To understand this novel the reader must have some basic knowledge about the cold war. The reader must also understand some misconceptions people once had about nuclear war.
For example, some scientists once believed that only Labrador and New Zealand would be able to survive the radiation caused by a nuclear war.
The story takes place centuries after a massive nuclear war has destroyed civilization. The surviving bit of mankind in Labrador has begun to rebuild. A strict, Christian society is set up. This society attempts to eliminate all forms of mutations so that mankind remains untainted and may one day become as powerful as the “Old People” (us).
The protagonists has no visible deviations but discovers that him, along with a few others have abilities that the regular person doesn’t. Therefore they must keep there abilities a secret. But anyone can guess that the secret won’t stay hidden for long.
This story gets quite exiting around 2/3 of the way in. but it is extremely slow paced and quite boring at first. There were a lot of unnecessary parts in this novel. There were multiple time where I would ask myself the question “who cares”.
The point of a novel is to entertain its audience; the reader should not have to read 2/3 of the book before anything entertaining happens. But for reason I do not understand, many people love this book, perhaps they are more patient than I am. Anyways, I do not recommend this novel, and I think I’ll give it a 2.5/5
I recommend reading the Day of the Triffids by the same author. It is considered a classic, and is very vividly descriptive.
thank you.