Book Review - After Doomsday (Poul Anderson)

Today's review is Poul Anderson's 1963 novel, After Doomsday.

In the distant future, planet Earth is suddenly hit by a catastrophe that annihilates all life and leaves the planet utterly barren. A scattering of crews travelling through space are all that remains of the human race, and instantly set out to rebuild their civilization and discover the cause of the disaster.

After Doomsday is an interesting book in the way it revolves around a colossal concept, yet manages to tell a fast-paced and engaging story. It also shows a well-developed universe, populated with all manner of civilizations with complex and dynamic relations. The human survivors have to navigate between imperialists, capitalists and feudalists to carve out a niche for themselves in a vast and uncertain universe.

The book is fairly scant on characterisation. Our protagonists are resourceful and have moments of introspection as they remember their former lives on Earth, but developing deep personalities does not appear to be Anderson's main objective. Not that this takes away from the story, but if you like your science-fiction to be heavily character-based, you're likely to be disappointed here.

Anderson does have a slightly annoying habit of delivering exposition through character's thoughts, rather than try to work it into dialogue or behaviour in a way that feels natural. These attempts to establish character backstory comes across as a bit lazy. Again, this doesn't detract from the book's strong points, but some readers might be a bit put off by it.

Apart from the main thread of the the mystery of the Earth's destruction, the plot is largely episodic. Characters move from one planet to another, gradually giving the reader a better understanding of this universe and how it functions. I enjoyed this method of revealing the book's universe, with Anderson gradually teasing details out to stoke the reader's curiosity.

There's a curious segment where an immense space battle is described to the reader through a combination of epic poetry and a fictional historical account. I liked both these little details as they further fleshed out Anderson's created world, giving an insight into the cultures of these alien societies.

One major issue I have with the book is the ending. It ends with a cliffhanger, which I thought was a great idea, but the whole thing feels a little rushed. I didn't feel the extent of emotional impact that Anderson clearly wanted to get across. This spoiled the ending for me a bit.

That said, I still think After Doomsday has more good than bad in it. It's a nifty read and a great example of how you can develop a dynamic fictional world without going all George RR Martin and becoming swamped in your own detail (sorry George).

Highly recommended.