Tobin Marks pens a post-apocalyptic fantasy with a ton of imagination in his new book Ark of the Apocalypse. The amount of thought in this tale is extraordinary. It was interesting watching this story unfold as the different characters fill the pages and how they all fit together.
- Title: Ark of the Apocalypse (The Magellan II Chronicles – Book 1)
- Author: Tobin Marks
- Publisher: Boyle and Dalton on March 10, 2021
- Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
- Pages: 428
- Formats Available: Paperback & Digital
- Rating: 3/5
Trigger Warnings: Graphic Violence, War, Murder, Graphic Health Issues
Many thanks to Tobin Marks for providing me with a digital copy of Ark of the Apocalypse with a request for an honest review. Also, thanks to Blackthorn Book Tours for inviting me on this tour and providing the materials for this post.
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About Ark of the Apocalypse
Earth is on the verge of becoming a dead planet.
The polar ice caps melted long ago, and it’s been decades since the last raindrop fell. Ocean levels rise a dozen meters, and forest fires rage on a global scale. Eleven billion people dying of thirst wage water wars against each other as extinction looms.
Humanity needs a new planet. As Earth deteriorates, the nation states desperately work together to build a mechanism for recolonization. And so the Magellan II is born, the first starship capable of interstellar travel.
The future of the human race is tasked to ten thousand colonists-now homeless but for the vastness of space and the decks of Magellan II. A distant planet offers hope of survival, but it’s a strange, watery world inhabited by giant reptiles.
Humanity is starting over, but survival isn’t guaranteed.
Provided by Blackthorn Book Tours for Tour Use
My Review of Ark of the Apocalypse
The Earth is dying, and there is nothing to do to stop it. Wars raged one after another, scientific discoveries were plentiful, and one family meant to outlast them all. It became clear that a colony of people would need to leave Earth and colonize another planet for the human race to survive. Science made it possible to leave Earth behind via a large space vehicle that took the faction to another galaxy to start anew. But, will humanity, as we know it, survive on this new planet?
This book has me all twisted up in knots. I didn’t enjoy reading this book for many reasons. However, that doesn’t diminish the good parts, and that is where I will start.
This novel heralds a very realistic account of what this planet will become if we don’t do something about climate change, and soon. I found all the talk of how the planet is dying morbidly fascinating. I can see all of these outcomes clearly in my mind. The scene is drastic yet believable in this fantasy. All fantasy bases on some realism, and this is the piece that made it so for me.
The abundance of research that went into this tome is incredible. Mr. Marks has a vivid imagination that takes this story from real into the fantastical at lightning speed. And this is where the novel fell apart for me.
There are entirely too many characters to keep track of, with names that are impossible to remember or pronounce. When I said the book moved at lightning speed, I meant it. It encompasses so many generations that I lost count. Not only that but the big shifts in time came out of nowhere, taken for granted that the reader would understand that time had passed.
The main family, who possessed strange abilities, apparently saw everything in the world and manipulated events to coincide with these visions. None of this made any sense, and I spent my entire reading time perplexed to the point of frustration. No one in this family was likable or even tolerable, yet expected to take their machinations as fact.
Also, I try not to discuss editing in my reviews because I like to stick to the story. But this book felt like no editing occurred at all. The small typos that were merely annoying to the changed spelling of the main family’s name partway through and then back and forth the rest of the way left me more frustrated. At one point, the author talks about an equestrian society, but a society of horses made no sense in the plot. I had a hard time reading this book due to the lack of good editing.
And last, the book is way too long. I understand that this is an epic science fiction/fantasy combination, but it doesn’t work. To be honest, I would have loved this story if the fantasy were gone. Done as a straight dystopic Earth where people fled to another planet would have made an excellent story, but this fantasy element didn’t work for me.
I give this book three stars. All the positive reviews must mean that some people really enjoyed this novel, but I’m not one of them. If you like long science fiction and fantasy, I can see you loving this book.
About the Author – Tobin Marks
Marks is a world traveler who grew up in a household of rocket scientists. As a boy he had a front-row seat observing many NASA and NOAA projects. He writes science fiction novels from his home in northwest Baja.
I’m pretty good at ignoring editing errors unless they are so numerous that it makes the story confusing.
I usually can too, and almost never mention it, but there were just so many and the changing of the family name really threw me. I thought there were new characters that I had missed in some way.