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Fiction Review by The Mortician
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09.26.02
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Robert McCammon's epic 1,000 page end-of-the-world novel is engrossing, powerful, and all all too possible the way things are going these days globally. That's what makes it so scary and riveting.Obviously influenced by Stephen King's THE STAND, yet highly original in the way things unfold, SWAN SONG tells the tale of nuclear annihilation and the brave survivors in a new devastated world.We follow the characters from the beginning (a bag lady, a little girl named Swan, a wrestler, a family in a nuclear hideout, and many others) as they make their way through the new world and choose sides. As they deal with radiation burns and survival, there's an entity known as The Man With The Scarlet Eye trying to destroy the little girl Swan...who it turns out, has healing power. She can make crops grow in the devastated region simply by touch!The Scarlet Eye dude is obviously The Devil in disguise, or some variation. Survivors of the nuclear holocaust join the Scarlet Eye Camp or Swan's Camp and everything is set up for a huge face-off of good vs. evil.I love this novel, I've read it twice. The writing is so good and clear that you hang onto every description, seeing everything perfectly. McCammon is a poetic genius, whether detailing unholy destruction or beauty and hope. This is a novel you will love, cherish, and never forget.Through the blistering gore and violence, McCammon never fails to give humanity two startling qualities which we should never forget: hope and forgiveness.My personal favorite scenes include the sequence where nuclear bombs hit big cities and one character makes her way out of the subways where she had been hiding and finds The Man With The Scarlet Eye watching a FACES OF DEATH movie in a working movie theater in a downtown that is otherwise obliterated. It's totally haunting and scary, seeing and hearing this evil Demon laugh at death and destruction, wallowing in the horror and soaking it all up for evil's sake.Then there's a seen that takes place in a K-mart where a band of survivors meet a deadly group of people that make them play the ultimate 'reality TV' type of game, for their lives.SWAN SONG is kind of like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK meets DAWN OF THE DEAD meets THE STAND...and if you're a fan of those things, you will totally dig this novel.
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - votes cast total
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