Post by ianfaulkner on Jul 8, 2009 4:51:31 GMT
Simon Clark…’Night Of The Triffids’.
One of the best of Sci-Fi’s apocalyptic visions of earth’s and humanities near demise must surely be John Wyndhams ‘Day Of The Triffids’.
I read Wyndhams’ original sci-fi/horror novel some 35 years ago…and then re-read it in preparation to reading this fairly recent outing from Simon Clark. I would suggest that to enhance the enjoyment of this new novel, you read the classic original first.
Clark’s sequel is exciting, powerful and crisp and the narrative rolls along at a fine clip. Simon Clark is a truly masterful writer and I was gripped from the beginning.
The action takes place almost three decades after the original book concluded, and focuses on Bill Masen’s son, David who decides not follow in his famous father’s footsteps by becoming a Triffid biologist; but instead became a pilot in the small fledgling British Air Force based on the Isle of Wight.
‘Night Of The Triffids’ initial events closely mirror the original…David Masen wakes up to find the world is once more blinded…but this time from a frightening dust cloud that appears to have blocked out the sun and has left the earth in total darkness.
To make matters worse, the Triffids now seen to have gained a rudimentary collective intelligence. They are more organized than ever and have murderously adapted to the new conditions and seem hell bent on killing as many of us as they can.
Is this the end of Mankind’s rule of the planet…and the beginning of the Triffids?
In a frantic effort to discover the cause and extent of the dust cloud, David is ordered to take a young meteorologist in a two-seater Javelin jet, fly upwards and hopefully to gauge the full extent of the cloud.
Disaster follows disaster, the ‘plane crash lands and David Masen finds himself stranded on a huge floating mass of Triffid infested tangled weed; cast adrift from the coast of Britain with only a feral teenage girl for company; a girl who seems unaccountably to be quite immune to the alien carnivorous plant’s venomous stings…unlike David whose likely fate is to be devoured by the relentless Triffids.
When all hope seems lost, the stranded pilot and his wild companion are rescued by a group of ship borne scientists from America….then the real adventure begins and as the plot boomerangs and David finds himself at deadly odds with his fathers’ old nemesis…
Mr. Clark slips easily into the style of Wyndham…and you can almost believe that you are back in the originals nightmarish world, where technological progress has been halted for the past several decades and society has not progressed beyond the bland 1950’s.
it’s an incongruous world where the 60’s sexual revolution didn’t happened and this planet was never threatened by the possibility of a nuclear war.
This book is an excellent read and I would certainly recommend it to any fan either of John Wyndham or apocalyptic sci-fi in general; a fitting continuation and homage to John Wyndham’s original ‘Day of the Triffids’!
One of the best of Sci-Fi’s apocalyptic visions of earth’s and humanities near demise must surely be John Wyndhams ‘Day Of The Triffids’.
I read Wyndhams’ original sci-fi/horror novel some 35 years ago…and then re-read it in preparation to reading this fairly recent outing from Simon Clark. I would suggest that to enhance the enjoyment of this new novel, you read the classic original first.
Clark’s sequel is exciting, powerful and crisp and the narrative rolls along at a fine clip. Simon Clark is a truly masterful writer and I was gripped from the beginning.
The action takes place almost three decades after the original book concluded, and focuses on Bill Masen’s son, David who decides not follow in his famous father’s footsteps by becoming a Triffid biologist; but instead became a pilot in the small fledgling British Air Force based on the Isle of Wight.
‘Night Of The Triffids’ initial events closely mirror the original…David Masen wakes up to find the world is once more blinded…but this time from a frightening dust cloud that appears to have blocked out the sun and has left the earth in total darkness.
To make matters worse, the Triffids now seen to have gained a rudimentary collective intelligence. They are more organized than ever and have murderously adapted to the new conditions and seem hell bent on killing as many of us as they can.
Is this the end of Mankind’s rule of the planet…and the beginning of the Triffids?
In a frantic effort to discover the cause and extent of the dust cloud, David is ordered to take a young meteorologist in a two-seater Javelin jet, fly upwards and hopefully to gauge the full extent of the cloud.
Disaster follows disaster, the ‘plane crash lands and David Masen finds himself stranded on a huge floating mass of Triffid infested tangled weed; cast adrift from the coast of Britain with only a feral teenage girl for company; a girl who seems unaccountably to be quite immune to the alien carnivorous plant’s venomous stings…unlike David whose likely fate is to be devoured by the relentless Triffids.
When all hope seems lost, the stranded pilot and his wild companion are rescued by a group of ship borne scientists from America….then the real adventure begins and as the plot boomerangs and David finds himself at deadly odds with his fathers’ old nemesis…
Mr. Clark slips easily into the style of Wyndham…and you can almost believe that you are back in the originals nightmarish world, where technological progress has been halted for the past several decades and society has not progressed beyond the bland 1950’s.
it’s an incongruous world where the 60’s sexual revolution didn’t happened and this planet was never threatened by the possibility of a nuclear war.
This book is an excellent read and I would certainly recommend it to any fan either of John Wyndham or apocalyptic sci-fi in general; a fitting continuation and homage to John Wyndham’s original ‘Day of the Triffids’!