Genre: Sci-Fi
Reviewer: Lucy
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About The Book
2084 The End of Days is the story of 5 men and 2 women brought together in mankind’s struggle for survival. This is when an apocalyptic comet enters the solar system and is set to destroy Planet Earth in May 2084. Is this the end of mankind or can they survive out in the Solar System?
The Review
The End of Days by Derek Beaugarde is very much a traditional science fiction novel: a problem arises and the great scientific minds of the world gather to solve it. The story is well-written, using the points of view of the major players, so that all aspects of the dilemma and its resolution can be seen.
Because the author wants us to know just what motivates these men and women, we get the minutiae of their lives: their affairs, addictions, fears, childhood traumas. All coalesce into the driving force behind saving the human race.
In some places, the minor events, the fine details of each character’s lives made the story drag a bit. The author chose to write the dialogue in dialect, mimicing the accents of the characters. My brain would try to translate that dialect and unfortunately, the thirty-something Glaswegian woman and the middle-aged Virginian man ended up sound the same in my head. I’m not really a fan of trying to write accent, but the point really was to emphasize the diversity of the team involved in saving the human race. Still, those were small prices to pay for an overall great, if traumatic, story.
For me, this wasn’t a relaxing read, where I kicked back and killed an hour with a good book. Parts of the story were riveting and tense. Others were filled with the backstories, regrets, and aspirations of the characters. The overall theme of the story rang clear throughout: when humans come together despite their differences and work for a common goal, they may not achieve perfection, but they accomplish great things.
2084 The End of Days is a great, traditional sci-fi novel with strong characters, good character development and a well-executed plot and premise. Definitely worth the time.
The Reviewer
I’m an avid reader who loves pretty much all genres except math textbooks. As a kid, my parents exposed me to everything from fairies, hobbits, and dragons to the biographies of interesting people around the world, interspersed with poetry, plays, and music. Into adulthood, I spent a lot of years with my nose buried in various textbooks. Now, I read whatever grabs my fancy.
