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I have to be honest I'm not normally a Horror fan, but this was such an enjoyable read. I would put it more in a 'great suspense' category rather then horror. A few moments are a bit gruesome but this doesn't deterrent away from the great writing and clever way of bringing all the facts and hidden mysteries together. The pace of the book was great, you slowly, chapter by chapter learn more about the character and what devastation brought them all together. There’s allot of plot twists and you never really know how it's going to end. It always a great read when you are completely wrong on where it’s going and shocked where it leads you and how it ends. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a sci-fi mystery; I could honestly not put this book down after the first few chapters and read it in 3 days flat.

Imagine the hell of a dying world, less than a generation from now. World War Three has been and gone - ended with conventional bombs galore but started by a plague on all plant-life, that removed all the oxygen from the planet's atmosphere. As a result, the few survivors must live in air-tight houses with special oxygenating equipment - the ultimate in air conditioning - or, they must have got in early with a special biomechanical adaptation that allows them mobility and independence, but at a freakish cost. Worse, religion has mutated - the Jehovah's Witnesses are now the most violent gang, rushing to nudge what's left of humanity towards its final judgment. Worse still - even worse than all of that - you're living in Crawley. Such is the scenario faced by four human survivors, one of whom has been adapted as mentioned. They're soon to meet a fifth and sixth survivor, to form a very raggle-taggle community. And throughout all the trials and tribulations as they struggle to survive, one of the band will emerge as appearing to be more than what at first they might seem. This is a very engaging set up for an end-of-days scenario, and while the book has more holes in the more you think about it (why don't the Jehovah's Enforcers just play their upper hand and demolish all the air machines?), there is little room in the breathless story (no pun intended) to actually pause for that thought. This doesn't fully apply to the beginning, however, as the mixture of flashbacks to form and define characters, daily action, and exposition needed a little more punch. But before long there are more than punches - we get drop-kicked and more into submission. One scene is particularly fond of the claret, and this turns out to be quite a violent book - forever justified and reasoned, thankfully. The science in the science fiction was introduced well, and all of it I remembered from my school days seemed to ring true. The author doesn't quite create a fully realised life a decade from now though. People still play CDs - and argue the merits of Kylie, pre- and post-cancer. The most upmarket, automated cars still have real old-fashioned door-keys. I'll be generous as well and say he fully intended the dialogue to be as mundane and bland as this. There are certainly meaty scenes of argument between firmly realised characters, but a lot of the humdrum existence before things start to kick into gear is just that - humdrum. And to clear my sheet of critical comments, I felt I guessed too much of the answer too early. But that seems churlish when considering how quickly and how happily I paced through the book after that - there was still a lot to go that confirmed my suspicions - to some extent - and that was the core of the book, which was a core that is wholly to the author's credit. This will go down as a science fiction adventure of laudable scope and energy. The drive of the plot, in both scenario and psychology of characters, is spot on, and the cinematic depiction of the empty waste of south-east England welcome in this genre, and brings to mind something like Danny Boyle's films.

Bringing forth the end of days is a science fiction novel of post apocalypse survival, and is the debut novel of Simon Law. The year is 2013 and World War 3 has scorched the earth, on top of a biological attack that has destroyed all plant life, leaving a world without life giving oxygen. Civilisation has been destroyed, with just a few pockets of survivors clinging on to a bleak existence with the aid of oxygen and food generating machines, only able to venture outside for short periods with an oxygen mask and cylinder. Living in the remains of the south-eastern UK town of Crawley are four such survivors, adults Tom and Susan with children Jacob and Steven have banded together and holed up in an air-tight house with one of the life giving machine providing air and food. These machines, known as Photo-synthetically Generated Oxygen and Glucose Machine's (PGOGM) are powered by solar energy and rainwater and appear to require little or no maintenance. They soon find another two survivors, Jobe and Karen, quickly becoming a tight-knit little community. They are not the only survivors however, lurking the streets are the deadly Jehovah Enforcers, twisted mutants that carry portable PGOGM units surgically attached and have their external orifices stitched shut. Bringing forth the end of days has much to reccomend it, with firmly realised characters and a very good attention to detail, with the science of the holocaust clearly and realistically explained, you can tell that a good level of research has gone into the details. The fact that it's all so plausible and set in the very near future makes the plot all the more disturbing. This is further reinforced with the authors local area used as the backdrop to the story, giving a greater sense of reality. There is a clear division of style with the first half of the story telling a very detailed, concise and believable survivalist story of individuals coping with life in this holocaust hell, but then roughly halfway through, the story explodes with violence and continues the violent (and quite graphic) horror theme until the very end. This change of pace is handled very well and draws you deeper into the plot, having built up such a rappor with the characters in the first part of the novel. This does make the graphic portrayal of violence all the more disturbing, a trick that many much more experienced writers have failed to achieve. The visual sense from the novel means that this story would make a very good screenplay, and the authors love of film is clear. It is however clear that this is a first novel, with a few rough edges here, there could be said to be too much detail in the first half, and there and a slightly weak ending, but overall the intelligence, scope and energy that Simon Law has managed to breath into "Bringing forth the end of days" more than makes up for any lack of experience. Highly recommended.

Bringing Forth the End of Days

I am sure that there are many readers who will find themselves happy to give this first novel a 5 star rating.

My assessment is a little more muted in its enthusiasm. Being fairly neutral about the post-apocalyptic genre I have to say in fairness to the author that for me to award 5 stars the work would have to be of unusual quality. In my view it isn't. By the same token, however, it is not a bad book and falls therefore in the middle of the spectrum, thus the 3 stars. I do not give special consideration, either way, to the fact that it is a first novel. It will stand or fall on its merit and whether people buy it.

On the positive side, I can see here a plot line which could form the basis for a film. I can also see that a lot of effort has gone into the planning and writing of the book. It is a bleak look at the human race, its stupidity, its lack of humanity and the near inevitability of the consequences of the story's apocalyptic event. There is a twist in the tale the nature of which I would not disclose, but it does not to my mind offer hope for the future, merely a temporary reprieve.

On the negative side, however, I found it difficult to get past my disbelief at the timescale of the apocalypse and its aftermath. It seems that various technical aspects (including the speed at which industry can market and produce 'solutions' have been glossed over to permit plot development along pre-determined lines. My judgment of the book may well have been coloured by this. Perhaps my views would have been different had the action been set, say, in 2030, rather than as is the case in the book. For example, `2001 A Space Odyssey' would have been laughed out of court had it been written in the nineties rather than the seventies. 25 years is a long time span and allows more or less anything to be imagined as being possible.

I suspect that the novel would have been improved considerably by better editing and polishing. The writing style is effectively divided into two parts. The first half is very detailed, almost ponderous. Notwithstanding this and the attention given to describing the main protagonists, the characters in some ways appear flat and one dimensional. This may reflect (or perhaps result in) the fact that I found it very difficult to sympathise or empathise with most of those caught up in the unfolding events.

The second `part' of the book is quite different and concentrates more on action and reaction to some very unpleasant events. It is of a completely different pace and at times, one almost feels that the book had two authors.

Overall, despite my reservations, this is a good effort and a worthwhile purchase if the reader is into this genre. I would be interested to see the second novel, when it comes (as it is certain to do).

I found this novel a little slow to start with, with an awful lot of telling rather than showing, making it hard to instantly connect with the characters. The interesting premise made me plough on, and I was pleasantly surprised when the action did pick up around the second chapter, when I began to get a sense of how the characters in the narrative would interact with each other.

Law has created two unusual characters, Tom and Jacob, and mixed them with a more 'normal' crowd of people who are just trying to get by in a difficult time as best as they could without the possible advantages that the first two have in a world torn apart.

This novel is also surprisingly graphic (with regard to violence) and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of, say, 15, and only then if they are comfortable with horror films. 'Bringing forth the End of Days' explores the darker side of the human psyche, what normal people are capable of when pushed to their limits.

I also had an odd jolt at the beginning of the book as it is set in Crawley, where I grew up. As a side note, the descriptions used didn't particularly evoke the Crawley that I know, with little sense of the distances between places or their exact layouts.

Still, despite the occasional complaint, it was an enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to friends who like fiction of the same genre. (It should be noted that my friends are generally less picky than I am when it comes to reading things as well).

A scary look into what could be a possible future for mankind, should the wrong people decide to take matters into their own hands! Set in, what can only be described as post germ warfare era.
Years after the attacks, a handful of survivors are still battling to stay alive. Trapped in their homes due to the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere, they are using air purifying machines and a strange food/mush making machine.
The only ones strong enough to go outside are those grotesquely mutilated by surgery and Tom, who has devised an oxygen tank to allow him to scavenge amongst the remains of the area.
After years of no contact, the remaining group are spurred on when a chance meeting with two other survivors lift their spirits and start them on a life and death journey.
Led by Tom, they leave the relative safety of the house and start out together, things start to go wrong at this point and the group realise the biggest threat has been living amongst them all along!

As a local and living in the Crawley/Brighton area, I could visualize many of the places the book mentioned. The fate of the survivors keeps you hanging on, after all haven't they suffered enough already! A truly gripping read and one I have already recommended to several friends. I loved it!!

Stephanie

Bringing Forth the End of Days

It is tempting to assume that the post apocalyptic genre has been literally `done to death', then along comes this novel by Simon Law.
Previous reviewers have covered the plot and storyline in sufficient detail for me not to repeat it, except to say that the setting/location of the story feels very familiar and believable. I would recommend that you look at the earlier reviews for a précis of the story
Where this début novel scores highly for me is in the pacing of the story and its' sensitive use of `flashbacks' to flesh out the characters and the predicament they find themselves in. The author has managed to produce a book that draws you steadily into a world where plant life has been extinguished and humans depend upon artificially generated oxygen, with a resulting daily battle for survival. The characters engage your interest and make you care about what happens to them.
I have to agree with the earlier review by `Lily' 30/12/2009, in that this is not a `comfortable' read, it is absorbing, but will leave you with a feeling of disquiet about the future of mankind. In a way it is like watching the film `Schindlers List', you just have to read it through to the end, but it could never be considered just entertainment. I know that the parallels are not quite the same as the film is based on fact, but both are thought provoking in their own way.
Would I recommend this book? - Yes definitely, especially if you are looking for a good read that is more than a run of the mill sci-fi adventure. Make sure you set aside some time to appreciate this without any disturbance, as this is not a light entertainment read, rather a book that deserves your attention.

In a new take on end-of-the-world fiction, the book tells the story of a group of strangers who find themselves living in the same house in Crawley. Cities are ruined, all plant and animal life has been destroyed and the world has run out of breathable air. People are relying on machines for oxygen, and their survival. Five adults and a child are marooned together in a house where stepping outside without an oxygen pack means certain death for most. It is a poignant reminder of the damage the selfishness of man can do to the earth. We learn of the previous lives of the characters, and see how the human condition is affected by the sheer monotony of everyday life. I found the flashback scenes to normal life to be particularly moving. We are left with a sense of despair at what people are forced to endure, but despite their situation they never give up hope that there is a better life for them in the future. I enjoyed the book immensely, although there are some very violent and graphic scenes.

I would like to find out what happens to the survivors next....I look forward to a sequel.