In Thomas Koloniar’s
first novel, Cannibal Reign, we find ourselves
preceding the end of the world from two perspectives. The first is that of Jack Forrest and his friends
and fellow Green Berets. The second, that
of Marty Chittenden the astronomer. Both
possess knowledge that very few others do:
an extinction sized asteroid is on course to collide with Earth. Due to some inside information, Jack Forrest
and crew gather supplies and outfit a recently purchased missile silo,
preparing to survive within with carefully chosen family and friends. Simultaneously, Marty Chittenden, the man who
discovered the meteor in the first place, is doing everything he can to warn
the rest of the world of the inevitable catastrophe, seeking the aid of the
women loved long ago. Unfortunately for Marty
and everyone else on Earth, the United States government wants this kept a
secret in order to prevent panic over this unstoppable event.
Marty Chittenden and those he falls in with find themselves in any number of dangerous situation. The two sources of conflict are created by both his desire to go warn the planet despite the wishes of the US government and survival on post-apocalyptic Earth. The situations they find themselves in are diverse enough that it’s interesting to see what will happen next, but there’s always the sense that their success has already been determined.
To all those horror movie characters who didn’t listen when I told you not to go in there, you could learn from this book. Jack and his allies always make the right decision due to, what we are asked to believe is, their military background. My knowledge of active military personnel begins and ends at what I’ve read or in movies and TV shows, but I can only assume that the main characters ability to act the way they do is because of said background. For obvious reasons I don’t know how soldiers act when preparing to confront, and actually confronting, danger, much less confronting the apocalypse, but they’re portrayed here as faultless, in respect to their ability to work under incredible pressure. Now that I think about it, in respect to just about every other way, too.
The logical actions of these characters was a unique quality of this book, something not often found in apocalyptic fiction (or many book genres for that matter). In this, the logical (read ‘correct’) method of action is always taken by the characters. Always. Which can seem a bit unrealistic at times.
In Cannibal Reign Koloniar approaches the apocalypse with the belief that ‘might makes right’ and that, as a general rule, awful people will survive because they are awful to other people (with the exception of the main character, who are essentially inside traders as far as knowledge of oncoming doom is concerned). Cannibalism, rape, tribalism, violence and more, everything one would assume to appear when there is no reason to follow now outdated societal laws and morals. The world within this book is that of a worst case scenario of societal fallouts with only small and widespread pockets of humanity left to make the world better.
One of my key complaints with this book is that the characters felt a bit lacking. Essentially, each character had a roll in moving the story along, but besides forming a purely mechanical relationship, they didn’t have much to them. Character flaws were either nonexistent or didn’t amount to anything that had any visible impact on the story. The characters were too logical, too perfect, and too plain.
The storyline had a similar problem. While problems and conflicts that arose throughout the story brought interest with them, they didn’t have a lot of density. The character did their perfectly logical thing and went about it the best possible way. The events of the story were handled perfectly. And in any story that wants to grip the readers and keep them wondering what will happen next, perfect is boring. Reading through this book I found myself not finding any points to stop and wonder at the twists the story had taken or the actions of the characters. My attitude towards it was that of “okay…and?”
I was glad to see a story with characters who acted rationally, but now that I’ve seen it, I realize why I don’t see it more often. People rarely act in such a way that is always beneficial to them, especially given these circumstances. However inexplicably easy to overcome they may have been. Along with some added complexity and tension to the plot, the characters need work to seem more real and deserving of the reader’s interest.
Mechanically, the plot and characters could both be improved, but the spirit of the story makes it worth the read. Is it brutal at moments? Yes, however it’s brutality that’s not out of place. For all those interested in Dystopia/Apocalyptic Fiction with the right bit of Military Fiction mixed in, I recommend you pick up Cannibal Reign for your next rainy day.
Rating 2.5/5
I should caution those readers out there who might be turned away by, or in any way insulted by, incredible violence by men towards women simply because of sexual reasons. While it is displayed in a way consistent to this specific view of the apocalypse and is present throughout the entirety of the book, it can be seen as bordering on, if not crossing, the line of excess.
Marty Chittenden and those he falls in with find themselves in any number of dangerous situation. The two sources of conflict are created by both his desire to go warn the planet despite the wishes of the US government and survival on post-apocalyptic Earth. The situations they find themselves in are diverse enough that it’s interesting to see what will happen next, but there’s always the sense that their success has already been determined.
To all those horror movie characters who didn’t listen when I told you not to go in there, you could learn from this book. Jack and his allies always make the right decision due to, what we are asked to believe is, their military background. My knowledge of active military personnel begins and ends at what I’ve read or in movies and TV shows, but I can only assume that the main characters ability to act the way they do is because of said background. For obvious reasons I don’t know how soldiers act when preparing to confront, and actually confronting, danger, much less confronting the apocalypse, but they’re portrayed here as faultless, in respect to their ability to work under incredible pressure. Now that I think about it, in respect to just about every other way, too.
The logical actions of these characters was a unique quality of this book, something not often found in apocalyptic fiction (or many book genres for that matter). In this, the logical (read ‘correct’) method of action is always taken by the characters. Always. Which can seem a bit unrealistic at times.
In Cannibal Reign Koloniar approaches the apocalypse with the belief that ‘might makes right’ and that, as a general rule, awful people will survive because they are awful to other people (with the exception of the main character, who are essentially inside traders as far as knowledge of oncoming doom is concerned). Cannibalism, rape, tribalism, violence and more, everything one would assume to appear when there is no reason to follow now outdated societal laws and morals. The world within this book is that of a worst case scenario of societal fallouts with only small and widespread pockets of humanity left to make the world better.
One of my key complaints with this book is that the characters felt a bit lacking. Essentially, each character had a roll in moving the story along, but besides forming a purely mechanical relationship, they didn’t have much to them. Character flaws were either nonexistent or didn’t amount to anything that had any visible impact on the story. The characters were too logical, too perfect, and too plain.
The storyline had a similar problem. While problems and conflicts that arose throughout the story brought interest with them, they didn’t have a lot of density. The character did their perfectly logical thing and went about it the best possible way. The events of the story were handled perfectly. And in any story that wants to grip the readers and keep them wondering what will happen next, perfect is boring. Reading through this book I found myself not finding any points to stop and wonder at the twists the story had taken or the actions of the characters. My attitude towards it was that of “okay…and?”
I was glad to see a story with characters who acted rationally, but now that I’ve seen it, I realize why I don’t see it more often. People rarely act in such a way that is always beneficial to them, especially given these circumstances. However inexplicably easy to overcome they may have been. Along with some added complexity and tension to the plot, the characters need work to seem more real and deserving of the reader’s interest.
Mechanically, the plot and characters could both be improved, but the spirit of the story makes it worth the read. Is it brutal at moments? Yes, however it’s brutality that’s not out of place. For all those interested in Dystopia/Apocalyptic Fiction with the right bit of Military Fiction mixed in, I recommend you pick up Cannibal Reign for your next rainy day.
Rating 2.5/5
I should caution those readers out there who might be turned away by, or in any way insulted by, incredible violence by men towards women simply because of sexual reasons. While it is displayed in a way consistent to this specific view of the apocalypse and is present throughout the entirety of the book, it can be seen as bordering on, if not crossing, the line of excess.
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