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Rings of Ice
'Zena and the boys went ice-ring planing, Boys fouled up and Earth got a raining!' Gus and Thatch were desperately trying to drive the big mobile home up into the mountains, high above the floods rapidly drowning out the rest of the world. They even had some crazy notion about saving civilization from the waters - which was why they took along uptight Zena - who knew far more than she was telling about why that vast canopy of ice had suddenly surrounded Earth - and voluptuous Gloria - who turned out sometimes to be a man and sometimes a woman as well. And then they picked up Karen, and Floy, and Dust Devil, and Foundling - two latterday Noahs in a motorized ark. The trouble was, their little community wasn't the only one frantically trying to find dry land, food and fuel. And seeing robbery, looting, murder and cannibalism were now looked on as legitimate means of survival, the struggle for life was apt to become a little vicious at times.
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
3 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
About the author
Piers Anthony
441 books4,215 followersThough he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
November 1, 2025
Rings of Ice is a story about survival in the wake of climate catastrophe brought on by failed scientific meddling. It stars a quirky band of six diverse characters, all with some good points and weak points, and the theme is learning to work together in the face of overwhelming odds. Some of the conceits and concepts may have aged poorly, but it's a good serious science fiction novel with a positive message.
November 2, 2020
Without recourse to hyperbole, I can truthfully report that this was one of the very worst books I've ever read. Although I have always found Piers Anthony to offer a mixed bag, I have certainly found much to praise in his body of work (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). But this hot mess of a novel is far, far beyond the pale. And while it is not my habit to include spoilers in my reviews, I find I must make an exception in this instance in order to address the myriad problems which this text presents.
The premise here is promising: A military experiment, designed to provide the planet with a wellspring of solar energy, goes wrong and results in Noahic flooding which threatens all life on Earth. The specific mechanics of this experiment are only described late in the novel: orbiting lenses made of ice (gathered from what is described as a "nebula") are set in place around the planet, but because of flaws in this plan, they melt, thus causing the floods. This is the most believable part of Anthony's book.
Told from the perspective of a female protagonist, the prudish Zena, the book tells the tale of a group of strangers, traveling in a Winnebago, who band together in order to survive the flooding. Without exception the characterizations are ludicrously thin and one-dimensional: Gus is the ostensible leader, good-looking but prone to panic and terrified of rain (an unexplained phobia); Thatch, his companion, is homely and submissive, but demonstrates strength of character under stress. Thus Gus and Thatch form a complementary dyad, but neither of their characters is ever defined beyond these superficial qualities. Then comes Gloria/Gordon, who Anthony describes as "transsexual" (which seemed a promising development at first, for a novel published in 1974), but turns out to possess two distinct personalities. Thus the gender fluidity of the character is more a matter of dissociation than fundamental gender identity, and Anthony (as is typical of speculative fiction of this era) plays so heavily on gender stereotypes that what began as a promising character study ends up being a cringe-worthy exercise in patriarchy. Then there's Karen, the married diabetic who never seems to mourn the loss of her husband who is stuck on the opposite side of the country when the disaster strikes. Finally, there's Floy, a 14-year-old girl who suffers from some sort of unspecified palsy and has been abandoned by her family, but is taken into the shelter of the Winnebago, along with her cat (of all things).
There is no way to list every fault I found with this novel, but I'll try to touch on the most glaring ones. First, when Karen first joins the group, Zena catches a glimpse of her injecting herself. Later Karen seems to crave sugar. Any reasonably intelligent person would quickly conclude that Karen is diabetic, but Zena spends half the book brooding over Karen's assumed drug addiction, and how it makes her so crazy that she is fixated on eating sweets. This is asinine. I figured out, within a few pages of the introduction of Karen, that she must be a diabetic. In addition, in the middle of this global disaster, Karen falls into bed with Gus at the tip of a hat, without ever expressing concern for her lost husband, in defiance of her marriage vows, and for reasons which are dubious at best (i.e., in order to control Gus and maintain peace within their little tribe).
Next there's Floy, who despite being so clumsy that Zena has to help her with the simplest of everyday tasks, somehow becomes graceful and lithe when dancing with Gordon -- as if palsy is optional at times. This also occurs when she is forced to defend herself, at which time she miraculously becomes a deadly accurate assassin. Worse, by far, however, is the manner in which she is sexualized. Almost from the start, Gus is leering at her and making lewd comments. She is later used as a sexual decoy during a raid on other survivors, and later, after Karen runs out of insulin, leading to her death, Floy and Gus become intimate (again without delay or formalities of any kind).
The band of survivors frequently make wild conjectures which turn out to be true after they choose to act upon them. Thus, for example, when raiding a camp of survivors in order to procure gasoline, they reason that since the initial panic over the flooding is over, the camp will be lightly guarded by just a couple of watchmen; there turn out to be only two. Later they make numerous random assumptions about the reaction of local fauna to the new conditions which weeks-long flooding presents, and these also end up being true, however far-fetched.
But this novel's problems extend much deeper, into the very heart of the plot. Each character, it turns out, has one or more specific duties which they assume within the larger group. All except for the narrator, Zena. It is eventually made clear that her function within the group is to be impregnated in order to carry on the species. No matter that she is the only woman marked for this duty, and with only one woman bearing children the race could hardly survive. No matter that even one, two, or more children born to Zena would find a devastated Earth which was nearly uninhabitable. Never mind that bringing new life into such a world would hardly be a blessing. No, in defiance of all decency and common sense, it is made clear that she is to bear at least one child (she's depicted as a virgin), and she dutifully does so with only token protests.
In fact, as a rule, the characters only ever offer the meekest of protests when their sensibilities are challenged. They end up ready to kill without compunction. When Gloria/Gordon is killed in a skirmish (and later when Karen dies), they resort to cannibalism in order to avoid wasting perfectly good meat. And, of course, they collectively turn a blind eye to Gus effectively raping a 14-year-old palsied girl.
If this novel were written in a believable style, Zena would never submit to being impregnated; Floy would never be used as a sexual object (nor, for that matter, would she have been abandoned by her family); Karen would have been a hot mess, throughout the entire book, worried sick about her husband; the character of Gloria/Gordon would never have even figured in since Anthony uses it as little more than a freak show; the oddball proclivities of Gus and Thatch would at the very least be explained in some sort of rational terms; none of the characters would have resorted to cannibalism, at least not without actually reaching the point of starvation first; and, in point of fact, it is unlikely that any of them would have survived past the first twenty pages of the book. The idea of this group somehow standing as a postdiluvian remnant of humanity is an insult to the reader. This entire book, in fact, is an insult to the reader, and in all honesty I have to wonder whether Anthony was under the influence of something while he was writing this irredeemable travesty.
There was not one page of this novel which did not make me sigh, groan, or laugh with deep derision. This was the first time in a long, long time that I seriously contemplated not finishing a book I had started. But, in the end, I wanted to see how bad bad could get (pretty damn bad!), and I also wanted to earn the right to pen an honest and comprehensive review. I will probably take a break from Anthony for a while and I hope that when I do return to his work I am never confronted with such worthless, carelessly thrown together garbage again. Because that would be a deal-breaker: no author gets more than one debacle of this magnitude in my book. And now, to shower and wash this wretched stink off of me!
The premise here is promising: A military experiment, designed to provide the planet with a wellspring of solar energy, goes wrong and results in Noahic flooding which threatens all life on Earth. The specific mechanics of this experiment are only described late in the novel: orbiting lenses made of ice (gathered from what is described as a "nebula") are set in place around the planet, but because of flaws in this plan, they melt, thus causing the floods. This is the most believable part of Anthony's book.
Told from the perspective of a female protagonist, the prudish Zena, the book tells the tale of a group of strangers, traveling in a Winnebago, who band together in order to survive the flooding. Without exception the characterizations are ludicrously thin and one-dimensional: Gus is the ostensible leader, good-looking but prone to panic and terrified of rain (an unexplained phobia); Thatch, his companion, is homely and submissive, but demonstrates strength of character under stress. Thus Gus and Thatch form a complementary dyad, but neither of their characters is ever defined beyond these superficial qualities. Then comes Gloria/Gordon, who Anthony describes as "transsexual" (which seemed a promising development at first, for a novel published in 1974), but turns out to possess two distinct personalities. Thus the gender fluidity of the character is more a matter of dissociation than fundamental gender identity, and Anthony (as is typical of speculative fiction of this era) plays so heavily on gender stereotypes that what began as a promising character study ends up being a cringe-worthy exercise in patriarchy. Then there's Karen, the married diabetic who never seems to mourn the loss of her husband who is stuck on the opposite side of the country when the disaster strikes. Finally, there's Floy, a 14-year-old girl who suffers from some sort of unspecified palsy and has been abandoned by her family, but is taken into the shelter of the Winnebago, along with her cat (of all things).
There is no way to list every fault I found with this novel, but I'll try to touch on the most glaring ones. First, when Karen first joins the group, Zena catches a glimpse of her injecting herself. Later Karen seems to crave sugar. Any reasonably intelligent person would quickly conclude that Karen is diabetic, but Zena spends half the book brooding over Karen's assumed drug addiction, and how it makes her so crazy that she is fixated on eating sweets. This is asinine. I figured out, within a few pages of the introduction of Karen, that she must be a diabetic. In addition, in the middle of this global disaster, Karen falls into bed with Gus at the tip of a hat, without ever expressing concern for her lost husband, in defiance of her marriage vows, and for reasons which are dubious at best (i.e., in order to control Gus and maintain peace within their little tribe).
Next there's Floy, who despite being so clumsy that Zena has to help her with the simplest of everyday tasks, somehow becomes graceful and lithe when dancing with Gordon -- as if palsy is optional at times. This also occurs when she is forced to defend herself, at which time she miraculously becomes a deadly accurate assassin. Worse, by far, however, is the manner in which she is sexualized. Almost from the start, Gus is leering at her and making lewd comments. She is later used as a sexual decoy during a raid on other survivors, and later, after Karen runs out of insulin, leading to her death, Floy and Gus become intimate (again without delay or formalities of any kind).
The band of survivors frequently make wild conjectures which turn out to be true after they choose to act upon them. Thus, for example, when raiding a camp of survivors in order to procure gasoline, they reason that since the initial panic over the flooding is over, the camp will be lightly guarded by just a couple of watchmen; there turn out to be only two. Later they make numerous random assumptions about the reaction of local fauna to the new conditions which weeks-long flooding presents, and these also end up being true, however far-fetched.
But this novel's problems extend much deeper, into the very heart of the plot. Each character, it turns out, has one or more specific duties which they assume within the larger group. All except for the narrator, Zena. It is eventually made clear that her function within the group is to be impregnated in order to carry on the species. No matter that she is the only woman marked for this duty, and with only one woman bearing children the race could hardly survive. No matter that even one, two, or more children born to Zena would find a devastated Earth which was nearly uninhabitable. Never mind that bringing new life into such a world would hardly be a blessing. No, in defiance of all decency and common sense, it is made clear that she is to bear at least one child (she's depicted as a virgin), and she dutifully does so with only token protests.
In fact, as a rule, the characters only ever offer the meekest of protests when their sensibilities are challenged. They end up ready to kill without compunction. When Gloria/Gordon is killed in a skirmish (and later when Karen dies), they resort to cannibalism in order to avoid wasting perfectly good meat. And, of course, they collectively turn a blind eye to Gus effectively raping a 14-year-old palsied girl.
If this novel were written in a believable style, Zena would never submit to being impregnated; Floy would never be used as a sexual object (nor, for that matter, would she have been abandoned by her family); Karen would have been a hot mess, throughout the entire book, worried sick about her husband; the character of Gloria/Gordon would never have even figured in since Anthony uses it as little more than a freak show; the oddball proclivities of Gus and Thatch would at the very least be explained in some sort of rational terms; none of the characters would have resorted to cannibalism, at least not without actually reaching the point of starvation first; and, in point of fact, it is unlikely that any of them would have survived past the first twenty pages of the book. The idea of this group somehow standing as a postdiluvian remnant of humanity is an insult to the reader. This entire book, in fact, is an insult to the reader, and in all honesty I have to wonder whether Anthony was under the influence of something while he was writing this irredeemable travesty.
There was not one page of this novel which did not make me sigh, groan, or laugh with deep derision. This was the first time in a long, long time that I seriously contemplated not finishing a book I had started. But, in the end, I wanted to see how bad bad could get (pretty damn bad!), and I also wanted to earn the right to pen an honest and comprehensive review. I will probably take a break from Anthony for a while and I hope that when I do return to his work I am never confronted with such worthless, carelessly thrown together garbage again. Because that would be a deal-breaker: no author gets more than one debacle of this magnitude in my book. And now, to shower and wash this wretched stink off of me!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2023
So started off really solid and quickly went down hill. I thought this was gonna be classic surviving the world sifi and it just really let me down. The book starts with this man gus driving around in his RV picking up only woman because they have the potential to become pregnant and repopulate the earth. There was just so many random side plots they would never speak of again or the weird disturbing side plots you did never want to hear about again they were like let’s tell u about it in detail. I will say I liked the concept just not really the execution.
February 7, 2019
An exciting post-apocalyptic adventure story, though do not read if you are easily offended! Full review on my Tumblr: https://kittensoft39.tumblr.com/post/...
May 18, 2017
It was a fast easy read. It held my interest and I enjoyed it.
November 15, 2023
This book was weird as hell (sometimes a good thing, more often not) and definitely doesn't hold up in the year 2023.
April 1, 2019
I'll give this three and a half stars. I've read much, much better stuff from Piers Anthony. Never mind the really dreadful dialogue, the book demanded a lot more character development before diving head-first into the science bits of the science fiction, but Anthony got (seemingly) caught up in the roughly-hewn plot. It's a very interesting premise, explained well in the text and in the afterword, but it's as if Anthony had this magnificent table crafted, and propped it up on mop handles for legs. It's a slim book, forty or fifty more pages to let us know more about the handful of characters would not have killed anyone, unless the contractual obligations required as trim a book as necessary.
September 29, 2012
When one mentions the name Piers Anthony, the typical response is one of bemusement, of hilarity. His Xanth series is what comes to mind, with its outrageousness and its fantastical. However, Anthony has another side -- one settled thoroughly in science, non-fiction and history.
Rings of Ice is one of these books. Based upon a theory known as The Annular Theory, Piers Anthony presents it in all its horrific glory as he leaves no detail not thought of. Typical of end of the world novels, it is dark. But this just adds to the charm given to this saga.
In his masterful way, Piers Anthony crafts characters that are attachable and lovable. The characters involved remind the reader of individuals s/he might know in real life. But, despite their admirable qualities he clearly demonstrates the imperfection of humanity. In many ways this cast could be considered stereotypical and stilted but Anthony elevates them above such obscenities.
What is truly amazing about this work is that the apocalyptic tale is lain on top of and is the catalyst for both a coming of age story and a reluctant romance. While the world is being destroyed, Anthony takes a moment to add these. Through the trials and tribulations caused by the end of the world the reader is given a glimpse of how love and coming of age might be in that world.
All-in-all, the work is well written. Rings of Ice is a thoroughly thought invoking novel with a strong social-commentary undercurrent and a highly enjoyable read. And, as an added bonus, has the potential to be reread.
Rings of Ice is one of these books. Based upon a theory known as The Annular Theory, Piers Anthony presents it in all its horrific glory as he leaves no detail not thought of. Typical of end of the world novels, it is dark. But this just adds to the charm given to this saga.
In his masterful way, Piers Anthony crafts characters that are attachable and lovable. The characters involved remind the reader of individuals s/he might know in real life. But, despite their admirable qualities he clearly demonstrates the imperfection of humanity. In many ways this cast could be considered stereotypical and stilted but Anthony elevates them above such obscenities.
What is truly amazing about this work is that the apocalyptic tale is lain on top of and is the catalyst for both a coming of age story and a reluctant romance. While the world is being destroyed, Anthony takes a moment to add these. Through the trials and tribulations caused by the end of the world the reader is given a glimpse of how love and coming of age might be in that world.
All-in-all, the work is well written. Rings of Ice is a thoroughly thought invoking novel with a strong social-commentary undercurrent and a highly enjoyable read. And, as an added bonus, has the potential to be reread.
January 8, 2017
This is a wonderful novel! This is my introduction to Piers Anthony and he has quickly become a new favorite author. I look forward to reading more of his work!
*Rings of Ice* is an interesting scifi piece in that, overall, it has the feel of a literary novel. The six main characters (all of them protagonists against the antagonistic worldwide flood) are at odds with themselves and each other as they struggle to survive, and their means of survival hardly feels like scifi. There are no ray guns or energy beams or advanced theoretical mathematics. Instead, it's six people figuring out how to survive a flood with nothing more than their own wits and an RV in which to travel (for as long as they can!).
The scifi, however, is still present and seems properly researched. (The afterword comments on this.) Thus, while the struggle for survival is literary in tradition, the situation in which the characters are struggling is scifi in tradition, and looms heavily over the protagonists! For people who balk at the scifi genre, this would be a great novel to ease them into it and see its literary merits. For people who balk at scifi that isn't REALLY scifi, you probably won't like it...but I'd say you're missing out on one of the most fascinating aspects of speculative fiction: its ability to combine the purely fantastic with the humanly real.
*Rings of Ice* is an interesting scifi piece in that, overall, it has the feel of a literary novel. The six main characters (all of them protagonists against the antagonistic worldwide flood) are at odds with themselves and each other as they struggle to survive, and their means of survival hardly feels like scifi. There are no ray guns or energy beams or advanced theoretical mathematics. Instead, it's six people figuring out how to survive a flood with nothing more than their own wits and an RV in which to travel (for as long as they can!).
The scifi, however, is still present and seems properly researched. (The afterword comments on this.) Thus, while the struggle for survival is literary in tradition, the situation in which the characters are struggling is scifi in tradition, and looms heavily over the protagonists! For people who balk at the scifi genre, this would be a great novel to ease them into it and see its literary merits. For people who balk at scifi that isn't REALLY scifi, you probably won't like it...but I'd say you're missing out on one of the most fascinating aspects of speculative fiction: its ability to combine the purely fantastic with the humanly real.
October 26, 2022
The world's coming to an end and a group of people are headed for high ground in an RV - I *had* to read this book! Well, it ended up being a guilty pleasure kind of book. Some comments:
1. I had never read any theories about Earth having ice rings like Saturn before. Interesting hypothesis that our previous rings caused the flood of Noah, but everything I found online suggests we had a Ring millions if not billions of years ago, and the Ring coalesced to form the Moon. Nothing about an ice ring. Last I checked, the prevalent theory was that the melting ice from the Ice Age caused worldwide flooding, but that might not explain the 40 days of rain, so hey, who knows? The part about the Chinese having knowledge of it, in fact Chinese means "Middle Kingdom" because of what they saw in the skies, is intriguing.
2. It had all the expected gruesome survival tale stuff you'd expect. No spoilers.
3. Characters were very one dimensionsal, but that did add to the guilty pleasure part of it.
4. During the early days of the flooding, they didn't listen to the radio. I think a massive opportunity was lost to hear about civilization melting down and order trying to be restored.
But any book I read in 3 days and can't put down and has some science theory behind it gets 4 stars from me.
1. I had never read any theories about Earth having ice rings like Saturn before. Interesting hypothesis that our previous rings caused the flood of Noah, but everything I found online suggests we had a Ring millions if not billions of years ago, and the Ring coalesced to form the Moon. Nothing about an ice ring. Last I checked, the prevalent theory was that the melting ice from the Ice Age caused worldwide flooding, but that might not explain the 40 days of rain, so hey, who knows? The part about the Chinese having knowledge of it, in fact Chinese means "Middle Kingdom" because of what they saw in the skies, is intriguing.
2. It had all the expected gruesome survival tale stuff you'd expect. No spoilers.
3. Characters were very one dimensionsal, but that did add to the guilty pleasure part of it.
4. During the early days of the flooding, they didn't listen to the radio. I think a massive opportunity was lost to hear about civilization melting down and order trying to be restored.
But any book I read in 3 days and can't put down and has some science theory behind it gets 4 stars from me.
June 9, 2020
Having no idea where the story would go, I was taken for a ride, a long one.
Along with the characters, I felt trapped as they did. In the rain, with only one direction to go. Perilous antagony the whole way.
In such circumstances, the story is forced to explore the taboo. Having us, the reader, look at ourselves, and our privilege, and question if we would do the same; wondering if certain things are justified given a particular circumstance. And the answer is reluctantly yes.
I commend the author for covering social topics, such as age, race, gender, sexuality, and disability. Piers addressed each one of these with knowledge and respect; representing a variety of people in this world, most of who aren’t usually given a voice.
The new age of minorities becoming relevant and important and included in the story of this world, is at hand.
Along with the characters, I felt trapped as they did. In the rain, with only one direction to go. Perilous antagony the whole way.
In such circumstances, the story is forced to explore the taboo. Having us, the reader, look at ourselves, and our privilege, and question if we would do the same; wondering if certain things are justified given a particular circumstance. And the answer is reluctantly yes.
I commend the author for covering social topics, such as age, race, gender, sexuality, and disability. Piers addressed each one of these with knowledge and respect; representing a variety of people in this world, most of who aren’t usually given a voice.
The new age of minorities becoming relevant and important and included in the story of this world, is at hand.
December 25, 2019
Look, it’s not a Xanth book!
This book was definitely a bit dated, but it did have a cool “end of all things” feel that is present in the zombie books so popular today. One thing that I really liked: all the characters had weaknesses that would argue against them being survivors, but each brought a strength needed by the group. And so the group of mostly strangers is strong enough (and frequently lucky enough) to last long enough into the apocalypse to make for an interesting tale.
The homophobia is a bit blatant, but I find that the support of one of the characters offsets that. I’d be careful who I recommend this book to, or at least I’d offer warning to those who could be offended, but I found it a short enjoyable book.
This book was definitely a bit dated, but it did have a cool “end of all things” feel that is present in the zombie books so popular today. One thing that I really liked: all the characters had weaknesses that would argue against them being survivors, but each brought a strength needed by the group. And so the group of mostly strangers is strong enough (and frequently lucky enough) to last long enough into the apocalypse to make for an interesting tale.
The homophobia is a bit blatant, but I find that the support of one of the characters offsets that. I’d be careful who I recommend this book to, or at least I’d offer warning to those who could be offended, but I found it a short enjoyable book.
October 22, 2021
Another example of a really cool concept poorly exicuted. Terrible dialogue, pretty unrealistic choices, and the characters are just... off.
This could have been a really cool survival adventure, waterworld style. Instead, it was a cringworthy stumble through a character study full of crazy coo-coo mental patients... and not in a fun way.
This could have been a really cool survival adventure, waterworld style. Instead, it was a cringworthy stumble through a character study full of crazy coo-coo mental patients... and not in a fun way.
November 21, 2025
What the fuck?
Solid concept and writing, specially during the first rain, but the “science” aspect of this supposed science fiction book- despite being supposedly backed by facts- is ridiculously thin, crammed into a measly two pages out of around 180… And it happens right in the middle of a sex scene, of all things. But that’s the least of my complaints- here is a list of a few things in this book that I take quarrel with:
-One of the main characters is a lecherous deadbeat with practically no redeeming qualities, whose character arc ends with him having sex / entering a relationship with a developmentally disabled child. This is supposed to be a “good” thing. What the fuck???
-The main “couple” of the story are solidly likeable at times and have a tiny bit of depth, but aren’t particularly compelling romantically which cripples key points of drama within the book. They kindle their love by making out right over the corpse of one of their traveling companions that they just finished beheading to cannibalize. Weird.
-it’s just kind of weird and rapey, if you couldn’t already guess. I could get through the unfavorable portions but it was all just very offputting and almost entirely unnecessary to the story. The focus on sex took what could have been a solid Noah’s ark-like survival story and pretty quickly morphed it into not much more than “apocalyptic sex van road trip”. With a hint of eugenics sprinkled in for taste. Disturbing.
I have a few more complaints- the book explores concepts that definitely suffer from being written about in the the time period they were written- despite being interesting inclusions- but a level of datedness seems to come standard in a lot of lower-tier fiction of the time. BUT- despite all of the above it was a quick and pretty fun read with a very interesting premise, albeit one more suited to personal thought than the strange direction the author decided to take it in. If you’re interested by the concept it may be worth a shot- if you can scrape past its many horrific flaws.
Solid concept and writing, specially during the first rain, but the “science” aspect of this supposed science fiction book- despite being supposedly backed by facts- is ridiculously thin, crammed into a measly two pages out of around 180… And it happens right in the middle of a sex scene, of all things. But that’s the least of my complaints- here is a list of a few things in this book that I take quarrel with:
-One of the main characters is a lecherous deadbeat with practically no redeeming qualities, whose character arc ends with him having sex / entering a relationship with a developmentally disabled child. This is supposed to be a “good” thing. What the fuck???
-The main “couple” of the story are solidly likeable at times and have a tiny bit of depth, but aren’t particularly compelling romantically which cripples key points of drama within the book. They kindle their love by making out right over the corpse of one of their traveling companions that they just finished beheading to cannibalize. Weird.
-it’s just kind of weird and rapey, if you couldn’t already guess. I could get through the unfavorable portions but it was all just very offputting and almost entirely unnecessary to the story. The focus on sex took what could have been a solid Noah’s ark-like survival story and pretty quickly morphed it into not much more than “apocalyptic sex van road trip”. With a hint of eugenics sprinkled in for taste. Disturbing.
I have a few more complaints- the book explores concepts that definitely suffer from being written about in the the time period they were written- despite being interesting inclusions- but a level of datedness seems to come standard in a lot of lower-tier fiction of the time. BUT- despite all of the above it was a quick and pretty fun read with a very interesting premise, albeit one more suited to personal thought than the strange direction the author decided to take it in. If you’re interested by the concept it may be worth a shot- if you can scrape past its many horrific flaws.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2021
Shows various reactions to a very possible huge climactic change, but also how people with radically different outlooks on life can support each other.
January 10, 2024
While not everything makes sense, it's a well-paced enjoyable read.
August 19, 2014
Ok so I tagged this as post-apoc. But it's really present-apoc. With that out of the way.... I've been reading Piers Anthony books ever since my Pier-Xanth-ony phase 20 years ago. What can I write, other than I'm a sucker for his stories. Saw this one at a friend's house collecting dust and borrowed it. It is a quick read, and has a smattering of science (and science fiction) in it, but mostly focuses on the psychology of a handful of folks who find each other as the deluge to end all storms is raging. The title of the book is explained, eventually, but that is less important than the relationships and the fast-paced action and storytelling. In the end, I can summarize this as a quick and enjoyable read, but like another book, Mute, this novel challenges traditional American conservative thinking on sexuality, a theme of all of Anthony's books I've read, coupled (ha ha) with insight into the acts of desperation the shreds of humanity must give in to in order to survive. I'm also a sucker for sequels--and this one had me wondering, what happened to the characters that survive to the last page? Likely we'll never know--but it is the pondering this very question that perhaps is the intended gift of the book to its readers.
February 18, 2014
I read this book ~25 years ago, and I recalled liking the premise but finding the writing dreadful. FSM knows what compelled me to hunt down a free, digital version so I could test the validity of my memories of it. Still like the premise: imagine that Noah's flood really happened... and it happened again... today. Mayhem ensues. The writing is just atrocious, though. I don't get it, I recall enjoying many books by Piers Anthony; what the hell happened to this one?! Also, the editing is so poor that more than once I had to backtrack, thinking I had just accidentally skipped a page, only to discover that, nope, the story just did leap wildly from one place/time to another with no segue or explanation. Or an expected next step in the narrative is just skipped. Also, the main character is an unpleasant person; I found myself wanting to bitch-slap her repeatedly. Also... oh, let's just leave it at that, shall we? In summary: potentially good story + lousy writing = stabby reader.
April 30, 2015
This book was better than I thought it would be. It starts off with a young woman hitchhiking on a highway in a rainstorm. When a Winnebago with two men inside stop for her, she grows alarms that they won't say where they will let her off and threaten her with a gun (it turns out to be a toy.) They are convinced this is a super-rainstorm that will destroy much of the lowlands they are trying to pick up women and head for the mountains. It turns out Zena is a meteorologist who knows they are basically right and what went wrong with the weather (although from a plot point of view the cause is most irrelevant). This is basically a post-disaster novel with some interesting twists. Each of the survivors is flawed in a unique way -- including one who is afraid of getting wet. This is Piers Anthony before he started rewriting the same novel over and over with different puns.
September 22, 2007
This book has a somewhat plausable "end of the world" scenario. It is possible for a huge amount of water to be introduced to the planet via countless tiny meteors made of ice. However, it barely scratches the surface of the scientific "what if". Understandably, there is not alot of character development since the book is only 181 pages. Being short is actually a benefit, since to address the previously mentioned "what ifs" would have turned this pleasure to read short story into a five day tv miniseries to rival Roots and be far too cerebral to enjoy. Besides, most of the "what ifs" never would have accured to people in the 1970's, when this book was written.
August 27, 2012
I keep this book as a horrible warning in just how bad a novel can get and yet still be published. Everything about this book is dire: the premise, the plot, the characterisation, even the writing (although even when Anthony's having a good day is prose style doesn't precisely sparkle).
Which is odd, because you'd think it would be less memorable. Something about it --- a (highly cliched) military experiment goes wrong causes a flood of, literally, biblical proportions, and then for some reason there are dinosaurs --- sticks in my mind. Which just goes to show that there's something good in even the most awful dreck.
Highly recommended for connoisseurs of the bad.
Which is odd, because you'd think it would be less memorable. Something about it --- a (highly cliched) military experiment goes wrong causes a flood of, literally, biblical proportions, and then for some reason there are dinosaurs --- sticks in my mind. Which just goes to show that there's something good in even the most awful dreck.
Highly recommended for connoisseurs of the bad.
October 28, 2008
An interesting end-of-the-world plot, thin on character as it's fairly short. Still the characterisation that is there is top-notch, the facets explored are explored well.
My second reading and although nothing leapt at me as particularly wonderful, a solid lazy read in the sun gets me gazing up at the clouds and wondering...
My second reading and although nothing leapt at me as particularly wonderful, a solid lazy read in the sun gets me gazing up at the clouds and wondering...
Read
July 9, 2009I read this book during a 4th grade sick day (first book I ever read in one day:>.) I would probably have to read it as an adult to really remember if it was good or great but WOW has it stuck with me. Anytime I see a heavy rain storm, the thought crosses my mind to look for rings or a weird glow in the sky. I think I liked it although it was way over my head in 4th grade.
October 6, 2010
its a one day read. So I spent the afternoon in bed with tonsillitis re-reading it. Its the way I remember it; except I thought Thatch died of gangrene or something. Maybe I made that part up when I read it as a kid. Not much room for the characters to grow out of their wide-variety stereotypes; and they're pretty calm about the end of the world. But still, childhood favorite.
April 3, 2015
The 4 stars are more for nostalgia than anything else. I first read this book in the 1980s and it really resonated with me because it seemed so brutal and painful to read. It still works as apocalyptic fiction, but now I find I am more interested in what happens next, as it sort of ends when things get interesting.
January 26, 2014
Had many ups and downs. The social/genre discourse looks very outdated and at times the plot is almost too pulpy. Still, a couple characters won me, and it's about outcasts surviving a flood! That's three stars. Plus one for very good writing.
March 27, 2017
This book is Piers Anthony at his gritty best. This is quite an insight into human nature. What WOULD you do in this situation?
December 14, 2010
Ringen van ijs
February 20, 2011
Grade C+
October 6, 2011
I read this years ago and it was a pretty good "end of the world as we know it" book. At the time, post-apocalyptic fiction was very popular.
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