Melancholic

A strange little read, neither good nor bad just strange. Of note, the characters. For a more humorous post apocalypse story try Jam by Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw.

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4 people found this helpful

What would happen to you if you couldn't sleep?

Would you consider the audio edition of NOD to be better than the print version?

I preferred the audio edition of this story. I did find the print version a little hard to read, but the audio version was better.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found myself sympathising with peoples decent into madness. When my first child was born I didn't get more that two hours sleep together for over a year. How the people react to insomnia reminded me of this time in my life.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this story, even if I found the ending a little weak.

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Unusual take on the Apocalypse

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Well written, absorbing and completely bonkers! I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the writing and the narration through a very strange journey that Is never explained and has no tidy conclusion. That's fine by me to some degree, it leaves the reader more to ponder over. Although I did listen to the final two chapters three times to make sure I hadn't missed something.
A novel take on the apocalyptic tale and I thought a good listen although if honest it petered out a bit quickly for me and I would have liked a bit more story to round it off more satisfactorily.

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2 people found this helpful

Less than the sum of its parts

A great premise for an engaging series, or a great concept for a crisp clever novel. Sadly the story unfolds as though it is creating a setting for a far longer story, then stops because it has exhausted its premise.
I got to the end of this and wished that Philip K Dick had written it as a short story instead. There is also a preconception with etymology and obsolete expressions, which annoyed me, as though the author was on some kind of pedagogical mission. I nodded off.
Towards the end of the book the narrator is clearly reading the text a word at a time.

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Solid story well narrated

Had no expectations going into this one, great story, well rounded main characters, intriguing concept. Would revisit this tale again int the future.

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2 people found this helpful

Falls short

Struggled with the narration, not the best, read a lot of it. A good idea where the detail could have been really explored but the opportunity was missed. The potential for a great denouement was there but this too was missed. Not a struggle to get through, fortunately it's short, but at the end I couldn't see the point in having started given it missed so many opportunities.

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Abrupt ending

Was really into this original and dark vision of a post apocalyptic setting. instead of your usual zombies, or nuclear was, the premise is very interesting.

the story itself is also very interesting, until it just abruptly finishes out of nowhere and fails to tie up a single plot thread that it created through the book. really frustrating as I was really into the story, it feels to me like the Author just couldn't be bothered to finish the narrative, and instead chose to end in a very morose and unconvincing way. A shame because it was on its way to a 5 star review. As it is, I cannot award it 5 stars as it is simply not a complete finished novel.

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Odd but interesting.

Vancouver is a big character in this book, and words and their meanings, past and present usage are utilised and played with to deepen the book, it is better than most books of this kind, and has a raw edge that makes it though but more real in its feelings. The main character is a realist and in an unreal world. I only wish the writer had expanded the story a bit more.

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4 people found this helpful

Another Apocalypse

NOD starts out intelligently with meta levels to the story and characters. Unfortunately, it takes a turn down the Alley of Cliches. It ends up like just another "zombie" apocalypse - but with sleep-deprived people taking on the roles as bad guys. Adrian Barnes borrows a little of the crassness of Chuck Paluhniak here and there, but it never gets really dangerous...

The performance of the novel didn't help much. Most of the time it sounded like a computer reading text aloud, lacking emotion and conviction. Punctuation and pauses CAN be very effective, but not in this performance.

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2 people found this helpful

A great read, a superb premise, well executed

this is a great read/listen. the story runs and runs, gainjng pace with each step. The premise too plays out well.
without spoilers, my only wish was that the deterioration seemed level out after the initial stages.
still an excellent read tho

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