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The Upheaval (2000)

by Erica Stevens(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Horror

series

The Survivor Chronicles

review 1: This is the first in a series of books about an apocalyptic disaster and what happens to those that attempt to survive. I thought it was fascinating - I mean, I love a good disaster movie and this was essentially one of those in written form. Each chapter brought a new peril for the surviving characters, unable to trust the earth beneath their feet.There were a few things that stood out for me, the disappearance of one of the characters after the earth split - achingly real. Also wading through gradually heating water, I felt like I was right there with them.A niche book really, for fans of the apocalypse genre, but still a good read.
review 2: There are 2 reasons why I'm glad the word "Chronicles" appeared in the title. Firstly, because I absolutely want to re... moread the second book in what is to be a series, and hopefully a good series at that. And secondly, I didn't want this being a stand alone story as I feel the good stuff is yet to come.I found some similarities to Chasm by Stephen Laws, which is no bad thing as giant seemingly bottomless holes in the earth is a scary concept.Whilst there is indeed plenty of action here, and good characters which I'll come to in a bit, there isn't an explanation why any of the apocalyptic style events take place. There are hints such as the weird sun thing and the animals acting all crazy, even characters make suggestions, but no definitive reason why.That in itself is both a good and bad thing. The action and suspense is enough to keep you reading but after a while, say 1/3 of the way through, you begin to want to know why such calamity has struck the earth, or at least Massachusetts. I'm not saying there had to be an obvious and clear instrument behind the orchestra of chaos, but I needed something else to watch out for other than yet another round of earthquakes, lava, rivers etc.However, looking at it from a long term series point of view, this first instalment is all about setting the scene, establishing location, characters, initial threat level and so on. Because it was an enjoyable read I was willing to overlook the need for a why, and keep turning the pages. There is a school of thought in the writing world that states a writer needs to show the antagonist early on, the earlier the better, in order to give the protagonist someone to battle against. Until the actual bad guys are revealed the reader has no choice but to accept the geological menace as the bad guy. And that works, kind of, but it didn't feel like enough somehow.I hope the second book has that revelation, otherwise the more discerning reader may feel cheated out of not having a big bad boss type to hate.On the plus side there's a lot going on here, and enough threat to the survivors to keep me turning the pages to find out what the hell else can possibly go wrong next! I would have liked more conflict between the characters. Conflict is good, it's what drives the story forward. Having said that I was happy to settle for the brutal conflict between characters and angry geology.Of all the characters I found John and Carl the most entertaining, and I rooted for them considerably more than the others. More so when they find Rochelle, and the scene with the guys taking the truck is very good, nicely written with just the right amount of tense, edge of your seat style stuff. Both characters had a good arc, progressing from garden maintenance guys swapping banter to protectors of a child, willing to kill to protect her. Mary Ellen is weak and pathetic, with no redeeming features and fails to progress and grow. Al, whilst a stronger character, is merely the other side of Mary Ellen, and to some extent the story would have benefited from combining both characters into one, with the weak Mary Ellen at the start, progressing to the stronger more determined elements of Al as the story moves on. That would have made for a more engrossing character arc.As for Xander and Riley, they stand out nicely, although that seems due to their student pals being little more than filler characters whose purpose is to highlight Xander and Riley's relationship. I like the idea of a group of friends coming together against a threat, where issues like loyalty, love, loss, hope, fear and so on, become vastly more important in times or terror.However, because those other characters, Carol, Bobby, Lee and...not sure if I'm missing someone, have considerably less page time they therefore feel less important to the reader, who won't lament their death or their choices as much as Xander or Riley.What I loved was how the story moved from one set of characters to another, with their own survival stories winding around one another, growing ever closer together. I found myself hoping they wouldn't miss each other and would eventually team up. For me that 'will they won't they' element was what made the story tense and exciting.Two issues brought me out of the story, not that it impacted on my enjoyment a great deal, but they were very noticeable and should have been avoided. First, there were way too many wan smiles from almost every character. A single character smiling wanly is okay, sort of, though personally I don't like a wan smile as it feels weak and hard to visualise.But when wan smiles come from other characters I started to wonder if any of them were taking their life or death situation seriously? And therefore why should I take time to believe and hope in them? To make matters worse there are wan smiles at the weirdest of times, like during intense action where the character should be concentrating on getting away from the threat, not throwing around wan smiles.The other issue, worse than the wan smiling, was the use of the word 'anymore' not only by the author but by every character. It's understandable for a character swept up in a life changing catastrophe to say: "Do you honestly think it matters anymore?" But the same word crops up over and over again. Every character has the same idea, that after seven hours of chaos they assume everything on the planet, their lives and their future will never ever be the same again.That's a huge assumption, especially for every character to arrive at it independently. I searched the kindle edition for 'anymore' and found 63 results. It may seem like a somewhat pedantic comment to make but it grated on my nerves after yet another character used had used it. It would have had more impact had it been used a few times in that context to reinforce what is clearly a world changing event.Those two jarring elements aside this was still a cracking read. Enjoyable start to finish. This was a refreshing take on an apocalyptic scenario that doesn't have zombies, aliens or religious aspects to it. Even the point I made about having no big bad boss guy is intriguing because the reader is left with a sense of: "But why....?" and the desire to read the next instalment.I'm very much looking forward to the next book! less

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