Customer Reviews

The Deluge (Leisure Fiction)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

With nearly every turn of page in THE DELUGE I felt I should have had a lawyer right beside me, because this book is one of the clearest cases of cribbing I've read in a long time. I was fearful that having paid for the book I might be considered an accessory. What started out as a good idea, and well played first off, quickly became a numbers racket as Morris leads us down a path so well laid out, so well worn, and so well travelled by so many others, you can't help but scratch your head and wonder if this book was actually written, or just pages ripped from others novels pasted together.

I'll admit, it's a little tough to come up with an orignal idea when it comes to the end of the world and I can forigve THE STAND vibe (simply substitue water for plague), it's only natural that King's ghost hovers over these pages (as well as a Clive Barker quote on the cover that is actually very sad... remember when Barker was the NEXT heir to the crown of horror?, bygone days) but Morris doesn't stop there. From DAWN OF THE DEAD, THE MIST, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, DOCTOR WHO to perhaps the biggest lift being from WHO GOES THERE? by John W. Campbell (fimled as both THE THING: FROM ANOTHER WORLD and remade simply as THE THING), this book tries hard to be more than the sum of its parts, but you can't help but see the poorly fitted joins as Morris moves us from his one original idea... a delgue, into a slow moving, boring cross country trip from London to Scotland with every tripwire, booby-trap, plot twist and shock telegraphed well in advance.

There is a minor shock as the book moves from its post waterlogged world into Wyndham territory when we learn that the water not only washed away human society but also uncovered either an alien plot, or, creatures from below the surface of the Earth. The book never makes it clear and Morris teases the idea all the way through to the ending of the book, which is no ending at all... it, like DAWN OF THE DEAD and THE MIST, simply comes to a stop with whatever happens next being left to the reader's imagination.

Also, I'm not sure what Morris was thinking when he spends the last third of the book in a complete rush, suddenly pulling out all the stops in an alien/earth-slug/last standing human war that goes nowhere, kills nearly everyone and then fails to resolve anything. Until that point, the books is peppered with moments of violence (some very graphic and I have to admit, well written) and loss that tries your patience and leaves you wondering why not cut to the chase sooner once the alien/earth-slugs appear. It's almost like he had two half novels he couldn't finish and instead of choosing one, he married both of them together.

Frustrating. Difficult and a cheat up till the very last page, which is strange because Morris can write. There are moments that are done very well (sometimes for a second or third time depending on what idea he is emulating), but it's never enough to cover the obvious homage's to larger and better books.

Sink, don't swim, with THE DEUGE.

This book promises an exciting thrill ride through a flooded planet, presumably with monsters and the trials of a post-apocalypse civilization to trouble our survivors. What it delivers is, sadly, more of a muddy mess, hampered by a lack of satisfying answers, shallow characterization, and action sequences which quickly devolve into murky confusion. I left this book with the names of the characters already fading from my mind -- never a good sign. It's good escapism for an afternoon, but it's never going to be a classic, and honestly, there's better escapism out there.

I ran out and bought this book as soon as I read the premise, but ultimately, was slightly disappointed in the outcome. Although the quality of the writing was smooth and the action moved along fast, I would have liked to have seen the survivors deal with the flood element a lot more. Instead, the water disappears less than 50 pages into the book. I also felt the character development was a little light and I was troubled with some inconsistent logic when fighting the enemy towards the end. My only other complaint was that I would have liked a few answers as to the origin of the flood and the evil that it brought forth. I'm not saying I need everything tied up perfectly, but a little more information and details about the enemy would have been nice. Also, I thought the author took the easy way out with the ending he chose. If you enjoy apocalyptic fiction -- don't get me wrong -- this is a solid read, but ultimately, nothing you haven't read before.

I enjoyed it and was anxious to read and finish it beyond just commuting to and from work on the train.

But like others have said here, I was disappointed in the ending. Unless the author plans a sequel. Neither the cause of the flood nor the creature's origin was explained. (I kept thinking the creatures may have come from the deepest part of the ocean and washed up with the flood waters. But who knows?)

The characters were believable except towards the end where all of a sudden there are so many more characters introduced then disposed of.

I guess I just hated the ending.

I enjoyed this book on the whole. I could have done with better answers as to what the creatures really were and where they came from and why, but if you can go with the idea that the answers just aren't known and move on, this is a neat little story.

I never realized it before recently, but horror novels have a lot in common with one of my favourite genres of literature - the post holocaust genre.

Now, I've only read a handful of horror novels during my life. Most notably over the past couple of years this handful included Brian Keene's Rising and City of the Dead. Another one was Dean Koontz's The Taking.

As I said, I only just realized that these novels all share the common thread of global Apocalypse. Be it the dead rising, controlled by demons or some sinister force that takes most of the people from the planet.

Many years ago, when I was reading nothing but post apocalypse fiction, back in it's heyday in the mid eighties, I never made the connection with the pure horror that followed in the wake of global thermonuclear war.

This type of horror is something that you typically see in post holocaust novels. The way death is described, how humanity turns on itself when everything goes south...

That's why, I guess, I didn't find the novel The Deluge by Mark Morris all that horrific. I've seen much of what he described already. I guess because of my earlier taste in literature, I got pretty much desensitised towards a lot of things that would turn most people's stomachs.

The story is pretty simple. A flood covers London, flooding everything except the tallest buildings. All power is lost, communication systems fail, and those few who manage to survive are left, quite literally, in the dark.

The flood waters recede almost as quickly as they arrived a mere three days later, allowing those few who didn't drown to reach the sodden ground.

Dealing with a serious shortage of food and water, the survivors also have to contend with the dead clogging the now ruined buildings and streets.

Mr. Morris did a great job in setting the scene. Some people might complain that he overdid the description of the devastation, but I'm not one of them. Even his description of the dead and how they decayed as time progressed was well done.

One thing I also really liked about the novel was the fact that it was set in the UK. All the fiction I've read over the decades, all the post apocalyptic fiction that is, has been almost exclusively set in the states. Having it set in a foreign country like that was a very refreshing change of pace for me.

Another refreshing change was the use of another country's slang. Because I spent a couple of years in the tourist industry, I had to deal with tourists from the UK all the time. I got quite used to their slang.

It surprised me how much of it I not only recognized, but could understand.

I won't divulge the major plot hook of the novel, but anyone who reads the teaser on the first page can guess.

More than just a survival novel, it's also about a journey and hope, hope that loved ones will somehow have survived the flood and what has come since.

To complicate things further, part of the horror involved in the novel deals with how quickly the trappings of modern civilization are thrown off and how people deal with the harsh realities of what has come.

And how individuals, even small groups, cope.

I'm quite sure that we're going to see a second novel, maybe even more. The novel was left wide open, and there were too many loose ends that needed to be tied up.

What caused the flood? What are the horrors that surfaced immediately after? How about the rest of the world?

I'll be waiting eagerly for the sequel.

5 out of 5

Awesome cover, awesome premise, good.
Poor execution, unfinished story lines, not good.
Cookie-cutter, uninteresting characters. Horrid pacing.
Short take: Sudden earthquakes and harsh lightning storms rock London, maybe rest of world. Flood follows. Anyone under 20 stories is drowned.
Small band of survivors decides to hoof it to Scotland to search for other survivors. They meet new members, they lose members.
Monsters are afoot. Boring body snatchers.
Horrible, horrible non-ending. Too many loose ends. Where did the flood come from? Where did the water go? Where are the monsters from?
Also the fates of two central characters are unresolved.
MM writes this as if a sequel is in the works, and it may be, but who thinks this sloppy mess will retain a fan base hankering for Part 2???
Bad, bad book. Cannot recommend.
P.S. And since when do iPods work on alkaline batteries?????

The premise was exciting for any apocalypse junkie, and somewhat similar to Brian Keene's The Conquerer Worms (among others). I was hoping the general plot and premise similarities would be only slight....and they were....though Morris's style is quite similar to Keen's (which isn't bad).
You have your flood, complete devastation, no explanation, creepy creatures brought on by the event, a few survivors trying to stay alive for no reason other than instinct and ever-fading hope.
Hey i can dig it.
And i did, overall.
The story moves quickly and the events and obstacles they face are varied and exciting...with no qualms about offing both secondary and main characters at will. Nice.
Some have complained about the loose, wide-open ending which really wasn't an ending...just a fade away continuation.
well, that's kinda the norm in contemporary horror these days. Less and less authors try to wrap it up nicely with all the answers...particularly "where the monsters came from" and "do they survive ultimately". Sometimes these aren't answered because the author is lazy (no doubt).
Sometimes...it's just one of those things better left to the reader's mind. The horror of not knowing the source of the evil...well, that's really scary. Not knowing "why" is frustrating...and scary.
Not knowing what will happen to the characters puts you in THEIR minds...because they don't know either.
It was effective.

My only real complaint (similar to Nichols "The Farm") is when an older male author tries to write through the eyes of a young teenage girl. This is something they just can't know...and thus, just can't pull off in any way other than generic.
Such writing did bog this book down at times....coming off almost like a "teen reader". But Morris did pull it together...and is showing that he is a growing writer with alot of promise.

For some odd reason, I was under the impression that this was The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene, but under a different title. A couple of weeks ago I realized that it wasn't and I purchased it. I was a tad worried that it was going to be a cheap rip-off of The Conqueror Worms, but it was not. It was an exceptionally spun tale about a handful of survivors after a worldwide flood had swallowed the Earth. What happens after the water recedes becomes an entirely new twist of survival. I enjoyed this book immeasurably!

In a surprisingly original take on the Armageddon theme that has practically been done to death, no pun intended, Mark Morris does really well.Here comes a flood ,bibical-times,Noah and the ark kind of flood. Really? Just a little tremor and she-bang--Europe under water. And as soon as it happens, it retreats that fast. So you have a group of survivors trekking out trying to find food and each other. They try to band together...but wait...whats that crazy blue lightning in the horizon? Um...I dont know. Hey little girl, are you allright? No no shes not because she is an "alien" that either brought the flood or came because of the flood.Take it or leave it. These are creatures that absorb humans as food but they are really electric thingys. Why? I dont know.
no real explanation about the flood or the aliens but left wide open for a sequel. Very originally done, characters are well thought out. Alot of gaps,though.virtually nil on the splatter.