Uncivil War: The Island

I love dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. Scott Peterson’s new novel/series/project whatever you want to call it, promises to be right up there with the best of them. So far it reminds me a bit of S.M. Stirling’s Change books.

And I’m not just saying nice things because Scott is the husband of one of my all-time favorite bloggers and children’s lit writers, Melissa Wiley or because he once said that I have “a neat blog with a fantastic name”.
(Well, maybe a little because of that, but only a little.) I’ve followed Scott’s blog for years and really like his writing about family and books, and though he doesn’t write very often, he has written what I consider one of the best pieces about parenthood ever: Fluid. But I’m getting sidetracked. I was just trying to explain why when Lissa posted that Scott had released a novel I jumped onto Amazon right away and downloaded a copy to my iPhone and then proceeded to read the book in an afternoon. (It’s a pretty quick read, a novella really.) I’m not a comics/graphic novel reader, I get a headache trying to pay attention to text and pictures at the same time, so I’ve never read any of his stuff in that format. But a novel…. That’s a horse of a different color. I’m all in.

This first installment of what promises to be an exciting series follows a young boy and girl through a mysterious post-apocalyptic landscape. Scott Peterson drops you into the middle of the action, letting you put together the pieces of the puzzle as you go. Who are they? Where are they? Where are they going? Why are they on their own? What happened to everyone? Why is the world in the mess that it’s in? What does this have to do with civil war? And, of course, the most pressing concern: Are they going to make it?

Peterson’s child protagonists are a touching mixture of toughness and vulnerability. I liked them, and felt so very protective toward them from the very beginning. And they are believable kids, not just miniature adults. I never once lost track of how old they are supposed to be, especially the girl who is just the age of my own daughter. Yeah, Scott writes kids like a parent. And as I read I couldn’t help but picture Buttercup as a version of Scott and Lissa’s Rilla.

The writing is tight, the action fast paced. It’s a good thing this volume is short because I couldn’t put it down till I got to the end. And I’ve got kids to feed and diapers to change.

I’m very much looking forward to the next installment and exploring this world. And boy do I want to know what happens next.

It’s only $1.99 to download this first book in the series. If you don’t have a Kindle or a smart phone or iPad with a Kindle app, you can download a free e-reader from Amazon, so don’t let the technology stop you.