Publication Date: July 27, 2014
In Vaporized: Apocalypse Adventure by Simon Rosser, the busy lawyer Amber Lee has found time to relax in short supply and is very happy to have an extra day off for a holiday weekend. As the weekend begins the world wakes up to find that following strange objects reported to be heading for the poles that the earth’s water has vaporized. When Amber suddenly finds herself alone can she survive after such a cataclysmic event?
The author, Si Rosser, gave me a copy of this novel in exchange for my review.
Si Rosser is an author who can meld a catastrophic event, add a personal touch and place the story on a reader’s level while in no way making that reader feel this topic was dumbed down for their consumption.Vaporized: Apocalypse Adventure is a 221-page story with a very simple premise. What if something terrible happened and we were all alone? This is in no way a new idea. We’ve seen the core idea in movies and books, but Rosser puts a unique spin on this thoroughly well-done work that leaves the reader with chills and the knowledge that a lot of time passed between the time the book was picked up and set down again.
In one scene Amber Lee, who feels as though she’s alone in the world, is rummaging through an empty market looking for anything of use. She notices that the bottles of mineral water are empty and is once again struck by the idea that all water has vanished (page 85). She’s doing what she can to survive and trying to think ahead in an attempt to face the inevitable of an impossible future. By using a reasonably intelligent and analytical approach, she tries to figure out this wholly implausible event. There’s no logic to being suddenly attacked by tendrils of water. This character knows that there’s something bigger going on, and she’s sort of worked out with logic what it might be and is trying to hang on to a thin strand of hope.
Amber and her story are just delicious to read. There is a feeling of the show “Lost” in she is one woman against a big bad and struggling to survive. Rosser’s writing style in Vaporized: Apocalypse Adventure is very fluid and while I’m not a fan of man against nature movies, I think this novel would be fascinating to see on the big screen. There is a sense that Rosser may continue the story at the end, and I’d love to see that happen. This is an author who clearly has practiced his craft and arrived at any easy flow in his story.
I was thoroughly entertained by Vaporized: Apocalypse Adventure. It was a good story with a nice flow that was very technically well written. The character, pacing and story were engrossing. Though science fiction the story had a level of plausibility — attacking water tendrils and all — where a reader could suspend disbelief to put themselves in Amber’s shoes. What do you do when you’re alone in the world with a really uncertain horror? I really liked this novel and will recommend it to any fans of science fiction or the human experience.
Simon Rosser also the author of the environmental science fiction series. Read a review of the first book in the Robert Spire series Tipping Point.
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