Back in March of 2017, I posted about a book that grabbed my attention. It was called Solitude, and turned out to be the story of the last man and the last woman left alive on the Earth. Apparently, there was an accident at the CERN collider that caused everyone to disappear. Vaughn managed to rescue Angela from the International Space Station and they began their adventure together on a luxury yacht plying the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Multitude picks up where the first book in the series leaves off.
The book opens with a bit of a disagreement between Vaughn and Angela, the only two humans apparently left alive on Earth. In the previous novel, we left them plying the Mediterranean Sea in a 'borrowed' luxury yacht. Much to their astonishment, objects made of steel are slowly, steadily, and silently flying overhead in a straight line toward the CERN site near Geneva, Switzerland. Vaughn would be very content with just turning the boat around and heading for someplace in the tropics to live out his life with Angela in blissful ignorance. Angela, on the other hand, is determined to learn what has happened and perhaps reverse what has wiped out humanity. After some discussion, they ‘compromise’ and begin making their way to the CERN facility.
What they find upon arrival is a completely reworked landscape that baffles them both. Angela's attempt to correct what has happened launches the pair on a journey that is full of danger and disappointment.
One of the most amusing aspects of Multitude is the interaction between Vaughn and Angela. These two would seem to be complete opposites. Vaughn is a pilot who comes across to me as a pragmatist who also has a sarcastic streak. He always has some sort of backhanded remark ready for every situation. Angela, on the other hand, is a scientist who tends to get a bit fed up with Vaughn's cynical viewpoint while she is trying to think of ways to fix what has gone wrong. But even thought these two are opposites in their ways of thinking, they do manage to get along. They take turns being in the lead as they encounter the various situations they find themselves in. They have learned they can count on each other when it looks like they are in for certain doom. I like these characters and the author does a good job in developing them to that point that a reader will find that they care about what happens to them.
As much as I enjoyed Vaughn and Angela, I enjoyed the story even more. Multitude is an exciting, suspenseful, and often dark story to read. The characters are thrown into numerous situations, and while all of them are pretty grim, a few are downright depressing. One in particular is what the characters have named "Hell." This one in particular is indeed quite hellish in nature where it is even hard for one to breathe. The description of that place is absolutely someplace no one would want to be for any length of time and the pictures I got in my head as I read the passages were breathtaking, but not in a good way.
The story unfolds at an amazing speed, but the pacing is appropriate and given enough attention that I had no trouble visualizing what was on the page. I found myself on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading and when I had to put the book down, I was very eager to get back to it.
The theory behind the science in the novel is interesting, but the descriptions of what is happening is just technical enough to be scientific without a lot of overwhelming jargon to bog the story down. I enjoyed Angela's ideas about what has happened to bring the story about and as a layman, found that it not only entertained me, but gave me a few things to think about.
As the story came to an end, I was hoping for an idea of why what had transpired in the previous book had happened and who was responsible, but that was not to be. At least not yet! I have also learned that there is a third novel in this series planned and in the works entitled Amplitude. I am looking forward to the continuation of the story!
I would recommend Multitude to science fiction fans who enjoy post-apocalyptic and speculative fiction having a dark side involved. But it is not a stand-alone work, I recommend also being sure to read Solitude, the first book in the series. It is also a great story with the origin of how Angela and Vaughn met, it is a most entertaining and unlikely story, but is so plausible that it is a bit scary.
Well, there it is...
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