Haven by Adam Roberts
Publisher - Solaris
Published - Out Now
Price - £7.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook
Rural English Post-Apocalyptic survival for a new generation. Young Forktongue Davy has visions. Epilepsy, his Ma calls it, and they mean he's barely able to help around the family farm. But something about the lad, weakling though he is, is attracting attention. The menacing stranger, who might be the angel of death himself; the inhabitants of the women-only community at Wycombe, whose reach extends over the whole of the Chilterns; Daniel from the mysterious Guz. They all want Davy for their own reasons. But what use can he be to anyone? How can he be the key to the coming war between Father John in the North and the women of Wycombe. He has visions of flight, but how can flight ever be possible in this shattered world, where technology has almost wholly reverted to pre-industrial levels? A simple farmboy, kidnapped for reasons he cannot fathom, caught up in events beyond his power to control but his visions may be the key to the future.
This is the next story in The Aftermath - the first story you can find out my thoughts via Shelter by Dave Hutchinson — Runalong The Shelves
The cosy apocalypse is not a tale of happy endings with adversity but simply the way the charm of ‘ordinary life’ is felt to cotninue after the big bang. In Adam Roberts SF novel we get a adventures set in the ruins of Southern England where a young boy finds himself prized by two of the mightiest powers in this new splintered dis-United KIngdom.
Thirteen-year-old Davy has had a relatively quiet life on the form. His most intersting atribute is his epilepsy that has led to him having an unusual speech impediment; but otherwise life so far is sedate. But then a mysterious stranger kidnaps Davy and his next few days sees him taken again and again by other forces all seeing him as valuable for reasons no one explains. Meanwhile a smart river merchant named Hat finds his little business getting many offers and visitors who all too seem to be wanting him to play a part in their schemes.
I enjoyed this tale with a few reservations. It is undeniably brisk moving from set-piece to set piece and this is a dangerous world where characters we meet in one scene may not survive to the next. Adam builds on the idea explored in the earlier tale that the UK amongst other countries were hit by a cosmic event that wipes away civilisation. No more cars; cheap medicine and government all replaced with local feudal systems and would be warlords. A UK where everything has gone wrong (which I’m sure you can imagine all too easily ). What we have is political and military games being witnessed by a child’s point of view. Davy like the reader has to work out what is the truth and choose his side but refreshingly he knows that can sometimes just be temporary. The greater game is the selling point because the scheme at hand is quite an unusual one and does pull these disparate plot-points all together.
My slight issue though is Roberts perhaps over-replicates the tone of the Golden age novels I think this tips a hat to. They speak often like 1950s characters rather than near future ones and while everyone is intersting they all fit certain set templates from cheeky child to engaging secert agent. One charcuterie I was both really pleased broke the mould of who you’d expect them to be; but then I think rather cheaply in their origin story we find an attempted rape led to their motivation to take charge of their lives. A trope I really wished would die. All of which made me feel like I was watching a fairly simple drama and sadly lacked the complexity of the earlier instalment.
Despite that Haven is an engaging and fast paced read though a UK apocalypse and I enjoyed the ride even if its probably not the equal of its earlier tale. I am intrigued how this wider series will develop though because it leaves many questions on where this not so peaceful island goes next.
