Imagine if a volcano erupted that's a thousand times worse
than any volcano in our lifetime? That's what happened about
two years before SUPERVOLCANO: ALL FALL DOWN begins. The
eruption was the center point of the first book in Harry
Turtledove's new series. I have not read the first book.
ALL FALL DOWN seems to cover about two years of the
aftermath, and it focuses on one family, including an
ex-wife and an ex-boyfriend. It is slice of life, the way
life is after a megadisaster.
The supervolcano of the title erupted in Yellowstone
National Park. One of the family's adult children was living
a few hundred miles away and has ended up in a refugee camp.
Another adult child is stranded in Maine, where it's pretty
much winter all the time. The rest of the family, and the
ex-boyfriend, are all in the Los Angeles area.
Turtledove explores the supervolcano's effect on the
economy, transportation, utilities, and the food supply in
these different parts of the country. The novel is also a
study in family dynamics under extreme stress. That's it.
It's like a fictionalized essay about what might happen if a
massive volcano blew up and made it rainy in southern
California and even colder in cold places like Maine. We
also get a lot of introspection about how if it's this
frigid in Maine, how cold must it be in
someplace-that-got-really-cold-even-before-the-supervolcano.
I also found it hard to follow the passage of time. I'm
guessing the book covers a two year period, because one
character is pregnant early on and the child is speaking in
sentences by the end. The author doesn't include dates or
six weeks later. You just have to guess based on what the
characters are saying or thinking.
While it behooves everyone to consider the types of
disasters that could occur in our lifetimes, I can't
recommend this if you're looking for an action-packed
man-against-nature kind of story. If you enjoy a quiet,
thoughtful book about what life might be like for one family
in the aftermath, this one's for you.
In Supervolcano: Eruption, one of nature’s most destructive
forces released its ferocity on an unsuspecting world. Now,
New York Times bestselling author Harry Turtledove reveals
how the survivors of the disaster adapt to their new
environment…
In the aftermath of the supervolcano’s eruption in
Yellowstone Park, North America is covered in ash. Farmlands
cannot produce food. Machinery has been rendered useless.
Cities are no longer habitable. And the climate across the
globe grows colder every day.
Former police officer Colin Ferguson’s family is spread
across the United States, separated by the catastrophe, and
struggling to survive as the nation attempts to recover and
reestablish some measure of civilization…
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