A Rose for Armageddon

by Hilbert Schenck

While fuel shortages, hunger and random violence bring chaos and anarchy, scientists struggle to perfect the Archmorph, a computer program so vast it may solve the entire riddle of human history. The focus of their study is Hawkins Island, once a paradise in a hostile world. But Dr. Elsa Adams is looking for more than a scientific answer there. Hawkins Island holds a mystery of her own past: a love that may never have happened, one golden afternoon that only she remembers—a love trapped somewhere in the folds of time and space. Now Elsa will risk her friends, her career and her life—for a discovery that may stand between humanity and total annihilation.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery

175 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Rose for Armageddon is set in the near future, though it was written in the early 80s, so I guess the future it’s set in would be around now. The world is in a bit of a state, with most of the Earth’s resources used up and civil unrest and anarchy spreading across the globe. Against this backdrop we meet Elsa, who narrates the first half of the book, a 60-something scientist at the university who has been working on an interesting project. She’s trying to promote a brand new science called morphology, which attempts to find patterns from past events in order to make predictions for the future. Or something like that... I wasn’t entirely sure what morphology was to be honest, and it took me at least 80 pages to even grasp that much about it. Anyway, Elsa and her colleague Jake, who narrates the second half of the book, have set up an extensive field study on Hawkins Island, a place they both knew and spent time in during their youth. There is a vague and nagging awareness in Elsa’s mind that she and Jake once slept together on the island when they were teenagers, but she remembers very little about it and it’s obvious that Jake has no recollection of this at all. Whether it was a real event or just a dream, Elsa has always been in love with Jake, though her own unattractive appearance, formidable battleaxe demeanour and Jake’s marriage mean that there has never been anything but a professional relationship between them.


This was a strange book and really took some getting into. For a start, I found the scientific aspects seriously confusing (though the mists began to clear as the book went on), and I kept wondering if it was just me being stupid or if the author was being deliberately obtuse. The romance element and the unrequited love theme didn’t sit very well with all the pseudo-scientific bits either, and I think I had a perplexed look on my face for most of the novel. Then there’s the whole end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it thing, and the author never properly explains why society has broken down and everyone’s started killing each other, beyond some vague references to fuel prices and strikes.


I nearly gave up, and it’s only my stubborn nature (which refuses to give up on a book once started) that kept me going until the end. However, I’m quite glad I did, because when I got to about three quarters of the way through it all started to make sense and actually become quite fascinating, with the unearthing of a mystery, a mad dash to unveil a secret and a highly original ending. In fact I’ve been pondering the ending for much of today - if only the whole novel had been this interesting! This was a book with some really fascinating ideas but a very strange execution – I can’t say I’d recommend it but it did get me thinking.

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"Hilbert Schenck’s A Rose for Armageddon (1982) postulates that in the near future a complex computer program (“Archmorph”) will be able to predict political and social trends as “conflict was [and will be] pattern-determined” (26). Filled with references to the turbulent 1970s (Vietnam protests, campus unrest, the 1979 energy crisis) and the fear the decade generated, Schenck suggests that a cataclysmic possibility looms.

A Rose for Armageddon treads intriguing [...]"

[James]

illustrated / / Science fiction English / Engels / English / Anglais / Englisch / Pocket / Poche / Taschenbuch / 10 x 18 cm / 175 .pp /

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read...interesting on a few levels. Most of the book is written from one perspective, then the book shifts to a second perspective, and that 'threw me for a loop' but I stuck with it and was rewarded! The first parts of the book were a bit dry, but once the story got moving, it moved fast. That's not to say it was great - there are a lot of unanswered questions, some of which the book poses, some not. And while the book seems a bit dated, the themes are universal across time, and civilizations, and geographies.

[Scribble Orca]

Time-loop, apocalyptic future that replays infinitely until the heroine makes a different choice. An excellent, intriguing read.

[Timday · Rating 3 out of 5]

good PA time travel though a bit dated