The Apocalypse Seven
The Apocalypse Seven
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Houghton Mifflin
Annotation: For fans of The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig comes an apocalypse story like no other. Seven strangers wake to find they are the only humans left alive. But they are not alone.
Genre: [Science fiction]
 
Reviews: 3
Catalog Number: #6682058
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Copyright Date: 2021
Edition Date: 2021 Release Date: 05/25/21
Pages: 426 pages
ISBN: 0-358-41894-1
ISBN 13: 978-0-358-41894-8
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2020023911
Dimensions: 21 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

Starred Review A ragtag group of adults and teens scattered across the eastern United States wake up to discover that everyone else is gone. They can't find any evidence of a disastrous event, but the world is wilder and a bit scarier, all the food is gone, and buildings are collapsing. The action of the book takes place mostly in the Boston and Cambridge area, with familiar landmarks being overrun with moose, bears, and boars. Survival is at the forefront in a crumbling city stalked by new, wolf-like predators. The group employs the specific knowledge and skills of its various members: Touré, a gaming and sf junkie, is prepared for all outcomes of the apocalypse; Win is skilled at hunting, survival, and archery; Bethany, the youngest member of the group, is practical beyond her years, and finds a grocery store that will become their home base. Slowly, they figure out what happened, and what is happening. The mystery element pulls the narrative forward, but ultimately, the unique environment, the characters, and the writing are what make this a worthwhile read. Doucette (The Spaceship Next Door, 2018) is ultimately able to do something new with a familiar genre, and do it astoundingly well.

Kirkus Reviews

Waking up in a blighted, empty America, seven strangers unite to figure out what the hell just happened.One of prolific SF author Doucette's strengths is coming up with memorable inciting events, and while this story about the end of the world doesn't reach the heights of the best apocalypse fiction or even Hank Green's recent first-contact duology beginning with An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018), it's clever in inception and execution (though it doesn't quite stick the landing). We enter in Boston, circa sometime in the 21st century, depending on who you are. Robbie, a smart Harvard freshman who wants to be a writer but is doomed to be a CPA, wakes up with a killer hangover from last night's kegger and...there's no one around. Like, anywhere. Eventually he meets up with fellow student Carol, blind and fierce but missing her dog, and then five others. The first two-thirds of this eclectic novel is a survival story, somewhere between The Walking Dead and a Cory Doctorow thought exercise, albeit with no antagonists-yet. While Robbie becomes the nominal leader, it's a true ensemble cast with a great collective of characters: There's Touré, a second-generation Mexican American coder; Bethany, a 13-year-old juvenile delinquent with more practical skills than almost anyone in the ragtag company; Win, an Olympic-level archer; Paul, a heavily armed ex-con–turned–traveling preacher; and Ananda, an MIT astrophysicist who thinks she might have an idea what's happened. The titular band works together to find food and shelter, survive the bizarre weather, and attempt to figure out what the episodic flashes of light they dub the Shimmer mean, not to mention the date. Speculative fiction ranges from straightforward to bewildering, and Doucette covers the whole arc here. It would be a trespass to violate the reveal, after encounters with mutated coyotes, an alien who smells like pee, and a timey-wimey bargain for the fate of the human race, but it's really fun to read.A cinematic, speculative exercise in which a ragtag band saves the world, kind of.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Seven people awake to the revelation that Boston and the surrounding area are abandoned, overgrown, and teeming with coywolves in this riveting postapocalyptic outing from Doucette (The Spaceship Next Door). Harvard students Robbie and Carol are the first to find each other in this strange, deserted world. They soon join up with computer programmer Touré, and the three discover juvenile delinquent Bethany while searching for food and answers. Doucette draws a contrast between this scrappy group-s struggle for survival in Boston and the confident know-how of two characters outside the city: nondenominational pastor Paul, who jury-rigs his truck and fills it with guns and supplies; and marketing executive Win, who adopts a blasé approach to facing down mountain lions. Closest to uncovering what happened is Ananda, an MIT astrophysicist whose discovery of a mysterious device suggests extraterrestrial interference. Subtly eerie occurrences propel the story past the midpoint, and the group-s daily efforts to survive provide more satisfaction than the abrupt revelations of the finale. Despite the underwhelming denouement, Doucette-s vibrant prose and unique premise make for an enticing adventure. (May)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
Reading Level: 6.0
Interest Level: 9+
2
     "Honestly, I would tell you if there was a pile of bodies here. It'd be the first thing."

     "Earthy I think is the word. Like a garden. Did the quadrangle become a garden overnight?"

     "Yeah, I think it must have rained," he said. "It's like all the plants went nuts."

     He turned around to get a better look at the dormitory they just exited, and realized, first, it was the right building, which meant . . . well, he didn't know what that meant yet; second, the ivy on the outside wall had an overnight growth spurt, just like the rest of the plants. It covered the entire wall now, and half of the windows.

     "Hey, did you wake up in your own room?" he asked.

Scott Sigler called Doucette’s cozy apocalypse story, “entertaining as hell.” Come see how the world ends, not with a bang, but a whatever . . .

The whateverpocalypse. That’s what Touré, a twenty-something Cambridge coder, calls it after waking up one morning to find himself seemingly the only person left in the city. Once he finds Robbie and Carol, two equally disoriented Harvard freshmen, he realizes he isn’t alone, but the name sticks: Whateverpocalypse. But it doesn’t explain where everyone went. It doesn’t explain how the city became overgrown with vegetation in the space of a night. Or how wild animals with no fear of humans came to roam the streets.

Add freakish weather to the mix, swings of temperature that spawn tornadoes one minute and snowstorms the next, and it seems things can’t get much weirder. Yet even as a handful of new survivors appear—Paul, a preacher as quick with a gun as a Bible verse; Win, a young professional with a horse; Bethany, a thirteen-year-old juvenile delinquent; and Ananda, an MIT astrophysics adjunct—life in Cambridge, Massachusetts gets stranger and stranger.

The self-styled Apocalypse Seven are tired of questions with no answers. Tired of being hunted by things seen and unseen. Now, armed with curiosity, desperation, a shotgun, and a bow, they become the hunters. And that’s when things truly get weird. 


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