Faces in the Water, Tonya Macalino

Today we are visiting one of the more creative post-apocalyptic novels I've ever read,  Faces in the Water (Shades of Venice Book 1), by indie author, Tonya Macalino.


But First, THE BLURB:
Who created that slide of silk across your skin as you reached for your cinematic lover? Who recorded the crushing weight of the grizzly as you fought for your life in the fictional wilderness? It is Lone Pine Pictures’ Alyse Kate Bryant who wraps your body in the story only your mind was privy to before.

A brilliant sensory immersion artist and a wild daredevil, Alyse will do almost anything for the perfect sensory file, but the violent death of her father has her teetering on the very edge of reckless sanity.

For just one night, Alyse seeks refuge in the arms of a beautiful stranger.

And her recklessness finally has consequences.

Now Alyse finds herself trapped in the flooded ruins of Venice, a quarantine camp for the carriers of Sleepers’ Syndrome. But it can never be that simple. Because the Sleepers’ Syndrome carriers who populate the camp are no longer as human as they seem.

The city of legend is bringing its legends back to life.

They come now, Alyse.

Run.

MY REVIEW: 

This book is gripping. Alyse is a complicated character, and her supporting cast is equally complicated. The culture of immersion-art as the TV of the future seems quite plausible, given the current penchant for reality shows. And Alyse is one of the most popular artists. She really is an adrenaline junkie.

The world Macalino builds in Venice is dark, mist-enshrouded and eerie--and what Alyse discovers there is disturbing. The plot keeps moving and the action never stops--always it is heading toward the final denouement.

Her experiences, shock, horror, anger--all are true and real. Alyse is one good, solid character. The reactions of her friends are all true too--loyalty, horror, abandonment--all reactions friends would have in varying and different degrees.

Vittoreo and Matteo are wonderfully drawn, sexy, and full of emotion and life Jurgen is exactly what he should be: powerful, charismatic and consumed with the conviction that he has the one final answer...he is a fabulous antagonist.

This is a dark, meaty, grownup novel for thinking people. I give it 5 full stars, because it stuck with me--I was thinking about Macalino's Venice all evening.

Extinction Point, by Paul Antony Jones

Extinction Point, (Extinction Point Book 1) by Paul Antony Jones is an interesting take on the traditional post apocalyptic thriller. It starts off a bit slow, with a little too much background info in the first pages, but stick with it, as it kicks into gear and quickly becomes engrossing.

The Blurb:
First comes the red rain: a strange, scarlet downpour from a cloudless sky that spreads across cities, nations, and the entire globe. In a matter of panicked hours, every living thing on earth succumbs to swift, bloody death. Yet Emily Baxter, a young newspaper reporter, is mysteriously spared—and now she’s all alone.

But watching the happy life she built for herself in New York City slip away in the wake of a monstrous, inexplicable plague is just the beginning of Emily’s waking nightmare. The world isn’t ending; it’s only changing. And the race that once ruled the earth has now become raw material for use by a new form of life never before seen…on this planet.

With only wits, weapons, and a bicycle, Emily must undertake a grueling journey across a country that’s turning increasingly alien. For though she fears she’s been left to inherit the earth, the truth is far more terrifying than a lifetime of solitude.

My Review:

Emily is an interesting character. At the beginning, she seems like a girl who wants to be streetwise, and as events begin to happen, she grows as a character.  The author details the environment well, and also her reactions to the situations she finds herself in. Her observations about the red rain and subsequent evolution of the alien invader give the reader the sense that they are finding things out when she does. There is a sense of impending doom that builds as the story progresses, and I wanted to know what would happen next.

It's not a real long read--I read it in three hours--and the tale continues in book two, so there is no real resolution which was a bit disappointing, but many authors seem to be dividing one book into two or three installments nowadays. 

It was hard for me to decide what I think about this book, as while there is sometime too much information in long dumps and a bit of repetitious narrative, I can forgive those failings because it's a good, gripping story. It's an indie book, but frankly it's no worse than some of the traditionally published genre fiction I've seen lately, and the narrative has moments of being downright stellar. 

Despite the fluff and info dumps that could have been edited out and the lack of a good ending, I'm giving it four stars, because its an awesome concept for a tale, and Emily is a great protagonist. I'll definitely read the next installment, because I'm curious about what happens next.