Matt McAvoy Book Review

Owen Garratt can write – I mean he is a very good wordsmith.  His language and syntax are top-drawer for engagement and relatability, his use of words highly articulate.  But (and it is quite a big but) he uses far too many of them; honestly, I felt there was just no need for this book to be quite as long and detailed as it was.  Furthermore, whilst deeply immersed in the incidental, and events in the moment, I didn’t really know the overall context. 

Now I have to be honest here and admit that I may have done Owen an injustice, for whilst I have read Book 1 in this series, if not Book 2, it was so long ago I didn't click the two together.  In some cases that may not be problematic – many later books in a series you can pretty much hit the ground running and pick up as a standalone – but this wasn’t one of those books.  This has the feel of being no more than a chapter within a longer running narrative.  It begins and ends from an open position (the latter of which always tends to niggle me).  I do feel that an author should always bear in mind that a reader might dip into one of his books at random and expect to follow it.  As I say, localized events were profoundly detailed – vividly so, in minutiae – but overall I didn’t recall the character backstory nor the world they now lived in; though it has to be said that this is no fault of Owen's.  One thing was particularly noteworthy: the book is about an existential event called “the pulse”, but nowhere did it actually explain what the pulse was.  I presumed it was some sort of EMP attack or malfunction, which had catastrophic consequences, but I couldn’t be entirely sure; I see from my review of Book 1 that it may have been a little ambiguous to me then, too.

This particular story, at least in its second half, has the epic feel of a Walking Dead-type narrative – soapy and ongoing, wherein everyone is fighting to survive – but the first half wasn’t like that at all; rather, it was a tremendously graphic fight against the elements, and almost a masterclass in sailing, the author clearly hugely well educated in the subject.  When they land, it then goes to full blown action, as the lead character turns super-soldier against some pretty savage enemies – so savage, in fact, that much of the second half of this book wouldn’t feel out of place in a horror thriller perhaps penned by Koontz or Laymon.  And if I’m honest, for my own taste, I found the second half more entertaining.  The first half was long and, in truth, felt it at times.  I personally felt the book would be much better if it was less wordy, more explanative about the overall context, and the first half more incidental than focal.

All this said, it probably is better than the picture I am painting of it, and if you like this ever-popular genre, it’s a great entry.  However, I will say to tuck in for the long haul, without any immediate resolution, and don’t even entertain reading it if you haven’t read books 1 and 2 first.  This is a series, unashamedly and unambiguously, and if you aren’t prepared for that then it’s not going to satisfy you.  If that is what you’re looking for, though, then I would definitely recommend checking it out, for Garratt is a real talent, with an eye for action and entertainment – the violent, fun sort that makes you nod in approval.