii and Korea as the world comes to an end and the result will rock your world and give the reader much pause for thought.
Hadrian Boone is the main character in this book. Often imprisoned on petty charges and beaten, tortured and abused by those in charge he manages to stay afloat using his intelligence, connections and instincts. A founder of the colony and former professor, he hopes to work to rebuild what is left of Carthage. His long time friend Jonah Beck has been secretly working on many projects including a new public works system, medications to heal the sick and a way to bring both the exiles in New Jerusalem and those in Carthage together. But, what Hadrian learns and what happens to Jonah, will shake their worlds and rock the inner core of what is left of Carthage. Becoming more than a liability to his former friend Governor Buchanan, his often the brunt of many beatings, torturous experiences imposed on him by his one time friend.
Becoming embroiled in the intrigue and the subterfuge of Carthage, learning of the plots and deceit of those in government and in power, just might get him killed. Murders of young men made to look like suicides. His friend Jonah thought to have hanged himself but did he? Any hope of restoring life to its original state and creating a bridge to reach out to the exiles and provide them with food and medicine gone.
Taking him into the underworld of the exiles, unearthing the secrets that lie beneath the walls of a monastery, and uncovering the whereabouts of a ship thought sunk, draws Hadrian and many others into a web so tightly spun they might never survive. The contraband that Hadrian finds buried in a church is startling. A cloud of doubt that hangs over him when dealing with Sergeant Waller and her true reason for shadowing his every move and appearing to help him at times and at others lost and unable to cope. Emily, the head of the hospital faces the death and doom daily dealt to the many brought in who are murdered, maimed and in some cases left for dead. Scouts that go out and never return and people who are hanged just because they are considered expendable or not worth living at least in this world devoid of emotion, caring and anyone who wants civilization to really survive.
This book brings to light many issues that we hope we never have to face. Children forced to do the dangerous dirty work of adults, smugglings, stealing and committing other crimes to stay alive. Pranks played just for fun on the dead. The characters depicted in this novel seem totally devoid of emotions. The vivid descriptions of the deterioration of the world, the disintegration of the human bodies, their minds and spirits are so clearly written you can create you own mental image of the scenes, the characters and what is left of their world.
Sometimes the search for answers brings new questions. As Hadrian Boone reenters the world of those exiled he learns the hidden truth behind his friend’s mission and what he was really creating with those in New Jerusalem as the camp was renamed. Appearance are quite deceiving and people are not always who and what you think they are.
Jackals, young children enlisted to work for the smugglers, men who played both sides of the fence and a directory of names that would shed light on the rest. Who was behind the killings? Who would benefit the most from the smuggling and creating deadly drugs that would silence the inquisitive? A Governor who appears to want to find the answers behind the murders but does he? But, when the final showdown comes to play where will his allegiance lie and just how far will he go to get what he wants.
A plot so diabolical, convoluted and intricate no one will saw it coming nor will they see the end result until it’s too late. The granaries are full, the food supply plentiful and the government blinded by their own greed. An ending so explosive that the world as they knew it, as you know it will never be the same. Who will win? Carthage or Total Carnage?
Fran Lewis reviewer
July 11, 2011
This was a really good book, a real page turner. The characters are well written, and the plot is set up extremely well. Set in a location near the American/Canadian border it follows a murder investigation through all the difficulties that could be experienced while trying to bring back communities after the Apocalypse.
You take a huge step back to a world that existed before all the technology that makes life so much easier. Having to learn to live off the land and all the struggles of right versus wrong that takes place when law and order is corrupt.
You take a huge step back to a world that existed before all the technology that makes life so much easier. Having to learn to live off the land and all the struggles of right versus wrong that takes place when law and order is corrupt.
April 11, 2011
So, it's a fascinating premise. A very different sort of post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel. The novel is set thirty years after most of humankind has been wiped out in massive nuclear blasts. The only ones who survived are those who happened to be deep in the woods for some reason, for example a group of Norwegians who traveled to the Great Lakes area for a long-planned bird-watching expedition. The story follows Hadrian Boone, who was fishing alone that day and lost his wife and children back in the city. The survivors have set up an 18th century-style colony, and when the book opens they have bakers, forgers, doctors, etc. They also have censorship--no one is allowed to teach the children about the past world, an oppressive government, and children who make suicide pacts in order to travel to the other side. The youth believe that the other side contains happy people like they see in magazine ad pictures. Long story. Anyway, one of the founding colonists is murdered in a mysterious setting and Hadrian has to emerge from his sorrow to solve the mystery.
There were things I enjoyed about the book; I liked the characters, the descriptions of what the area is like thirty years after a nuclear holocaust, the remnants of a past society, how survivors were making a life for themselves. The ones who thrive are the new generations who have no memory of the past, who find a cell phone and it means nothing to them. Those parts were all very interesting. But in the end, the book just dragged. Not initially. For the first half I stayed up late and didn't want to put it down. But then, it just lost all momentum for me. The mystery was at first compelling and later I felt like "Seriously--just solve it, already!" I didn't buy the Governor's villainy. Characters kept talking about how he used to be nice, but there was no explanation about how, when, or why he had turned into a power-hungry scary guy and it just didn't work for me. I'm not sure the mystery was that convincing. I'd get into it more but I don't want to spoil anything. Also, there were too many characters to keep track of in the "evil people group." By the end of the story they would mention a name and I would think, "Wait a minute, who is that? Is he dead? Alive? Part of the bad fishermen? The bad gang? The bad prisoners? The bad policemen?" It became difficult to keep everyone straight.
The writing was good, and there were scenes that tugged at my heart: How Hadrian writes a letter to his children on their birthdays and then sits by the water and burns them so the words will travel to them in heaven like he heard the Chinese once did. I just wish the book didn't drag so much. I have a feeling I'm going to forget most of it by next week.
There were things I enjoyed about the book; I liked the characters, the descriptions of what the area is like thirty years after a nuclear holocaust, the remnants of a past society, how survivors were making a life for themselves. The ones who thrive are the new generations who have no memory of the past, who find a cell phone and it means nothing to them. Those parts were all very interesting. But in the end, the book just dragged. Not initially. For the first half I stayed up late and didn't want to put it down. But then, it just lost all momentum for me. The mystery was at first compelling and later I felt like "Seriously--just solve it, already!" I didn't buy the Governor's villainy. Characters kept talking about how he used to be nice, but there was no explanation about how, when, or why he had turned into a power-hungry scary guy and it just didn't work for me. I'm not sure the mystery was that convincing. I'd get into it more but I don't want to spoil anything. Also, there were too many characters to keep track of in the "evil people group." By the end of the story they would mention a name and I would think, "Wait a minute, who is that? Is he dead? Alive? Part of the bad fishermen? The bad gang? The bad prisoners? The bad policemen?" It became difficult to keep everyone straight.
The writing was good, and there were scenes that tugged at my heart: How Hadrian writes a letter to his children on their birthdays and then sits by the water and burns them so the words will travel to them in heaven like he heard the Chinese once did. I just wish the book didn't drag so much. I have a feeling I'm going to forget most of it by next week.
April 18, 2011
People who know my reading tastes know that if you give me a story about plagues or the apocalypse, I am generally pre-disposed to like such stories. A flaw in my character no doubt.
I did like this book more than my ratings suggest. The story is interesting. Many of the characters are people I felt like I got to know and would like to know even more about. I could picture the world on the shores of the inland sea that the characters inhabit. The writing was good, even lyrical at times.
However, I can't say I ever fully understood the mystery story at the heart of this tale. As I was reading, at times I wondered why some of the peripheral characters were being introduced. Most of them played such a small part in advancing the story at the time they were introduced, and the development of those characters was so slight, that if they came up again later, I wasn't sure who they were. That said, I still liked the book, and may give it second reading later.
I did like this book more than my ratings suggest. The story is interesting. Many of the characters are people I felt like I got to know and would like to know even more about. I could picture the world on the shores of the inland sea that the characters inhabit. The writing was good, even lyrical at times.
However, I can't say I ever fully understood the mystery story at the heart of this tale. As I was reading, at times I wondered why some of the peripheral characters were being introduced. Most of them played such a small part in advancing the story at the time they were introduced, and the development of those characters was so slight, that if they came up again later, I wasn't sure who they were. That said, I still liked the book, and may give it second reading later.
October 17, 2011
a good story of post-usa, with nice characters and a dogged mystery too. the author is more noted for his mystery books, at least two different series, on of a Tibetan detective, the other about colonial usa. this one takes place in the great lakes region and is well worth the read if your into steam powered mills and boats and such and very small populations trying to rebuild societies.
October 15, 2019
I really liked this story and I intend to read the next one as well, whenever it comes out. I liked that it had a strong feel of possibility, that I could see this type of community after much of the world has been destroyed, that human greed and treachery has not disappeared. I hope the next one allows the reader to travel further from the boundaries of these communities, and fleshes out some of the characters.
August 25, 2011
Ashes of the Earth by Eliot Pattison is subtitled a Post-Apocalyptic Mystery and it falls squarely into the mystery genre. Pattison previous authored two historical mysteries set in colonial America, Eye of the Raven and Bone Rattler, and I get the distinct impression that those to earlier novels certainly help inform Ashes of the Earth. Ashes of the Earth takes place after war has left America (and presumable the rest of the planet) a husk of its former self and focuses on a struggling community called Carthage. The story follows the embittered and dissident founding father of Carthage, Hadrian Boone, as he attempts to solve the murder of his mentor. Nuclear and biological weapons employed in the past have left even later generations suffering and Carthage long ago exiled these unwanted to shantytown long ago and is amongst these exiles, and even further, that Hadrian’s journey takes him.
As I mentioned Pattison’s familiarity with colonial fiction definitely helps the novel here as the struggling community of Carthage bears a lot of similarities to the hard-scrabble communities of the Colonial era. Of course one of the special aspects of Ashes of the Earth are the remnants of old society that clash with the new in this post-apocalyptic world. I was extremely fascinated with the children’s suicide cult. While many of the adults of Carthage have lost their faith the remnants of that faith, combined with the remnants of the past helped bring about the very bizarre religion amongst the children. It is both horrific and strangely logical that the children of Carthage view artifacts of the past as things from the afterlife. It is a mindset and belief that could easily be fostered by the resentment and loss from adults as well as some other (spoiler heavy) conditions that I won’t discuss.
It was a smart move on Pattison’s part to set his novel a generation or two removed from the global apocalypse. He is extraordinarily adept at giving Carthage and its people a sense of history beyond what has been lost. That sense of the past really lends the novel a sense of place that, despite its future setting, really grounds the novel in reality. Pattison never goes into the full details of Carthage’s founding focusing only on those events which bear the most influence on the plot. Boone’s embittered disposition is in the forefront right out of the gate and I appreciated that Pattison slowly reveals the layers of who Boone used to be over the course of the mystery.
The novel features some wonderfully realized characters. Boone in particularly never feels less than real with a not-so-subtle anger that belies is idealistic nature; a contradiction that feels completely human. The orphaned boy Dax was a great foil for Boone. The two are of a similar nature as the child acts oftentimes more like an adult and his strange post-apocalyptic patois lending him (and the other children of Carthage) a real sense the Other. Like Boone the exile Sarah exhibits a surprising degree of optimism but as the novel progresses revealing an inner core of equal parts determination and sorrow. I felt that the young policewoman Jori could have been better fleshed out and, if the novel weren’t entirely from Boone’s perspective, would have been served by providing an alternative perspective unbiased by experience with the way the world used to be. Pattison also deftly handles several minor characters from Native American hunters, to hardened ship captains, to stoic bodyguards the minor characters of Ashes of the Earth manage to shine in their own distinct ways.
As a science fiction fan I certainly would have liked a little more detail about the way the world ends, would have love to have seen the ruined landscape explored a little more but given that the novel is thematically focused about creating something new informed by the past, but free of its mistakes, the lack of exploration makes sense. Furthermore, Pattison has crafted one of the more intricate and fascinating mysteries that I’ve ever seen. Details and revelations are revealed at slow and measured pace and the importance is handled with the same level of importance as Boone’s introspection and philosophical observations. In addition to being a great mystery Ashes of the Earth is a novel about loss and recovery, about realizing that even absent of the past human nature does not change.
As I mentioned Pattison’s familiarity with colonial fiction definitely helps the novel here as the struggling community of Carthage bears a lot of similarities to the hard-scrabble communities of the Colonial era. Of course one of the special aspects of Ashes of the Earth are the remnants of old society that clash with the new in this post-apocalyptic world. I was extremely fascinated with the children’s suicide cult. While many of the adults of Carthage have lost their faith the remnants of that faith, combined with the remnants of the past helped bring about the very bizarre religion amongst the children. It is both horrific and strangely logical that the children of Carthage view artifacts of the past as things from the afterlife. It is a mindset and belief that could easily be fostered by the resentment and loss from adults as well as some other (spoiler heavy) conditions that I won’t discuss.
It was a smart move on Pattison’s part to set his novel a generation or two removed from the global apocalypse. He is extraordinarily adept at giving Carthage and its people a sense of history beyond what has been lost. That sense of the past really lends the novel a sense of place that, despite its future setting, really grounds the novel in reality. Pattison never goes into the full details of Carthage’s founding focusing only on those events which bear the most influence on the plot. Boone’s embittered disposition is in the forefront right out of the gate and I appreciated that Pattison slowly reveals the layers of who Boone used to be over the course of the mystery.
The novel features some wonderfully realized characters. Boone in particularly never feels less than real with a not-so-subtle anger that belies is idealistic nature; a contradiction that feels completely human. The orphaned boy Dax was a great foil for Boone. The two are of a similar nature as the child acts oftentimes more like an adult and his strange post-apocalyptic patois lending him (and the other children of Carthage) a real sense the Other. Like Boone the exile Sarah exhibits a surprising degree of optimism but as the novel progresses revealing an inner core of equal parts determination and sorrow. I felt that the young policewoman Jori could have been better fleshed out and, if the novel weren’t entirely from Boone’s perspective, would have been served by providing an alternative perspective unbiased by experience with the way the world used to be. Pattison also deftly handles several minor characters from Native American hunters, to hardened ship captains, to stoic bodyguards the minor characters of Ashes of the Earth manage to shine in their own distinct ways.
As a science fiction fan I certainly would have liked a little more detail about the way the world ends, would have love to have seen the ruined landscape explored a little more but given that the novel is thematically focused about creating something new informed by the past, but free of its mistakes, the lack of exploration makes sense. Furthermore, Pattison has crafted one of the more intricate and fascinating mysteries that I’ve ever seen. Details and revelations are revealed at slow and measured pace and the importance is handled with the same level of importance as Boone’s introspection and philosophical observations. In addition to being a great mystery Ashes of the Earth is a novel about loss and recovery, about realizing that even absent of the past human nature does not change.
September 11, 2011
I enjoyed this book, although not as much as I've enjoyed Pattison's Tibetan series, or even his Colonial America series. In both his Tibetan and Colonial America series, the main character is someone who has fallen from high standing in society and has been deemed a criminal by the authorities. In the Tibetan series, this character (Shan Tao Yun) joins with a Tibetan lama who helps him learn about himself while investigating crimes... In the Colonial America series, this character (Duncan McCallum) joins with a Native American shaman who helps him learn about himself while investigating crimes... See a pattern?
Warning: Spoilers!
Ashes of the Earth starts off seemingly in the same fashion: former founder of the post-apocalyptic colony of Carthage, Hadrian Boone, now considered a criminal by the state he helped to found. He, and his mentor Jonah Beck (an elderly scientist) work together to improve Carthage, despite being at odds with its government. When a dead body is found, I expected Jonah and Hadrian to solve the murder mystery together, following the same pattern as the Tibetan and Colonial America books. I have to admit I was quite surprised when Jonah himself turned up murdered shortly thereafter. It is up to Hadrian to solve the mysteries of the murders which are suddenly plaguing the colony - and to battle the criminals seeking to undermine the government of Carthage and bring the colony to its knees.
Pattison's Tibetan and Colonial America books really have a definite sense of place. I feel like I've learned more about Tibet - the sights, sounds, smells, as well as the traditional culture and modern life in Tibet - through his books than through anything else I've ever read on Tibet. While I don't feel like I've learned that much about Colonial America through his books (granted, I'm an American *and* my mother is a history teacher), that series also has a very strong sense of place. I didn't feel that Ashes of the Earth had quite as strong a sense of place. It was several chapters in before I realized that the colony of Carthage had been built on the shores of one of the Great Lakes. Also, while the destroyed former world is mostly avoided - except by salvage crews - I didn't think the few trips into the former world were as descriptive as they could have been. Had I not just taken a vacation to Pripyat (the abandoned city 3km away from the Chernobyl reactor), I don't think I would have been able to visualize the reclamation of the modern world by nature all that clearly. For someone with Pattison's proven descriptive abilities, I found the lack of a sense of place rather disappointing.
However... the plot was strong, and the mystery (and the characters) engaging. Had I not had Pattison's other books to compare this too, I probably would have given it 5 stars. A good book, but not Pattison's best.
Warning: Spoilers!
Ashes of the Earth starts off seemingly in the same fashion: former founder of the post-apocalyptic colony of Carthage, Hadrian Boone, now considered a criminal by the state he helped to found. He, and his mentor Jonah Beck (an elderly scientist) work together to improve Carthage, despite being at odds with its government. When a dead body is found, I expected Jonah and Hadrian to solve the murder mystery together, following the same pattern as the Tibetan and Colonial America books. I have to admit I was quite surprised when Jonah himself turned up murdered shortly thereafter. It is up to Hadrian to solve the mysteries of the murders which are suddenly plaguing the colony - and to battle the criminals seeking to undermine the government of Carthage and bring the colony to its knees.
Pattison's Tibetan and Colonial America books really have a definite sense of place. I feel like I've learned more about Tibet - the sights, sounds, smells, as well as the traditional culture and modern life in Tibet - through his books than through anything else I've ever read on Tibet. While I don't feel like I've learned that much about Colonial America through his books (granted, I'm an American *and* my mother is a history teacher), that series also has a very strong sense of place. I didn't feel that Ashes of the Earth had quite as strong a sense of place. It was several chapters in before I realized that the colony of Carthage had been built on the shores of one of the Great Lakes. Also, while the destroyed former world is mostly avoided - except by salvage crews - I didn't think the few trips into the former world were as descriptive as they could have been. Had I not just taken a vacation to Pripyat (the abandoned city 3km away from the Chernobyl reactor), I don't think I would have been able to visualize the reclamation of the modern world by nature all that clearly. For someone with Pattison's proven descriptive abilities, I found the lack of a sense of place rather disappointing.
However... the plot was strong, and the mystery (and the characters) engaging. Had I not had Pattison's other books to compare this too, I probably would have given it 5 stars. A good book, but not Pattison's best.
July 17, 2011
Definitely dark and dystopian. Pattison set out to explore the usual assortment of human qualities in an unusual circumstance: some years after the near-destruction of planetary life and the collapse of global civilization. His (pretty good) assumption is that the character of survivors and their descendants wouldn't vary much from what we think of as human nature today.
'Ashes' begins in mud and gloom and eventually brightens a little. It's an involving read, if somewhat less satisfying than his two previous novels, set in colonial America. ('Bone Rattler' and 'Eye of the Raven' —in all three books, incidentally, Native Americans play integral roles.)
Pattison's writerly gifts are considerable, many of his characters full-bodied and complex. The resolution of all the plot puzzles seemed incomplete, although it's difficult to say precisely how it fell short. Still, this is a good read, and includes some intriguing and quite believable details of an imagined post-apocalyptic landscape.
'Ashes' begins in mud and gloom and eventually brightens a little. It's an involving read, if somewhat less satisfying than his two previous novels, set in colonial America. ('Bone Rattler' and 'Eye of the Raven' —in all three books, incidentally, Native Americans play integral roles.)
Pattison's writerly gifts are considerable, many of his characters full-bodied and complex. The resolution of all the plot puzzles seemed incomplete, although it's difficult to say precisely how it fell short. Still, this is a good read, and includes some intriguing and quite believable details of an imagined post-apocalyptic landscape.
March 28, 2013
I don't know what I expected from this book but whatever it was, I did not get it. There was a murder mystery to be solved but it seemed to become a secondary plot in the story. The main story was about the rebuilding of society after a nuclear apocalypse only to have society break down again. "A Canticle for Liebowitz" was an excellent version of this theme. "Canticle for Liebowitz" made me gasp at the premise that we could again so easily destroy ourselves. In "Ashes of the Earth" I felt disappointment because of the multi-layers of corruption.
August 13, 2011
Well-written, but extremely depressing! Multiple children commit suicide; dogs are brutalized, killed, eaten; and even in a society which has had the ultimate example of why greed and conflict are not the right keystones for a civilization, humans continue to look out for themselves first.
Ugh, I need to go read something hopeful now!
Ugh, I need to go read something hopeful now!
September 5, 2018
"An involved murder mystery set in a post-apocalyptic setting! Very different take on the genre."--patron
April 22, 2018
This was a mystery set in a post-apoclaptic world rather than a post-apoclyaptic novel.
The mystery passed intricate into convoluted and confusing. I had to re-read the solution multiple times before I believed that I mostly understood events.
Since the post-apocalypse portion is merely the setting there are a lot of holes in the information about the disaster and humanity's recovery. Pattison should have developed the setting better to assist readers in understanding the mystery.
Overall, a decent mystery if a bit convoluted in plot. The characters could have used additional development as could the setting, but other than losing track of the mystery it was a quick read.
The mystery passed intricate into convoluted and confusing. I had to re-read the solution multiple times before I believed that I mostly understood events.
Since the post-apocalypse portion is merely the setting there are a lot of holes in the information about the disaster and humanity's recovery. Pattison should have developed the setting better to assist readers in understanding the mystery.
Overall, a decent mystery if a bit convoluted in plot. The characters could have used additional development as could the setting, but other than losing track of the mystery it was a quick read.
March 6, 2019
A world of hope
Most post-apocalyptic worlds are painted in the bleakest of colors. This novel navigates through the grimness of humanity and culture seeking to rebuild and shows there is a way to still hope. Along the way, we encounter a good, old fashioned crime story and even, in the truest sense, a good, old fashioned amateur detective. No, this isn’t Peter Wimsey or Miss Marple or Poirier; rather, our protagonist is a flawed, but good person outraged by the wrongs around him, and intent on setting things right. It’s easy to root for him, and those around him. The antagonists are many, and while the transitions are occasionally awkward, the story is compelling and otherwise well written; it��s a tale that wants to be read.
Most post-apocalyptic worlds are painted in the bleakest of colors. This novel navigates through the grimness of humanity and culture seeking to rebuild and shows there is a way to still hope. Along the way, we encounter a good, old fashioned crime story and even, in the truest sense, a good, old fashioned amateur detective. No, this isn’t Peter Wimsey or Miss Marple or Poirier; rather, our protagonist is a flawed, but good person outraged by the wrongs around him, and intent on setting things right. It’s easy to root for him, and those around him. The antagonists are many, and while the transitions are occasionally awkward, the story is compelling and otherwise well written; it��s a tale that wants to be read.
September 19, 2017
Interesting premise. Given some thought, just how would we, as a society, react to a total apocalyptic event such as the setting of the book. I would like to think the best of people, but human nature is human nature, and the book quite well, outlines the foibles, fears, and nasty parts of the human animal. While I appreciated all the main characters, I especially felt for the poor monk, who, in the end, could do nothing to sooth the soul. And the ending left a bit to be desired. Did Hadrian get elected to the council? Did Jori come back to him? Did they make up with "The NORTHERS"? Maybe a sequel in the works, hhhuummm??? RON.....
November 1, 2025
Perhaps not as appealing as some of Pattison's other works, Ashes of the Earth describes a time in America when there has been a nuclear war and those who are left are trying to survive and reassemble what has been lost. One such figure is Noah, a Leonardo da Vinci type figure, who is working on medicines and simple inventions, when all technology has been lost. Another is Hadrian, his protege and main character of this novel, who is trying to uncover what underlying forces have been unleashed in this chaotic time.
July 16, 2022
Pattison masterfully develops the main characters in this book, introducing subtle changes in a way that does not seem obvious in the moment, but ultimately has a large cumulative effect. The mystery of the book is very enthralling for the first half of the book, but becomes a little stale on the back end. The resolution felt a shade unsatisfying. The “mastermind” could have used more depth, or at least more time in front of the reader. Nonetheless, a very compelling read.
October 17, 2024
Another amazing book by Eliot Pattison, the third that I've read. A rural area near Lake Erie survives world nuclear destruction and ten years later is beginning to thrive due to old-time farming and industrial methods (plus ice boats, which I loved the idea of.) Crime is hidden but rampant. Hadrian, a disillusioned founder of the colony, seeks to unravel pieces of the huge puzzle where, as ever in Pattison's books, people and places are not what they seem to be.
August 16, 2018
Very complex mystery set in a world destroyed and rebuilt to a primitive level. Well written!
October 22, 2018
A decent post apocalypse who dunit, adventure novel.
December 31, 2018
Excellent read.
January 16, 2019
Kept my interest characters were well developed
Not a happy story , almost to real about where we may be heading if some crazy leader choose to destroy the world
Not a happy story , almost to real about where we may be heading if some crazy leader choose to destroy the world
June 21, 2019
I liked his other books more, but this one had some interesting components.
March 12, 2020
A highly thoughtful book
Elliot Pattison’s imagination never stops! After reading two other series that he has written, I was not disappointed in this latest book .
Elliot Pattison’s imagination never stops! After reading two other series that he has written, I was not disappointed in this latest book .
December 4, 2015
BEWARE OF SPOILERS: I DON'T HIDE OR PROMOTE MY REVIEWS.
The story's set somewhere on the southern "coast" of the Great Lakes. As my hometown is on one of the Great Lakes, I was flattered when the author, Eliot Pattison, identified the region.
I also appreciated his author's note explaining that a spot on the Great Lakes would be advantageous for survival in a post-nuclear era, due to the supplies of water, fish, timber, forest life, farmworthy soil, naturally occurring minerals including coal, copper and oil, etc. - all the reasons that whites settled there to begin with. (The Rockefeller oil dynasty started when a forefather began acquiring small oil operations around Cleveland.)
But the setting is not why I picked up the book, nor why I read it through.
The author has thought up a number of reasonable propositions that could occur among survivors of a nuclear blast or over-exposure in the U.S.: reversion to steam-era technology, re-formation of guilds representing basic trades (agriculture, milling, fishing, etc), slow establishing of small communities and trade relations; salvage of materials from formerly urban areas, once radiation levels have dropped to relative safety.
I was touched by some of the more intangible ramifications that Pattison also proposes: suicidal children who think of the bygone era (which they never knew) as Paradise; rise of "Angel Polish," a fish-oil-based product for women to hide mottling of skin caused by mutations; bitter competition for rare salvage items; return of diseases that had, in the old world, practically been eradicated; reinvention of the manufacture of addictive drugs to soothe all the wearied souls; loss of faith in God accompanied by a rise in stature of the hard-to-come-by works of Shakespeare.
As the subtitle indicates, the book contains a mystery. But to categorize this book as a mystery is to shortchange the powerful themes. The mystery at hand is just part and parcel of the challenge to continue living -- to seek morality and pleasure and justice -- when so many have lost so much.
I never cared that the author chose not to detail precisely which agents set off which nuclear catastrophe where or why, giving rise to his post-apocalyptic America.
The story's set somewhere on the southern "coast" of the Great Lakes. As my hometown is on one of the Great Lakes, I was flattered when the author, Eliot Pattison, identified the region.
I also appreciated his author's note explaining that a spot on the Great Lakes would be advantageous for survival in a post-nuclear era, due to the supplies of water, fish, timber, forest life, farmworthy soil, naturally occurring minerals including coal, copper and oil, etc. - all the reasons that whites settled there to begin with. (The Rockefeller oil dynasty started when a forefather began acquiring small oil operations around Cleveland.)
But the setting is not why I picked up the book, nor why I read it through.
The author has thought up a number of reasonable propositions that could occur among survivors of a nuclear blast or over-exposure in the U.S.: reversion to steam-era technology, re-formation of guilds representing basic trades (agriculture, milling, fishing, etc), slow establishing of small communities and trade relations; salvage of materials from formerly urban areas, once radiation levels have dropped to relative safety.
I was touched by some of the more intangible ramifications that Pattison also proposes: suicidal children who think of the bygone era (which they never knew) as Paradise; rise of "Angel Polish," a fish-oil-based product for women to hide mottling of skin caused by mutations; bitter competition for rare salvage items; return of diseases that had, in the old world, practically been eradicated; reinvention of the manufacture of addictive drugs to soothe all the wearied souls; loss of faith in God accompanied by a rise in stature of the hard-to-come-by works of Shakespeare.
As the subtitle indicates, the book contains a mystery. But to categorize this book as a mystery is to shortchange the powerful themes. The mystery at hand is just part and parcel of the challenge to continue living -- to seek morality and pleasure and justice -- when so many have lost so much.
I never cared that the author chose not to detail precisely which agents set off which nuclear catastrophe where or why, giving rise to his post-apocalyptic America.
August 19, 2011
Actual rating: 2.5 stars.
I suspect the publishers and booksellers have discovered, thanks to the success of writers like Margaret Atwood, that there's an eager audience for "post-apocalyptic" fiction, and that we'll see more and more books aimed at this market.
I thought this might be a riff on the classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, and in some ways it is. The major difference is it's not nearly as good, of course; another major difference is that the events in the story occur just 30 or so years after the end of civilization, so the older survivors remember the past well enough to know what's useful to salvage from the wastelands. The story unfolds in a village founded by survivors, populated by survivors and their descendents. Politics are repressive in a Salem witch hunt way (the village council has evicted the sick and lame, leaving them to starve in the woods), and murders, drugs, and mysterious strangers have suddenly appeared. One man, Hadrian Boone, first generation survivor and village drunk, sets out to find out what's going on.
Eliot Pattison's evocation of a destroyed world -- the works of man destroyed buried, nature reclaiming the land, small pockets of survivors existing hand to mouth -- is pretty well done. It's plausible. It's rendered vividly enough that the reader can feel it and want to know more. After setting the scene, though, Pattison concentrates on the mystery, dragging it out to such an extent that reading this book becomes a chore. Hadrian advances in half steps with frequent setbacks. Previously unknown actors pop up every chapter or so, adding layers and layers to the problem. You figure out early on that bad people are scheming to steal the village's surplus grain, and in the end that is exactly what has transpired, complicated needlessly by Pattison's extra wrinkles. This could have been a tighter story, and I wish it had been.
All in all, though, pretty good.
I suspect the publishers and booksellers have discovered, thanks to the success of writers like Margaret Atwood, that there's an eager audience for "post-apocalyptic" fiction, and that we'll see more and more books aimed at this market.
I thought this might be a riff on the classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, and in some ways it is. The major difference is it's not nearly as good, of course; another major difference is that the events in the story occur just 30 or so years after the end of civilization, so the older survivors remember the past well enough to know what's useful to salvage from the wastelands. The story unfolds in a village founded by survivors, populated by survivors and their descendents. Politics are repressive in a Salem witch hunt way (the village council has evicted the sick and lame, leaving them to starve in the woods), and murders, drugs, and mysterious strangers have suddenly appeared. One man, Hadrian Boone, first generation survivor and village drunk, sets out to find out what's going on.
Eliot Pattison's evocation of a destroyed world -- the works of man destroyed buried, nature reclaiming the land, small pockets of survivors existing hand to mouth -- is pretty well done. It's plausible. It's rendered vividly enough that the reader can feel it and want to know more. After setting the scene, though, Pattison concentrates on the mystery, dragging it out to such an extent that reading this book becomes a chore. Hadrian advances in half steps with frequent setbacks. Previously unknown actors pop up every chapter or so, adding layers and layers to the problem. You figure out early on that bad people are scheming to steal the village's surplus grain, and in the end that is exactly what has transpired, complicated needlessly by Pattison's extra wrinkles. This could have been a tighter story, and I wish it had been.
All in all, though, pretty good.
December 21, 2013
This was a can't miss for me. I am a huge Pattison fan and an absolute sucker for anything post-Apocalyptic.
The setting was interesting in that rather than the immediate aftermath of the destruction of society, it takes place some 25 years after. So, you have the beginnings of a society and the re-emergence of mainly 19th century mechanical technology. You also have a single pre-Apocalypse generation that remembers the old world and a younger, post-Apocalypse generation that can only imagine it.
Pattison makes what I think is a wise decision to not dwell on the past. When the older characters speak of or reflect on old world, they do so fleetingly and vaguely. The location of the colony of Carthage is without a doubt sited on one of the Great Lakes but we never learn which one. It doesn't matter. The old world is shrouded in the mists of memory and will be lost once the old generation passes.
Instead, Pattison concentrates on doing what he does best: crafting a multi-layered mystery with themes of freedom and repression. I think I have mentioned this in previous reviews of some of the mysteries I have read, but for me, the best mysteries are those that give you that tantalizing feeling that the author has given you all the pieces to solve the mystery but you can't quite piece it together. I got that feeling from Crichton's books and also from Pattison's books.
I did feel that his protagonist, Hadrian Boone, was the same character as Inspector Shan and Duncan MacCallum but in a different skin. Disgraced, tormented, questioning his identity and beliefs. A lost soul in search of a mentor. But it's a minor complaint and not one that got in the way of my enjoyment of the book.
The setting was interesting in that rather than the immediate aftermath of the destruction of society, it takes place some 25 years after. So, you have the beginnings of a society and the re-emergence of mainly 19th century mechanical technology. You also have a single pre-Apocalypse generation that remembers the old world and a younger, post-Apocalypse generation that can only imagine it.
Pattison makes what I think is a wise decision to not dwell on the past. When the older characters speak of or reflect on old world, they do so fleetingly and vaguely. The location of the colony of Carthage is without a doubt sited on one of the Great Lakes but we never learn which one. It doesn't matter. The old world is shrouded in the mists of memory and will be lost once the old generation passes.
Instead, Pattison concentrates on doing what he does best: crafting a multi-layered mystery with themes of freedom and repression. I think I have mentioned this in previous reviews of some of the mysteries I have read, but for me, the best mysteries are those that give you that tantalizing feeling that the author has given you all the pieces to solve the mystery but you can't quite piece it together. I got that feeling from Crichton's books and also from Pattison's books.
I did feel that his protagonist, Hadrian Boone, was the same character as Inspector Shan and Duncan MacCallum but in a different skin. Disgraced, tormented, questioning his identity and beliefs. A lost soul in search of a mentor. But it's a minor complaint and not one that got in the way of my enjoyment of the book.
July 20, 2011
I'm sure someone has done a study linking the rise of dystopian literature to the economy or the fear of terrorist attacks. Whatever the reason, new offerings seem to appear on library and bookstore shelves daily. Ashes of the Earth is one of the newest additions to the genre.
Although ostensibly a murder mystery, this book is really about the kind of society which would arise from the ashes of a nuclear holocaust. Author Elliot Pattison envisions a 21st century world forced to relearn 19th century technology, a society faced with starvation, disease, and prejudice; where most people have only enough energy to survive each day while a few make a grab for power and corruption is rampant; where books are banned and child suicides are constant.
However, as Pattison points out in his Author's Notes at the end of the story, it is easy to predict the likely technologies that would arise after complete global destruction; what is not so easy to predict is the effects it would have on the human psyche.
Because Pattison sees more than one possibility for mankind. Throughout the book, Dylan Thomas' famous lines about old age are quoted:
"Do not go gentle into that dark night
Rage, Rage against the dying of the light."
Here, though, it it is not about age but about choices - that, perhaps, not the worst that mankind has to offer need be the outcome but the best - that this new world has the potential to be better than the old if people are willing to fight for it.
In this book, whodunnit is never really much of a mystery; who survives and what they will make of their world is really the question.
Although ostensibly a murder mystery, this book is really about the kind of society which would arise from the ashes of a nuclear holocaust. Author Elliot Pattison envisions a 21st century world forced to relearn 19th century technology, a society faced with starvation, disease, and prejudice; where most people have only enough energy to survive each day while a few make a grab for power and corruption is rampant; where books are banned and child suicides are constant.
However, as Pattison points out in his Author's Notes at the end of the story, it is easy to predict the likely technologies that would arise after complete global destruction; what is not so easy to predict is the effects it would have on the human psyche.
Because Pattison sees more than one possibility for mankind. Throughout the book, Dylan Thomas' famous lines about old age are quoted:
"Do not go gentle into that dark night
Rage, Rage against the dying of the light."
Here, though, it it is not about age but about choices - that, perhaps, not the worst that mankind has to offer need be the outcome but the best - that this new world has the potential to be better than the old if people are willing to fight for it.
In this book, whodunnit is never really much of a mystery; who survives and what they will make of their world is really the question.
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