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| The Deluge (Leisure Fiction) | 
| Author: Mark Morris
Publisher: Leisure
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $3.58
You Save: $4.41 (55%)
New (23) from $3.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 52075
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 342
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0843958936
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780843958935
ASIN: 0843958936
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 12 | | NEXT » |
 A Most Unsatisyfing Post-Apocalyptic Book March 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is difficult knowing where to start a review for a book that may just possibly be the worst mainstream post-apocalyptic book I have ever read. All due respect to other reviewers on this site, but The Deluge really is that bad. Let me explain, and if I blow some of the plot, you may thank me later:
One - Plot: A mysterious huge flood engulfs London, and only those in the highest floors survive. A few survivors try to stay alive, travel North seeking one of the survivors' ex-wife and son, encountering mysterious alien-like monsters along the way. The flood is never explained, it recedes after three days, the monsters are never explained...in fact, pretty much nothing is ever explained. Get to the end and you will say "What? Did I miss something? Why did the flood happen? Who are the monsters? Where are the survivors going? Are there other people alive somewhere?" and on and on.
Two - Dialogue: So unrealistic and sappy, it defies explanation. In the midst of battles they crack jokes, the dialogue throughout is stilted and overly simplistic, some of the survivors at first don't want to carry guns or defend themselves, even though 99.9999% of the population is dead and they have no weapons (huh?..oh yeah, they say "Well, everyone else might be friendly!" OH BROTHER). This group may very well be the most clueless stupid group of apocalypse survivors ever thought of.
Three - Lask of expanation: Absolutely nothing is explained, from the flood to the monsters. How is that possible? What was the writer thinking? Plus, the story goes nowhere, and at the end of the book, nothing is resolved. And I mean nothing.
In the end, this book tries to combine the apocalypse with a monster chase story, and both are DOA. If you want to read this book, heck, I'll sell you my copy really cheap. At that, you'll be overpaying.
CRIBBAGE ANYONE? CRIBBAGE. March 17, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
With nearly every turn of page in THE DELUGE I felt I should have had a lawyer right beside me, because this book is one of the clearest cases of cribbing I've read in a long time. I was fearful that having paid for the book I might be considered an accessory. What started out as a good idea, and well played first off, quickly became a numbers racket as Morris leads us down a path so well laid out, so well worn, and so well travelled by so many others, you can't help but scratch your head and wonder if this book was actually written, or just pages ripped from others novels pasted together.
I'll admit, it's a little tough to come up with an orignal idea when it comes to the end of the world and I can forigve THE STAND vibe (simply substitue water for plague), it's only natural that King's ghost hovers over these pages (as well as a Clive Barker quote on the cover that is actually very sad... remember when Barker was the NEXT heir to the crown of horror?, bygone days) but Morris doesn't stop there. From DAWN OF THE DEAD, THE MIST, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, DOCTOR WHO to perhaps the biggest lift being from WHO GOES THERE? by John W. Campbell (fimled as both THE THING: FROM ANOTHER WORLD and remade simply as THE THING), this book tries hard to be more than the sum of its parts, but you can't help but see the poorly fitted joins as Morris moves us from his one original idea... a delgue, into a slow moving, boring cross country trip from London to Scotland with every tripwire, booby-trap, plot twist and shock telegraphed well in advance.
There is a minor shock as the book moves from its post waterlogged world into Wyndham territory when we learn that the water not only washed away human society but also uncovered either an alien plot, or, creatures from below the surface of the Earth. The book never makes it clear and Morris teases the idea all the way through to the ending of the book, which is no ending at all... it, like DAWN OF THE DEAD and THE MIST, simply comes to a stop with whatever happens next being left to the reader's imagination.
Also, I'm not sure what Morris was thinking when he spends the last third of the book in a complete rush, suddenly pulling out all the stops in an alien/earth-slug/last standing human war that goes nowhere, kills nearly everyone and then fails to resolve anything. Until that point, the books is peppered with moments of violence (some very graphic and I have to admit, well written) and loss that tries your patience and leaves you wondering why not cut to the chase sooner once the alien/earth-slugs appear. It's almost like he had two half novels he couldn't finish and instead of choosing one, he married both of them together.
Frustrating. Difficult and a cheat up till the very last page, which is strange because Morris can write. There are moments that are done very well (sometimes for a second or third time depending on what idea he is emulating), but it's never enough to cover the obvious homage's to larger and better books.
Sink, don't swim, with THE DEUGE.
 I WISH I HAD BOUGHT IT SOONER!!! March 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For some odd reason, I was under the impression that this was The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene, but under a different title. A couple of weeks ago I realized that it wasn't and I purchased it. I was a tad worried that it was going to be a cheap rip-off of The Conqueror Worms, but it was not. It was an exceptionally spun tale about a handful of survivors after a worldwide flood had swallowed the Earth. What happens after the water recedes becomes an entirely new twist of survival. I enjoyed this book immeasurably!
 not another armageddon novel!! oh yes.... March 7, 2008
In a surprisingly original take on the Armageddon theme that has practically been done to death, no pun intended, Mark Morris does really well.Here comes a flood ,bibical-times,Noah and the ark kind of flood. Really? Just a little tremor and she-bang--Europe under water. And as soon as it happens, it retreats that fast. So you have a group of survivors trekking out trying to find food and each other. They try to band together...but wait...whats that crazy blue lightning in the horizon? Um...I dont know. Hey little girl, are you allright? No no shes not because she is an "alien" that either brought the flood or came because of the flood.Take it or leave it. These are creatures that absorb humans as food but they are really electric thingys. Why? I dont know.
no real explanation about the flood or the aliens but left wide open for a sequel. Very originally done, characters are well thought out. Alot of gaps,though.virtually nil on the splatter.
Wash it Away March 4, 2008
This book was a fantastically chilling tale of death, survival and the enduring human spirit. This book will sink its teeth into you and leaving you gasping for more.
Mr. Morris is a master at plotting and pacing, making it easy to lose yourself in the world he created. His characters are unforgettable and he manages to give us enough background to have an emotional interest in what happens to them, without bogging the story down with the details.
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