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The Raincoast Saga #2
Since Tomorrow
"Since Tomorrow" is a novel of a world in the remaking. The combined effects of climate change, economic collapse, a world-wide pandemic and a devastating earthquake have transformed Vancouver. The population has been decimated; most trees and houses have been burned for fuel; food is self-grown or acquired by barter; there is no modern technology, no law, education, medicine or government; privation is universal.
An old man called Frost remembers the "good times". Those who live on his "farm" among collapsed warehouses and the foundations of vanished houses at the edge of the city struggle to maintain human values. But when others in this makeshift world are driven only by greed and the need for power, all values must ultimately be replaced by the simple instinct for survival.
"Since Tomorrow" is written in clear, sensuous language. It will appeal equally to those readers with a literary taste and those looking for an absorbing story with plenty of conflict leading to an inevitable violent confrontation.
An old man called Frost remembers the "good times". Those who live on his "farm" among collapsed warehouses and the foundations of vanished houses at the edge of the city struggle to maintain human values. But when others in this makeshift world are driven only by greed and the need for power, all values must ultimately be replaced by the simple instinct for survival.
"Since Tomorrow" is written in clear, sensuous language. It will appeal equally to those readers with a literary taste and those looking for an absorbing story with plenty of conflict leading to an inevitable violent confrontation.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 7, 2011
62 people are currently reading
2863 people want to read
About the author
Morgan Nyberg
17 books174 followersMorgan Nyberg was born in Ontario, Canada and grew up in farming country in southern British Columbia. After graduating from the University of British Columbia he worked as a laborer for a decade before finally settling into teaching. For most of the last 30 years he has lived abroad, teaching English as a Foreign Language in Ecuador, Portugal and the Sultanate of Oman.
His first book, The Crazy Horse Suite, a verse play, was performed on the stage in New York and was broadcast on CBC Radio. Soon after that a memoir won the CBC Literary Competition. His first venture into book-length fiction, a children's novel, Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army, won Canada's prestigious Governor General's Award. Since then he has added a further children's novel, Bad Day in Gladland; two literary novels for adults, El Dorado Shuffle and Mr. Millennium; and the post-apocalyptic Raincoast Saga, comprising The Fixer, Since Tomorrow, Birds of Passage, Medicine and Frost Oysterson. He currently lives on Vancouver Island, Canada.
His first book, The Crazy Horse Suite, a verse play, was performed on the stage in New York and was broadcast on CBC Radio. Soon after that a memoir won the CBC Literary Competition. His first venture into book-length fiction, a children's novel, Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army, won Canada's prestigious Governor General's Award. Since then he has added a further children's novel, Bad Day in Gladland; two literary novels for adults, El Dorado Shuffle and Mr. Millennium; and the post-apocalyptic Raincoast Saga, comprising The Fixer, Since Tomorrow, Birds of Passage, Medicine and Frost Oysterson. He currently lives on Vancouver Island, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 16, 2014
A few weeks ago the award winning author, Morgan Nyberg, sent me an email asking if I’d like to review his novel, Since Tomorrow. I wasn’t sure what to do. Review writing isn’t my métier (I’d previously posted a few on goodreads and Amazon but only to blow off a little steam.) However, I decided to give it a shot and add my voice to the chorus. So here goes:
Since Tomorrow is a compact, well written novel of just over three hundred pages, set in the city of Vancouver about forty years after the collapse of civilization. A pandemic, followed by at least one earthquake, led to the end of the world as we know it, leaving only a handful of survivors. A middle-aged man called Frost leads an extended family (comprising two grandchildren, a couple of friends and assorted hangers-on) on this quest for survival during a time bereft of law, order or commercial inter-dependency. This dark little book asks the reader: How would you survive without the local grocer, clothier, electric and gas companies, or police? The book’s characters keep themselves together by growing root vegetables, by engaging in a little barter and by scalping from long-ago collapsed mercantile outlets. Frost’s clan is agrarian and is morally inclined take care of its members; on the other hand, Langley’s clan pushes people around, takes what it wants and sells drugs. Yup, there you have it—humanity is scrabbling to survive and yet the mainstay of the new economy is still drugs. Kind of heart warming, isn’t it?
There’s the set-up: a world gone wrong, two groups struggling for survival when the bad clan begins an all-out power-grab. So what’s the good guy to do when the little dictator invades Poland—appease the aggressor or fight back? Frost, the potato-growing good guy, begins amassing weapons and friends, and gets ready for a showdown that you, he, and anyone over the age of twelve knows is coming.
OK. Let me confess that Since Tomorrow isn’t the sort of book I’d readily grab at my local bookshop. I’m just not that interested in what the world is going to look like after the ‘big collapse’. It’s not that I’m convinced the whole shebang isn’t about to come tumbling down. No, I avoid these books because I can see that the bricks and mortar are already crumbling. For example, a couple of years back when the Baltimore Sun reported that two vacated buildings had collapsed in South Baltimore they said the authorities didn’t even know if there were people inside. How does that happen? Here’s how: buildings with the water and power cut off are vacated but subsequently repopulated by the sort of invisible people who don’t show up on the census. So who knows who’s living in these buildings? You think any cop in his right mind is going to go poking around these places unless he has to? Same deal with Detroit. It’s rife with abandoned property (the sum of which is equivalent to the size of Manhattan). There are block after block of factories and housing all eerily silent and supposedly empty. But here’s something for the imagination: picture the bottom floor of one of these warehouses flooded and then used by locals as a rink—a rink for God’s sake. Nice hockey game ... until someone finds a body encased in ice, not murdered, just dead and forgotten. One of the invisible people. Baltimore, Detroit, in these cities you’ll find neighbourhoods—no, whole zones—where you definitely don’t want to live, places where street gangs rule the roost, where firefighters are short of gear and equipment, and where paramedics normally arrive too late to make any difference (but how can you blame them when everyone knows that in these ‘battle zones’ it’s open season on first responders, and when half the ambulances are unavailable because they’re broken down?). In these post-apocalyptic, twilight zones sidewalks are strewn with needles or broken vials, and the only place a mom can pick up a jug of milk is the liquor store … and there isn't anywhere she can buy food. It’s just not right to call such a place a zone when it’s more of a no-man’s-land, where kids regularly get hit by stray bullets and where, if these children are able to make it to something remotely resembling a school, there’s still pretty good odds they’ll end up illiterate. And this is in our post-industrial world. If you want to see places where it’s really bad—where there’s no food at all, where the land hasn’t been able to produce food for years, where everyone is starving, where hospitals are mere shells of buildings without the equipment to care for kids dying from cholera—then look at south Sudan. It’s ten times worse there—not ten times worse than urban-decayed America but ten times worse than anything you’ll find in post-apocalyptic literature. You see, the real problem with books like Since Tomorrow is not that they’re not dark enough, it’s that they tend to play into our self-absorption. First, they stoke our angst by telling us something bad may happen to Us in some imagined future, and at the same time they assuage this angst by suggesting that things won’t go to hell tomorrow if we take better care of business today. But, for the love of God, can’t we see that for a major part of the planet it’s already tomorrow and that things are going to hell there right now? And if the horn of Africa seems too remote to evoke any real empathy then try looking at our home-grown post-apocalyptic nightmare. Look at our Indian Act reserves—places where there’s often no clean water, where multiple families are crowded into mouldy trailers, where hope comes in a gasoline can, and where the rate of addiction, suicide and abuse are off the map.
Sorry (well, a little) for going off the rails, but I’m back on track and ready to critique Since Tomorrow. This is a book about light. On every page there is a reference to darkness or to light—to poor light, fading light, twilight, dim light, moonlight, dismal light, or lightlessness. This is a story not only set in twilight but about the twilight of humanity. The reader is left to wonder if at the book’s conclusion the light will spark into fullness or go out altogether. This is a deep and troubling question and I wish Nyberg would have mined it more deeply. Too often the book reads like a young adult tale of a good clan battling an evil one. Surely, there is a greater battle than the one between Frost and Langley. I think Nyberg could have got at this deeper struggle by bringing us into the inner world of the protagonist. Perhaps Nyberg had stylistic reasons for not doing this, but I wish he had.
This is not a book for a metaphysical wonk like me. It is also not a book for science wonks. The story doesn’t give you much detail of how the calamity led to the social collapse; nor does it give you much understanding of what went wrong with the food chain, or explain what happened to the fish or why there are so many rabbits. But, hold on, don’t write off Since Tomorrow. The book may not tell you why the world is as it is, but it does a good job of serving up a cast of characters who must live in a damaged world and survive. If you’re the type of reader who likes Celtic tales or stories of the Dark Ages, stories with gritty characters tasked with a quest, then you’re sure to like Since Tomorrow. And keep in mind that Nyberg is a good, journeyman writer. He trusts his characters to advance the plot (even if it takes him a hundred pages to get traction), his prose is not cluttered with inexpressive phrases and clunkiness, and when he needs to flash back to an earlier period, he kindly gives the reader a lot of para-linguistic ‘clues’ to avoid any confusion. If I were inclined to read about some fictitious dark-age-ahead, I’d pick up Nyberg’s book, but the truth is that I’m more inclined to read (or write) about the hellish dark-age we’ve already created.
-end-
Since Tomorrow is a compact, well written novel of just over three hundred pages, set in the city of Vancouver about forty years after the collapse of civilization. A pandemic, followed by at least one earthquake, led to the end of the world as we know it, leaving only a handful of survivors. A middle-aged man called Frost leads an extended family (comprising two grandchildren, a couple of friends and assorted hangers-on) on this quest for survival during a time bereft of law, order or commercial inter-dependency. This dark little book asks the reader: How would you survive without the local grocer, clothier, electric and gas companies, or police? The book’s characters keep themselves together by growing root vegetables, by engaging in a little barter and by scalping from long-ago collapsed mercantile outlets. Frost’s clan is agrarian and is morally inclined take care of its members; on the other hand, Langley’s clan pushes people around, takes what it wants and sells drugs. Yup, there you have it—humanity is scrabbling to survive and yet the mainstay of the new economy is still drugs. Kind of heart warming, isn’t it?
There’s the set-up: a world gone wrong, two groups struggling for survival when the bad clan begins an all-out power-grab. So what’s the good guy to do when the little dictator invades Poland—appease the aggressor or fight back? Frost, the potato-growing good guy, begins amassing weapons and friends, and gets ready for a showdown that you, he, and anyone over the age of twelve knows is coming.
OK. Let me confess that Since Tomorrow isn’t the sort of book I’d readily grab at my local bookshop. I’m just not that interested in what the world is going to look like after the ‘big collapse’. It’s not that I’m convinced the whole shebang isn’t about to come tumbling down. No, I avoid these books because I can see that the bricks and mortar are already crumbling. For example, a couple of years back when the Baltimore Sun reported that two vacated buildings had collapsed in South Baltimore they said the authorities didn’t even know if there were people inside. How does that happen? Here’s how: buildings with the water and power cut off are vacated but subsequently repopulated by the sort of invisible people who don’t show up on the census. So who knows who’s living in these buildings? You think any cop in his right mind is going to go poking around these places unless he has to? Same deal with Detroit. It’s rife with abandoned property (the sum of which is equivalent to the size of Manhattan). There are block after block of factories and housing all eerily silent and supposedly empty. But here’s something for the imagination: picture the bottom floor of one of these warehouses flooded and then used by locals as a rink—a rink for God’s sake. Nice hockey game ... until someone finds a body encased in ice, not murdered, just dead and forgotten. One of the invisible people. Baltimore, Detroit, in these cities you’ll find neighbourhoods—no, whole zones—where you definitely don’t want to live, places where street gangs rule the roost, where firefighters are short of gear and equipment, and where paramedics normally arrive too late to make any difference (but how can you blame them when everyone knows that in these ‘battle zones’ it’s open season on first responders, and when half the ambulances are unavailable because they’re broken down?). In these post-apocalyptic, twilight zones sidewalks are strewn with needles or broken vials, and the only place a mom can pick up a jug of milk is the liquor store … and there isn't anywhere she can buy food. It’s just not right to call such a place a zone when it’s more of a no-man’s-land, where kids regularly get hit by stray bullets and where, if these children are able to make it to something remotely resembling a school, there’s still pretty good odds they’ll end up illiterate. And this is in our post-industrial world. If you want to see places where it’s really bad—where there’s no food at all, where the land hasn’t been able to produce food for years, where everyone is starving, where hospitals are mere shells of buildings without the equipment to care for kids dying from cholera—then look at south Sudan. It’s ten times worse there—not ten times worse than urban-decayed America but ten times worse than anything you’ll find in post-apocalyptic literature. You see, the real problem with books like Since Tomorrow is not that they’re not dark enough, it’s that they tend to play into our self-absorption. First, they stoke our angst by telling us something bad may happen to Us in some imagined future, and at the same time they assuage this angst by suggesting that things won’t go to hell tomorrow if we take better care of business today. But, for the love of God, can’t we see that for a major part of the planet it’s already tomorrow and that things are going to hell there right now? And if the horn of Africa seems too remote to evoke any real empathy then try looking at our home-grown post-apocalyptic nightmare. Look at our Indian Act reserves—places where there’s often no clean water, where multiple families are crowded into mouldy trailers, where hope comes in a gasoline can, and where the rate of addiction, suicide and abuse are off the map.
Sorry (well, a little) for going off the rails, but I’m back on track and ready to critique Since Tomorrow. This is a book about light. On every page there is a reference to darkness or to light—to poor light, fading light, twilight, dim light, moonlight, dismal light, or lightlessness. This is a story not only set in twilight but about the twilight of humanity. The reader is left to wonder if at the book’s conclusion the light will spark into fullness or go out altogether. This is a deep and troubling question and I wish Nyberg would have mined it more deeply. Too often the book reads like a young adult tale of a good clan battling an evil one. Surely, there is a greater battle than the one between Frost and Langley. I think Nyberg could have got at this deeper struggle by bringing us into the inner world of the protagonist. Perhaps Nyberg had stylistic reasons for not doing this, but I wish he had.
This is not a book for a metaphysical wonk like me. It is also not a book for science wonks. The story doesn’t give you much detail of how the calamity led to the social collapse; nor does it give you much understanding of what went wrong with the food chain, or explain what happened to the fish or why there are so many rabbits. But, hold on, don’t write off Since Tomorrow. The book may not tell you why the world is as it is, but it does a good job of serving up a cast of characters who must live in a damaged world and survive. If you’re the type of reader who likes Celtic tales or stories of the Dark Ages, stories with gritty characters tasked with a quest, then you’re sure to like Since Tomorrow. And keep in mind that Nyberg is a good, journeyman writer. He trusts his characters to advance the plot (even if it takes him a hundred pages to get traction), his prose is not cluttered with inexpressive phrases and clunkiness, and when he needs to flash back to an earlier period, he kindly gives the reader a lot of para-linguistic ‘clues’ to avoid any confusion. If I were inclined to read about some fictitious dark-age-ahead, I’d pick up Nyberg’s book, but the truth is that I’m more inclined to read (or write) about the hellish dark-age we’ve already created.
-end-
May 28, 2014
This was an extremely well-written post-apocalyptic novel set in British Columbia, Canada. I have read a lot of post-apocalyptic writing and it was interesting to see one done within a Canadian context. The descriptions of the characters created extremely vivid pictures of them and I feel as if they have become so familiar to me that I would recognize them if I saw them in real life. There are a lot of dangers in this world and the characters are all damaged in some way by what they have endured and continue to endure. There are attempts to create community but the pervasive lawlessness within this not-so-brave-new-world creates a bleak and chilling overall picture of the human condition. I really appreciated how the author interwove backstories of characters into the overall narrative so that I could understand how characters such as Frost survived the end-of-the-world as they knew it and yet managed to rebuild a new one. Frost's battle with Langley was fascinating and I wished I could have learned more about their past relationship as they end up representing 2 very different versions of post-apocalyptic civilization. I found the character Noor to be especially intriguing as she was clearly being groomed to become the new leader after her grandfather Frost. The flashback Noor has of her parents is one of the few moments in the story where there is a sense of carefreeness. Most of the story involves characters struggling to survive in a harsh world in which no one seems to be able to trust or depend on anyone else (with a few exceptions). Although hope is very bleak through much of this story, the determination of humans to survive despite the odds is prevalent throughout. Fans of post-apocalyptic literature will find this story well-worth reading.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
August 20, 2013
Since Tomorrow, by Morgan Nyberg is a post-apocalyptic drama apparently set in Vancouver at some point in the future. I only know this because of a note on the copyright page to the effect that, “some features of Greater Vancouver have been altered, removed or exaggerated.” While reading the book, I was never quite sure of the where and when.
In truth, that’s the way I felt for much of the novel – uncertain. The characters are compelling and I felt a great deal of compassion for Frost, Noor and William. They are a family struggling against implacable enemies bent on destroying them and all they’ve built since the unknown disaster which apparently struck Earth some twenty odd years before. Exactly what happened is left largely to reader imaginings. There are indications of a fuel shortage coupled with a plague whose dimensions and type are only vaguely referred to.
Somehow, the Earth this trio and their compatriots live in has been denuded of forests, snow, electricity and technology, though the remnants of the society we recognize as modern are all around them. Plastic bottles, truck flywheels and silver Christmas ornaments are traded with equal avidity for the ubiquitous “spuds,” which are apparently the only vegetable besides carrots now under routine cultivation. Except “skag,” an opiate derived, as it is today, from poppies. All the ills of our current society are writ large by the daily struggle for survival. Misogyny, drug addiction, betrayal and greed threaten the small community as it strives to prosper in a world that appears to be slowly dying. Langley, the villain of the piece and, not coincidentally, the skag farmer, wants everything; the farms, the women, the detritus of a broken world and the subjugation of every human within his reach.
Nyberg’s writing is spare and precise, almost painfully so, and yet there is a certain poetry to it. “People carved out personal space with curses and slashing elbows while still managing to advertise a shoelace, or a six-inch bolt complete with nut…” The reader can hear the desperate whisper of the Town voices calling, “lookit, lookit what I got.” The story is almost unbearably sad. And yet, I couldn’t stop reading.
There is something compelling in the tale that demands your attention, forces you to stick it out to the end. It isn’t the fascination of the train wreck. Perhaps it is very good writing coupled with the all too human desire that something, please mercy, something, must eventually go well for these people. Or, it may be the currently unpopular truth enfolded in these pages that some things are worth fighting, even dying for. Then again, maybe it is the thread of self-sacrifice and love that runs through the novel like a secret river that, all by itself, makes it worth the read.
Whatever the reason, I do recommend Since Tomorrow. But you may want to take an anti-depressant while reading it.
In truth, that’s the way I felt for much of the novel – uncertain. The characters are compelling and I felt a great deal of compassion for Frost, Noor and William. They are a family struggling against implacable enemies bent on destroying them and all they’ve built since the unknown disaster which apparently struck Earth some twenty odd years before. Exactly what happened is left largely to reader imaginings. There are indications of a fuel shortage coupled with a plague whose dimensions and type are only vaguely referred to.
Somehow, the Earth this trio and their compatriots live in has been denuded of forests, snow, electricity and technology, though the remnants of the society we recognize as modern are all around them. Plastic bottles, truck flywheels and silver Christmas ornaments are traded with equal avidity for the ubiquitous “spuds,” which are apparently the only vegetable besides carrots now under routine cultivation. Except “skag,” an opiate derived, as it is today, from poppies. All the ills of our current society are writ large by the daily struggle for survival. Misogyny, drug addiction, betrayal and greed threaten the small community as it strives to prosper in a world that appears to be slowly dying. Langley, the villain of the piece and, not coincidentally, the skag farmer, wants everything; the farms, the women, the detritus of a broken world and the subjugation of every human within his reach.
Nyberg’s writing is spare and precise, almost painfully so, and yet there is a certain poetry to it. “People carved out personal space with curses and slashing elbows while still managing to advertise a shoelace, or a six-inch bolt complete with nut…” The reader can hear the desperate whisper of the Town voices calling, “lookit, lookit what I got.” The story is almost unbearably sad. And yet, I couldn’t stop reading.
There is something compelling in the tale that demands your attention, forces you to stick it out to the end. It isn’t the fascination of the train wreck. Perhaps it is very good writing coupled with the all too human desire that something, please mercy, something, must eventually go well for these people. Or, it may be the currently unpopular truth enfolded in these pages that some things are worth fighting, even dying for. Then again, maybe it is the thread of self-sacrifice and love that runs through the novel like a secret river that, all by itself, makes it worth the read.
Whatever the reason, I do recommend Since Tomorrow. But you may want to take an anti-depressant while reading it.
February 28, 2012
Since Tomorrow by Morgan Nyberg is an unsettling novel, in the way only a powerful, well-crafted book can be, using its words to twist into your mind and make you think. It’s the type of book that resonates right into the back of your mind and curls around your soul.
The book is set in a post-apocalyptic future, where excess and dissipation have finally caught up with the world and where society has self-destructed. The novel unfolds within the city of Vancouver, Canada, where a small population survives, eking out a meagre existence by farming and scavenging.
This is a magnificent book that lays out an exquisitely formed vision of a broken world that has lost the trappings of civilisation as we know it, but none of its emotional underpinning. In this new society we still find people trying to form communities, people trying to take advantage, some who have given up, and some who want to make it better. No punches are pulled here in the pages; characters die, both victories and tragedies happen and life goes on despite everything. The author gives you characters you can love and hate, all living in an amazingly realistic future world.
In so many ways this book just works effortlessly, giving the reader different levels of enjoyment or reflection in its words. I highly recommend this book; it is worth your time to read it.
The book is set in a post-apocalyptic future, where excess and dissipation have finally caught up with the world and where society has self-destructed. The novel unfolds within the city of Vancouver, Canada, where a small population survives, eking out a meagre existence by farming and scavenging.
This is a magnificent book that lays out an exquisitely formed vision of a broken world that has lost the trappings of civilisation as we know it, but none of its emotional underpinning. In this new society we still find people trying to form communities, people trying to take advantage, some who have given up, and some who want to make it better. No punches are pulled here in the pages; characters die, both victories and tragedies happen and life goes on despite everything. The author gives you characters you can love and hate, all living in an amazingly realistic future world.
In so many ways this book just works effortlessly, giving the reader different levels of enjoyment or reflection in its words. I highly recommend this book; it is worth your time to read it.
June 1, 2013
I loved the concept for this book. A desolate city, with the few remaining inhabitants struggling to survive and rebuild after climate change, pandemic and economic collapse decimate the world as we know it.
It starts really well, throwing the reader into this world by showing a market place where people trade bits and bobs found in the old, abandoned and ruined city for food grown by groups with farms and drugs grown by those with no motives but greed. It set the tone, introduced the characters and immersed me into the setting well.
By far my favourite character was Noor. She was equal parts human, with realistic emotion and a pragmatic realist. Overall i thought most of the characters and their development were well done. I cared about who i was supposed to care about, i hated (oh, how i hated) the people i was supposed to hate and i was suspicious about all the people who had something to be suspicious of. In fact, Grace and Brandon may have been my two second favourite characters precisely for their suspiciousness.
Ultimately, this was an interesting and well told story about survival in a decimated world. I may have has issues with a few characters, but the fact that i had them means they were well written enough for me to feel something, which is always better than not feeling anything at all. The characters are what made this book for me.
My longer review with spoilers can be read at: http://marvelatwords.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/since-tomorrow/
It starts really well, throwing the reader into this world by showing a market place where people trade bits and bobs found in the old, abandoned and ruined city for food grown by groups with farms and drugs grown by those with no motives but greed. It set the tone, introduced the characters and immersed me into the setting well.
By far my favourite character was Noor. She was equal parts human, with realistic emotion and a pragmatic realist. Overall i thought most of the characters and their development were well done. I cared about who i was supposed to care about, i hated (oh, how i hated) the people i was supposed to hate and i was suspicious about all the people who had something to be suspicious of. In fact, Grace and Brandon may have been my two second favourite characters precisely for their suspiciousness.
Ultimately, this was an interesting and well told story about survival in a decimated world. I may have has issues with a few characters, but the fact that i had them means they were well written enough for me to feel something, which is always better than not feeling anything at all. The characters are what made this book for me.
My longer review with spoilers can be read at: http://marvelatwords.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/since-tomorrow/
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September 2, 2014This is very difficult for me, as I genuinely wanted to like this book. But it was so difficult for me to get into that, after starting and restarting over and over for nearly 10 months and never getting past page 36, I was never going to finish this book.
I feel really bad about it, as I won it in a Goodreads giveaway and was really hoping to love it, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I felt like there was too much minute detail and too much focus was placed on unnecessary dialogue and unimportant occurrences for me to enjoy it - everyday, dull, pointless conversations, while realistic, lend nothing to a story and I felt as though the main character going all the way to his neighbor's land to have a six-second conversation then go home could have been better mentioned in passing than journeyed in the story.
I'm sorry, Mr. Nyberg, and I hope everyone else who gives this book a go enjoys it. It just wasn't for me.
Since I never made it very far, I won't give it a rating. If I'd managed to continue forward, it may have become a new favorite and I don't want to disrespect that possibility with a low score.
I feel really bad about it, as I won it in a Goodreads giveaway and was really hoping to love it, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I felt like there was too much minute detail and too much focus was placed on unnecessary dialogue and unimportant occurrences for me to enjoy it - everyday, dull, pointless conversations, while realistic, lend nothing to a story and I felt as though the main character going all the way to his neighbor's land to have a six-second conversation then go home could have been better mentioned in passing than journeyed in the story.
I'm sorry, Mr. Nyberg, and I hope everyone else who gives this book a go enjoys it. It just wasn't for me.
Since I never made it very far, I won't give it a rating. If I'd managed to continue forward, it may have become a new favorite and I don't want to disrespect that possibility with a low score.
August 25, 2013
The whole time reading this I was sitting on the "Do I like this or don't I " fence. I realize a good post apocalypse story makes you sit that fence. I mean, are we supposed to ENJOY a post Apocalypse world? Or should we view them as cautionary tale, Reader BE AWARE the potential ?
So, I am still here on my fence. I needed to see this story through to the end. I felt for the characters and the world they lived in. The world they created.I could see it, hear it, smell it. It was cold. I was satisfied as a reader of the story, and the end. Fitting.
I guess my one issue is how the story was written.And for the life of me I can't say more than that. I found it hard at times to simply read. But I do recommend it.
I needed to add one more thought.I realize in this world things are hard to come by. Like clothes it seems. I understand being covered in bits of plastic. But seriously, where are peoples pants? Do we forget how to make pants in the apocalypse? If we can fashion a poncho surely we can fashion some kind of pants.
So, I am still here on my fence. I needed to see this story through to the end. I felt for the characters and the world they lived in. The world they created.I could see it, hear it, smell it. It was cold. I was satisfied as a reader of the story, and the end. Fitting.
I guess my one issue is how the story was written.And for the life of me I can't say more than that. I found it hard at times to simply read. But I do recommend it.
I needed to add one more thought.I realize in this world things are hard to come by. Like clothes it seems. I understand being covered in bits of plastic. But seriously, where are peoples pants? Do we forget how to make pants in the apocalypse? If we can fashion a poncho surely we can fashion some kind of pants.
December 8, 2016
Much like a fire started without matches or a lighter, 'Since Tomorrow' is a bit of a slow burn.
It has a number of false starts, with some smoke but only a sputtering, inconsistent ember at first, generating precious little heat. These opening attempts can be frustrating, and one begins to doubt that all the effort isn't going to go anywhere after all.
But, once it gets going, 'Since Tomorrow' is satisfying and surprisingly warm, with characters that eventually take shape and a story that burns steadily, though not brilliantly.
In the end, it is a worthy effort... though one still can't help but wish for a match or two to get things going a little faster.
It has a number of false starts, with some smoke but only a sputtering, inconsistent ember at first, generating precious little heat. These opening attempts can be frustrating, and one begins to doubt that all the effort isn't going to go anywhere after all.
But, once it gets going, 'Since Tomorrow' is satisfying and surprisingly warm, with characters that eventually take shape and a story that burns steadily, though not brilliantly.
In the end, it is a worthy effort... though one still can't help but wish for a match or two to get things going a little faster.
July 4, 2018
Rough piece of work
This takes place in the future after a series of small catastrophes kills society as we know it. Apparently, the author really puts himself in his characters because their are spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors just like the characters in his book that can't read or don't understand words.
I read the snippet in the back for book two. The author lacks creativity using exact blow by blow narration that was present in this book. Not worth the time. Pass this one by.
This takes place in the future after a series of small catastrophes kills society as we know it. Apparently, the author really puts himself in his characters because their are spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors just like the characters in his book that can't read or don't understand words.
I read the snippet in the back for book two. The author lacks creativity using exact blow by blow narration that was present in this book. Not worth the time. Pass this one by.
Read
May 22, 2024I read "The Fixer" and it seemed interesting, so I continued with the series.
Honestly, I don't know what to say...I still like the idea, the premise of the book but...it's hard for me to read...
Maybe it's my fault...
English is not my first language...
Sooo DNF for me at 30%
Honestly, I don't know what to say...I still like the idea, the premise of the book but...it's hard for me to read...
Maybe it's my fault...
English is not my first language...
Sooo DNF for me at 30%
March 28, 2012
I read this book slowly on purpose, revelling in the beautiful, spare descriptions, and was totally caught up in the story from the start. I could have been reading Faulkner or Hemingway, the writing was so powerful.
The time is two generations in the future; the place is Vancouver. But you wouldn't recognize this blasted landscape as a city, let alone as that thriving metropolis in the Pacific Northwest. Gone entirely are modern essentials like computers, cars, telephones, airplanes and electricity. Buildings are abandoned. Roads are overgrown with weeds. The world as we know it has been destroyed by a series of calamities and plagues, leaving only a few hardy bands of survivors. They go around in the mud wearing sandals made from cut-out pieces of auto tires and subsist mainly on potatoes and whatever meat they can raise or hunt.
At the center of the story is Frost, a grandfather who is a leader and a fighter and a thinker. Frost and his group of refugees and survivors conduct a war of wills against the enemy, Langley, who wants to take away his farm for its good strategic location and solidly built stone farmhouse. It is a simple story, a struggle between good and evil.
The descriptions of clothing are given in such haunting detail, they might just stay with you forever: "She had on rubber boots and very baggy trousers of undyed canvas tied with nylon cord. She wore a flannel logger's shirt on which the red and black plaid was just visible. Her white hair hung long and loose. She was badly stooped, and she used a length of rusted reinforcing bar to help her as she hobbled toward the boys."
People trade broken scavenged objects for food, clothing, drugs or weapons. Addicts are strung out on a drug called skag. In this place and time guns are almost entirely absent, and typical weapons are a length of reinforcing bar or a two-by-four. Frost's group develops bows and arrows while Langley's soldiers are equipped with crossbows. Frost also has dogs, useful as sentries and in battle.
All the characters in Since Tomorrow are lovingly fleshed out, from old Daniel Charlie, maker of wagon wheels and arrows and bows, to Grace, who excels at amputating limbs when all else fails, to Will, the precocious grandson who has memorized "The Art of War" and counsels his grandpa on strategy. Will's older sister is Noor, and she makes heads turn. Willow is the name of a woman who falls victim to the irresistible drug, skag. Other women are called Salmon or Amber or Cloud. The men's names are no less arresting: Pender, Nordel, Tyrell, Fundy, Wing, BC, Shaughnessy, Granville, Robson, Bailey. The author has created a world in which people's story is suggested by their name, the way it was a thousand years ago. They don't have much left, but they have a name, and there is dignity in these names.
If you like stories which portray an arduous and dangerous existence but end with a message of hope, however bleak, you will love Since Tomorrow. This book is highly recommended.
The time is two generations in the future; the place is Vancouver. But you wouldn't recognize this blasted landscape as a city, let alone as that thriving metropolis in the Pacific Northwest. Gone entirely are modern essentials like computers, cars, telephones, airplanes and electricity. Buildings are abandoned. Roads are overgrown with weeds. The world as we know it has been destroyed by a series of calamities and plagues, leaving only a few hardy bands of survivors. They go around in the mud wearing sandals made from cut-out pieces of auto tires and subsist mainly on potatoes and whatever meat they can raise or hunt.
At the center of the story is Frost, a grandfather who is a leader and a fighter and a thinker. Frost and his group of refugees and survivors conduct a war of wills against the enemy, Langley, who wants to take away his farm for its good strategic location and solidly built stone farmhouse. It is a simple story, a struggle between good and evil.
The descriptions of clothing are given in such haunting detail, they might just stay with you forever: "She had on rubber boots and very baggy trousers of undyed canvas tied with nylon cord. She wore a flannel logger's shirt on which the red and black plaid was just visible. Her white hair hung long and loose. She was badly stooped, and she used a length of rusted reinforcing bar to help her as she hobbled toward the boys."
People trade broken scavenged objects for food, clothing, drugs or weapons. Addicts are strung out on a drug called skag. In this place and time guns are almost entirely absent, and typical weapons are a length of reinforcing bar or a two-by-four. Frost's group develops bows and arrows while Langley's soldiers are equipped with crossbows. Frost also has dogs, useful as sentries and in battle.
All the characters in Since Tomorrow are lovingly fleshed out, from old Daniel Charlie, maker of wagon wheels and arrows and bows, to Grace, who excels at amputating limbs when all else fails, to Will, the precocious grandson who has memorized "The Art of War" and counsels his grandpa on strategy. Will's older sister is Noor, and she makes heads turn. Willow is the name of a woman who falls victim to the irresistible drug, skag. Other women are called Salmon or Amber or Cloud. The men's names are no less arresting: Pender, Nordel, Tyrell, Fundy, Wing, BC, Shaughnessy, Granville, Robson, Bailey. The author has created a world in which people's story is suggested by their name, the way it was a thousand years ago. They don't have much left, but they have a name, and there is dignity in these names.
If you like stories which portray an arduous and dangerous existence but end with a message of hope, however bleak, you will love Since Tomorrow. This book is highly recommended.
October 14, 2015
Book Review
NOTE: I received this book for free from the author through Goodreads First Reads in return for an unbiased review.
Title: Since Tomorrow
Author: Morgan Nyberg
ISBN-13: 978-1478336273
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction.
“Since Tomorrow” is a post-apocalyptic novel set approximately two generations after Vancouver (and the world) has been transformed by economic collapse, pandemic, climate and earth changes into Town, a grim, squalid, brutal place with desperate people clinging to survival, usually by savaging and bartering. Advanced technology, law, education, bulk clothing and food manufacture, and medicine are things of a by-gone era.
Old Frost remembers the “good times”, before “the end of the world as we knew it”. Living on his farm among collapsed warehouses and foundations of vanished houses, Frost, his grandchildren (Noor and William), and his community try to improve the world around them. However, others in Town are driven by greed and power-lust. The inevitable confrontation thus arises when the local drug lord decides to expand his “wealth” and take over neighbouring farms. Compassionate values must be then sacrificed for survival and people must decide if they are going to defend what is theirs or give up.
Ultimately, this is a story exploring human nature and human resilience. There are people who form communities, the addicts, the do-gooders, the greedy, the foolish, the weak-willed, the strong, the leaders and the followers.
The writing style is sparse, with no unnecessary words, but still manages to convey emotions and illustrate settings. This is a well written book with fleshed out characters that you can love or hate (depending on character).
I cannot say that I “enjoyed” this book. I found the whole situation depressing...but there are happy times amongst the sad. This story was definitely compelling though. I can't stop thinking about it and the characters. This book would make a unique addition to any reader’s shelf.
UPDATE: 4 November 2013.
I lent the book to my boyfriend. After the first 7 pages his comment was "different, very unusual".
NOTE: I received this book for free from the author through Goodreads First Reads in return for an unbiased review.
Title: Since Tomorrow
Author: Morgan Nyberg
ISBN-13: 978-1478336273
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction.
“Since Tomorrow” is a post-apocalyptic novel set approximately two generations after Vancouver (and the world) has been transformed by economic collapse, pandemic, climate and earth changes into Town, a grim, squalid, brutal place with desperate people clinging to survival, usually by savaging and bartering. Advanced technology, law, education, bulk clothing and food manufacture, and medicine are things of a by-gone era.
Old Frost remembers the “good times”, before “the end of the world as we knew it”. Living on his farm among collapsed warehouses and foundations of vanished houses, Frost, his grandchildren (Noor and William), and his community try to improve the world around them. However, others in Town are driven by greed and power-lust. The inevitable confrontation thus arises when the local drug lord decides to expand his “wealth” and take over neighbouring farms. Compassionate values must be then sacrificed for survival and people must decide if they are going to defend what is theirs or give up.
Ultimately, this is a story exploring human nature and human resilience. There are people who form communities, the addicts, the do-gooders, the greedy, the foolish, the weak-willed, the strong, the leaders and the followers.
The writing style is sparse, with no unnecessary words, but still manages to convey emotions and illustrate settings. This is a well written book with fleshed out characters that you can love or hate (depending on character).
I cannot say that I “enjoyed” this book. I found the whole situation depressing...but there are happy times amongst the sad. This story was definitely compelling though. I can't stop thinking about it and the characters. This book would make a unique addition to any reader’s shelf.
UPDATE: 4 November 2013.
I lent the book to my boyfriend. After the first 7 pages his comment was "different, very unusual".
December 16, 2013
I received a free e copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I truly dislike having to review books that I don't love. I can tell the author is talented in his ability to write. It seems quite a few people enjoyed this story immensely. I saw the potential. I think I would have enjoyed this story more if it was written differently, possibly more fluidly. And maybe that is why there are so many varying reviews.
This was not a story I would usually read. Yes, I love post-apacolyptic books, however this was so very depressing to me. I dislike depressing stuff. This story centers around good vs evil, in a very bleak future. And I am very much a "sunshine and rainbows" kind of person. I really wanted to like this story but I had a hard time as it was such a desolate story. Where others saw hope, I didn't. I wanted to but just couldn't - I think I had already given up. On top of that, it was very confusing for me. The writing style is extremely choppy and I struggled to read it. example: chapter 35 "His voice had risen. The whine was there. His eyes widened. He produced a choked chuckle. He shook his head." I couldn't keep up with what was happening half the time. And maybe that's a testament to the author's brilliance... Maybe it was too well written for me to understand? Maybe...
The plot felt aimless for the first half. When I finally felt like there was a point to the story, I had a hard time caring. It just felt so hopeless. And a good portion of it just felt like random ramblings and unclear context.
With all that being said, I will give the author another chance. I am now partially invested and look forward to the next book in this series. Lets hope that either the author can redeem himself or I can... And maybe I will love the next book.
I truly dislike having to review books that I don't love. I can tell the author is talented in his ability to write. It seems quite a few people enjoyed this story immensely. I saw the potential. I think I would have enjoyed this story more if it was written differently, possibly more fluidly. And maybe that is why there are so many varying reviews.
This was not a story I would usually read. Yes, I love post-apacolyptic books, however this was so very depressing to me. I dislike depressing stuff. This story centers around good vs evil, in a very bleak future. And I am very much a "sunshine and rainbows" kind of person. I really wanted to like this story but I had a hard time as it was such a desolate story. Where others saw hope, I didn't. I wanted to but just couldn't - I think I had already given up. On top of that, it was very confusing for me. The writing style is extremely choppy and I struggled to read it. example: chapter 35 "His voice had risen. The whine was there. His eyes widened. He produced a choked chuckle. He shook his head." I couldn't keep up with what was happening half the time. And maybe that's a testament to the author's brilliance... Maybe it was too well written for me to understand? Maybe...
The plot felt aimless for the first half. When I finally felt like there was a point to the story, I had a hard time caring. It just felt so hopeless. And a good portion of it just felt like random ramblings and unclear context.
With all that being said, I will give the author another chance. I am now partially invested and look forward to the next book in this series. Lets hope that either the author can redeem himself or I can... And maybe I will love the next book.
June 22, 2013
Good vs. evil - surviving yet maintaining our humanity
I read a lot of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. "Since Tomorrow" is one of the better examples I've seen of these genres.
Our poor future world has a lot to survive in this tale - financial collapse, a pandemic, earthquakes, climatic changes, and marauders - oh my!
The story takes place about fifty years in the future around what used to be Vancouver, BC (but the people that live there just call it Town). The people farm, barter, live very primitive lives but are fairly satisfied with their lots in life - until the local drug lord decides he wants property that isn't his. Then the people have to decide to take a stand to keep what is theirs.
Character development was superb. I loved Frost, Noor and Will. I also loved the place that dogs had in the people's daily lives - for companionship and protection. The characters were not your usual stereotypical gung ho post-apocalyptic heroes. They were real people with weaknesses and strengths.
I did think that the people were very primitive, as far as food, weapons, living conditions, clothing, etc. were concerned. I would think more technology (medicines, transportation and so forth) would have survived or been able to be resurrected, from word-of-mouth and books. But that is the author's prerogative. Nyberg got to create the world that he visualized, not the one in my mind. And I enjoyed visiting his world.
I read a lot of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. "Since Tomorrow" is one of the better examples I've seen of these genres.
Our poor future world has a lot to survive in this tale - financial collapse, a pandemic, earthquakes, climatic changes, and marauders - oh my!
The story takes place about fifty years in the future around what used to be Vancouver, BC (but the people that live there just call it Town). The people farm, barter, live very primitive lives but are fairly satisfied with their lots in life - until the local drug lord decides he wants property that isn't his. Then the people have to decide to take a stand to keep what is theirs.
Character development was superb. I loved Frost, Noor and Will. I also loved the place that dogs had in the people's daily lives - for companionship and protection. The characters were not your usual stereotypical gung ho post-apocalyptic heroes. They were real people with weaknesses and strengths.
I did think that the people were very primitive, as far as food, weapons, living conditions, clothing, etc. were concerned. I would think more technology (medicines, transportation and so forth) would have survived or been able to be resurrected, from word-of-mouth and books. But that is the author's prerogative. Nyberg got to create the world that he visualized, not the one in my mind. And I enjoyed visiting his world.
September 10, 2013
I received a copy from the the author, through the publishing company, in exchange for an honest review.
Set in the future after multiple events leave Earth a desolate wasteland, SINCE TOMORROW follows the story of a few main characters and their fellow survivors. Everyone receives a new name in a time when not enough people are left for last names to matter. Frost, Noor, and William struggle to eke out a living in ramshackle leftovers of a once great yesterday. Small communities form, and inevitably turn against each other. With the other side bent on destruction, Frost's community has to choose whether to succumb or fight for a new tomorrow.
A big fan of dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction, I was skeptical at first if I was enjoying such a bleak tale. The author starts out slow, but packs a big punch about halfway through. As you start to care about the characters, it's easier to imagine the world in which they're now living.
As much as the first part bored me, the second half wowed me. It seems that Nyberg hit his stride when describing action scenes. Each character started to develop their own rhythm and speech patterns. The ending is bittersweet, and that's all I will tell you. :) Happy reading.
Set in the future after multiple events leave Earth a desolate wasteland, SINCE TOMORROW follows the story of a few main characters and their fellow survivors. Everyone receives a new name in a time when not enough people are left for last names to matter. Frost, Noor, and William struggle to eke out a living in ramshackle leftovers of a once great yesterday. Small communities form, and inevitably turn against each other. With the other side bent on destruction, Frost's community has to choose whether to succumb or fight for a new tomorrow.
A big fan of dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction, I was skeptical at first if I was enjoying such a bleak tale. The author starts out slow, but packs a big punch about halfway through. As you start to care about the characters, it's easier to imagine the world in which they're now living.
As much as the first part bored me, the second half wowed me. It seems that Nyberg hit his stride when describing action scenes. Each character started to develop their own rhythm and speech patterns. The ending is bittersweet, and that's all I will tell you. :) Happy reading.
August 12, 2016
It was a bit difficult to decide how to rate this. If I rate it strictly on how much I enjoyed it, it is probably close to a four. There were, however, some issues I had with the book. One issue is the names of some of the characters. The oldest character - Frost - along with a few others, were present in the 'old days' before society collapsed. Somehow, in all of this short time, we have people named Freeway and Airport, for instance? Society passed down knowledge of names for hundreds of years, without the aid of written words, yet they didn't forget what common names were. I can overlook that, though. My other issue is how the author depicted 'fundamentalist Christians' in this book, in comparison to the liberal hippies - they were both pictures of extremes. Again, the primary Christian in the series was probably a baby or a child when society collapsed - meaning his parents were normal people before. So can anyone explain to me the language usage by this group? I could go on with these nit picked issues, but I did really enjoy the book itself and would hate to have somehow dissuaded someone from reading it. I just felt it could have been better.
May 2, 2014
To date, this is the best, dystopian I have read. By 'best', I mean 'most realistic'.
The book starts out several years after life as we knew it ends. It's set in the Pacific northwest of the US, and people have come to 'town' to trade their wares. They trade anything from a single shoelace to edible roots they find or happen to grow, from the handle of a knife to a shard of a mirror. The lucky ones have potatoes.
Modern medicine is ancient history, but one group which is led by a man known as 'Langley', and a rather mercenary one at that, grows poppies for heroin. The cost for their goods is high, and often results in the taking of lives.
One man, Frost, is a natural-born leader - one of the few old enough to recall what happened - and many are willing to follow him. Unfortunately, secrets are kept, bands drive people out of what they consider 'home', taking over whatever crops or other goods were left behind in the rush to get away.
The book starts out several years after life as we knew it ends. It's set in the Pacific northwest of the US, and people have come to 'town' to trade their wares. They trade anything from a single shoelace to edible roots they find or happen to grow, from the handle of a knife to a shard of a mirror. The lucky ones have potatoes.
Modern medicine is ancient history, but one group which is led by a man known as 'Langley', and a rather mercenary one at that, grows poppies for heroin. The cost for their goods is high, and often results in the taking of lives.
One man, Frost, is a natural-born leader - one of the few old enough to recall what happened - and many are willing to follow him. Unfortunately, secrets are kept, bands drive people out of what they consider 'home', taking over whatever crops or other goods were left behind in the rush to get away.
March 25, 2014
This is another one of those books it was a relief to finish. The writing itself was pretty good, but the bleakness was just killing me. The trope of post-apocalyptic fiction is that surviving humanity boils down into dregs -- the good and the bad. And the bad is very bad.
One man is seen as sort of a leader of a farming community, but then the bad guys want to move in because you can never have too many things. Much like in pre-apocalptic times: You have more than you need, but you always want more. (In case you don't get this point, our protagonist starts in the days just before the fall, leaving a financially collapsing Dubai.)
I want the community to survive. I want the bad guys to get what they deserve. And sometimes, not all the good guys make it.
Not the best post-apocalyptic book I've read, not the worst. Just bleak, gray, dingy and wholly convincing that I wouldn't make it beyond three days.
One man is seen as sort of a leader of a farming community, but then the bad guys want to move in because you can never have too many things. Much like in pre-apocalptic times: You have more than you need, but you always want more. (In case you don't get this point, our protagonist starts in the days just before the fall, leaving a financially collapsing Dubai.)
I want the community to survive. I want the bad guys to get what they deserve. And sometimes, not all the good guys make it.
Not the best post-apocalyptic book I've read, not the worst. Just bleak, gray, dingy and wholly convincing that I wouldn't make it beyond three days.
April 16, 2017
*I received this book as a goodreads first reads giveaway*
I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was different from anything that I have read. It switched between characters' point of view and had jumpy transitions between the chapters. I liked this because it kept me on my toes and focused on the book, so as not to get lost. The characters were really well developed. Frost, Noor, Will, Daniel Charlie, Langley, Freeway. There were a lot of characters, which got confusing at times, but the story really drew on the more primal instincts of human nature. If the world was really like it is in the book, I wonder how I would react or survive. I was a little sad about the dogs though! The story line was an interesting take on this growing genre and kept me wanting to read from the first page all the way through. I would definitely recommend this book.
I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was different from anything that I have read. It switched between characters' point of view and had jumpy transitions between the chapters. I liked this because it kept me on my toes and focused on the book, so as not to get lost. The characters were really well developed. Frost, Noor, Will, Daniel Charlie, Langley, Freeway. There were a lot of characters, which got confusing at times, but the story really drew on the more primal instincts of human nature. If the world was really like it is in the book, I wonder how I would react or survive. I was a little sad about the dogs though! The story line was an interesting take on this growing genre and kept me wanting to read from the first page all the way through. I would definitely recommend this book.
February 16, 2013
I'm glad I got to read this. It wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was good anyway.
Mr. Nyberg paints a painful and stark portrait of a world after a cataclysm. We immediately see two distinct kinds of people, and spend the book discovering more about them and the world 'before'.
I would have liked more or less of the flashbacks. It was hard to connect the dots, and I was confused about the time jumping...but it was nice to see the very beginnings of Frost's Farm.
I don't feel like I fully connected with the characters, but I think that might have helped to drive home the difference between now and then.
Overall, Mr. Nyberg's writing was poised and very descriptive. I enjoyed my read, and would reccommend the book to anyone who enjoys books about people and broken worlds.
Mr. Nyberg paints a painful and stark portrait of a world after a cataclysm. We immediately see two distinct kinds of people, and spend the book discovering more about them and the world 'before'.
I would have liked more or less of the flashbacks. It was hard to connect the dots, and I was confused about the time jumping...but it was nice to see the very beginnings of Frost's Farm.
I don't feel like I fully connected with the characters, but I think that might have helped to drive home the difference between now and then.
Overall, Mr. Nyberg's writing was poised and very descriptive. I enjoyed my read, and would reccommend the book to anyone who enjoys books about people and broken worlds.
September 30, 2013
I see this story as that of a decent man, Frost, who finds himself caught up in an unavoidable and deadly struggle with the leader of a powerful narcotic producing gang, Langley, in Vancouver four decades after a devastating global pandemic. It is a grim but satisfying tale that I found completely engrossing. The mentions of Vancouver landmarks increased my enjoyment as did the Canadian vernacular spoken by the characters. The occasional references to Von Clausewitz, the Old Testament and snippets of pop songs by the Beatles and others made it interesting. I also liked the flashbacks involving Frost set in Dubai and Valparaiso that provide some background information. It is obvious that this is a very carefully written piece of literature.
June 30, 2014
Haunting post apocolyptic tale
This is a haunting vision of the future, set in Canada after a catastrophic event has left the world ravaged with death and disease and old man named frost is trying to make a future for his family in a farm but when a local Skag dealer starts to muscle in it starts a series of events that build up to a violent confrontation between the toe factions,
This is a week written book that echo's Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD big if I am honest the story isn't as strong as the latter in my opinion and at times the story is very slow but all this aside if your a fan of the genre I would certainly read this book and judge it for yourself.
This is a haunting vision of the future, set in Canada after a catastrophic event has left the world ravaged with death and disease and old man named frost is trying to make a future for his family in a farm but when a local Skag dealer starts to muscle in it starts a series of events that build up to a violent confrontation between the toe factions,
This is a week written book that echo's Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD big if I am honest the story isn't as strong as the latter in my opinion and at times the story is very slow but all this aside if your a fan of the genre I would certainly read this book and judge it for yourself.
February 5, 2014
I received a free e copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I truly enjoyed this book even though it felt like i was reading it forever. It was slow reading but good reading and held me in the story even when i was looking at the clock knowing i should go to bed. One thing i am VARY glad the author changed was the cover, i know it really shouldn't make that much of a difference but you go into a book with a good cover better then you do with a book with a bad one.
I truly enjoyed this book even though it felt like i was reading it forever. It was slow reading but good reading and held me in the story even when i was looking at the clock knowing i should go to bed. One thing i am VARY glad the author changed was the cover, i know it really shouldn't make that much of a difference but you go into a book with a good cover better then you do with a book with a bad one.
May 29, 2014
This was a very bleak and depressing story. There was a lot of description and it did seem to take awhile for events to happen. The language was oddly compelling but it was hard to read about so much unrelenting darkness. I do read apocalyptic fiction but I prefer it to have a few more sparks of hope than this story. Good story and good set-up to the next book in the series. Fans of Cormac McCarthy's The Road will like this book.
December 2, 2014
Great story, really leaves you wanting to know more! I did find the writing a little jumpy because sometimes a new chapter would start and it would take me a while to figure out that it was a flashback. The post-apocalyptic world in Since Tomorrow is cold, sad, and desolate, but there is hope in the small community established by Frost. You really root for them and hope they can make it through the battles they face. I will definitely be reading any sequels!
October 15, 2013
"Since Tomorrow" is a worthy addition to the Post-Apocalyptic genre. While difficult at times due to the abject deprivation plaguing the protagonists (as is true in most P-A fiction) there is ultimately a redemptive quality to the narrative. Did not realize until the conclusion of the book that "ST" is the first entry in a planned trilogy. Anxiously await Books 2 & 3.
April 5, 2014
A well written self-published book about several groups of people trying to make it 50 years after the apocalypse. Although it could have used some editing to tighten up the writing in places and clear up a few typos, I found the story engaging and well paced. A great addition to anyone's post apocalypse collection.
May 15, 2012
Had a hard time getting through this "read". Since it is on my kindle, I will keep it in my archive pending any others reviews that are more favorable. I made it through about 1/3 of the book and felt the need to move on.
June 6, 2013
I was so looking forward to reading this book, maybe my anticipation was so high and that's why I was disappointed. I just found it hard to get into and did not care a great deal about what happened to the different characters.
September 4, 2013
Couldnt get into it. Big gaps in the story telling made it confusing to follow.
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