What do you think?
Rate this book
Apocalypse Now Now #1
Apocalypse Now Now: A Baxter Zevcenko Novel
“Lauren Beukes meets Neil Gaiman” in this twisted urban fantasy about a high school rebel, his bounty hunter companion, and their high-stakes adventures through Cape Town's supernatural underworld ( WIRED )
Baxter Zevcenko’s life is pretty sweet. He’s making a name for himself as the kingpin of his smut-peddling high-school syndicate, the other gangs are staying out of his business, and he’s dating the girl of his dreams, Esme.
But when Esme gets kidnapped, things start to get seriously weird, and the only man drunk enough to help is a bearded, booze-soaked, supernatural bounty hunter that goes by the name of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Ronin.
Plunged into the increasingly bizarre landscape of Cape Town’s supernatural underworld, Baxter and Ronin team up to save Esme. On a journey that takes them through the realms of impossibility, they must face every conceivable nightmare to get her back, including the odd brush with the Apocalypse.
Baxter Zevcenko’s life is pretty sweet. He’s making a name for himself as the kingpin of his smut-peddling high-school syndicate, the other gangs are staying out of his business, and he’s dating the girl of his dreams, Esme.
But when Esme gets kidnapped, things start to get seriously weird, and the only man drunk enough to help is a bearded, booze-soaked, supernatural bounty hunter that goes by the name of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Ronin.
Plunged into the increasingly bizarre landscape of Cape Town’s supernatural underworld, Baxter and Ronin team up to save Esme. On a journey that takes them through the realms of impossibility, they must face every conceivable nightmare to get her back, including the odd brush with the Apocalypse.
320 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2013
81 people are currently reading
2108 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 198 reviews
August 18, 2021
Bananas.
Delicious, chocolate-covered, frozen summer-camp bananas.
This has been on my TBR for quite a while, largely due to the lack of library access. When I saw it on sale, I grabbed it. Recently, I pulled it out of the kindle backlog while on vacation. Though I protest that it is not actually set during the end of the world as we know it, I thought it was a lot of fun and even unexpectedly charming.
Baxter Zevcenko is precocious, with a good head for business. He's like Alex from Family Ties, if Alex was into managing a porn distribution network for school. He is currently troubled by headaches and violent dreams, and is blaming his autistic brother, Rafe, who has been drawing a series of increasingly violent pictures.
"These dreams always end with people being massacred. It’s like my sleeping brain is constantly set to the History Channel. If all the re-enactments were directed by Quentin Tarantino."
When his girlfriend disappears, Baxter undergoes a brief crisis of conscience that resolves into Baxter seeking out Ronin, who has a reputation for being able to find weird stuff.
"I’m pretty sure there are crack dens with better interior design than this place. Ronin looks like he has grown organically from within this apartment like fungus, a human-sized version of something you’d find growing under the sink."
Baxter is initially skeptical of Ronin's abilities, but soon finds he's more than up for most tasks. Baxter is even able to contribute.
"A guy stumbles past me and I notice an Octogram lanyard peeking out through his jacket. Instinctively I stick my leg out and the guy trips, hitting the ground hard. Ronin raises an eyebrow."
At one point, Baxter undergoes a character transformation, and after that, I was all in. I love me a smart-mouthed main character with a gooey middle.
"The other is a personality I didn’t even know I had. This is the me that feels. Gross, I know. This me probably attends crystal-healing sessions in my cerebral cortex, believes people are important and almost certainly likes piña colada and getting caught in the rain. He is a flaming metrosexual. I call him MetroBax."
Potentially triggering for some people, there's also a lot of mention of porn at the beginning of the book. Baxter has taken to distributing monster-porn in his high school--not because he's that interested, but because that's what the market calls for. Interestingly, I found a lot of the mentions about it highly tolerable, as it's more about describing the business than voyeurism by proxy, but your mileage may vary.
Interestingly, it's set in South Africa, so it draws upon history and folklore for some of it's fantasy elements, which makes it more unusual in the urban folklore genre, although it does derail into government-lab problems as well.
It's a fun story, with some occasional very meta unreliable narrator bits. I thought it also engaging enough to be good for a re-read. There's sarcastic descriptions that made me laugh and introspective moments that tugged at my sympathies. I finished at the beach, and I really, really wanted to start on the next book, but held out because I was afraid of diminishing returns with our sarcastic teenage lead. However, I won't make the mistake of letting the next one linger as long. Highly recommended if you like a bit of twisted but redeemable humor.
Delicious, chocolate-covered, frozen summer-camp bananas.
This has been on my TBR for quite a while, largely due to the lack of library access. When I saw it on sale, I grabbed it. Recently, I pulled it out of the kindle backlog while on vacation. Though I protest that it is not actually set during the end of the world as we know it, I thought it was a lot of fun and even unexpectedly charming.
Baxter Zevcenko is precocious, with a good head for business. He's like Alex from Family Ties, if Alex was into managing a porn distribution network for school. He is currently troubled by headaches and violent dreams, and is blaming his autistic brother, Rafe, who has been drawing a series of increasingly violent pictures.
"These dreams always end with people being massacred. It’s like my sleeping brain is constantly set to the History Channel. If all the re-enactments were directed by Quentin Tarantino."
When his girlfriend disappears, Baxter undergoes a brief crisis of conscience that resolves into Baxter seeking out Ronin, who has a reputation for being able to find weird stuff.
"I’m pretty sure there are crack dens with better interior design than this place. Ronin looks like he has grown organically from within this apartment like fungus, a human-sized version of something you’d find growing under the sink."
Baxter is initially skeptical of Ronin's abilities, but soon finds he's more than up for most tasks. Baxter is even able to contribute.
"A guy stumbles past me and I notice an Octogram lanyard peeking out through his jacket. Instinctively I stick my leg out and the guy trips, hitting the ground hard. Ronin raises an eyebrow."
At one point, Baxter undergoes a character transformation, and after that, I was all in. I love me a smart-mouthed main character with a gooey middle.
"The other is a personality I didn’t even know I had. This is the me that feels. Gross, I know. This me probably attends crystal-healing sessions in my cerebral cortex, believes people are important and almost certainly likes piña colada and getting caught in the rain. He is a flaming metrosexual. I call him MetroBax."
Potentially triggering for some people, there's also a lot of mention of porn at the beginning of the book. Baxter has taken to distributing monster-porn in his high school--not because he's that interested, but because that's what the market calls for. Interestingly, I found a lot of the mentions about it highly tolerable, as it's more about describing the business than voyeurism by proxy, but your mileage may vary.
Interestingly, it's set in South Africa, so it draws upon history and folklore for some of it's fantasy elements, which makes it more unusual in the urban folklore genre, although it does derail into government-lab problems as well.
It's a fun story, with some occasional very meta unreliable narrator bits. I thought it also engaging enough to be good for a re-read. There's sarcastic descriptions that made me laugh and introspective moments that tugged at my sympathies. I finished at the beach, and I really, really wanted to start on the next book, but held out because I was afraid of diminishing returns with our sarcastic teenage lead. However, I won't make the mistake of letting the next one linger as long. Highly recommended if you like a bit of twisted but redeemable humor.
October 11, 2017
Having loved the proof-of-concept short film that was made for Apocalypse Now Now earlier this year, I was keen to check out the original, though it's not the sort of thing that would usually pique my interest (South African setting aside). It started really well, and I loved Baxter Zevcenko immediately, even if he did feel a lot more like an adult's idea of a teenage boy than an actual 16-year-old. The early chapters about life in Cape Town and high school gang wars were by far the most engaging. After that, it descended into YA fantasy silliness (prophecies and monsters and zombie porn, oh my) and I got a bit bored. I'd still happily watch a full-length film version, though.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
February 28, 2015
Baxter Zevcenko is your typical teenage schoolboy. You know the type - make out with your girlfriend as much as possible, beat your retarded brother up when your mother isn't watching, make the teachers cry and have panic attacks, sell hardcore pornography to your schoolmates, the usual. Then one day his girlfriend goes missing and he is the prime suspect because he has these "urges", and that's when he gets introduced to a seriously weird supernatural world.
In some respects this story reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer though instead of a female American teenager who is destined to be the Chosen One, here we have a male South African teenager instead. The "School is Hell" feel of Buffy comes out well here, though I suspect that even Buffy would struggle in a place like this, Alex and his Droogs would soon be crying into their Molokolo, and the kids from Lord of the Flies would get eaten alive. South African schools are hardcore.
It's only when Baxter gets introduced into the supernatural world that surrounds him and is part of his heritage that things really get interesting for him. The unfamiliarity of South African mythology stories to most people reading this book is a real advantage here because the author puts something onto the table that goes way beyond the average vampire/werewolf/Norse Gods stories that overpopulate the urban fantasy landscape. There's a lot of seriously nasty monsters here, as well as a few much nicer creatures with which I am totally unfamiliar. There doesn't seem to be much African Science Fiction around at the moment so it's refreshingly different.
Baxter has to fulfil his destiny, save the girl and try not to get expelled from school, and he manages two out of the three by the end of the book. If I have any issue with this book, it's that it tries to cram too much into the story. For example, there's a pirate attack on the super-villains lair on a ship, as well as an assault on a secret military base, there's a battle between two mechanical creatures created thousands of years ago, that he and his main enemy have to control and which can cross time and the multiverse (which results in one version of Capetown being wiped out when they destroy a nuclear reactor), Baxter has some kind of spiritual connection to one of his ancestor's that keeps giving him visions at inconvenient moments, and there is even a "Normal Again" moment when Baxter's psychiatrist almost convinces him that the whole thing is in his head (and that's just a few of the things that happened, there's loads more). The author throws so much into the story that I wonder what he might have left for a sequel, and I sincerely hope that there is a sequel because I really enjoyed this book.
Baxter is not a particularly nice protagonist (something he readily admits) but he is a relateable one, and I would like to read more of his adventures.
In some respects this story reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer though instead of a female American teenager who is destined to be the Chosen One, here we have a male South African teenager instead. The "School is Hell" feel of Buffy comes out well here, though I suspect that even Buffy would struggle in a place like this, Alex and his Droogs would soon be crying into their Molokolo, and the kids from Lord of the Flies would get eaten alive. South African schools are hardcore.
It's only when Baxter gets introduced into the supernatural world that surrounds him and is part of his heritage that things really get interesting for him. The unfamiliarity of South African mythology stories to most people reading this book is a real advantage here because the author puts something onto the table that goes way beyond the average vampire/werewolf/Norse Gods stories that overpopulate the urban fantasy landscape. There's a lot of seriously nasty monsters here, as well as a few much nicer creatures with which I am totally unfamiliar. There doesn't seem to be much African Science Fiction around at the moment so it's refreshingly different.
Baxter has to fulfil his destiny, save the girl and try not to get expelled from school, and he manages two out of the three by the end of the book. If I have any issue with this book, it's that it tries to cram too much into the story. For example, there's a pirate attack on the super-villains lair on a ship, as well as an assault on a secret military base, there's a battle between two mechanical creatures created thousands of years ago, that he and his main enemy have to control and which can cross time and the multiverse (which results in one version of Capetown being wiped out when they destroy a nuclear reactor), Baxter has some kind of spiritual connection to one of his ancestor's that keeps giving him visions at inconvenient moments, and there is even a "Normal Again" moment when Baxter's psychiatrist almost convinces him that the whole thing is in his head (and that's just a few of the things that happened, there's loads more). The author throws so much into the story that I wonder what he might have left for a sequel, and I sincerely hope that there is a sequel because I really enjoyed this book.
Baxter is not a particularly nice protagonist (something he readily admits) but he is a relateable one, and I would like to read more of his adventures.
February 18, 2016
My original Apocalypse Now Now audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Charlie Human’s Apocalypse Now Now is a wonderfully trippy and complex work of South African urban fantasy. The plotting is labyrinthine, drawing in a number of details that make this world feel rather expansive – there’s a serial killer dubbed The Mountain Man, who leaves a third eye carved into his victim’s foreheads, high school gang wars and underground criminal enterprises, family trouble, and concerns over psychological health – all on top of a healthy dose of supernatural elements. In short, there’s a lot going on here, and plenty to keep this listener supremely interested.
Apocalypse Now Now is the first-person account of Baxter Zevcenko, an egotistical high schooler and self-styled entrepreneur who heads up an illicit ring of pornography distribution catering to the whims of his classmates. He’s a complete holier-than-thou know-it-all, but after his girlfriend, Esme, is abducted by The Mountain Man, Baxter’s search for her leads him deep into the rabbit hole of Cape Town’s paranormal underbelly, and an education that is a far, far cry from the exploits of his typical school day. Baxter is far from loveable, and, in fact, is an outright jerk and oftentimes openly hostile. Human uses this first-person account to tremendous effect, though, particularly as Baxter begins to realize he is not actually at the center of the universe and that the world is quite larger than he ever believed possible. There’s a good bit of personal growth for this smarmy boy and his personal reflections shine through in the first-person narration that might have otherwise been lost in a less focused narrative style.
When Apocalypse Now Now crossed my path, I had figured it would be a fun bit of urban fantasy, and while it definitely is that, I found myself surprised and pleased to discover a story that was much deeper, and much richer, than I had first expected. Throughout the book, Baxter is confronted with the symbol of an octopus, and this is a terrific thematic symbol for the book itself – there’s a lot of complex story tentacles weaving their way through the book. One of the most interesting aspects is the South African mythology and folklore Human puts on display, putting tokoloshes and Mantis gods right at the forefront, which is a welcome relief from the usual zombie and vampire fare that typically dominates American urban fantasy. And while Human does present a fair share of zombies here, they are quite a bit different than the customary undead brain eaters.
Bringing Baxter and his Cape Town locale to life is David Atlas, whose narration is spot-on and wonderfully immersive with a South African accent. He brings distinct voices to the cast, making it rather easy to separate which segments of dialogue belong to which characters – you’ll never be at a loss to tell if Baxter is speaking, or if it’s Ronin, the gruff ex-soldier turned supernatural bounty hunter hired by Zevcenko to help him find Esme. A few times, the narrative is disrupted to shift viewpoints to a female character with interesting historical ties to Baxter, and these segments are narrated by Fiona Hardingham. Her accounts are also expertly handled, and confined strictly to her viewpoint, as if relayed from a journal. Hardingham does a great job with the material, and I wish she had more material to work with; unfortunately, her character only makes a few brief appearances in the book. Atlas and Hardingham make this 10 1/2 hours of listening silky smooth, though, and do a sterling job adapting Human’s words to audiobook form.
Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com
Charlie Human’s Apocalypse Now Now is a wonderfully trippy and complex work of South African urban fantasy. The plotting is labyrinthine, drawing in a number of details that make this world feel rather expansive – there’s a serial killer dubbed The Mountain Man, who leaves a third eye carved into his victim’s foreheads, high school gang wars and underground criminal enterprises, family trouble, and concerns over psychological health – all on top of a healthy dose of supernatural elements. In short, there’s a lot going on here, and plenty to keep this listener supremely interested.
Apocalypse Now Now is the first-person account of Baxter Zevcenko, an egotistical high schooler and self-styled entrepreneur who heads up an illicit ring of pornography distribution catering to the whims of his classmates. He’s a complete holier-than-thou know-it-all, but after his girlfriend, Esme, is abducted by The Mountain Man, Baxter’s search for her leads him deep into the rabbit hole of Cape Town’s paranormal underbelly, and an education that is a far, far cry from the exploits of his typical school day. Baxter is far from loveable, and, in fact, is an outright jerk and oftentimes openly hostile. Human uses this first-person account to tremendous effect, though, particularly as Baxter begins to realize he is not actually at the center of the universe and that the world is quite larger than he ever believed possible. There’s a good bit of personal growth for this smarmy boy and his personal reflections shine through in the first-person narration that might have otherwise been lost in a less focused narrative style.
When Apocalypse Now Now crossed my path, I had figured it would be a fun bit of urban fantasy, and while it definitely is that, I found myself surprised and pleased to discover a story that was much deeper, and much richer, than I had first expected. Throughout the book, Baxter is confronted with the symbol of an octopus, and this is a terrific thematic symbol for the book itself – there’s a lot of complex story tentacles weaving their way through the book. One of the most interesting aspects is the South African mythology and folklore Human puts on display, putting tokoloshes and Mantis gods right at the forefront, which is a welcome relief from the usual zombie and vampire fare that typically dominates American urban fantasy. And while Human does present a fair share of zombies here, they are quite a bit different than the customary undead brain eaters.
Bringing Baxter and his Cape Town locale to life is David Atlas, whose narration is spot-on and wonderfully immersive with a South African accent. He brings distinct voices to the cast, making it rather easy to separate which segments of dialogue belong to which characters – you’ll never be at a loss to tell if Baxter is speaking, or if it’s Ronin, the gruff ex-soldier turned supernatural bounty hunter hired by Zevcenko to help him find Esme. A few times, the narrative is disrupted to shift viewpoints to a female character with interesting historical ties to Baxter, and these segments are narrated by Fiona Hardingham. Her accounts are also expertly handled, and confined strictly to her viewpoint, as if relayed from a journal. Hardingham does a great job with the material, and I wish she had more material to work with; unfortunately, her character only makes a few brief appearances in the book. Atlas and Hardingham make this 10 1/2 hours of listening silky smooth, though, and do a sterling job adapting Human’s words to audiobook form.
Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com
June 7, 2014
I got this book free on Goodreads as a giveaway but my review is not influenced by this.
I thought that the premise of the overall story is very interesting kind of similar in style to Shutter Island but original too. the lead character Baxter was witty and amusing and I enjoyed the book a lot from two thirds of the way in. The first section of the book was mostly scene setting and not greatly amusing for me personally but I am glad that I persevered as it has a good end and the confusion of the beginning all comes together in an interesting way.
I thought that the premise of the overall story is very interesting kind of similar in style to Shutter Island but original too. the lead character Baxter was witty and amusing and I enjoyed the book a lot from two thirds of the way in. The first section of the book was mostly scene setting and not greatly amusing for me personally but I am glad that I persevered as it has a good end and the confusion of the beginning all comes together in an interesting way.
January 10, 2015
This is like young Harry Dresden, washed through Cape Town rather than Chicago. It's kind of a Hard-YA, but that doesn't bother me. I had a lot of fun.
At times, this felt just the tiniest bit amateurish, but I won't hold it against him. Looking forward to Kill Baxter, but I'll wait till I can get the SA edition.
At times, this felt just the tiniest bit amateurish, but I won't hold it against him. Looking forward to Kill Baxter, but I'll wait till I can get the SA edition.
July 6, 2014
About the dwarven mercenaries fighting: "It's like watching Swan Lake performed to Swedish death metal". Need I say more?
May 12, 2021
Being South African this read was quite bat shit crazy. If a book makes you want to read up on more African lore and history then I take it as a success. Some of the pop culture references to certain things that are or were a thing within the South African culture might be lost on international readers, but that is not a reason to give this book a skip. Imagine Harry Potter lived in Cape Town, made extra cash by selling porn at school and throw in some Urban legends and African mythology and you have a recipe for success right?
December 2, 2015
Full Review at Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2015/1...
This was a book that intertwined things I absolutely loved with elements that kind of pushed my tolerance limits for weirdness. It created a dichotomy for me while reading. Dark humor. Yes, there were so many lines in this that had me laughing out loud and feeling like I absolutely loved the book. Then it would switch and I would focus on the strangeness in this story, and I would be less sure. Some of the weird worked well for me. Porn star named Rumpelforeskin? Yep, I’m good with that.But some other elements, I wasn’t quite as taken by, but in general still liked.
This book was interesting in the way it was presented. We all know narrators can be unreliable. So, when a character interacts with the supernatural world others are oblivious to, and his family thinks he is going insane, who do you trust? The narrator (who may just be delusional)? The therapist he is seeing? Other characters that, for all you know, may or may not exist as you are getting them through Baxter?
Overall, this was a fascinating, absolutely hilarious, and bizarre book. It may have pushed my weirdness threshold at times, but the enjoyment I had from Baxter’s personality more than made up for it.
This was a book that intertwined things I absolutely loved with elements that kind of pushed my tolerance limits for weirdness. It created a dichotomy for me while reading. Dark humor. Yes, there were so many lines in this that had me laughing out loud and feeling like I absolutely loved the book. Then it would switch and I would focus on the strangeness in this story, and I would be less sure. Some of the weird worked well for me. Porn star named Rumpelforeskin? Yep, I’m good with that.But some other elements, I wasn’t quite as taken by, but in general still liked.
This book was interesting in the way it was presented. We all know narrators can be unreliable. So, when a character interacts with the supernatural world others are oblivious to, and his family thinks he is going insane, who do you trust? The narrator (who may just be delusional)? The therapist he is seeing? Other characters that, for all you know, may or may not exist as you are getting them through Baxter?
Overall, this was a fascinating, absolutely hilarious, and bizarre book. It may have pushed my weirdness threshold at times, but the enjoyment I had from Baxter’s personality more than made up for it.
November 20, 2015
Oh man, I don't know. There were some really cool ideas here, and the writing is snarky and pop-cultury, but I just couldn't STAND the little prick. I read this for the "A book by an author from Africa" part of the 2015 Read Harder challenge, and that was actually the thing I enjoyed most about the book. The South African mythology and creature-lore that comes up is completely fascinating, and it made me curious to check out more Urban Fantasy from this background. But the story itself, and it's main character in particular, were just so.... incredibly MALE. I don't know how to put it any better than that. As the story progressed and moved into its more fantastical elements, more characters were introduced that I actually didn't feel like slapping all the time, so that helped to get somewhat invested into the plot. Katinka, the beautiful supernatural Trans-lady barkeeper, was almost worth dealing with teenage asshole Baxter for for the rest of the book. But without the challenge, I probably would have put the book down before ever reaching her and never picked it up again.
June 24, 2014
Unfortunately the title is the best thing about this book. I wanted to love it, but I couldn't: it's riddled with plausibility problems (forget the supernatural stuff, I mean basic human behaviour) and beyond flimsy plotting. It's full of gaming references and that is what it most reminded me of – an RPG in which events follow, not so much true life logic, as the bare minimum of logic required to point players toward the next big action fest. Nobody in this book ever needed to be convinced of anything, everything was taken at face value. Lazy, and I ran out of goodwill long before the end – which, by the way, was just more by-the-die-throw hackathon and precious little conveying of what was actually at stake.
July 24, 2019
I would place this book in the category of batshit crazy novels that I like to read every once in a while. The mythological South African underworld portrayed in the story is full of potential to further explore and I hope the next novel makes use of it. The character development throughout the story is also one of the highlights.
June 4, 2016
Apocalypse Now Now is fast paced urban fantasy set in South Africa.
Look at that pretty cover. ♥_♥
Look at that pretty cover. ♥_♥
April 19, 2023
Not perfect or anything but overall it's a good, fast romp -- one of those books that's better than it should be, largely because it's always more creative than you'd expect. The South African setting and mythology give it an original spin.
I would not be surprised to see it as a Netflix series someday. It has that vibe.
I would not be surprised to see it as a Netflix series someday. It has that vibe.
February 8, 2014
The cover of the book, with its sensual juju wildness that suggested a Reservoir dog-ish underworld drama and nutty supernatural and somewhat bizarre fantastical characters, leapt out of the book and dragged me headfirst into it. All eagerness bound, I was expecting much violence and gore and also some titillating imagery and I'm glad to say that I wasn't disappointed. However, all that expectations aside, the twists in the story were like a rollercoaster ride, you had to strap on and hold on tight whilst the author flounced you in and out of madness till the point you're left to question your own sanity and the constant struggle to shut down the brain wave as to why the hell you picked it up, the book was just too fast and just too wild.
The story is of Baxter, a teenage boy from Cape Town, SA (post-apartheid ideal location for the underworld crimes), is hurled out of his perfect life of a bully-cum-businessman-running-his-own gang to an unexpected alternate reality when his girlfriend, Esme, goes missing. After a verbose battle of this badass bully with the much softer side of his personality, the softer Baxter wins over and goes out to hunt for his girl friend. His vision of normality diminishes as soon as he meets a crazy red-haired long beard filthy bounty hunter and he acquires a status of a seer, who goes back and forth his psychotic phases, and knocks down many unfathomable supernatural creatures just to spot Esme. His mentally handicap brother with his erratic drawings and his deranged grandfather lodging in an asylum for the crazy with his eccentric crow stories, feed Baxter with enough background to believe that the alternate reality he has just stepped over actually exists.
Without giving much away, I would wind up the review, hoping that the other readers of this book find this insanity perfectly plausible for their fantasy-driven mind but for me, it knocked me out of my sweater!!
The story is of Baxter, a teenage boy from Cape Town, SA (post-apartheid ideal location for the underworld crimes), is hurled out of his perfect life of a bully-cum-businessman-running-his-own gang to an unexpected alternate reality when his girlfriend, Esme, goes missing. After a verbose battle of this badass bully with the much softer side of his personality, the softer Baxter wins over and goes out to hunt for his girl friend. His vision of normality diminishes as soon as he meets a crazy red-haired long beard filthy bounty hunter and he acquires a status of a seer, who goes back and forth his psychotic phases, and knocks down many unfathomable supernatural creatures just to spot Esme. His mentally handicap brother with his erratic drawings and his deranged grandfather lodging in an asylum for the crazy with his eccentric crow stories, feed Baxter with enough background to believe that the alternate reality he has just stepped over actually exists.
Without giving much away, I would wind up the review, hoping that the other readers of this book find this insanity perfectly plausible for their fantasy-driven mind but for me, it knocked me out of my sweater!!
March 22, 2016
"İyi misin?" diye seslendi Ronin. "Kalp krizinden ölmeni istemiyorum."
"Ben de bir puşt olduğun için seni vuran ilk müşterin olmak istemiyorum."
"Ben de bir puşt olduğun için seni vuran ilk müşterin olmak istemiyorum."
January 30, 2019
Neil Gaiman'ın (özellikle Amerikan Tanrıları kitabının) kötü bir kopyası.
October 30, 2021
Na obálce lákají, že kniha je, jako by ji psal kříženec Gaimana a Tarantina (pro mě značka ideál). Bohužel to nakonec spíš vypadá, jako byste si křížence Gaimana a Tarantina objednali na Wishy. Nemá to Gaimanovu jazykovou lehkost, cit pro kompozici ani umírněnost při worldbuildingu a práci s mytologií. A z Tarantina? To, že používáte hodně násilí a rádoby tvrďáckejch hlášek, který by mně osobně přišly trapný asi i na střední, z vás nedělá Tarantina. Žádnej tarantinovskej dialog, práce s několika liniemi, hra se zajetými žánrovými pravidly, ani vtip a nadhled. Tak moc nevím teda.
Musím říct, že prvních pár stránek mě celkem vtáhlo díky humoru a několika slovním obratům. Ale tohle kouzlo velmi rychle vyčpělo a zbyl jen podprůměr.
Ale zase to můžete brát jako checklist všech možných filmových a fantasy klisché. Vlastně by to byla celkem fajn chlastací hra.
Musím říct, že prvních pár stránek mě celkem vtáhlo díky humoru a několika slovním obratům. Ale tohle kouzlo velmi rychle vyčpělo a zbyl jen podprůměr.
Ale zase to můžete brát jako checklist všech možných filmových a fantasy klisché. Vlastně by to byla celkem fajn chlastací hra.
August 13, 2017
Charlie Human’s Apocalypse Now Now is a wonderfully trippy and complex work of South African urban fantasy. The plotting is labyrinthine, drawing in a number of details that make this world feel rather expansive – there’s a serial killer dubbed The Mountain Man, who leaves a third eye carved into his victim’s foreheads, high school gang wars and underground criminal enterprises, family trouble, and concerns over psychological health – all on top of a healthy dose of supernatural elements. In short, there’s a lot going on here, and plenty to keep this listener supremely interested.
Apocalypse Now Now is the first-person account of Baxter Zevcenko, an egotistical high schooler and self-styled entrepreneur who heads up an illicit ring of pornography distribution catering to the whims of his classmates. He’s a complete holier-than-thou know-it-all, but after his girlfriend, Esme, is abducted by The Mountain Man, Baxter’s search for her leads him deep into the rabbit hole of Cape Town’s paranormal underbelly, and an education that is a far, far cry from the exploits of his typical school day. Baxter is far from loveable, and, in fact, is an outright jerk and oftentimes openly hostile. Human uses this first-person account to tremendous effect, though, particularly as Baxter begins to realize he is not actually at the center of the universe and that the world is quite larger than he ever believed possible. There’s a good bit of personal growth for this smarmy boy and his personal reflections shine through in the first-person narration that might have otherwise been lost in a less focused narrative style.
When Apocalypse Now Now crossed my path, I had figured it would be a fun bit of urban fantasy, and while it definitely is that, I found myself surprised and pleased to discover a story that was much deeper, and much richer, than I had first expected. Throughout the book, Baxter is confronted with the symbol of an octopus, and this is a terrific thematic symbol for the book itself – there’s a lot of complex story tentacles weaving their way through the book. One of the most interesting aspects is the South African mythology and folklore Human puts on display, putting tokoloshes and Mantis gods right at the forefront, which is a welcome relief from the usual zombie and vampire fare that typically dominates American urban fantasy. And while Human does present a fair share of zombies here, they are quite a bit different than the customary undead brain eaters.
Bringing Baxter and his Cape Town locale to life is David Atlas, whose narration is spot-on and wonderfully immersive with a South African accent. He brings distinct voices to the cast, making it rather easy to separate which segments of dialogue belong to which characters – you’ll never be at a loss to tell if Baxter is speaking, or if it’s Ronin, the gruff ex-soldier turned supernatural bounty hunter hired by Zevcenko to help him find Esme. A few times, the narrative is disrupted to shift viewpoints to a female character with interesting historical ties to Baxter, and these segments are narrated by Fiona Hardingham. Her accounts are also expertly handled, and confined strictly to her viewpoint, as if relayed from a journal. Hardingham does a great job with the material, and I wish she had more material to work with; unfortunately, her character only makes a few brief appearances in the book. Atlas and Hardingham make this 10 1/2 hours of listening silky smooth, though, and do a sterling job adapting Human’s words to audiobook form.
Apocalypse Now Now is the first-person account of Baxter Zevcenko, an egotistical high schooler and self-styled entrepreneur who heads up an illicit ring of pornography distribution catering to the whims of his classmates. He’s a complete holier-than-thou know-it-all, but after his girlfriend, Esme, is abducted by The Mountain Man, Baxter’s search for her leads him deep into the rabbit hole of Cape Town’s paranormal underbelly, and an education that is a far, far cry from the exploits of his typical school day. Baxter is far from loveable, and, in fact, is an outright jerk and oftentimes openly hostile. Human uses this first-person account to tremendous effect, though, particularly as Baxter begins to realize he is not actually at the center of the universe and that the world is quite larger than he ever believed possible. There’s a good bit of personal growth for this smarmy boy and his personal reflections shine through in the first-person narration that might have otherwise been lost in a less focused narrative style.
When Apocalypse Now Now crossed my path, I had figured it would be a fun bit of urban fantasy, and while it definitely is that, I found myself surprised and pleased to discover a story that was much deeper, and much richer, than I had first expected. Throughout the book, Baxter is confronted with the symbol of an octopus, and this is a terrific thematic symbol for the book itself – there’s a lot of complex story tentacles weaving their way through the book. One of the most interesting aspects is the South African mythology and folklore Human puts on display, putting tokoloshes and Mantis gods right at the forefront, which is a welcome relief from the usual zombie and vampire fare that typically dominates American urban fantasy. And while Human does present a fair share of zombies here, they are quite a bit different than the customary undead brain eaters.
Bringing Baxter and his Cape Town locale to life is David Atlas, whose narration is spot-on and wonderfully immersive with a South African accent. He brings distinct voices to the cast, making it rather easy to separate which segments of dialogue belong to which characters – you’ll never be at a loss to tell if Baxter is speaking, or if it’s Ronin, the gruff ex-soldier turned supernatural bounty hunter hired by Zevcenko to help him find Esme. A few times, the narrative is disrupted to shift viewpoints to a female character with interesting historical ties to Baxter, and these segments are narrated by Fiona Hardingham. Her accounts are also expertly handled, and confined strictly to her viewpoint, as if relayed from a journal. Hardingham does a great job with the material, and I wish she had more material to work with; unfortunately, her character only makes a few brief appearances in the book. Atlas and Hardingham make this 10 1/2 hours of listening silky smooth, though, and do a sterling job adapting Human’s words to audiobook form.
June 18, 2015
Read this as part of my South African author kick. The book is billed as a sort of grittier Harry Potter. The blurb is actually not especially accurate.
Baxter is a high school kid in Cape Town. He and his small posse of friends have decided to make cash by providing for the porn needs of the high school, while other, bigger, stronger gangs deal dope and accumulate weapons. Baxter is meant to be a master manipulator (his gang is called the Spider) but I was not convinced of his abilities, although I was convinced that Baxter is kind of a punk. Baxter himself is not sure whether he's a sociopath or not (hint, he is not) but finds that he has to confront his lack of morality when his girlfriend is kidnapped and he finds that he cares enough to do whatever it takes to get her back.
Meanwhile, someone is killing people in nasty and creative ways.
The book sort of feels like a one-shot gaming adventure. There's the initial combat encounter, the informational encounter, and the leveled up big-boss combat. Baxter comes across Ronin, an ex-black-ops-martial-arts-guru-warlock, who becomes his guide and his muscle as Baxter discovers the supernatural underworld of Capetown. He meets various magical creatures, discovers some truly disturbing zombies, and ends up on a pirate ship captained by a sexy cigar-smoking female in order to save his girl. There's a lot of action. If this is all you're looking for- mild and undemanding entertainment- the book does deliver. There's also some African mythology, which I found pleasantly different from the normal urban fantasy.
The book has pretty good writing for a first book. What I didn't care much for was Baxter's character. He was utterly convinced that he's a stone-cold badass, and I found him to be mostly an annoying teenager who wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
Baxter is a high school kid in Cape Town. He and his small posse of friends have decided to make cash by providing for the porn needs of the high school, while other, bigger, stronger gangs deal dope and accumulate weapons. Baxter is meant to be a master manipulator (his gang is called the Spider) but I was not convinced of his abilities, although I was convinced that Baxter is kind of a punk. Baxter himself is not sure whether he's a sociopath or not (hint, he is not) but finds that he has to confront his lack of morality when his girlfriend is kidnapped and he finds that he cares enough to do whatever it takes to get her back.
Meanwhile, someone is killing people in nasty and creative ways.
The book sort of feels like a one-shot gaming adventure. There's the initial combat encounter, the informational encounter, and the leveled up big-boss combat. Baxter comes across Ronin, an ex-black-ops-martial-arts-guru-warlock, who becomes his guide and his muscle as Baxter discovers the supernatural underworld of Capetown. He meets various magical creatures, discovers some truly disturbing zombies, and ends up on a pirate ship captained by a sexy cigar-smoking female in order to save his girl. There's a lot of action. If this is all you're looking for- mild and undemanding entertainment- the book does deliver. There's also some African mythology, which I found pleasantly different from the normal urban fantasy.
The book has pretty good writing for a first book. What I didn't care much for was Baxter's character. He was utterly convinced that he's a stone-cold badass, and I found him to be mostly an annoying teenager who wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 11, 2016
When I started this I thought it was a much more imaginative book than Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, but it is let down by a thoroughly pedestrian superhero-movie ending that takes all the sting out of the satire and the wonder out of the set-up. The ending reminded me of The Avengers, The Puppet Masters and Transformers all rolled into one.
What a pity that Human did not make more of the break in the story when he gets both his protagonist and the reader to question their respective sanity. Yes, such po-mo techniques do tend to raise eyebrows in this age of literary realism, but I think a much darker edge would have suited the book far better than the comic book theatrics it eventually succumbs to.
I loved the bits about the Sieners and the San mythology. However, I also felt that Human does not do nearly enough with his Cape Town setting. You could simply switch the story to Egoli and it would make no difference whatsoever. Still, there are some wonderful setpieces here: the Flesh Palace alone would make both Clive Barker and Quentin Tarantino proud.
What a pity that Human did not make more of the break in the story when he gets both his protagonist and the reader to question their respective sanity. Yes, such po-mo techniques do tend to raise eyebrows in this age of literary realism, but I think a much darker edge would have suited the book far better than the comic book theatrics it eventually succumbs to.
I loved the bits about the Sieners and the San mythology. However, I also felt that Human does not do nearly enough with his Cape Town setting. You could simply switch the story to Egoli and it would make no difference whatsoever. Still, there are some wonderful setpieces here: the Flesh Palace alone would make both Clive Barker and Quentin Tarantino proud.
January 2, 2021
I don’t write reviews.
I was drawn in instantly when I saw this was a South African novel. I don’t think I’ve read any other story set in SA. I thoroughly enjoyed the Afrikaner and African lore and mythological creatures. It was a refreshing take, minus the stereotypical vampire or zombie.
The scenes were vividly described and tapped right into my imagination. A few were genuinely creepy. There were no lulls in the story and it moved at a nice pace. Human maintained the plot and steered it through to a satisfying conclusion.
Baxter was a well-written and developed character. His first-person narration was somehow charming. Many reviews indicated this was a YA book, but I didn’t get that feeling. The main character was 16, however it seemed like a horror-comedy-fantasy aimed at an adult audience.
The audiobook was done quite well and Atlas gave a great performance. Each character had their own distinguishable voice and I dug his accent.
I was drawn in instantly when I saw this was a South African novel. I don’t think I’ve read any other story set in SA. I thoroughly enjoyed the Afrikaner and African lore and mythological creatures. It was a refreshing take, minus the stereotypical vampire or zombie.
The scenes were vividly described and tapped right into my imagination. A few were genuinely creepy. There were no lulls in the story and it moved at a nice pace. Human maintained the plot and steered it through to a satisfying conclusion.
Baxter was a well-written and developed character. His first-person narration was somehow charming. Many reviews indicated this was a YA book, but I didn’t get that feeling. The main character was 16, however it seemed like a horror-comedy-fantasy aimed at an adult audience.
The audiobook was done quite well and Atlas gave a great performance. Each character had their own distinguishable voice and I dug his accent.
July 1, 2014
I couldn't resist bringing this back from South Africa. I think it's going to come out in the US at some point.
This book has a lot going for it: it's stylish, energetic, suspenseful, vivid, cinematic. If none of the main characters are really likeable (the protagonist is a teenage porn dealer), well, that doesn't mean you don't find yourself rooting for them anyway.
This book has a lot going for it: it's stylish, energetic, suspenseful, vivid, cinematic. If none of the main characters are really likeable (the protagonist is a teenage porn dealer), well, that doesn't mean you don't find yourself rooting for them anyway.
December 27, 2015
The premise seems pretty great but it's less than the sum of its parts. It's less Tarantino meets Gaiman and more "slightly snarky Encyclopedia Brown." The myths and monsters are quite cool, but for me it was just too Scooby Doo.
June 13, 2018
9/10
Bayıldım. Fantastik, komik, korkutucu. Hızla akan yaratıcı bir hikaye, müthiş etkileyici roman kişileri, eğlenceli bir dil.
Çeviri harika. İlayda Tekküpeli sağ olsun. Düzelti berbat. İki sayfada bir yazım, harf hatası.
Bayıldım. Fantastik, komik, korkutucu. Hızla akan yaratıcı bir hikaye, müthiş etkileyici roman kişileri, eğlenceli bir dil.
Çeviri harika. İlayda Tekküpeli sağ olsun. Düzelti berbat. İki sayfada bir yazım, harf hatası.
August 14, 2025
Charlie Human’s Apocalypse Now Now feels like being kidnapped by the loudest, weirdest kid in school who insists on giving you a guided tour of Cape Town’s most unhinged corners—while you’re blindfolded, slightly hungover, and clutching a questionable sandwich. The writing comes at you in caffeinated bursts, full of slang, pop culture, and that kind of South African swagger that makes you think, yeah, this is going to get messy fast. Every page has the chaotic energy of someone telling you a story they definitely shouldn’t be telling you, but you can’t stop listening because it’s just that absurdly entertaining.
It’s the kind of book that makes you laugh in that “oh no, I shouldn’t be laughing at this” way. The world feels both completely alien and oddly relatable—like if your high school cafeteria suddenly doubled as a supernatural dive bar. The characters swagger in with more personality than safety regulations allow, and the situations are so wildly imaginative you start wondering if Charlie Human wrote the whole thing while dared to out-weird himself chapter after chapter. There’s a reckless joy to it all, the kind of storytelling that doesn’t just break the rules—it drives them out into the desert and sets them on fire for fun.
Reading Apocalypse Now Now isn’t just reading—it’s like being strapped into a rollercoaster that’s duct-taped to a monster truck driven by someone who’s late for a rave. It’s brash, loud, and utterly unashamed of its weirdness. You either hang on and laugh until your sides hurt, or you get thrown out somewhere between “what the hell” and “this is genius.” Either way, you’re going to have a story to tell afterward—and possibly the urge to recommend it to that one friend who always picks the wildest movie for movie night.
It’s the kind of book that makes you laugh in that “oh no, I shouldn’t be laughing at this” way. The world feels both completely alien and oddly relatable—like if your high school cafeteria suddenly doubled as a supernatural dive bar. The characters swagger in with more personality than safety regulations allow, and the situations are so wildly imaginative you start wondering if Charlie Human wrote the whole thing while dared to out-weird himself chapter after chapter. There’s a reckless joy to it all, the kind of storytelling that doesn’t just break the rules—it drives them out into the desert and sets them on fire for fun.
Reading Apocalypse Now Now isn’t just reading—it’s like being strapped into a rollercoaster that’s duct-taped to a monster truck driven by someone who’s late for a rave. It’s brash, loud, and utterly unashamed of its weirdness. You either hang on and laugh until your sides hurt, or you get thrown out somewhere between “what the hell” and “this is genius.” Either way, you’re going to have a story to tell afterward—and possibly the urge to recommend it to that one friend who always picks the wildest movie for movie night.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2021
The premise of this book is what initially interested me in reading it. This weird tale of teenager wannabe gang leader out to save his girlfriend from supernatural entities, sounded like it could be fun. It was at times, I enjoyed the set up and the ending, but it meandered a lot during the middle. There were times when I actually forgot what the main character, Baxter, was actually trying to accomplish. The fast pacing and action kept me interested enough to get through it, however.
I don't need every character to be likable as long as they're interesting, but Baxter feels inconsistent to me. Most of the time he's not a nice kid and treats most people like crap, but there are times when he's attempting to be empathetic or caring and it feels like a completely different character. He does have a killer sense of humor, however, that's not enough to make him an intriguing character. It's also pretty crude at time so definitely not for everyone. The story is also told completely from his perspective so you never get away from him. This also leads to most of the side characters feeling pretty flat and unoriginal.
This probably sounds like I hated the book, but I thought it was decent for what it was trying to do. I really did like how it ended and will probably read the sequel at some point. There were some interesting turns that didn't feel forced, but it took a very convoluted route to get to the meat of the book.
I don't need every character to be likable as long as they're interesting, but Baxter feels inconsistent to me. Most of the time he's not a nice kid and treats most people like crap, but there are times when he's attempting to be empathetic or caring and it feels like a completely different character. He does have a killer sense of humor, however, that's not enough to make him an intriguing character. It's also pretty crude at time so definitely not for everyone. The story is also told completely from his perspective so you never get away from him. This also leads to most of the side characters feeling pretty flat and unoriginal.
This probably sounds like I hated the book, but I thought it was decent for what it was trying to do. I really did like how it ended and will probably read the sequel at some point. There were some interesting turns that didn't feel forced, but it took a very convoluted route to get to the meat of the book.
July 21, 2024
It’s a cool book. The title is cool, the characters are crazy, there’s a lot of insane stuff going on. I enjoyed reading it and I liked seeing it so heavily set in Cape Town. Interesting ideas from a variety of South African cultures.
My main issue is that it almost could be another Lauren Beukes’s book and when I saw her in acknowledgements at the end, being mentioned as a friend and mentor I was like “no shit”. It’s just creepily similar in many ways to “Moxyland” and “Zoo City”.
My second issue is that everyone in the novel is witty and great at banter. It’s nice to read, but takes away from character’s personalities.
My this issue is that ZEVCENCKO IS NOT A POLISH SURNAME. Serbian or Croatian, maybe. Seriously, dude, 1 minute of googling before naming your characters out of respect for people’s cultures and your character’s credibility!
My main issue is that it almost could be another Lauren Beukes’s book and when I saw her in acknowledgements at the end, being mentioned as a friend and mentor I was like “no shit”. It’s just creepily similar in many ways to “Moxyland” and “Zoo City”.
My second issue is that everyone in the novel is witty and great at banter. It’s nice to read, but takes away from character’s personalities.
My this issue is that ZEVCENCKO IS NOT A POLISH SURNAME. Serbian or Croatian, maybe. Seriously, dude, 1 minute of googling before naming your characters out of respect for people’s cultures and your character’s credibility!
July 26, 2018
Puanım 3/5
Başlangıç olarak iyi betimlemelere sahip akıcı bir dil ve iyi gözüken bir anti kahraman sunması en başta kitabı sevmeme sebep oldu. Ancak ilerleyen sayfalarla beraber herhangi bir fantastik romanda görebileceğiniz kurgu oluşturarak hayal kırıklığı oluşturdu denebilir. Ana karakterin üzerinde iyi düşünülmüş ancak yan karakterler çok zayıf kalmış (Buna Ronin'de dahil ve sonlara doğru ana karakterde cıvıtıyor). Afrika mitolojisi gibi Afrika kadar bilinmezlere sahip bir kaynağa sahipken bunu değerlendirdiğini veya değerlendirebildiğini düşünmüyorum açıkçası. Sonlara doğru kurgu bir nebze olsa da şaşırtsa da roman boyunca gidişat olarak sizi şaşırtacak bir şey yok. Eğer bı türe aşina değilseniz okuyabilirsiniz eğer aşinaysanız pek tat almayacağınız kesin. Hiç mi iyi tarafı yok derseniz gayet esprili betimlemelere ve dile sahip. Benim puanım bu artısından dolayı 3.
Başlangıç olarak iyi betimlemelere sahip akıcı bir dil ve iyi gözüken bir anti kahraman sunması en başta kitabı sevmeme sebep oldu. Ancak ilerleyen sayfalarla beraber herhangi bir fantastik romanda görebileceğiniz kurgu oluşturarak hayal kırıklığı oluşturdu denebilir. Ana karakterin üzerinde iyi düşünülmüş ancak yan karakterler çok zayıf kalmış (Buna Ronin'de dahil ve sonlara doğru ana karakterde cıvıtıyor). Afrika mitolojisi gibi Afrika kadar bilinmezlere sahip bir kaynağa sahipken bunu değerlendirdiğini veya değerlendirebildiğini düşünmüyorum açıkçası. Sonlara doğru kurgu bir nebze olsa da şaşırtsa da roman boyunca gidişat olarak sizi şaşırtacak bir şey yok. Eğer bı türe aşina değilseniz okuyabilirsiniz eğer aşinaysanız pek tat almayacağınız kesin. Hiç mi iyi tarafı yok derseniz gayet esprili betimlemelere ve dile sahip. Benim puanım bu artısından dolayı 3.
December 18, 2016
Zitat:
„Der wahre Albtraum sind ihre schwarzen Augen – Teergruben, in denen man die Leichen geschändeter Nonnen versenkt hat. Sie beobachten uns, als wir näher kommen mit einer Mischung aus Neugier, Lust und Ich-will-euch-das-Mark-aus-den-Knochen-lutschen.“
(S.172)
Inhalt:
Der sechzehnjährige Baxter lebt mit seiner Familie in Cape Town und besucht die Highschool. Seine Gang verkauft Pornos an Mitschüler, der Handel boomt.
Auch wenn Baxter es sich nicht eingestehen kann, er ist in seine Freundin Esmé verliebt. Als Esmé von einem Serienkiller entführt wird, bricht für Baxter eine Welt zusammen. Er muss eine Entscheidung treffen.
Und so engagiert Baxter den Kopfgeldjäger Jackie Ronin. Gemeinsam gehen sie auf die Suche nach Esmé. Doch der Blick, den Baxter nun hinter die Kulissen von Cape Town werfen kann, sprengt sein gesamtes Weltbild. Es wimmelt hinter der Fassade förmlich von paranormalen Figuren. Und nicht nur einmal muss Baxter nun um sein Leben fürchten. Baxter nimmt die Gefahr in Kauf.
Meinung:
„Apokalypse now now“ ist mir das erste Mal auf der Buchmesse in Frankfurt begegnet und hat mich direkt angesprochen. Neugierig auf die Geschichte geworden, freute ich mich nun, als das Buch endlich bei mir angekommen war. Und schon konnte ich mich in die Schatten über Cape Town stürzen.
Bereits auf den ersten Seiten wurde ich mit einem sehr offenen und direkten Schreibstil konfrontiert, der mich förmlich in die Geschichte katapultierte. Ich lernte den Protagonisten und natürlich sein Geschäftsmodell kennen, wurde über die Eckpunkte zu Baxters Leben informiert. Ich traf hier definitiv nicht auf einen normalen Sechzehnjährigen, vielmehr stellte sich recht früh heraus, dass Baxter Anflüge einer multiplen Persönlichkeit in sich trug. Einerseits ein auf möglichst hohen Profit bedachter Geschäftsmann mit narzisstischen Zügen, andererseits kommt ab und an doch eine emotionale Komponente zum Vorschein.
Der Anfang der Geschichte war für mich aufgrund der vorliegenden Informationen und der Handlungsdarstellungen nicht ganz so leicht zu bewältigen und ich benötigte etwas Eingewöhnungszeit. Doch nachdem der Kopfgeldjäger Jackie Ronin in Erscheinung getreten war, gewann die Geschichte dann enorm an Tempo und ich raste durch die Seiten. Der Autor lässt seine Charaktere offen und direkt handeln und erzählen, nichts wird umschrieben. So stieß ich auf jede Menge Dialoge, die vor Zynismus und Sarkasmus nur so strotzten, Vergleichen, die aus dem wahren Leben gegriffen wurden, und eine zusehends spannender werdende Handlung.
Charlie Human setzt den Blickwinkel für seine Geschichte vorrangig auf die Perspektive von Baxter in Ich-Perspektive und Gegenwartsform. Doch auch andere Charaktere kommen erzählend immer wieder in den Vordergrund. Die eingebauten journalistischen Ausführungen rundeten die Geschichte außerdem perfekt ab. Immer besser fand ich mich in dem Schreibstil des Autors zurecht und konnte mich vollends auf die Handlungen und Geschehnisse konzentrieren.
Unbestritten muss ich sagen, dass Baxter, nachdem mich anfangs lediglich eine unterkühlte Sympathie mit ihm verband, im Lauf der Geschichte eine enorme Entwicklung zeigte und mich so immer mehr auf seine Seite ziehen konnte. Irgendwann entdeckt er sein Selbst und das, was ihn ausmacht, zu erkennen und zu akzeptieren.
Der Charakter von Ronin hat mir vom ersten Moment an gefallen. Ronin ist ein Kopfgeldjäger, wie man ihn sich immer vorstellt. Waffenverliebt mit markigen Sprüchen, außen eine harte Schale. Und doch schlummert mehr in ihm, als man auf den ersten Blick erkennt.
Beim Lesen hatte ich ein ums andere Mal immer wieder den Filmklassiker „From Dusk till Down“ vor Augen. Die Entwicklungen in „Apokalypse now now“ wirkten ähnlich überspitzt und herrlich überzeichnet dargestellt, genau, wie ich es mir für so eine Geschichte gewünscht habe. Ich wurde mit paranormalen Wesen als auch mit alten südafrikanischen Sagen konfrontiert, die in dieser Geschichte einen guten Mix für einen tollen Lesegenuss erzeugten. Es war wirklich ein Erlebnis, gemeinsam mit Baxter den Geheimnissen von Cape Town auf die Spur zu kommen.
Gewarnt seien allerdings alle zartbesaiteten Leserinnen und Leser. In manchen Szenen tropft das Blut förmlich aus den Buchseiten und manche Handlungen strotzen nur so vor immenser Gewalt und exzessiver Brutalität. Auch vor direkten sexistischen Beschreibungen und Gossenslang sollte man keine Berührungsängste haben, weil die Geschichte letztendlich davon lebt.
Mit dem Ende der Geschichte verschaffte mir der Autor, nachdem er auf den vorangehenden Seiten nochmal alle Register spannungserzeugender Effekte gezogen hatte, einen wirklich befriedigenden Abschluss. „Apokalypse now now“ kann ich somit nun erstmal zur Seite legen, freue mich aber schon richtig auf die Fortsetzung.
Urteil:
„Apokalypse now now – Schatten über Cape Town“ ist alles andere als eine 08/15-Geschichte, setzt auf einen ungewöhnlichen Protagonisten und eine spannende, teilweise grotesk wirkende Handlung, die überspitzter kaum dargestellt werden könnte. Tarantino hätte sicher seine Freude an einer Verfilmung. Für meine paranormalen und blutgetränkten Erlebnisse hinter den Fassaden von Cape Town vergebe ich eindeutige 4 Bücher.
Für alle, die sich von blutigen Szenerien nicht beeindrucken lassen, dabei paranormale Entwicklungen akzeptieren und auch in gefährlichen Situationen wortwörtlich nicht den Kopf verlieren.
Reihe:
1. Apokalypse now now – Schatten über Cape Town
2. Apokalypse now now – Showdown in Cape Town
©hisandherbooks.de
„Der wahre Albtraum sind ihre schwarzen Augen – Teergruben, in denen man die Leichen geschändeter Nonnen versenkt hat. Sie beobachten uns, als wir näher kommen mit einer Mischung aus Neugier, Lust und Ich-will-euch-das-Mark-aus-den-Knochen-lutschen.“
(S.172)
Inhalt:
Der sechzehnjährige Baxter lebt mit seiner Familie in Cape Town und besucht die Highschool. Seine Gang verkauft Pornos an Mitschüler, der Handel boomt.
Auch wenn Baxter es sich nicht eingestehen kann, er ist in seine Freundin Esmé verliebt. Als Esmé von einem Serienkiller entführt wird, bricht für Baxter eine Welt zusammen. Er muss eine Entscheidung treffen.
Und so engagiert Baxter den Kopfgeldjäger Jackie Ronin. Gemeinsam gehen sie auf die Suche nach Esmé. Doch der Blick, den Baxter nun hinter die Kulissen von Cape Town werfen kann, sprengt sein gesamtes Weltbild. Es wimmelt hinter der Fassade förmlich von paranormalen Figuren. Und nicht nur einmal muss Baxter nun um sein Leben fürchten. Baxter nimmt die Gefahr in Kauf.
Meinung:
„Apokalypse now now“ ist mir das erste Mal auf der Buchmesse in Frankfurt begegnet und hat mich direkt angesprochen. Neugierig auf die Geschichte geworden, freute ich mich nun, als das Buch endlich bei mir angekommen war. Und schon konnte ich mich in die Schatten über Cape Town stürzen.
Bereits auf den ersten Seiten wurde ich mit einem sehr offenen und direkten Schreibstil konfrontiert, der mich förmlich in die Geschichte katapultierte. Ich lernte den Protagonisten und natürlich sein Geschäftsmodell kennen, wurde über die Eckpunkte zu Baxters Leben informiert. Ich traf hier definitiv nicht auf einen normalen Sechzehnjährigen, vielmehr stellte sich recht früh heraus, dass Baxter Anflüge einer multiplen Persönlichkeit in sich trug. Einerseits ein auf möglichst hohen Profit bedachter Geschäftsmann mit narzisstischen Zügen, andererseits kommt ab und an doch eine emotionale Komponente zum Vorschein.
Der Anfang der Geschichte war für mich aufgrund der vorliegenden Informationen und der Handlungsdarstellungen nicht ganz so leicht zu bewältigen und ich benötigte etwas Eingewöhnungszeit. Doch nachdem der Kopfgeldjäger Jackie Ronin in Erscheinung getreten war, gewann die Geschichte dann enorm an Tempo und ich raste durch die Seiten. Der Autor lässt seine Charaktere offen und direkt handeln und erzählen, nichts wird umschrieben. So stieß ich auf jede Menge Dialoge, die vor Zynismus und Sarkasmus nur so strotzten, Vergleichen, die aus dem wahren Leben gegriffen wurden, und eine zusehends spannender werdende Handlung.
Charlie Human setzt den Blickwinkel für seine Geschichte vorrangig auf die Perspektive von Baxter in Ich-Perspektive und Gegenwartsform. Doch auch andere Charaktere kommen erzählend immer wieder in den Vordergrund. Die eingebauten journalistischen Ausführungen rundeten die Geschichte außerdem perfekt ab. Immer besser fand ich mich in dem Schreibstil des Autors zurecht und konnte mich vollends auf die Handlungen und Geschehnisse konzentrieren.
Unbestritten muss ich sagen, dass Baxter, nachdem mich anfangs lediglich eine unterkühlte Sympathie mit ihm verband, im Lauf der Geschichte eine enorme Entwicklung zeigte und mich so immer mehr auf seine Seite ziehen konnte. Irgendwann entdeckt er sein Selbst und das, was ihn ausmacht, zu erkennen und zu akzeptieren.
Der Charakter von Ronin hat mir vom ersten Moment an gefallen. Ronin ist ein Kopfgeldjäger, wie man ihn sich immer vorstellt. Waffenverliebt mit markigen Sprüchen, außen eine harte Schale. Und doch schlummert mehr in ihm, als man auf den ersten Blick erkennt.
Beim Lesen hatte ich ein ums andere Mal immer wieder den Filmklassiker „From Dusk till Down“ vor Augen. Die Entwicklungen in „Apokalypse now now“ wirkten ähnlich überspitzt und herrlich überzeichnet dargestellt, genau, wie ich es mir für so eine Geschichte gewünscht habe. Ich wurde mit paranormalen Wesen als auch mit alten südafrikanischen Sagen konfrontiert, die in dieser Geschichte einen guten Mix für einen tollen Lesegenuss erzeugten. Es war wirklich ein Erlebnis, gemeinsam mit Baxter den Geheimnissen von Cape Town auf die Spur zu kommen.
Gewarnt seien allerdings alle zartbesaiteten Leserinnen und Leser. In manchen Szenen tropft das Blut förmlich aus den Buchseiten und manche Handlungen strotzen nur so vor immenser Gewalt und exzessiver Brutalität. Auch vor direkten sexistischen Beschreibungen und Gossenslang sollte man keine Berührungsängste haben, weil die Geschichte letztendlich davon lebt.
Mit dem Ende der Geschichte verschaffte mir der Autor, nachdem er auf den vorangehenden Seiten nochmal alle Register spannungserzeugender Effekte gezogen hatte, einen wirklich befriedigenden Abschluss. „Apokalypse now now“ kann ich somit nun erstmal zur Seite legen, freue mich aber schon richtig auf die Fortsetzung.
Urteil:
„Apokalypse now now – Schatten über Cape Town“ ist alles andere als eine 08/15-Geschichte, setzt auf einen ungewöhnlichen Protagonisten und eine spannende, teilweise grotesk wirkende Handlung, die überspitzter kaum dargestellt werden könnte. Tarantino hätte sicher seine Freude an einer Verfilmung. Für meine paranormalen und blutgetränkten Erlebnisse hinter den Fassaden von Cape Town vergebe ich eindeutige 4 Bücher.
Für alle, die sich von blutigen Szenerien nicht beeindrucken lassen, dabei paranormale Entwicklungen akzeptieren und auch in gefährlichen Situationen wortwörtlich nicht den Kopf verlieren.
Reihe:
1. Apokalypse now now – Schatten über Cape Town
2. Apokalypse now now – Showdown in Cape Town
©hisandherbooks.de
Displaying 1 - 30 of 198 reviews