Book Twenty-nine

Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Continuing in my End Of The World trifecta....
Okay, have you read The Stand? Humanity being wiped out by a short-sighted government, small groups of people struggling to survive in an America laid low? A dramatic escape from New York through a dark and scary tunnel? An evil adversary from an unknown place whose only dream is the end of the world?
Yeah, that's Swan Song, too. Only with nukes instead of a virus.
It really is an alarmingly similar story, published about ten years after The Stand, but - and this is important - it's still a really good book.
The story starts in an alternate world, one that seemed all-too-probable in 1987. The US and the Soviet Union are toe-to-toe, fighting proxy wars all over the world. Nuclear exchanges have already happened between smaller nations. In New York City, the city has fallen to crime and decay - drugs, trash and whores are all that can be found, and if any city deserves destruction it's this one.
In the western mountains, a group of survivalists have hollowed out a shelter against the possibility of The End, and Earth House is full to bursting. Young Ronald Croninger and his parents are there, but the boy is not impressed by what he sees. Colonel Macklin,the ex-soldier who is the public face of Earth House, seems to have gone to seed, and the shelter itself is falling apart.
The world is going straight to Hell, and it's all too easy for the US and the Soviets to send it all the way there.
The book has an epic scope and a massive cast, lined up pretty equally on the sides of Good and Evil. As the book progresses, the disparate groups finally come together in a final confrontation that will decide the fate of the world.
In the midst of all that, a certain mystical quality has arisen. There's a... being, a creature of demonic countenance who can change his face and travel freely throughout the wasted land. His sole desire is to see the end of humanity - he revels in destruction and despair and wants nothing more than to see the end of Our Heroes. On the other hand is the title character, Swan. As a girl, she loved plants and flowers, and had a strange affinity for the natural world. As she grew up, however, her powers matured, and that affinity became a full-on partnership.
And then there's the Job's Masks - a mysterious growth that covers a person's head in an impenetrable shell, only to crack open years later and.... Well, I'll let you find out.
The characters are compelling, and the world is vividly drawn, so as long as you're not thinking, "But this is just like The Stand!" you should greatly enjoy it. I highly recommend it.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Continuing in my End Of The World trifecta....
Okay, have you read The Stand? Humanity being wiped out by a short-sighted government, small groups of people struggling to survive in an America laid low? A dramatic escape from New York through a dark and scary tunnel? An evil adversary from an unknown place whose only dream is the end of the world?
Yeah, that's Swan Song, too. Only with nukes instead of a virus.
It really is an alarmingly similar story, published about ten years after The Stand, but - and this is important - it's still a really good book.
The story starts in an alternate world, one that seemed all-too-probable in 1987. The US and the Soviet Union are toe-to-toe, fighting proxy wars all over the world. Nuclear exchanges have already happened between smaller nations. In New York City, the city has fallen to crime and decay - drugs, trash and whores are all that can be found, and if any city deserves destruction it's this one.
In the western mountains, a group of survivalists have hollowed out a shelter against the possibility of The End, and Earth House is full to bursting. Young Ronald Croninger and his parents are there, but the boy is not impressed by what he sees. Colonel Macklin,the ex-soldier who is the public face of Earth House, seems to have gone to seed, and the shelter itself is falling apart.
The world is going straight to Hell, and it's all too easy for the US and the Soviets to send it all the way there.
The book has an epic scope and a massive cast, lined up pretty equally on the sides of Good and Evil. As the book progresses, the disparate groups finally come together in a final confrontation that will decide the fate of the world.
In the midst of all that, a certain mystical quality has arisen. There's a... being, a creature of demonic countenance who can change his face and travel freely throughout the wasted land. His sole desire is to see the end of humanity - he revels in destruction and despair and wants nothing more than to see the end of Our Heroes. On the other hand is the title character, Swan. As a girl, she loved plants and flowers, and had a strange affinity for the natural world. As she grew up, however, her powers matured, and that affinity became a full-on partnership.
And then there's the Job's Masks - a mysterious growth that covers a person's head in an impenetrable shell, only to crack open years later and.... Well, I'll let you find out.
The characters are compelling, and the world is vividly drawn, so as long as you're not thinking, "But this is just like The Stand!" you should greatly enjoy it. I highly recommend it.
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