Nik Vincent

TL;DR I'm glad I finally read this book that's been sitting on my shelf. It's a fairly tense story with lots of fighting and little characterisation.

I haven't read the comics this is a prologue(?) to so that's probably influenced my reading. I found it interesting discovering the world they've set up, and seeing how the social dynamics change as the environment around them shifts. The characterisation isn't strong; people feel largely flat, and it isn't at all clear what they actually DO show more with their time besides sentry duties. They don't have hobbies, they don't hunt, they don't build, they don't cultivate (though there's brief mention of growing herbs later). They just seem to hang out in this old U-Bahn station patrolling turf, eating food which they get through nebulous trade (for what? what the heck are they offering in exchange?), mating, and listening to stories.

The Aux's limited memory of how the world used to be and their purpose causes a lot of tension as they argue over how to resolve it. The communication style of all the characters unfortunately makes for rather dull conversations, and I felt they could have done considerably more there. The strong focus on repetition is an interesting concept, but coupled with ritual reciting and a limited vocabulary, and the fact that much of the novel is them talking about the same things with different people, it can feel like we're reading the same conversation many times. This isn't a novel where people are off discussing what they're having for tea or arranging matches for their offspring, or making little toys, or exploring and talking about the world around them. Their conversations are practical and most are about whether Evelyn is mad, who they're fighting, whether the Them are coming back, and how to survive. It also means every Aux sounds pretty much identical.

A lot of the book involves the Aux fighting each other for no particular reason. I mean, there are nominal reasons, mostly because some Aux pack has inexplicably gone feral, but I can't help feeling like the real reason is the authors wanted to put some fights in to create drama and tension (and they like fights). Much slow eroding of numbers with deaths that don't feel impactful, getting names for the purpose of describing their deaths.

The third quarter of the book is a long series of journeys suffering slow attrition. There are several very repetitive fights with the Them. Eventually they find the right tactics; the setup takes a while, but that's mostly offstage, and we never see the planning session where they actually discuss the plan. The resolution of their immediate threat takes place over a few pages at the end of the book, and it felt rather flat for me.

Part of the problem is that several fights between insect monsters and humanoid dogs with swords in tight confines inevitably end up repetitive. The monsters scream and cleave people in half. The Aux hack ineffectually, and are too scared to be particularly tactical, while the Them is too fast and powerful for them to do much anyway. But let's be honest, there's only one Them most of the time so if the Aux were effective, it wouldn't be much of a fight.

I can't help noticing that the very first thing we learn in the book is that the Aux recite stories in precise detail to preserve the knowledge of fighting methods, but none of the stories we hear give any particular information about fighting, and certainly none about fighting the Them. There's nothing about how you actually use the weapons, leverage, where to strike, timing, or the weak points of enemies, which is the sort of thing that would be really useful to preserve. I mean, we can tell ourselves that sort of detail is described in the stories we don't hear...

It's also notable that the Them's outbreak only works as it does because of how the packs are distributed. The Zoo Pack and their neighbours only have crossbows and knives. If the packs with the rifles or the flamethrowers encountered them first, it's likely a Them would have been killed early and could have been used to convince the other packs of the danger. Instead, several primitive packs encounter them, none of them seem to believe the Them are real at all, one *goes mad en-masse* and launches an attack on their neighbours rather than anyone making any attempt to talk, and it's only at the last minute that Evelyn is able to convince anyone to actually take the idea seriously.

I do find this slightly odd, because people tend to jump to superstition and conspiracy theories quite quickly when inexplicable events and deaths happen, so I'd think "dozens of our experienced sentries have vanished without trace except the blood, and there are very spooky noises everywhere, and our entire culture is built around the concept of an eternal war against the Them" would get quite a lot of people suggesting that the Them were back. Not only does is there no public muttering, but everyone treats Evelyn as ludicrous and stupid for suggesting it. The conversations we hear about it tend to trail off without there being any real closure; where are the people saying "okay, but who DID kill them?" when the Them are ruled out?

I dunno, it rather feels like apart from introducing all the different packs - mostly either to be disbelieved and head off elsewhere, or to fight them because, er, we needed a fight scene - there just isn't much to this story. The world doesn't get much expansion beyond what we learned in the first few pages. The characters don't really change as the story develops, beyond deciding to actually listen to Evelyn because they have no other choice. show less

If you know a child who is mad about dinosaurs, this is *the* book. It has pictures and facts and no waffle. Ideal for a school project. An adult could spend a pleasant hour or two with this book without feeling talked-down to.

This book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest reivew.

I tried to get into this I really did but I kept hitting walls. I loved the idea of the world and thought I would enjoy it but didn't find the language relatable and it kept forcing me out of the story. I cannot help but think this book would have benefitted greatly from me having a clear understanding of the world and had I had the information from the graphic novel I might have enjoyed it more...but no that show more would still leave the language. I am giving it two stars because I think fans of the already established series will enjoy it. show less

The last of humanity has taken refuge in hibernation at the poles, hiding from the giant invading insects that have conquered the Earth. Defending these outposts against bug attacks are genetically engineered dog soldiers, loyal and unquestioning to the Masters' voices in their heads. At least they were, but things have changed on the Earth. The Masters voices have gone and a new peace has arrived in the northern hemisphere. The legend of a masterless rogue soldier from the distant South has show more spread, and in the new Fiefdoms of old Germany something very dangerous is about to happen. In a not-too-distant future, amongst ruins in the the ancient city of Berlin the Aux's live in clans, fighting amongst themselves. Their ancient enemey, Them - giant marauding insects, are a folk memory. Young Evelyn War however will be the first to realise that this quiet is not what it seems, that the Auxs themselves, having been bred for hand-hand combat in a war long-thought to be over, and now idling violently in peace in the subways and collapsing buildings Europe, must set aside their petty hostilities if they are to face the battle to come. Evelyn is the only one to see the oncoming storm, but the clan leaders and her elders do not believe her warnings, and time is running short. The last of humanity has taken refuge in hibernation at the poles, hiding from the giant invading insects that have conquered the Earth. Defending these outposts against bug attacks are genetically engineered dog soldiers, loyal and unquestioning to the Masters' voices in their heads. At least they were, but things have changed on the Earth. The Masters voices have gone and a new peace has arrived in the northern hemisphere. The legend of a masterless rogue soldier from the distant South has spread, and in the new Fiefdoms of old Germany something very dangerous is about to happen. In a not-too-distant future, amongst ruins in the the ancient city of Berlin the Aux's live in clans, fighting amongst themselves. Their ancient enemey, Them - giant marauding insects, are a folk memory. Young Evelyn War however will be the first to realise that this quiet is not what it seems, that the Auxs themselves, having been bred for hand-hand combat in a war long-thought to be over, and now idling violently in peace in the subways and collapsing buildings Europe, must set aside their petty hostilities if they are to face the battle to come. Evelyn is the only one to see the oncoming storm, but the clan leaders and her elders do not believe her warnings, and time is running short.



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