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The Deluge

By: Stephen Markley
Narrated by: Corey Brill,Danny Campbell,Gibson Frazier,Stephen Graybill,Soneela Nankani,Joy Osmanski,Melissa Redmond,Aida Reluzco,André Santana,Neil Shah,Aven Shore,Shakira Shute,Pete Simonelli,Shaun Taylor-Corbett
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Summary

“This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting.”—Stephen King

From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future approaching collapse and a nascent but strengthening solidarity.

In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.

From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future? A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have.

©2022 Stephen Markley. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Will it be a Netflix series?

I’ve ended this book with mixed emotions. Yes, it’s tackling climate crisis/disaster in a new way. Did it have to be so long and have so many characters though?

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Ms
  • 21-02-23

Long and rambling

Never got to work out who was who. Each chapter a new character for ages. When they appear again I had forgotten what I new about them. Green ideas were interesting and some of the politics close to the bone.

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cloudy... with a chance of apocalypse

Stephen King mentioned this book in a tweet suggesting it was as good, if not better than 'The Stand: well I had to find out.
So... there's a lot going on and a dizzying aray of characters to keep up with but do stick with it.
Essentially this book is written over several decades as climate change tightens its grip and how civilisation is effected and struggles to cope.
I won't pretend to understand the science that is written but it feels very convincing and feels very fresh and up to date. There's a few nods to "The Stand' which was a nice touch.
At over 40 hours it's a long listen, but for me, the author has produced something that will stay with me for a long time, I suspect it'll be a film or box set in the future.

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Terrifying

An incredible journey into the near future of climate collapse and civilisational struggle. Not the easiest to get into initially because of the mixture of voices, characters and styles but worth persevering with - as you get into the story the different strands come together much more clearly and it's much easier to tie them together in the narrative arc. Some good science in there too - the author has clearly done his research. Not a relaxing listen by any stretch of the imagination but one that anyone who cares about the future should read.

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Terrible Audio

Not sure I can finish this. So disappointed. Audio is shocking. Sounds like it was recorded on a headset

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  • Review Reviewer
  • 20-01-23

Couldn’t get into it.

The narration was highly distracting. Just having one person read would make it so much better. All these different voices reading the narration were super annoying and it was hard to stay focused on the story. I don't think that's the author's fault.

I’ve been trying to slog through it because it was highly recommended, and the topic sounded interesting. but it’s so wandering and spends so much time trying to get me to like the characters I find unlikable I just am annoyed by them.

I’m used to big thick wordy books but this one was just a disappointment. Life’s too short for books that don’t hook me in the first chapter or hour. Sorry, Stephan I really tried.

6 people found this helpful

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  • Matt
  • 31-01-23

15hrs in, still have no idea where it’s going!

I’ve listened to 40-50 books and I don’t think I’ve ever left a review. I love long and in-depth novels, big epics you can really dive into. I was hoping that this would be one.

As the title stats 15hrs in and all I know is government…bad, climate change…bad, corporate anything…bad. Young woke…good.

Where is this thing going? The narrators just kinda blend together, I don’t really care about any character in the book. You jump between multiple characters that have no connection within the same chapter which makes it hard to listen too unless you binge. Needs to be edited WAY down.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Peter
  • 13-01-23

Woke

Its woke, very woke…so woke. Did I mention it is woke? You’ve been warned.

3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Lee Patterson
  • 22-02-23

Good Story / Strange Performance

I am about 2/3 the way through this novel. The story is fine but the people reading frequently mispronounce words. How did so many errors make it through to the final product?

2 people found this helpful

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  • R. A. Van Horn
  • 27-01-23

Meh.

If you have to waaaaaay out the way to mention Trump and phallus in the same sentence, apropos of nothing, I’m out. And, I can’t even stand that dude.
I did make it to chapter 5 before I bailed, so that’s something, I guess.
Go read Ohio again, that’ll be better than wasting your time on this.

2 people found this helpful

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  • California Rose
  • 25-01-23

A Woke Version of The Apocalypse.

I tried to delve into this book with an open mind. After reading many of the reviews, I knew this book was generally going to be Woke Central. But I was intrigued by the concept and wanted to see how it played out. Not well, I’m afraid.
What a bunch of nonsensical, illogical, poppycock. The Constitution, with its ideas of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is now a recipe sure to bring about the destruction of the planet. People are being told they need to get on board with the long term goal of saving the planet, regardless of the personal cost. Many characters seemed to have few redeeming qualities, and were mostly unlikeable. I couldn’t bring myself to care about their outcomes. I can’t recommend it.

2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Pat McBride
  • 18-01-23

Bad editing - could cut 50%

Listen - I am on board with the general message about addressing climate change but this too way way too long to get going. Was hard to really care about any one character and was a bit too preachy.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 18-03-23

Captivating, sobering and hopeful all at once

I couldn’t stop reading - well, listening to this. Clearly we’ll researched on the science and tech side. And a very interesting approach with multiple narrators of the unfolding nightmare of climate and social chaos. The readers were all well above average- brought the different characters to life.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Andy
  • 16-03-23

An immersive, extraordinary, and deeply moving tale.

An extraordinary-and extraordinarily well-composed-diary of our present; and our future. I could not stop. It’s deeply disturbing and highly provocative. Stephen Markley is the best American novelist for this job. Impossible to overstate how much I loved this, and his writing. Painful. I wept with outrage, sorrow, sometimes even joy.

1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Jason
  • 13-03-23

Truly terrifying literary fiction (4.5*)

If you don't believe in science and fact-based reports, you may want to skip this. For the rest, this book is written truly scary vision of the future, with different actors reading different characters, some written in 2nd person, journalist stories & science articles. just brilliant, tho it could have used an editor to cut just a little bit.

1 person found this helpful