John Wyndham
1951
Around 305 pages
Gods bless John Wyndham. I really needed a story like this to break up our current losing streak. Even the recent solid entries weren't exactly fun. But Wyndham knows how to write a wildly entertaining novel, with a clear Wellsian influence.
Bill Masen wakes up in the hospital to discover that everybody has gone blind after witnessing a green meteor shower. Bill was spared, as his eyes were bandaged after being splashed by triffid poison. Triffids are tall carnivorous plants capable of walking around and while I know that might strike some people as cheesy, I actually find the idea pretty fucking terrifying. Bill worked with triffids and has kept his sight, so he's a bit more prepared than most when the triffids start scuttling around all over the place.
Wyndham didn't have to go that hard. I would have settled for a Night of the Living Dead type story, where our main characters hole up somewhere and trying to survive a siege of monsters. But Wyndham goes deeper than that. I thought the blindness element was brilliant and added an extra layer of complexity to the adventure. Bill not only had to navigate the Deku Babas, but he also has to deal with the rest of humanity, who are blind and pissed off.
I think I would rather feed myself to a triffid than join one of those post apocalyptic sex cults. My only criticism was that the story fell off a bit by the end. But hey, he had incredible momentum at the beginning, and it's hard to keep that going until the end of the story.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Inspiration for 28 Days Later. Of course, they replaced plant monsters with zombies. I wonder who would win in a fight?
In 2021, the novel was one of six classic science fiction novels by UK authors selected by Royal Mail to feature on a series of British postage stamps.
UP NEXT: Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
1 comment:
I thought this was a fun story. It was very different and I think he did a good job with the weird idea.
Post a Comment