The title of this book caught my attention and the description sounded somewhat interesting, but maybe not quite what I was in the mood to read. I kept wavering over whether or not to buy it, and thankfully the title was intriguing enough that I went ahead and made the purchase. I started reading it when I didn’t really have much time to read thinking I could put it down and come back to it (or not) later, only to get so wrapped up in the story that I put other things on hold because I wanted to see where it was going next. Before I had finished it I was looking for other books written by the same writer, and found “From the Storm” which I read in a little over one day – and then re-read immediately. Now I have a new favorite author to add to my small list of favorite authors from the large list of authors whose books I have read.
I love Adrian J. Walker’s writing style. In my opinion the best writers capture your interest and set a mood almost immediately – their word choices and sentence structure let you know you’re about to read an intelligent story that will either be totally unique or will be written in a way that seems unique. You feel you are within the story and are sharing their journey, and I really enjoyed the part of this book where the title emerges. I don’t know if it was deliberate or not, but looking at the title on the cover of my copy, and how the two parts of the title were divided both by the line the bird is sitting on and “Running Club” being in a different color seemed so appropriate for the discussion where the title is spoken.
The characters each had their own voices, which made it easy to tell them apart. I didn’t have to go back and try to refresh my memory about who a particular character was. My favorite character in the book was Harvey – according to the book description “an old man who claims to have run around Australia”. I was left at the end of the book wanting to know Harvey’s backstory, and my hope is that at some point the writer will give Harvey’s fans at least a short story that provides more information about Harvey’s life prior to the events in this book.
For me, there were five characters I found most central to the story. Of those there were three that I thought the book focused on, but that may have been my focus and not the writer’s. I saw nuances in Bryce’s character which made him more complex than I initially thought he would be. Harvey seemed very wise and very together, but there were a few moments when I thought if you only knew his history you would see a whole other side of him.
I saw the most growth with Edgar’s character, particularly at the end of the book (**possible spoiler alert**), showing a complete reversal from the self-centered person with a defeatist attitude we were introduced to at the beginning of the book. I can understand why some people won’t like the ending, but I thought it was necessary to stay true to Edgar’s journey. (**end of spoiler alert**)
The only negative for me in the self-published version that I read was that there were a few typos in the book, one of my pet peeves, although most if not all were the type that spell check would not flag. This book was so good, though, that it didn’t jolt me out of the story for very long, and I’ve see a lot worse, including formatting errors, in eBooks that are from famous writers who have written dozens of books and who you would expect to have professional editors.
This is a book that stayed with me for several days, and really touched me emotionally, as did “From the Storm”. I’m hoping that this book will be made into a movie that will stay true to the story-line.
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Top reviews from other countries
La nouille martienne
Encore un récit d'apocalypse ? certes mais un vrai bon moment de lecture
Reviewed in France on September 17, 2016Mr. Joseph J. Lincoln
Come on Danny Boyle and make this into a movie!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2015