A Desolate Splendor
A Novel
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A chilling portrait of a family fighting to preserve their humanity in a cruel and merciless world
The collapse of civilization has left the survivors scattered amongst a few settlements along the wilderness fringe of a land ravaged by war. Preyed upon by roving bands of sadistic ex-soldiers and ever at the mercy of a natural world that has turned against them, a family is facing their final days. Hope appears in the guise of their young son. Raised in isolation and taught by his father to survive at any cost, he is thrust headlong into a battle for the future of humankind after rescuing a girl fleeing from a savage and relentless cult bent on burning the world back to Eden.
Raw and unflinching, A Desolate Splendor weaves a stark, and eerily familiar, portrayal of life on the brink of extinction and heralds the rise of an exciting new voice in apocalyptic fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Following his debut novel, Cipher, Jantunen ambitiously tells the tale of a future in which only the last vestiges of humankind remain, but the book falls short of its aspirations. The reason for the devastation of the world is briefly alluded to but never clearly revealed, leaving readers with the eerie question about who or what is to blame. On the surface, the small groups of survivors may not seem so different from the kinds of people readers might recognize in their own society, but depravities that have taken hold in the wake of destruction are slowly revealed. Narration, heavy with dialects, switches among characters. A boy, who survives on a farm with his mother and father, forms an unusually strong bond with his dog. One of the nomadic goods collectors yearns for a young girl; two brothers leave their home, falsely assuring their father they are going on a mission of peace, not war; and several starving women are intent on protecting their children and their sisters, no matter the cost. The plot entwines the characters' lives together, but the story doesn't progress quickly enough, nor are individual characters developed sufficiently for readers to become emotionally involved in their fates. This review has been corrected to more accurately reflect the plot of the book.
