Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "epic"

The Stand by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A thrilling, apocalyptic epic from the Master of Horror.

'The Stand' is one of Stephen King's early masterpieces, published following 'The Shining' the previous year, but is entirely different in many ways - in theme, tone, scale and, most notably, the source of the horror inflicted on its characters.

The novel begins with a man hurriedly waking his wife in the middle of the night, making an escape with their daughter from an army base. Something has gone terribly wrong and he wants to get them as far as away as possible. They escape, but it is already too late - the man is infected with a manufactured strain of flu and it is now uncontained, leading to a plague that will kill almost the entire human population.

The first part of the novel deals with the spread of the plague, introducing us to many of the main characters through their experience of the superflu pandemic. Numerous attempts to contain the plague by the authorities fail as society steadily falls to pieces, people fall ill and die, and the survivors wait and wonder when it will be their turn. This story could have been a novel in itself, drawing you in to the disintegrating lives of a large cast of characters.

In the second part of the novel, we journey across a derelict USA with the surviving characters, who begin to form groups as they meet up on their journeys. Many soon realise they are experiencing the same dreams - of a dark man who walks the roads at night and an old woman waiting patiently in her Nebraska home. Drawn by these shared visions, the characters find themselves being steered into a battle between good and evil, the old woman in the East representing Good, and the dark man in the West representing Evil.

The group of survivors drawn to the old woman, Mother Abagail, form a democratic society known as the Free Zone. But there are tensions from within that threaten to boil over, while in the meantime the society formed by the dark man, Randall Flagg, is building its power in the West.

In the final part of the novel, the showdown between Good and Evil begins. A small group heads west, building to the final confrontation with Randall Flagg, on which hinges the future of the Free Zone and the survival of everyone in it.

Through every one of the book's 1300+ pages, you are completely immersed in the lives of the characters and the biblical scale of events. You witness humanity at its worst and its best, the narrative taking over your life for weeks. You witness humanity's destruction and how that feels for each individual left behind. You witness attempts to build societies again from what is left behind and wonder if it could ever be possible for humanity to live in true peace and harmony.

'The Stand' is a fantastic portrayal of its themes and subject matter, an epic odyssey that leaves you with a deeply satisfying conclusion and a feeling of sadness at having to leave the characters behind. I shall miss reading about them and the challenges they have faced. Perhaps one day I shall have the pleasure of meeting them again.

Of course, one character whom I shall definitely meet again will be Randall Flagg. Flagg establishes himself as one of King's most evil villains in this early tale and he has gone on to feature in many others, notably the epic fantasy 'The Dark Tower' series. It seems that evil truly can never die after all...



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Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A supernaturally-charged apocalyptic epic from Stephen King and his son Owen King.

Stephen King, as well as being a master of horror, is known for his apocalyptic epics, amongst them the superlative ‘The Stand’, and this novel is evidence that his son Owen also possesses the same skill and imagination. Such stories are incredibly timely in the current global political climate, the authors evoking the unease and societal disintegration that can escape no one’s attention in the age of technology and social media.

The novel takes place in the town of Dooling, while all around the world women are falling prey to a mysterious pandemic – they fall into a sleep from which they don’t wake, cocoons developing around their slumbering bodies, a phenomena that becomes known as Aurora, named after the princess in the Disney adaption of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ fairy tale. Concerned and panicked men attempt to break some of these cocoons, with fatal consequences. Meanwhile, a preternatural woman, Evie, has arrived in Dooling, destroying a meth lab and killing the drug dealers with her bare hands, which brings her to the attention of local sheriff, Lila Norcross. Lila’s husband, Clint, is a psychiatrist at the nearby women’s prison, where Aurora begins to affect the inmates.

As more women and girls fall prey to Aurora, anarchy rises, men either giving up or allowing aggression to rise to the surface. It takes little time for society to begin crumbling, organisations such as the sheriff’s department, hospitals and the correctional facilities succumbing to the strain. Volunteers step into the breach, but their intentions may not be altruistic, motivated instead by their own agendas. Amongst the terror and panic, it becomes clear that Evie is different to all the other women – she can sleep and wake again, unaffected by Aurora.

While our world is falling to pieces, the sleeping women find themselves in a new world and must face the challenges of their separation from their male loved ones and the opportunity to live life without the dominance and aggression of men. The novel explores this delicately - another crucial theme at a time when women are fighting back against their abusers, while as a society we are striving to achieve gender equality and snuff out patriarchal prejudices. Politically, prejudice is a monster from which society is struggling to shake free; the novel explores how we should depart from the mistakes of the past – whether we should cut ties and start over, or learn from past mistakes and move into the future.

The novel climaxes in a showdown between the remaining correctional staff and the volunteer/vigilante sheriff’s department, as Clint fights to protect Evie from the growing mob that is convinced she holds the answer to bringing an end to Aurora. The answer may surprise them, which leads to a thought-provoking conclusion.

Arresting and emotive, ‘Sleeping Beauties’ is an immersive experience, as all King epics are. You live with the characters through their journeys, arriving at a satisfying ending that stays with you after the final page. Evie is captivating, reminding me at times of another Stephen King character, with her supernatural abilities and smooth palms, but she proves to be more morally ambiguous than outright evil. It would be intriguing if either or both of the Kings were to revisit her in the future.

A fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable novel, with plot, characters and themes blending to create a thrilling concoction.



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Under the Dome by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An immersive, thrilling epic from a master of the craft.

It was just an ordinary autumn day when the dome suddenly appeared around the town of Chester’s Mill. Invisible, impenetrable, unbreakable. Dale “Barbie” Barbara, on his way to departing Chester’s Mill, is amongst the first to witness the devastating impact of the dome’s presence, the borders with the neighbouring towns becoming the sites of carnage on both sides of the dome.

This is only the beginning. As the residents begin to realise the full extent of their predicament, the media and military response in the outside world heightens. But, despite the scrutiny, they are isolated and alone. As tensions escalate, some take advantage of the situation for their own ends, while others strive to do what little they can to help. Divisions are setting in and becoming more fraught, threatening not only the stability of the town but also the chances of survival.

For James “Big Jim” Rennie, all of this is just collateral damage as long as he emerges as the town’s saviour. Barbie, local newspaper editor Julia Shumway, and a small group of others, know they are rapidly running out of time. Striving to uncover the mystery of the dome’s existence, their quest becomes a fight for survival against a ticking timebomb of greed, power and corruption.

‘Under the Dome’ is sheer brilliance. It sucks you in from the first page and refuses to let you go until the very last. Bursting at the seams with a large cast of characters, criss-crossing plotting, descriptive detail, action-packed scenes and emotional moments, it has all the ingredients you would want from a sci-fi fantasy thriller, exploring the personal struggles against the canvas of the epic scale of a crisis.

This novel is, first and foremost, a character-driven story. There are many of them to keep track of, the core cast each with their own evolving sub-plots, that soon begin to cross, merge and combine as the dome’s invisible but constant presence proves a catalyst for the best and worst of human behaviour. Trapped, with no chance of escape, the residents of Chester’s Mill are all potential prey to the slow trickle of fear that spreads throughout the town. This is a story of a community under a microscope, exploring the dangers of a culture of fear and deprivation, and the compounding pressures posed by a crisis, characters emerging as either heroes or villains.

Amongst the many themes the novel explores – including the human relationships; resilience in the face of adversity; the abuse and corruption of power – is an awareness of the natural environment and our impact on it, as well as the use and availability of natural resources. Giving the novel a fable-like quality, the dome is the equivalent of a petri dish in a psychological, sociological and environmental study of concepts and issues that are often discussed on a scale that may be difficult to relate to.

Ahead of its crucial and thought-provoking themes, this is, most importantly, a gripping fictional narrative – an epic tale that hurtles relentlessly through every one of its almost nine-hundred pages. Rich in detail and imagery, be prepared to not want to put this book down for many days. Within its pages, you will become one the residents of Chester’s Mill and live this experience alongside them and through each of their stories. Stephen King has mastered many forms of storytelling, the epic amongst them – most notably with ‘The Stand’ – and once again he demonstrates his storytelling ability, the history of what occurred under the dome of Chester’s Mill standing resolutely alongside King’s masterpieces.

Intense and deeply engrossing, ‘Under the Dome’ is a superlative high-concept thriller, an epic with a beating human heart.



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Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A sci-fi epic charting the destiny of a new Earth.

A failed experiment to terraform a new planet to sustain human life nonetheless results in unforeseen and accelerated invertebrate evolution.

The dying remnants of the human race have escaped a desecrated Earth, searching among the stars for a new home. But their promised land is now the planet of the spiders.

As two civilisations collide, these children of time are caught up in their own battle of the titans, fighting for the survival of their species and the inheritance of the earth.

Craving sci-fi to get lost in, I found 'Children of Time' in my search and couldn't wait to plummet into a novel of futuristic space travel and alien life. The world-building is sublime, especially in the evolution of the spiders, told across generations. Not only exploring the science of ecosystems and evolution, we witness many aspects that come with the development of an advanced species and the building of a civilisation, including sociological and psychological perspectives developed from the starting point of the nature of spiders as we would recognise them. There are also elements of spirituality and how these questioning beings develop a faith system - a story of reaching inside oneself at the same time as reaching for the stars and searching for God.

In the society of the spiders, we recognise parallels and a reflection of human society - the class structure, gender inequality, the acceptance of certain behaviours as normal when directed at certain groups. In just one striking scene, a dominant female in a lofty position of power and prestige argues that this is simply the way things are. A brave and rebellious male responds that things are the way we make them. This is also a story about conquest and revolution; about how history (perhaps herstory would best describe this arachnid equivalent) is formed and how it becomes legend, and how a culture should learn from that history to better itself.

Meanwhile, the final frontier of humanity strives on, surviving, determined in their mission, while forever in the shadow of the darker side of their nature, one that reached out from the relic of humanity's past to destroy them once again. Alas, our predilection for destruction maintains throughout millennia. Yet, there remains hope for survival. Though, in the end, it may actually be the spiders who teach humanity how to be human.

The core characters, both human and spider, are the driving force behind the evolving plot. For all the fascination that comes with travelling into the future amongst the stars, and witnessing the birth and growth of life, the development of these sentient and intelligent arachnids on this alien yet familiar planet, it is the character development that truly strikes the chord throughout this remarkable and imaginative novel. When science fiction has a heart, when it has a soul, it combines emotional depth with a gripping story on an epic scale to create something truly magical, a tale that speaks a deeper truth than can be achieved through a narrower lens. This was what I was searching for and I found it in this superlative space saga.

Deeply immersive, endlessly fascinating, and surprisingly moving, 'Children of Time' is a sci-fi masterpiece - one that continues into the second novel, 'Children of Ruin'.



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Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An enthralling sci-fi epic exploring the future legacy of the children of Earth.

In the war-torn dying days of planet Earth, the last of the human race seek other worlds to terraform in the hope of life flourishing elsewhere.

A series of cataclysmic events lead them stranded in a distant solar system, with only a few shreds of hope left for any life as they know it to avoid extinction.

Centuries later, a team of space explorers encounter all that remains in the orbit of this star and its planets, an encounter that may prove deadly for all life throughout the universe.

‘Children of Ruin’ is a science fiction epic by Adrian Tchaikovsky and sequel to his incredible ‘Children of Time’. An intense and gripping tour-de-force space opera, it immediately envelops us in impeccable, rich world-building as we are immersed in a fascinating tale of the science of evolution, the fight for survival, and the perseverance of sentient life. Where the first novel centred on the evolution of a spider society and its discovery by the remains of humanity, this second novel explores the evolution of an octopus society, later encountered by the spiders and humans in the future.

The non-linear narrative evolves through two timelines – the first in the past, following one of the teams of the terraforming programme as they venture into space, discovering two neighbouring planets that may have the potential to sustain life. Christened Nod and Damascus, the team split into two factions in orbit of each planet, the first studying the truly alien world of Nod, inhabited by species unlike any in Earth biology; while Disra Senkovi works to populate the oceanic world of Damascus with his beloved pets – a species of genetically enhanced octopus. Catastrophe from back home on Earth severs these last remaining humans from the rest of the universe; this is their tale of survival and diminishing hope, perhaps the final days of humanity as we know it.

The second timeline picks up in the aftermath of ‘Children of Time’, a team of Humans and Portiids from Kern’s World having ventured into the stars, their space exploration leading them to encounter alien ships which appear to be engaged in war. Attacked and outnumbered, they nevertheless attempt to make contact to demonstrate they come in peace – bringing them face to face with the octopuses. Despite the challenges of communication, it becomes clear the octopuses have fled Damascus in fear of something truly alien – a sentient, intelligent parasite that corrupts and possesses all life it comes into contact with.

Much like the previous novel, a beating heart of emotion lies at the core of the story, enriching the vast scale of events against the tapestry of time and space, references to religion and mythology giving it an edge of faith, an almost spiritual aura to the mysteries of the vast vacuum of space. Clever and complex, this is a narrative of multiple layers, vividly detailed and descriptive, simultaneously heavily science-focussed and character-driven, with touches of suspense and horror entwined.

We follow a large cast of characters throughout – human, spider, octopus, AI, alien parasite – Tchaikovsky skillfully treading the line between anthropomorphism and maintaining the echo of the creatures’ true natures. The history of the octopuses is perhaps the most moving element of the novel – from their beginnings as pets of introverted, borderline sociopathic, genius Senkovi, through their development to the dominant species of Damascus and their escape into space. The way they communicate through expression of emotion, how their every thought translates as a feeling, visually displayed across their skin, is truly remarkable; perhaps a disconcerting notion to a species such as ours, yet we could learn a lot from its essence of truth and honesty, which ultimately proves to be quite beautiful.

Both the spider and octopus societies mirror and contradict our own social relationships, offering thought-provoking reflections on our own history and society – such as the battle male spiders face to be recognised and respected in their respective fields by the females, their society having been governed by a matriarchy throughout history; while the octopuses’ aptitude for aggression and violence, which explodes into war as their technology advances, perhaps makes them more human-like than we would imagine. Across the vastness of time and space, through moments of destruction, apocalypse and survival, between species that couldn’t be more different, yet in the end share more than any of them realise, this is ultimately a tale about communication, comprehension and understanding, and how truly beautiful it is to be alive.

Immersive and captivating, ‘Children of Ruin’ is a superb sequel, continuing in the footsteps of the brilliance of its predecessor. The series continues in the third novel, ‘Children of Memory’, promising to introduce us to more children of Earth and take us another leap forward in this tale of evolution.



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