The Quiet Earth

It is a bit of a novelty to read a sci-fi book set in New Zealand. Craig Harrison is a British author who emigrated to New Zealand as a lecturer at the age of 24. He wrote this novel some 16 years later, which shows as he had a reasonable understanding of New Zealand culture in putting together the book.

I find it hard with a sci-fi like this to talk much about plot without heading into spoilers, as the best part of the novel is learning about the main characters discoveries as he makes them. However, very briefly, this is a “man wakes up and there is nobody left on earth” story, and once he wakes we learn his back story, and go with him as he moves about trying to figure out what happened and whether there are other survivors. Hobson, the main character, worked as a research scientist in a secure facility researching the effects of radiation on DNA, and so the book takes a scientific approach. Hobson had also suffered a family tragedy where his son had died, so the reader learns more layers to that story as the novel rolls out too.

I suspect this novel is probably categorised as realistic sci-fi in that while they get a mention, there are no aliens or paranormal inputs. I am not really a sci-fi reader, other than a few classics, but I enjoyed the fact it is set locally (ok, North Island NZ), and there were some cultural elements to it (although not enough to confuse an international reader). There were layers in the story which were exposed only fairly slowly - the reader shouldn't expect fast pace action here, as Hobson searches for other signs of life.

I note there is a film, also made in New Zealand, but in reading a little about it, the film is so heavily adapted that it barely resembles the novel.

For me 3 stars, possibly 3.5 stars, but if it had been set anywhere other than New Zealand, it would probably have a half star less.

“We're in limbo, stuck between a gone world which presses threats and memories in on us, vividly, one moment, then falls away into a sullen gulf of ages ago; and a future which is nothing. Which we must not think about. Or speak about. We make each day out of nothing. It is like leaning into space, blindfold. We are powerless to do anything else.”

Well, not a quick read for me. It's the too-much-information-and-nothing-really-happens kind of book, somehow dense, with an elegant prose. Although it was entertaining enough to keep me going after the first drowsy third; by that time I had already grown some empathy towards Hobes and the mistery surrounding the “Effect”. I liked how he tries to find answers from a scientific point of view and how he manages to keep sanity in a world where the line to insanity grows thin by the day.

It won't be on my best apocalyptic reads but would definitely recommend it for the followers of the genre.