Reads — “Flood” by Stephen Baxter

I’m in the home stretch on this hard science-fiction novel of the peri-apocalypse and I think the biggest takeaway so far is…

I’m not the target audience for science-fiction novels of the peri-apocalypse, hard science or otherwise.

In the past, I’ve enjoyed Baxter’s other novels. It’s been too long since I read his books to recall their contents, but my memory is that they were all compelling reads, if a bit on the dense side for content. As I’ve been working my way through this book, it contains within a decent story. Not fantastic, but decent. I think the problem is that I can’t quite get over several elements within.

• “Flood” was published in 2008 and looks forward to 2016, at the beginning of an apocalypse involving an exponential sea level rise. The problem is, no such thing occurred in 2016, and the political climate of the book is wrong for 2016. As a result, there is a cognitive dissonance while reading the book and looking at dates between 2016 and 2025 (by which the sea levels are 100 meters above previous datum).
• At first it is played as a possible global warming warning. It becomes clear about a third of the way through the book that it is actually something else causing the rising waters. As told, it appears plausible, but I keep asking myself just how likely the cause really is. But I’m not interested enough to research the phenomenon described. But it seems a little “hinky” around the edges.
• The reason for the characters to stay in contact in the beginning of the book feels contrived. They are all hostage survivors? So why does Baxter not really explore the hostage aspect outside of characters bringing it up at odd times? And why is that binding? And why does some of their stories seem like loose ends that serve little purpose for the sake of story? Some of them could, quite frankly, not have been brought up at all for the roles they play in the story. The decisions about who to keep are odd ones, and the characters are all fairly paper-thin. A few threaten to connect with me, but then they become cut-out walk-ins after a chapter or two.
• I think it was a mistake to cover an epic period of time in the story. Over the lifetimes of the hostages and their associates, the floodwaters increase. To keep the ball rolling within 500 or so pages, it becomes a highlight reel of their stories that take place over 50-70 years. Condense it to the very early stages of the apocalypse… then there is more time to give the characters some depth. But, as it stands, they are just vehicles for the story. We never really get to know their motives or see what changes occur beneath the surface.

This is the second peri-apocalypse tale that I’ve found disappointing in the past few months. At least I’ll finish this one. But I went from wanting to read it’s sequel at the beginning of this book to thinking I’ll probably give “Ark” a pass.

I might be just worn out on the idea of “the end of the world” as a story worth exploring. Or I might be just tired of shallow characters that seem to frequently populate these tales. I don’t know.

Rating this without rating: “Flood” has a promising story that didn’t live up to my expectations by about 75% of the way through. Might be worth reading if you like eco-collapse fiction and can overlook some dated ideas. If you want character development or strong plot, it’s probably best to avoid this book.