Aftermath: The complete collection

by John Wilkinson

Includes:
Aftermath
Aftermath: The battle for the North

Product Description
Nathan Driver was prepared for a nuclear war, when he surfaced his only motivation was to get back to his family. But as the brutal journey starts to break him, and the true horror of what's happened unveils itself, his motivation turns to desperation.

Book Description
Told through a series of diary entries, ‘Aftermath’ is a unique apocalyptic journey through a war ravaged Great Britain, as one man fights to get back to his family through the onset of a nuclear winter. The complete collection includes the explosive conclusion, Aftermath: The battle for the North.


About the Author
John Wilkinson is a writer / illustrator from the UK. His previous work include the crime novel 'The Inquiry,' children’s book 'Magnificent Adventures of Danny' and his educational reading series 'Ben and Hassan.'

479 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2016

About the author

John Wilkinson is a writer / illustrator from the UK.

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a curious book! The nearest author I can think of is John Wyndham, since this book seems firmly in the genre Brian Aldiss called "cosy catastrophes"

We meet Nathan Driver emerging literally from the rubble of nuclear holocaust, into a nuclear winter. He;s been prepared for this, but he's not the typical prepper hero who's ex Ranger or Special Forces with an arsenal fit for a small army, the better to shoot hordes of commies or Muslims or whatever bad guy archetypes the author puts up. He's also not a loner wandering the wasteland Mad Max style, as this still carries a reasonable population. The diary aspect is interesting - at first I started reporting typos until I decided they were a feature rather than a bug, and Mr. Driver just wasn't a very good writer. It's a subtle remover of tension, though - we never really see Driver at any risk of death, since who has written the diary if he comes to harm? I'm not convinced this was a good choice. It does offer a few rare moments of humour, though, as Driver can be quite sardonic.

And to discuss particular aspects, into spoiler town we go...

I kind of liked the populated world - since we're from memory a few months after the strike, I'm willing to believe the death toll in England is in the tens of millions rather than "everybody"

I did not expect the second book of a post apocalyptic novel to involve the British Army in a tank battle, but here we are.

In addition to the whole nuclear holocaust and psychotic warlord, we also seem to have Earth invaded by aliens. This would seem to be too much if not for the fact that only the previously-mentioned warlord seems to care about them, or even notice them for more than thirty seconds at a time.


All up, it was certainly not what I expected, and it had enough good points that I liked it but did not love it - it's a three star book.

I will expand on this and delete this sentence when I have time, since it seems Goodreads does not allow you to easily save drafts.