The Silence
by Tim Lebbon
What is it about:
In the darkness of a vast cave system, cut off from the world for millennia, blind creatures hunt by sound. Then there is light, there are voices, and they feed... Swarming from their prison, they multiply and thrive. To scream, even to whisper, is to summon death.
Deaf for many years, Ally knows how to live in silence. Now, it is her family's only chance of survival. To leave their home, to shun others, to find a remote haven where they can sit out the plague. But will it ever end? And what kind of world will be left?
What did I think of it:
*Warning: will get a bit spoilery*
This is mostly a cool read.
I had expected Ally to be the heroine, but it turns out it's more the fact that her being deaf means her whole family is familiar with sign language that makes them more likely to survive than Ally's skills.
That aside: I mostly very much enjoyed this story. There's icky, creepy wasp-like creatures that hunt everything that makes sound, and there's chaos. The panic that spreads across Europe after the creatures emerge is well written, and I liked how each chapter started with news feeds, twitter messages and such to show how things slowly unravel.
Ally and her family decide to leave their home and flee towards a less populated area in the UK. Mostly they seem to be smart about it, but there's one thing that really annoyed me: they take their dog...
Really?! They have seen how these creatures attack anything that makes a noise. They have seen what happens to people who get caught by the creatures. And they take a dog with them! Why not just take a Ghettoblaster as well?!
Spoiler: The dog starts barking at the creatures!
And then there's the ending...
If Lebbon had written this story in another format I might have accepted the ending he gave me, but the way this story is written: I was pissed off by the ending.
It's not a proper ending, but a gimmicky ending. Some people might think it's clever, but it mostly gave me the feeling that Lebbon didn't know how to give the story another ending. It really ruined the book for me.
So even though I had mostly enjoyed the book, I won't reread or keep the book. And I'm not so sure I will try anything else by Lebbon either.
Why should you read it:
It's mostly a cool read, and maybe you will like the ending.
1 comment:
I would have taken the dog too.
And probably multiple cans of Raid Wasp & Hornet Killer.
My father only has 30% hearing, and people who can't hear make a lot of noise because they don't know they're being noisy. It probably would have made more sense to make Ally a mute.
Post a Comment