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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sci-fi is not my genre but I couldn’t put this one down. It has vibes like The Passage and The Sparrow and thought those two are solidly outlandish and off this planet in their premise, this one felt too far reaching. Can you “fall” through the ground from Iraq to Antarctica?
I don’t think I will forget it but I also am not interested in any more like this one.
I don’t think I will forget it but I also am not interested in any more like this one.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Reading this when the wind is blowing and it’s raining outside seems prescient. However, this novel didn’t leave me with a warm feeling! Enough of the bad jokes, this just wasn’t for me. The novel follows a collection of characters as a climatic event forces them to move to the South Pole. I enjoyed the opening struggle to get there before disaster strikes, however, the reason for having to go in the first instance left me cold. I promise no more puns. Jump to the future and we’re following the remains of humanity as they’ve learnt to survive in this inhospitable terrain. The more I reflect, the more I realise I did not enjoy this novel - it was easy to read but characters were thin and the plot, to me, just did not hold my attention. This is not anything like Tom Rob Smiths other novels so I’d recommend this novel if you like post-apocalypse with a dystopian feel then go for it.
There is an aphorism that every person has a novel in them. There perhaps should be a new aphorism that every novelist also has a post-apocalyptic or dystopian novel in them. Plenty of ‘mainstream’ novelists have tried this genre on recently including Derek Miller (Radio Life), Robert Harris (The Second Sleep), Inga Simpson (The Last Woman in the World) and Noah Hawley (Anthem). For Tom Rob Smith, known for his series of historical Russian thrillers, which started with his break out debut Child 44, that novel is Cold People.
Cold People opens with a couple of historical vignettes about Antarctica before moving to the present day. Medical student Liza is on holiday with her family in Portugal when she meets-cute local fisherman Atto. The two form an instant bond which is immediately tested when aliens arrive in the skies and give humanity an ultimatum: humankind has 30 days to migrate to Antarctica or die. The bulk of the narrative is the story of this journey and then of the survivors, twenty years on from this event, eking out an existence in the most inhospitable continent on Earth and trying to find new ways to survive. About two thirds of the way through it becomes something else again.
It is hard to know what to make of Cold People. The narrative rarely stays with one character long enough for readers to become invested. Every character is introduced with the story of how they survived the invasion. So that even close to the end, Smith is still introducing new characters with multi-page backstories before moving back to the action. The premise of an alien invasion is never really explored, the aliens are never seen and the reason for sending humankind to Antarctica is only ever assumed. It is the deus ex machina that drives the plot but to no particular end.
If Cold People is about anything it is an exploration of humanity’s will to survive. In particular, what steps we might take if pushed, literally to an extreme. And what then happens when the cure might be worse than the disease. But it is unclear why the whole alien invasion was required. If this was the story Smith wanted to tell there were possibly more elegant and less contrived ways of getting there.
In the end though, where Cold People falls down is in its failure to deliver an engaging, propulsive narrative to drive its ideas. Smith has shown he can write thrillers but he brings none of those techniques to Cold People which is heavy on exposition and light on surprises or revelations.
Cold People opens with a couple of historical vignettes about Antarctica before moving to the present day. Medical student Liza is on holiday with her family in Portugal when she meets-cute local fisherman Atto. The two form an instant bond which is immediately tested when aliens arrive in the skies and give humanity an ultimatum: humankind has 30 days to migrate to Antarctica or die. The bulk of the narrative is the story of this journey and then of the survivors, twenty years on from this event, eking out an existence in the most inhospitable continent on Earth and trying to find new ways to survive. About two thirds of the way through it becomes something else again.
It is hard to know what to make of Cold People. The narrative rarely stays with one character long enough for readers to become invested. Every character is introduced with the story of how they survived the invasion. So that even close to the end, Smith is still introducing new characters with multi-page backstories before moving back to the action. The premise of an alien invasion is never really explored, the aliens are never seen and the reason for sending humankind to Antarctica is only ever assumed. It is the deus ex machina that drives the plot but to no particular end.
If Cold People is about anything it is an exploration of humanity’s will to survive. In particular, what steps we might take if pushed, literally to an extreme. And what then happens when the cure might be worse than the disease. But it is unclear why the whole alien invasion was required. If this was the story Smith wanted to tell there were possibly more elegant and less contrived ways of getting there.
In the end though, where Cold People falls down is in its failure to deliver an engaging, propulsive narrative to drive its ideas. Smith has shown he can write thrillers but he brings none of those techniques to Cold People which is heavy on exposition and light on surprises or revelations.
intriguing, interesting speculative fiction, made me scared of future genetic modification & remember the importance of love & community!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated