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A review by snowcrash
Ruin's Wake by Patrick Edwards
3.0
Here is a book that ticks the basic boxes for me to place it on my reading list. Dystopian future, hidden past, archaeology, and subversive undertones. Yep, enough to keep my interest while the plot winds through three distinct groups. There are issues, especially as the last several chapters swerve and felt forced. There is a lot going on behind each of the groups, where that can seem more interesting than what is happening in front of their nose.
It starts out strong. It is also cringe-worthy (as in you really feel just how bad it is for some in this world), some of the situations our characters find themselves in. The Major & the wife, where nether know each other's names, even after living together for years. The total control of information & the focus of the people towards behaving in a set way. The author says he used North Korea as a model & I can believe it. There are a lot of hints of what the world was like before the crash. Bits of technology surface here and there, but this isn't an overall technical society. The people are told they can't have it, while the privileged take what they want.
About 2/3 of the way through it started to bog down and I really didn't care much for any of the characters. The mercenary Syn is the most fun & the one with the most mystery. You could do a series of books of him running around in this world. When everyone gets smashed together, all I wanted to know was what did the scientist really find in the north, under the ice. Not what happens to the individual characters as their plight became dull. The author couldn't bridge the set up and the big swerve, it comes off as a stutter step than a smooth transition.
I do have questions about the world. How does a repressive society exist like this for 500 years? That is a very long time for human leaders to hold onto a human society. I get that it needed to be a long enough time where living memory knows only the homogenized past, something that modern K-12 history already does.
For me, a good start on the literary road, taking a stab at this sub-genre. I'll take a look next year to see if there is anything new by the author.
It starts out strong. It is also cringe-worthy (as in you really feel just how bad it is for some in this world), some of the situations our characters find themselves in. The Major & the wife, where nether know each other's names, even after living together for years. The total control of information & the focus of the people towards behaving in a set way. The author says he used North Korea as a model & I can believe it. There are a lot of hints of what the world was like before the crash. Bits of technology surface here and there, but this isn't an overall technical society. The people are told they can't have it, while the privileged take what they want.
About 2/3 of the way through it started to bog down and I really didn't care much for any of the characters. The mercenary Syn is the most fun & the one with the most mystery. You could do a series of books of him running around in this world. When everyone gets smashed together, all I wanted to know was what did the scientist really find in the north, under the ice. Not what happens to the individual characters as their plight became dull. The author couldn't bridge the set up and the big swerve, it comes off as a stutter step than a smooth transition.
I do have questions about the world. How does a repressive society exist like this for 500 years? That is a very long time for human leaders to hold onto a human society. I get that it needed to be a long enough time where living memory knows only the homogenized past, something that modern K-12 history already does.
For me, a good start on the literary road, taking a stab at this sub-genre. I'll take a look next year to see if there is anything new by the author.