Things Fall Apart

Supervolcano #3

by Harry Turtledove

An explosion of incalculable magnitude in Yellowstone Park propelled lava and ash across the landscape and into the atmosphere, forever altering the climate of the entire continent. Nothing grows from the tainted soil. Stalled and stilled machines function only as statuary.
 
People have been scraping by on the excess food and goods produced before the eruption. But supplies are running low. Natural resources are dwindling. And former police officer Colin Ferguson knows that time is running out for his family—and for humanity....

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Apocalyptic, Ebooks

394 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2013

About the author

Dr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.

Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.

Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me apologize at the beginning. I did not like this book. I liked the first two, but most of this book is just the post-eruption day to day lives of the characters from the previous books. No real action or story thread. But since I’d already read the first two books, I slogged through this one.

Through most of the book there’s not a whole lot going on. The main character seems to be Colin and his family. Other events: the new police Chief Malik Williams working to de-modernize the force to accommodate for the after supervolcano conditions by using bicycles and walkie-talkies to catch crooks. Marshall sells a major story to Playboy. Congress passes a Homestead Act to help those in the refugee camps. Rob’s wife gets pregnant. Etc.

But other than the harsher cold, there’s nothing that really has any direct bearing on the super-catastrophe. Could just as easily be a soap opera. The author is obviously trying to capitalize on the excitement of the first two without much luck.

Vanessa getting $10,000 stolen from her savings account by her boyfriend is an interesting thread. Then when the Canadian rivers freeze shutting down the power stations to most of the east coast, things get really serious. And I like the way the little community in Maine have banded together. Dick Barber showing them how to survive alone in the woods at night was interesting. And the band group guys are settling in nicely.

About 2/3rds of the way through, without a word of how or why, all of a sudden Kelly is in Montana, flying off to see the supervolcano damage and all they did was take some soil samples. The abrupt change felt like some pages were missing. I had to go back to check if I’d fallen asleep reading and missed them.

And while I love cats, (I have a highly spoiled one myself) this is not the type of book to have several pages describing Playboy’s (the cat) cute behavior.

Fave scenes: the slide rule, chasing the tuna thief and Squirt Frog and the Evolving Tadpoles’ gig in Greenville.

[Suzanne Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come on blog covering trilogy 8-1-17. www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, if open-ended conclusion to this series. Whilst I did thoroughly enjoy the series, I am somewhat disappointed by this. Not so much because it *spoiler* doesn't end on an apocalyptic note and makes it seem that *spoiler* people are beginning to figure out ways to cope with the changes wrought by the supervolcano and will most likely pull through...probably...there are mentions of *spoiler* things possibly getting worse in Europe...

If anything, this is more the story of Colin and Kelly's marriage...and is just about the only story worth following and is quite nice. Nearly every other character is either annoying, unremarkable, or just meh...and most of them are left on the note of "life goes on" and "you know, things will probably happen to them for the rest of their lives"...I walked away with the deeply unsatisfying feeling that these are just normal people who will have normal problems for the rest of their lives which were at a somewhat inconclusive point by the end...a bit too much like real life for my own preferences.

So, why the four stars? Well, I mean, I genuinely liked this story...especially because it wasn't apocalyptic and that it wasn't world-ending simply because the USA was having a bad day. I cared about what happened with Colin and Kelly and how they coped with the changing world. I especially liked a part near the end where Colin's son, Marshall, who has become something of a small-time writer begins to think about ideas for a novel and goes on a tangent about writing alternate histories, specifically mentioning a Southern Victory...tee hee...kind of cheeky, Mr. Turtledove.

[Kassi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first book of the series was great, really set up a potentially thrilling 'end of civilization as we know it' scenario, but by the middle of the second book it fizzled out. Book 3 is, to all intense and purposes, nothing but a long waffle about the characters and their petty little gripes, their unrealistic 'yep, half of the USA is doing a Pompeii impression, the shift in global climate to winter extremes is causing the world to slowly but definitely pitch back into medieval times mixed with a new Ice Age, but here in the other half of America, the not-Pompeii half, let's bitch about the price of cigarettes, the buses running late and maybe have a band play in the local town hall' attitude is just nonsensical!

'Things Fall Apart' ain't just the title of the book, it sums up the direction this trilogy took, too.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted something to read and seeing this new at the library picked it up. End of the world dystopian type stories are a guilty pleasure of mine. The concept of the story is interesting, a major volcanic eruption in Yellowstone from a previously though dormant volcano, causes major upheavals in environmental and thus societal climes. I have a bad habit of finishing a book even when I am doubtful of why??? The beginning is much better then the ending though. Most of the characters are unlikeable and my biggest complaint is that the author is not very convincing about the difficulty of living in a post eruption world. He describes shortages of food and then in the same paragraph has characters whining about waiting 20 minutes for a bus taking an hour long public transit commute when driving they could have done it is 20 minutes. Okay! Welcome to public transit. That happens everyday in major cities.
I may go back and read the first of the series hoping it will be better. I am a glutton for punishment.

[Joel Flank · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final book in the Supervolcano series continues the story of the Ferguson clan and friends, in a world devastated by the after affects of the Supervolcano eruption 10 years before. While it's an enjoyable read, seeing how well written characters who seem realistic and (mostly) likable struggle in the new paradigm, the third and final book struggles itself in finding a plot to tie the series together. It was great reading about how characters had sometimes forms of closure, or hints of growth and positive change in their individual stories on the horizon after the book's end, the lack of a cohesive plot and climax to the story as a whole weakened the final product.

Fortunately, Turtledove writes in a way which is always enjoyable to read, even for a story about mostly regular people, living regular lives, just in an extraordinary time. By the third book though, there's not enough new to say about the world after the eruption which is substantially different from the first two books to really make this stand out.

[Chris Bailey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok. Granted I happened to pick up #3 in a series but it was so poorly written I couldn't continue. Yikes. This guy has written a zillion books. Some of the must be better than this one!

[c · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive, pointless and full of unlikable people. I was rooting for the corrupt boyfriend and the deteriorating weather.

[Richard Rosenthal · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel length epilogue.

[John Kapusta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not worth the time! After the first two books I now wonder why I read the third which was even more disappointing!

[Nathan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third and final volume of a fascinating, yet slow, series. The author takes a hard, and presumably honest, look at the plausible results of a Yellowstone eruption and the gradual decline of a nation directly affected by it. He looks through the eyes of believable characters, a couple of whom are writers who give the reader an idea of the trials and tribulations faced by those pursuing that craft. Plenty of disaster stories paint pictures of rapid collapse of government, economy, etc., and while that's plausible under certain scenarios, the gradual gasping portrayed here is arguably more realistic, even if less dramatic.

I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed the series as much as I'd hoped, however. The pacing was slow, which I could handle once I reminded myself that this is a drama, and not action/adventure--and it helped that I found the audiobook at the library. The characters, while believable, didn't strike me as sympathetic, and it often felt like the author was using them merely as a way to talk about the effects of a supervolcano eruption using a narrative. While I want to say I trust Turtledove to do his research, certain elements of the worldbuilding didn't ring true to me--for example, gas shortages, power outages, and steep price increases on pretty much everything.

[Blind Mapmaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 By no means a bad book, but still the weakest part of the series. A couple of new characters are interesting, but mainly things are winding down to making the US a third-world country. There area a couple of decent developments, but I would have liked more in the way of twists - way more. What the book does manage is evoke a sense of realism. People hang on any which way they can, though the rugged frontiersmen in Maine are a bit annoying at the end. Thankfully there is not a lot of regenration through violence going on - quite the opposite actually. But then Turtledove is not the typical American writer either. What does get old are his trademark repetitions that are even more pronounced than in the earlier volumes. Yes, we know beef and lamb are really expensive now. If it was the one Jewish POV character that made more of that I would get it, but it's mostly the goyim. All in all a decent end to the trilogy and a welcome change from Turtledove's usual war-based drama.

[Richard Domey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relationships!

Really thought the author was a woman. Nothing much happens throughout the book. Just much ado about nothing. Lots of survival little details get lost in the writing. Mt. St. Helen's taught us how quickly vegetation restarts after being buried in volcanic ash. Ash wouldn't shut down the electric turbines on the Columbia river. All winds blow east from the Columbia thru Yellowstone. Even the initial explosion couldn't have made debris fall into the rivers. Even the Yellowstone river would have flowed backwards into the children's enormous hole. Yes, I know. Literary licence.

[John Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this book just now, and like the second it is not a standalone and not even as somewhat interesting as the second or fun like the first. The secondary plot of the catching of the South Bay Strangler is five and now it was more about coping in an America covered in ash and snow. I only really finished it because it was the conclusion and a sense of duty to Turtledove whom I really enjoyed other titles from more. Again, he needs to avoid writing about relationship and corny imitate moments.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit I am probably being generous. This book, and this series kind of meandered along without any real plot lines for a while. The volcano blew and we followed our entrepid cast of characters through the first book. Then the weather got worse in the second book. Now the third book... the weather is still bad, and they are still hanging on... and... well.. sometimes you got know when to fold them. This book could have gone two ways: (1) Everyone lives on happily every after, or (2) kill 'em all and let God sort them out.
After 3 400p novels I was leaning towards the second option...

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve read and enjoyed Turtledove’s writing for years, but this book was just rubbish. Perhaps T had signed a deal to produce 3 books and the editor was screaming for the last one, so he just vomited some words onto some pages and declared deed done. For all this book was worth, T could have summarized the whole thing by adding one more sentence to book two: And things got worse, the world went to hell in a hand basket, but our dysfunctional family remained isolated in their respective two-foot personal spaces. This series had so much untapped potential. Alas.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this series. Compared to the Hot War series which was very disappointing the Supervolcano trilogy was a complete 180 in the other direction. Although all the eruption excitement occurs in the first book, character development is what made this series a worthwhile read. The only reason I gave Things Fall Apart 4 stars instead of 5 is because it didn't have any surprises or tragedy that would have, in my opinion, added some extra excitement to the story. Other than that I have no complaints.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. Following the lives of Colin Ferguson and his family after the supervolcano.

The one thing that bothered me was the repetition of phrases like (paraphrasing here) "since the volcano" and also repetition of things, very explicitly, from within the same book. Sort of explaining what he already told us....as if we forgot or didn't understand the first time.

But I did enjoy the book, and the series.

[Mark Clarkson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series when it first came out, as the books were published, and really enjoyed them. Going back recently and rereading them back to back was great, picking up things that I did not notice in the first reading. Harry Turtledove is one of my two favorite authors when it comes to speculative fiction, which I read a lot of(I think of it as What If fiction).
This book and the series are well worth time to read and reread down the track

[Eric Leeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the ending of this book. While it was not as suspenseful as I expected, the slow collapse of our infrastructure, the struggle to maintain the pre-eruption quality of life has failed, but things can get better. I was hoping for a Revolution, or at least a major upheaval. A good story, though I think his World War alternate history stories were better.

[Timothy Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good conclusion (?) to the series. The series actually could continue if the author ever wishes to do so, but this leaves the characters in a good place but without major unresolved issues beyond life itself. Very interesting premise from the first book in the series to the third surrounding how the detonation of the world's largest super volcano would effect lives, mostly focusing on the US.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I loved about this series is what would happen to everyday life. Joining this family and their outlook to the situation has been an interesting experience. I felt the Author wrote a plausible story.

[Danny · Rating 2 out of 5]

about what I expected, the drama is...ok. The slow decay and realignment of civilization is interesting but everything still feels disconnected somehow. I just wanted to finish the series.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series.

[Andrew Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, not my favorite Turtledove novel. It mostly follows the day-to-day lives of the characters and completes the trilogy, so I guess it did its job.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible

[Tony Theberge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one wasn't really necessary. the entire book was basically a continuation of the second.....with absolutely NO RESOLUTION to the story arcs. And barely a mention of a SUPERVOLCANO!

[Laura Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

As lame and boring as book 2. Turtledove should have made the Supervolcano Eruption a stand alone novel.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

a trilogy that ended with a whimper