Soft Apocalypse

By: Will McIntosh

Genre: Science Fiction

Stars: 3 out of 5

Jasper remembers a time when resources weren’t so scarce and there were three classifications in society. Now there are only two, the rich and the poor. There is no in between and the poor are struggling to survive, competing for the resources that are left. Jasper and his tribe used to be normal; they went to college, got degrees and thought they would have it made. But now they are homeless, or rather nomads trying to survive in a world that is slowing crumbling around them. Always living in fear of the Jumpy-Jumps and the pinprick that will infect you with Doctor Happy, Jasper and his tribe struggle to stay alive while keeping their humanity in this apocalyptic and dangerous world.

This was a “Free Friday” book on my nook and it looked worth the download. I like the whole apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic science fiction story so this book intrigued me. However, as I was reading I just wasn’t that into it. It was one of those books where you really don’t like it but you have to finish the book just to make sure you won’t miss something that could be good. It’s about this tribe of former middle-class citizens who are now homeless and are struggling to stay alive in a world and society that is crumbling all around them. Good story idea, wrong execution of it in my opinion. The main character Jasper was just as focused on his love life as he was staying alive, which bugged me. Some parts were boring while others were just plain tragic. And the ending upset me. Spoiler alert: I watched these people fight so hard to not conform to the society forming around them. They refused to be infected by the Doctor Happy virus knowing full well that if they ever did, their emotions would no longer be theirs. I was rooting for them to find another way to survive, to get food and live happily without the Doctor Happy drug making them that way. But in the end, they failed. They failed themselves and me as the reader by giving in. Then Will McIntosh just ends it right there. It was totally not what I wanted or expected. I know it wasn’t going to end happily but I thought they would die before being infected. Oh well. In any case I would recommend this to all science fiction lovers especially those who love apocalyptic worlds as much as I do; you might like it more than I did.