After Arrival

3.5* rounded up.

Reading club read [EOTWRC]: Dystopian fiction is definitely one of my favourite genres, this one didn't disappoint. 10 years after the aliens have landed, those left in a flooded England are surviving, just.

Not sure what the piano was all about but I quite enjoyed the rest of it. Characters were suitably rounded and there were surprises in the plot.

Nice cover too.

Much like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, this book had a ridiculous ending that was not even remotely influenced by the characters who should have been influencing them.

Abi and Costa went to Oxford to die. They didn't need to. The outcome of the book would have been the same had they visited Flo, then gone home and read a book.

Marvin needn't have spent some much angst fixing the piano, he could have just done it and then had a nice glass of whiskey to celebrate. He had no baring on the outcome of the book.

Flo should have just gone to Chard as soon as Costa arrived.

Everything that happened, aside from making the plane and the plans for the plane (which none of the protaganists had a hand in - they didn't even know), after Costa left the Spire had no bearing on the outcome of the novel.

Which is a huge shame, because I really enjoyed the book right up to the pointless ending. The world building was excellent, the characters had depth and I really felt for them. The aliens really worked well and the bad guys were disgusting (in a good way - well written and made me mad at them).

The story itself was good too. But the whole thing was let down by the ending.

I'll probably read another Massimo Paradiso book (which is a cool name btw), but I can't really recommend anyone read this.