Devolution

Having read and enjoyed Max Brook's classic Zombie book, World War Z (but not the gawdawful film it didn't quite inspire), when I heard about Max's newer book, Devolution, I checked out Amazon's reviews. I must have read ten of them, and seven were remarkable in two ways. First, how they "mirrored" one another, whining and kvetching about how dull the first hundred pages were, or how they couldn't even read that far. The second was, "how could Max Brooks have written a book that's this bad?"These so thoroughly mirrored one another, I can't accept them as legit. Somebody or group of somebodies has an issue with Max Brooks, and apparently decided to pay him back with a bunch of interchangeable bad reviews making the same - when you read it, obviously bogus - critiques of Brook's Devolution.As parodies of that old commercial for a breath mint might go, "stop, you're both wrong."Fortunately, there were three very positive Five Star reviews, written by people who'd obviously read World War Z and who seemed to have read Devolution (now, having read it myself, I'm sure they DID read it, as I did, cover to cover), they focused on its creativity, its innovation, its edge-of-the-seat, reading-till-four a.m. feeling the book gave them.So, that being said, here is my review. This book is made up of snippets of interviews, along with excerpts from a journal kept by one of the characters. Very much like World War Z, but focused on a small group of people living in a remote eco-community outside of Seattle/Tacoma, in the shadow of Mount Rainier. So it's scope is far narrower than World War Z, and much of it reflects the views of one character, Katie, based on her journal of life in that community after Rainier blows it's top, cutting them off from civilization, and driving a band of monstrous apes (aka Bigfoot or Sasquatch) from their remote mountain fastness to escape the disaster and seek food. They are monsters, but not totally unsympathetic. They - like the humans - were struggling to survive a dramatic change in their "world.' Being apex predators operating in a tribal pack, they sought salvation in the only way they knew. Prey on those less powerful than they, themselves (which means pretty much everybody.I won't go into the details - no spoilers here. But Katie, like most of the others in "Greenloop" (the eco-friendly community of six families, with only one child), was a progressive liberal entitled refugee from LA or other urban areas. Within this community there are no weapons - no firearms (they'd be horrified at the thought) and individuals actively sympathizing with the "they are frightened and just want to be friends" Bigfoot tribe, who through much of the book, seem more intelligent than most of Katie's neighbors.The journal tells their story, amplified by a few interviews with others aware of the Bigfoot invasion by a troop of under a dozen of the creatures. Slowly - to slowly for some - the humans adapt to the threat, as does the Bigfoot tribe.For me, I did a reality check at page 82, and found it riveting. What those one-star reviewers meant saying the first hundred pages was dull - I don't know what their issue is, but I don't buy it. Also, those reviews seem too coordinated, too "me-too," to be legit. Somebody had a jones for Max Brooks and wanted their piece of flesh. Don't believe them. By the time I was half-way into the book, I couldn't put it down. Last night, I read till 4 a.m., until I couldn't keep my eyes open another minute, then as soon as I woke up, I finished the really compelling last thirty pages.This book is creative, riveting, hard-to-put-down and well worth the time and the money I invested into it. A great book, and one I'll read again, as I have World War Z. As an aside, I'm the published author of three science fiction novels, with another one in process, and I'm now considering putting a journal into my first-person story of a scientist who - in the face of government "censorship" - makes a tech breakthrough that may lead to the ultimate downfall of a theocratic dictatorship in "Greater America," about a hundred and twenty years in our future. As a literary device, I find it compelling.Just as I do about this story.

Its in German I don't speak German. I'm disabled and I've got to try and return this book when it was not my fault. Get your act together. Why can't I give it the delivery man today

Ich persönlich fand auch den Schreibstil wenig zugänglich.Buch nach dem ersten Drittel beendet und gelöscht.

Ganz gut. Gruselige stellen, langweilig an manchen. Alles in allem, ganz gut.

Schade, man hätte mehr daraus machen können. Es dauert 200 Seiten bis "Bigfoot" und seine Kampanen mal auftauchen, und dann? Gefühlte 100 Seiten absolut NICHTS! Habe mich durchquelen müssen, leider kein gutes Buch. Schade.

Top Buch sehr spannend.