I’ll take the Resident IT Consultant’s word for it. Or maybe Julie Bertagna can put me right, as it’s her book Exodus we’re talking about. Is there a THE story of Glasgow? Or is this A story of Glasgow?
Whatever. It’s very good. But before anyone gets too excited, I’ll point out that Exodus finishes, if not with a cliff hanger, then, well, unfinished. There’s a second book already out, and a third that I think Julie is almost done with writing.
Julie has flooded her home city of Glasgow, and most of the rest of the world as we know it. It’s the year 2100, and it’s all our fault that the future is this extreme. So one lesson is to start thinking about the environment a bit more.
This is quite simply a very touching and exciting and, above all, thought provoking story about some young people in the future, who have to try and survive in the world we left for them.
It’s not all dread and horror, though. A lot of fun touches, like pickled brains, antique Irn Bru and new uses for a MacDonalds arch. And love. Very romantic. I like that.
The description futuristic almost put me off reading the book, much the same as fantasy is a red rag to many readers. Exodus IS futuristic, of course, but more than anything it’s simply a good, really good, story.
I’ve got Zenith, which comes next, sitting ready and waiting, but can’t decide if I need to pace myself, as the third installment isn’t out yet. But I thought it was a nice touch on my part to accidentally start reading Exodus the day it finally was published in the US.
7 responses so far ↓
Julie Bertagna // April 8, 2008 at 20:12 |
Some pacing might be best. I’m not actually finished Aurora. That’s just a rumour I spread to keep my publisher relaxed. I have written the ending, but there’s an unseemly gap in the middle needing to be filled.
Not sure I can claim THE story of Glasgow. If there is a THE story, it’s the legend of St. Thenew (that is her real name, not made up by me as people seem to think) aka St. Enoch, that sort of parallels Mara’s story. This will mean nothing to people who haven’t read Exodus.
So pleased you liked the pickled brains. That’s not a Scandinavian delicacy, is it??
And delighted the bookwitch cast a good spell upon the book. (Not really into futuristic stuff myself, funnily enough, though I make an exception for anything by Margaret Atwood.)
bookwitch // April 8, 2008 at 21:09 |
Oh, I thought pickled brains were a Scottish delicacy? That stuff people wash down with Irn Bru?
Go on, fill that gap, Julie. And hope your publisher doesn’t read the best blog around.
David Cunningham // April 9, 2008 at 9:51 |
As a fellow Scottish writer, I have to say that I found reading Exodus incredibly inspiring, since so much of our nation’s current literature seems to be wary of grand imaginative gestures. Looking forward to Zenith and Aurora too…
bookwitch // April 9, 2008 at 10:58 |
I need to know where Wing is. I was thinking Outer Hebrides, but could be completely wrong.Too flat, perhaps.
Michael Bush // April 9, 2008 at 13:40 |
This all sounds very interesting! I’ve ordered the book online; hope it takes it’s time, I have a hell of a lot of work to be getting on with before it arrives!
Julie Bertagna // April 9, 2008 at 15:28 |
On an old map of the Orkney Islands I found the hamlet of Wing, on the island of Hoy, close to Longhope. Wing struck me as a beautifully apt name for an island in a story about a people in flight. In my fictional future, with the low lands drowned by ocean, the hills of Wing become Mara’s island. I stole Longhope too.
bookwitch // April 10, 2008 at 7:12 |
Ah, wrong side of Scotland, then. I’ve not been to Orkney, but well remember feeling seasick on the ferry to Lerwick, many years ago. Near Fair Isle was particularly bad.