A brilliant, post-apocalyptic adventure tale!

How is it that this book has been off my radar for so long!? Seriously. I love epic, post-apocalyptic tales of survival and so this book should have been on my list from the moment of its release. Okay... maybe not that far back as I was two years old when it was originally released. No. This book was so good that even then I should have had it on my wishlist.

This book is a must read if you are a fan of Stephen King's The Stand or Justin Cronin's The Passage. I happen to be a huge fan of both and Swan Song is a bit like the love-child of these works.

It has a whole bunch in common with The Stand. The survivors of the apocalypse (which takes the form of a nuclear strike instead of a government-engineered plague) fall into two camps of Good vs Evil. There's a "dark man" figure who is decidedly evocative of King's Randall Flagg, and there are many religious undercurrents to the narrative.

King's work was first published in '78 so it pre-dates Swan Song. Even though the argument could be made that McCammon's work is derivative, I actually don't care. I see it more as one great piece of fiction inspiring another. While King's work is definitely superior, McCammon's story is still a wonderful read. Whole bunches of books have been inspired by great predecessors, and just because they don't measure up to them, doesn't mean they can't be great in their own right.

I guess there was a lot about this book which reminded me of other books, and I know that's not necessarily a good thing. However, in this case I honestly enjoyed every aspect of the book. The situation was gripping, the characters were realistic and the premise was epic. This is one of those books that I'd recommend to people after they'd read and loved The Stand. It's not as good as that, but it's damned decent as a follow-up read! A fab not-so-little read!

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15 people found this helpful

Apocalyptic epic

This is a fantastic book; the only reason I haven't given it a fill five stars is that tha narrator doesn't really do it justice. Great chracters, epic story and an underlying current of disquiet.

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2 people found this helpful

EPIC

what an amazing book! well written and very well read. the narrator does a great job with the voice acting for every character. the story itself is told with vivid detail. i got a real strong image of every scene. the characters were all interesting and enjoyable, mostly :)

gave this a 4 because there were a few parts tht made me roll my eyes, but i wont mention them off of plot spoilers

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2 people found this helpful

Brilliant

Loved it! A cautionary tale of greed, pride, good and evil, excellently narrated. I recommend.

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Fully recommended

I had to write a review because this book was so much better than the sleeve suggested.

I bought it because I like long stories and it was sci-fi but I really wasn’t looking forward to it. It was excellent, though, and it never lost pace.

It’s not just another apocalypse story - it has a bit of mysticism added in and I like that.

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A wonderful find.

I came across this book while reading; The Book of Books (The Great American Read) - what a treasure! If you love the post apocalyptic genera, this is for you. It dose bare similarities to The Stand, but I found it to be more accessible, less complicated but with the same impact.
The narration on the audiobook is outstanding.

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What an Epic

It takes a little while to bring all the characters together but what a great journey, I will remember this book for a long time.

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Simply Incredible

Five minutes into this masterpiece and i was completely hooked. Recommended to me by a good friend i wasn't entirely sure i would enjoy however I love this book. It is simply incredible and everyone should listen to this. Incredible narration, the low tone sets the atmosphere for this creepy post apocalyptic world. I cannot stress enough how deep and powerful this book is. Get it,

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Evocative

1. If you could sum up ‘Swan Song’ in three words, what would they be?

Evocative, visceral and convincing.

2. How credible/believable did you find the narrator to be?

Tom Stechschulte was extraordinary - in my opinion this epic apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic story is incredibly character-driven and his outstanding narration contributed to this.

3. What was your favourite quotes/passages?

- “The outside face is how the world sees you, but the inside face is what you really look like. It’s your true face, and if it was flipped to the outside you’d show the world what kind of person you are....Sometimes you can see a person’s inside face—but only for a second or two—if you look close and hard enough. The eyes give away the inside face, and likely as not it’s a whole lot different than the mask that’s stuck on the outside.” - Leona.

- “....as she’d watched him stagger away Swan had realized that forgiveness crippled evil, drew the poison from it like lancing a boil.”

4. Any additional comments?

This is the first Robert R McCammon novel I have ever read and it certainly won’t be the last - I downloaded ‘Boy’s Life’ midway through ‘Swan Song’.

No wonder this highly original novel is held in such high esteem by many, his writing style is phenomenal.

This was a throughly engrossing read. I in especially liked the supernatural elements contained within it.

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surprised horrified impressed relieved

This was epic - good epic. Didn't know what to expect never read McCammon before and on description thought Swan Song was not my usual subject choice, but reviews were excellent so was a semi reluctant wince to click play. WOW.... was blown away from the beginning with the well researched and shockingly believable catastrophic setting of scene. This could really happen - crap I need to be prepared!

The characters are incredibly inciteful - and as lives come together you really do care. The various elements of good and evil are shocking and yet worryingly believable - will find yourself thinking about it between reads. The storyline is disturbing and wasn't convinced about the mix at first but found myself grateful there's just enough magical element to give you hope and intrigue. Not sure if satisfied with explanation but placated with ending not being a dump and run - given just enough of what happens after - I was left with an overall sigh of relief and 'wow'.

The writing style is formidable with pictures effortlessly painted for you and the story moves on at a really satisfying pace. An easy flow, no frustrating parts of over description or lingering - you're not wanting to repeat or scan forward - it's perfect. Noticeably so. Equally the narration is outstanding - character accents and personalities brought to life. Superb performance.

Never read McCammon before - will be reading more.

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