Book Review: Breakers, by Edward W. Robertson

It's not often I come across a book that makes me not want to put it down, even to take notes. Breakers, by Edward W. Robertson, is one of those books. A post apocalyptic story with a twist, Breakers hits all the familiar notes of the genres and plays the riffs as well. Told from the viewpoint of two men who struggle to survive in a world where all the rules have changed, Breakers, much like the waves of the Pacific that crash down on every page, has its peaks and valleys--but they're emotional tides, not literary ones, and they truly capture the human spirit of the survivors.

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Raymond's a freelance graphic designer who's discovering that 'freelance' is a fancy word for 'unemployed'. The one thing he loves more than the beautiful weather and water of LA is his wife, Mia. No matter how his search for a job flounders, Mia keeps him afloat. Even when a superflu sweeps around the world, he's got her to rely on. They shack up in a mansion in Beverly Hills, stock a garden with food, and settle down to raise chickens. The end of the world might not be so bad, if it wasn't for the alien invaders intent on wiping out what remains of the human race.

Walt's girlfriend, Vanessa, is on the brink of breaking up with him. Unfortunately, she dies of the flu first, sending her devoted boyfriend off the rails. Walt decides to live her dream of going to LA, even if he has to walk there. He's kind of hoping he'll die on the way. He's got no illusions about human nature, and he doesn't mind resorting to deadly force at the drop of a hat. Then again, he doesn't much mind risking his life to help others, either. But Walt doesn't have much of a purpose in life--until he meets a ragtag group of rebels who've gathered to strike back at the aliens who've invaded our world.

Walt is one of the best anti-heroes I've read in a very long time. The way he fondles his dead girlfriend's breast makes me lose all respect for him, and yet, by the end, I find myself rooting for him to succeed. Some morals might be displaced by the apocalypse, but Walt's got a firm grip on what he is and isn't willing to sacrifice. He might walk a dark path, but he does it with conviction. Raymond may be nowhere near as dark as Walt, but his relationship with Mia felt a lot more real and touching than do relationships in most romance novels I read. Could that be because he takes practical steps to take care of her and protect her, instead of always thinking about her? Maybe.

The pacing in this story is excellent. No sooner has one antagonist passed than a larger, more dangerous one shows up to take its place. There's a few plot threads that aren't resolved--we see that the US government still has a few remaining outposts, but never learn their ultimate fate. The imagery is excellent, especially the juxtaposition of the peaceful Pacific with the apocalyptic carnage. Some apocalyptic novels simply describe rotting corpses over and over until the reader looses interest, but Breakers uses the same terse, disgusting, horribly fascinating descriptive language as The Stand while remaining a third of the length.

The action scenes do feel a little dull, at times--mostly just descriptions of physical actions that don't always engage the reader's senses and mind. And, at first, I did feel like Raymond and Walt were too similar, both being lower middle class men with artistic backgrounds in a monogamous relationship. The pop culture references could have been tuned down a little, because I can't always think up a timely pop culture reference when I'm fighting for my life. But these are minor criticisms for such a well told story (in fact, my list for The Stand is a hell of a lot longer). Both as an apocalyptic story and as a novel, Breakers earns five out of five stars.

--You can download Breakers here. You can also go here and purchase my book, Iceclaw.