Vanishing Point

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/vanishing-point-by-michaela-roessner/

I thought Vanishing Point was rather good. It is set in California, thirty years after the mysterious vanishing of ninety per cent of the human race. A small community of researchers based in the Winchester House (or something very like it) is trying to work out what actually happened. A woman scientist from farther east joins them after a dangerous trek across country. They are beset by fanatics who think that the Vanishing was the Christian fundamentalist Rapture. Everyone is suffering post-traumatic disorientation and survivors’ guilt. It’s all very nicely and credibly put together. I see a couple of reviewers complaining that the science doesn’t make sense, show more but really, it’s all handwavium anyway, isn’t it? show less

First of all, that book cover is terrible. It screams, "1993!" The novel itself holds up pretty well more than 20 years after publication. Although references to saving everything on disks are dated, overall Roessner doesn't get into too much technology that dates her. (Although possibly if I was more tech-skilled, I would feel differently.)

The book opens 29 years after The Vanishing -- a morning when 10 percent of the global population woke up to find the other 90 percent had simply disappeared without a trace. In those nearly three decades, the survivors have mostly grouped up into communes, cults, and gangs, with a few older people still maintaining their homes and desperately waiting for their vanished loved ones to return.

The show more novel focuses on a commune of sorts living in the Wincester Mystery House, where they've continued to build in the same haphazard fashion. While they try to solve the mystery of how and why the Vanishing occured, the "Housers" also have to deal with a cult that believes those left behind lacked faith and if the non-faithful are eliminated, the newly faithful will join the vanished.

Sci-Fi isn't a genre that I read often, especially not written for an adult audience. Some of the sciency-stuff and battle-planning made my eyes blur a bit (which just reflects on me as a reader, not the book), but the prose and the characters, which it seems like often suffer in this genre, are excellent. While there's an understandably large cast, the main characters are all fleshed out and believable. The differences between those who survived the Vanishing, the first generation (now young adults), and the second generation (strikingly independent children), are fascinating. show less

Thirty years ago, 90 percent of the world's population suddenly vanished in the middle of the night, and those who are left are still searching for the cause as well as trying to move on from the catastrophe.

This one was a mixed bag for me. Here's what I enjoyed: It had a strong sense of place, making particularly good use of the well-known Winchester Mystery House and the surrounding environs. The characters were well-done and believable people. It presents a more benevolent view of post-apocalyptic society than most books in the genre, offering a vision of a rather attractive communal society; yes, there are threats, but humankind has not devolved utterly in the face of catastrophe. Solving the mystery of why everyone vanished (no show more spoilers!) keeps the story moving.

Here's what I didn't enjoy: I found the writing very choppy and in need of editing; in many places, it felt like an early draft rather than a polished work. This is science fiction, and the science seemed--to me, at least, without a lot of technical knowledge of these things--very hand-wavey; I wanted to believe, but a lot of it sounded like gobbledygook. The pacing felt off, too slow at the beginning and then so fast at the end that it was somewhat hard to follow.

So a middling book, likely underread but of interest to those who have plowed through all the well-known titles in the post-apocalyptic genre. show less

This book kept me up late reading and I was sorry to see it end, I would like to read a sequel to see what becomes of the characters. It is a rarity in the science fiction world: a novel with well-developed characters with believable motives and a realistic look at love and relationships.

Thirty years after most of the world’s population disappeared, a band of survivors inhabiting the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California try to find the cause of the catastrophe and rebuild a society despite the depredations of kamikaze cult members out to destroy them. The author makes you feel as if you are as much a part of the house as the characters who live there, I definitely have added a visit to my “bucket list”. The ending of show more the book brought to mind Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear. show less

Good book. Damned good book. One of the best ones I've read in awhile. The way the author builds the post apocalyptic world makes you feel like you're there with the main character.

I love the way she described the world developing after the Vanishing ,and how people pulled together in different groups; some to help each other, and some hellbent on destroying the others.

The only reason I didn't give the book 5 stars is the predictability. Within the first 3 chapters you can pretty much see what's going to happen with a lot of the characters.

The ending isn't predictable, so that came as a complete surprise. I also love the fact that if the author chooses to do so, she can continue stories in this world by picking up side characters, or show more even going on with the main characters who can have future adventures. If you're into post apocalyptic stories that don't focus on a Dystopian future, pick up this book. Read it, then read it again to see the stuff you missed the first time through. show less

A really great 'post-apocalypse' novel, in a field of already rather brilliant novels. This one satisfied me as much as any of the better known ones (cf: The Stand, Earth Abides, Canticle for Leibowitz). A novel that is much better than the sum of its parts, if suffers at times from some woolly dialogue and too many minor characters, but Roessner brings everything together in a way that means the book succeeds extremely well. I wished it had gone a little more into the 'weirdness' hinted at, just enough to pry open the cracks we see a little more, but it was all more than intriguing enough to stick in the memory.

This was ok but not a real stand-out read for me. Quite a large cast of characters left me not fully connected with any of them. The meta-physical alternate-reality stuff was also rather unfocused. In a fantasy world, (Zelany's Amber, for instance), I am more able to accept that type of thing. When it is being sold as pseudo-science/physics, it needs to be better explained if I am going to go along for the ride. Brasyl by Ian McDonald comes to mind as a SFnal world built on more solid underpinnings than the one found in Vanishing Point.