Apocalypse Cow / Michael Logan

Apocalypse Cow
by Michael Logan

published 2012
Science Fiction
rating 7 /10: well worth reading

Here's a funny quote from Terry Pratchett: "Apocalypse Cow made me snort with laughter." That could be the funniest line in (though it's actually on) this book.

There are suggestions that this book is humorous. It is not. There are some ironic, even sarcastic, comments on society. There are some chuckles.

Mostly, this is a blood-spattered action-packed adventure. Typical horror story, perhaps, with people dying -- horribly -- on every other page. Read the back cover and you get an idea of how few people will survive to the end of the book... Then the compulsory, but wait, it's not over yet, ending.

So it's not humour. Despite Terry Pratchett's humorous introduction.

On the other hand... it's quite a good book.

At the start we are introduced to the main characters. And what an unlikeable lot they are! There are some tiny little positive notes. Yet it reads like some of the worst books of so-called humour, where noone could possibly like any of the characters.

And yet...

Those tiny positives grow. The characters become likeable. Until -- by half way through -- I do care what happens to them.

Then there's all the telling rather than showing. Quite a lot of it. Yet each lot of telling is short. Not long enough to be boring, just enough to be noticeable.

So as a novel it has faults. Yet it is an enjoyable novel. Once I get to know the characters, I like them. Well, I like the small handful who are good guys, anyway.

And by the last third of the book -- I wanted to read on, to find out what happens next.

A good book, worth reading. As long as you are willing to read rather tasteless descriptions of violent death. And open descriptions of the feelings and physical responses of the horny teenager...

A difficult start but it improved, markedly.

Give it a go. Laugh at the clever title. Enjoy the action and horror -- with occasional chuckles and some depth of character. Not perfect but well worth reading.

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