Cover Image: Haven

Haven

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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.

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Maybe this genre just isn't for me. I couldn't get into it, I just was bored throughout the entire story.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I've read quite a few book by Adam Roberts and I've always enjoyed them and enjoyed this book too. I've found this book easy to get into and I would recommend it's.
I received this book from net gallery in exchange for a honest review.

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Thankyou to NetGalley, Rebellion Publishing, Solaris, and the author, Adam Roberts, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Haven in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I am so glad I read this book. I found it a really good read.. I thought the storyline was well written and the characters intriguing. Can't wait for the next offering in the series.
Well worth a read. 3.5 stars.

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This second volume in the Aftermath series is self contained, although I'd recommend reading Dave Hutchison's first volume to help with the background.
I mentioned the influence of Richard Cowper in my review of the first one, specifically the Corlay books, and that echo is even stronger in this volume with its tale of a young boy who is believed to possess some mystical significance. There is a remarkable similarity of tone between the two volumes, and they complement each other well. One annoyance is that, unless I'm missing something, one plot strand seems to disappear. It may be something that's picked up in future books, but it seemed a little abrupt here.

I'm a sucker for English catastrophes (I blame it on being frightened by a John Wyndham book in my pram), so I am easy pickings for these books, but I like them anyway. Here's to the next volume.

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Haven, Book Two of The Aftermath by Adam Roberts- This is part of a series of apocalyptic books with various authors in a shared universe. The first book, Shelter, was by David Hutchinson. The event each book shares is the falling of three asteroids, called the Three Sisters, and the devastated Earth they leave behind. Slowly, and with much difficulty, people are coming together, gradually building a new civilization. But much has been lost. A young man, Davy, has confusing, feverish visions which some people think are glimpses of things long-lost, and they will do anything to posses him.
I chose this book mainly because of my appreciation for Adam Roberts writings, having enjoyed Jack Glass and Twenty Trillion Leagues Under The Sea. He has the unique ability to stretch the imagination past conventional borders. However this story, for me, was only passable. I stopped reading apocalypse stories long ago as the glut of them kept getting larger and the quality lower. They definitely have a place in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre, and have been for many years but like the overworked zombie epics, they’re getting stale.

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Haven is the second Tale of the Aftermath series. It's a different type of book to the first- the story focuses on really one main character, his interactions whilst on the run, to the backdrop of a country decimated by comet strikes 100 years earlier (whereas the first book Shelter had many characters, was unfocused and turned into a shoot 'em up - that for me was average overall).

The other big difference is the writing - Roberts is a very clever, accomplished writer, a wordsmith - and it shows in this book. Plenty of funny banter between Davy and Daniel, a travelling companion, and when Davy is badly injured, the descriptive narrative of his pain and recovery was so effective (and harrowing) to read. Not a huge amount happens in Haven, but it was enjoyable to read.

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I'm grateful to the publishers for an advance copy of Haven via NetGalley.

Set in a shared post-apocalyptic world created by Dave Hutchinson and by Roberts, Haven is the followup to Hutchinson's Shelter. It features a boy called Davy Forktongue - Shelter featured an Adam, so possibly there are author games going on here...

Davy (the character) is very much the crux of Haven. Decades after the Sisters - annihilating asteroids - impacted the Earth and destroyed civilisation, Davy lives with his mother and sisters farming on Shillingford Hill, above the swollen Thames south of Oxford. In a rather nasty, dog-eat-dog world Davy is a threat to nobody, minding his own business and especially the farm's five cows. but suddenly, it seems everyone is after him - the militaristic authorities from Guz, the former naval base on the South coast which featured in Shelter; the footsoldiers of Father John, from the North, of whom we heard less; and the mysterious, women-only society based at High Wycombe, of which we heard almost nothing.

What do they all want? Can it be related to Davy's epilepsy? Will he survive to find out? As Davy is fought over by the factions, Haven escalates into a fast-paced thriller full of action and conflict. Some of this can be pretty grim - as in Hutchinson's Shelter, it's hard to find anyone here to like (beyond Davy himself). The Sisters seemingly destroyed not only civilisation, but civilisation - the complex of values and empathy that prevents us all murdering each other. If you found Shelter - which featured an outbreak of such murders - bleak I think you'll feel the same way about Haven. Indeed, the parochial and random warfare that featured in Shelter is surpassed by a more ordered and deadly conflict in Haven (and I wish I could say that this conflict achieves something but I fear that it really doesn't).

Nevertheless there is a lot to like in Haven. Roberts tells a tight, well constructed story bringing together two quite different strands - the adventures of Davy, basically trying to get home (there and back again, perhaps...?) and a parallel series of trials listed on the rather stoic boatman, Hat, of whom I would like to have heard more. Nothing in either thread stray, nothing is lost, the most minor points proving relevant before the end.

Roberts' writing is excellent throughout, in particular his descriptions of the deep winter - puddles which "were saucers and half-moons of pure silver locked hard into the ground", "sharp blades of frost stiffened grass that broke under his feet like twigs", "Another wilderness of sedge, yellow as cream, brittle and sharp-edged as upended icicles". He can dip into a kind of Thick Of It mode (" 'Hark,' said Abigail, putting a hand to her ear, 'what is that I hear, ululating from afar? Is it the call for swear language? I do believe it fucking is! None other than the fucking shit-shouting call for sweary language!' ") He can evoke things almost poetically, beyond the literal meaning of the words ("Someone had sheathed a blade in his shoulder and by Christ it hurt. A paralallip rhythm. A paralallip. Rhythm of paralallip.") It's hard to convey by grabbing a few quotes just how much fun this book is to read for the language, the words themselves.

Of course, in a book by Roberts you also expect puns and allusions and Haven doesn't disappoint. There's a rather intense degree of wordplay ("Because he's the new messiah? The new mess-his-pants-hire? Why?"). At times it rather takes over the characters - for example this exchange between Daniel and Davy. (Read the book to find out who Daniel is).

" 'And if they don't apprehend you on the way - which, incidentally, they will if you just go stumbling down the rive gauche of the river the way you have been - why then they'll pick up up neatly in Goring town itself.'

'Reeve goes?' Davy queried."

Or

" 'Boats are still our forte.'

'That is a lot of boats,' agreed Davy.

Daniel gave him another hard stare."

There is a sense of quick wittedness, of verbal mastery, here to Davy which Daniel seems to recognise. Davy seems to deploy some sophisticated quotes for a thirteen year old who can't read or write and has been brought up in what one might assume is an intellectually, as well as materially, impoverished culture

" 'It is a strange fate," said Davy, "that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing.' Daniel looked at him oddly for a moment..."

Even when not quoting or playing with words, Davy can also show a maturer understanding of things than you might expect. ("I understand the emotional dynamic of my own family than a stranger." "Waste was the worst thing. The unfairness of it. The wealth of the world poured away into the dirt.")

What I think is going on here is that for most of the book, Davy acts as a kind of chorus, the representative of the author (or the reader) in this grim world. That works rather well, not least because, for much of the story, Davy is a rather passive character, done to and not doing, but mainly observing and commenting. He needs a good level of insight and language to make the experience bearable for us.

Similarly, Roberts freely employs (both in the speech of his characters and in the narration) metaphors and turns of phrase that only make sense to us but are unlikely to mean anything to the fourth, fifth or sixth post Sisters generation. One of these ("Senses working overtime") is highlighted at the start of the book - nobody understands the phrase and there are various theories about it - but most are not. So we have "You'll have to join the end of the queue" and 'Close enough... for government work", a "Morse-code under clack" to someone's speech, and so forth.

While this might seem incongruous, it really isn't. Roberts is not trying to develop post-apocalyptic language, something like Russell Hoban in Ridley Walker. he's not trying to represent how these people might really speak. Rather he's using language - even in the mouths of the protagonists - that works for us, the readers. I was reminded of Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (perhaps one ought to assume a translation, as though Haven were derived from a kind of Red Book of the Southmarch. And indeed there is a lot of Tolkien here - we do also have "Speak friend and enter", a Gollum like follower, a reference to the Moon as a fruit taken from a silver tree, and much more besides.) By using language this was, the impact of the Sisters on society becomes more apparent, not less. Via the disconnect between a language that assumes the existence of modern technology, modern luxuries and modern conveniences and the strange, wild and deeply dangerous world it is used to describe, we see how far things have really fallen.

A specific example of this might be Hat's (the boatman's) love of smoking, something shared by the customers at an inn and described by Robertson particularly sensuous terms. Roberts makes clear that at this point in history real tobacco is an expensive and hard to come by commodity - I wonder if in reality it would simply not exist at all, but at any rate it is so hard to come by that I suspect most people would be unaware of it and unlikely to enjoy Hat's second hand smoke in the way described. So, no, perhaps not realistic - but as a way to convey how far that world is from ours, this is simply genius. (Unless of course it's another Tolkien thing.)

This is just one of the respects in which Roberts' on the nose observation makes this an absorbing read. Another is the character - I won't name then because spoilers - who achieves incredible things despite being "old" - whatever that means in this world - "People simply stop noticing you. You become a background figure, a three-legged still or an old jug..." And there is the society of the High Wycombe women, marking one path a culture might take alongside others that become intensely patriarchal, very quickly.

So, what do we have? At one level this is a grim, even heartbreaking story of a society gone savage. But it's leavened, or lifted, by that sense of author-in-the-story, of shrewd commentary, by the sense of an authorial wink, that this may be a slightly different story to the one we think we're reading. In other words it's a clever book - which I mean as undiluted praise. And, as I have said, despite the darkness, it is also often a fun book. I would strongly recommend reading (with a bit of a content waring that if you found the darkness of Shelter a bit too much, this does go to similar places).

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I really like Adam Roberts. I’ve read most of his fiction and am eagerly looking forward to his BY THE PRICKING OF HER THUMB in August 2018. His original work just keeps getting better and better. With this one I think the project constraints limited his reach and the results show it. This is the second novel in a series, the first having been written by another author. The concept is a series of large comet fragments crashed to Earth 100 years ago and caused worldwide havoc and a reversion of civilization to more primitive times. It’s more of a golden age or silver age concept. Maybe an English reader would relate more to the locales or characters than other readers would.

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Dave Hutchinson's 'Shelter' was a very effective and enjoyable start to the shared-world Aftermath series; a splendid story of a fragile peace between feudal communities broken apart by teenaged stupidity, greed and mistrust. 'Haven', Adam Roberts's follow-up, is equally enjoyable, but takes things in a different direction.

A self-contained story, though the world is richer for having read Hutchinson's first book, 'Haven' details the unwanted adventures of Davy Forktongue, an epileptic boy who ought to have been, at most, a sidelines observer of the political machinations of the various powers in the Aftermath world. Instead, he becomes a prize being fought over by all of them, for varying reasons, and has to try to escape and save himself.

The book ends with a resolution of sorts for Davy; but with the distinct knowledge of larger forces on the move. I am very much looking forward to Hutchinson's projected book 3.

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Haven is set several years after the action of Shelter, the first book in The Aftermath series.  It's almost essential to read Shelter first in order to understand the social and physical effects of the Sisters asteroids on the English countryside. The first book spends more time discussing the various factions that have risen up and tried to dominate the different parts of the British Isle since the natural disaster. Shelter also does a good job describing how the people are living without our modern conveniences. 

The basic premise of Haven is pretty simple: a thirteen-year-old boy named Forktongue Davy is abducted and then stolen and then kidnaped... People say that within his epilepsy seizures are visions that may be the key to reformulating the use of old tech. This would provide a powerful advantage to whichever faction can obtain the boy. He's a genuine and very likable character who changes and develops as the circumstances advance around him. Through the rest of the novel, there's lots of backstabbing, a bit of reinvented science, and some very unique fighting scenes with crossbows.

But. There are several faults in this book.  There's a large section where the entire writing style changes. The background of one of the main secondary characters is mapped out for too long with way too much tell and not enough show. Also, there are several threads that are left hanging to the point where I asked myself at the end of the book, Hey! What ever happened to so-and-so? 

Unfortunately, Haven is a setback in The Aftermath series. A great world to play in and some very interesting characters, but the plot was lacking and the writing slogged along at times. My hope is that the third book will right the ship because the setting is so cleverly devised. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Rebellion Publishing, and Adam Roberts for the advanced copy for review.

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