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MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Why did they come?
When they appeared across the sky, speculation wheeled around the world—the aliens were from heaven, the invaders were from hell… or they were proof that neither existed. But when they landed, curiosity gave way to suspicion and the nations reacted with nuclear force, setting off a chain reaction that left the world in ruins.
Twenty years later, instead of nearing her retirement, Dr. Elspeth Darrow struggles to forget the loss of her child and husband by plunging herself into the work of operating the last remaining hospital in San Francisco. With medical supplies running out and working herself to exhaustion, Elspeth must embark on a risky salvage mission into the heart of the Neo California danger zone. Here, she discovers the disturbing truth: the aliens have returned.
As the mystery of the aliens’ purpose on Earth unravels before her, Elspeth must hide what she discovers from reactionary despots, all vying to bring Neo California under their control. Aided by a band of pre-war scientists and new-world medical students, Elspeth races against astronomical odds to reveal the terrifying truth that might save the world—or finally destroy it for good.
MY REVIEW
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this story having never read Welker before, but knowing it won the SPSFC-4 let me know I was in for something good. I was amazed by the story-telling ability and medical accuracy he had, only realizing half-way through that he was an actual doctor, which made it make more sense. On top of that, this is not the typical post-apocalyptic, alien invasion type of story. Actually, the alien part of it plays more of a secondary role, don’t get me wrong, it plays a vital role in the plot, but substitute aliens with vampires, zombies, etc and the overarching theme stays intact, but that’s also what makes it so intriguing, it’s not a run-of-the-mill alien invasion story, Saint Elspeth is a story of hope told as a medical drama set in a post-apocalyptic California setting with an alien arrival to give it a sci-fi edge.
The story is told from a single point of view through Dr. Elspeth Darrow, and it’s hard not to like her character which gives off a Mother Teresa like vibe and the reason the book is titled the way it is. But I really enjoyed Ward’s character the most, there is something about that underdog outcast that doesn’t fit in that I connect with and makes him feel more relatable. There are many other characters that are involved with the story, but for the most part Elspeth and Ward are the ones who are the most fleshed out of all of them. The Hila themselves felt pretty unique in their descriptions and what they can do, almost like a xenomorphic predator feel to them.
The story itself is very well written and thought out, from its medical expertise to its apocalyptical world, while dealing with political tensions that cause issues when the world was normal and now that the world is a catastrophe. What makes it so good is Elspeth’s outlook of hope for a better world. Even with a slow-ish pace, Welker was still able to tell a compelling story that kept me and should keep readers engaged for the outcome.
“Hope is the vine on which virtue grows and ripens into action, moving on its own accord. You need to pick up the pieces of tragedy and meld it into action.”
The two closest things I can compare to Saint Elspeth is Fallout and The Walking Dead, I compare it to these two because Fallout deals with humans sheltering from a nuclear war brought on by human on human conflict, only to reemerge just for more human on human conflict. The Walking Dead deals with humans sheltering on human conflict during a zombie apocalypse. Saint Elspeth kinda merges these two with human on human conflict at the emergence of aliens, which causes a nuclear fallout, sheltering and emerging in a new world where human on human conflict is still the biggest problem. The real monster is always inside where humans are still their own worst enemy. The performance of Maria McCann as the narrator also helps bring this story to life. She did a great job of delivering impact when the scene called for it, but she was limited in her range with male voices. Some were near-cartoonish sounding in a way, like you’d expect to hear on Family Guy or The Simpsons, still a great performance nonetheless.
With that said, I also saw a little bit of Idiocracy to it, not that the world is just full of idiots that think electrolytes are good for plants, but because the younger generation struggles to understand science and everyday stuff that the pre-apocalyptic generation knows. Highlighting just how fragile our shared understanding can be once things fall apart and all we teach is war. I shot Welker a message to ask this, have not heard back, but I also feel like there may have been a small nod to Homer Hickam’s Rocket Boys aka October Sky, only because October sky was mentioned twice, the big part takes place in October and they have to look at the sky. The last comparison I’ll give is how the Hila (aliens) communicate, which is similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which I thought was a cool nod.
I think the only criticism I may have is that while the story is somewhat grim in tone with what the world has become, it has its moments like scavenging dangerous ruins, but aside from that, there really weren’t any tense moments that ever made me worry about the characters, because there really weren’t any characters that posed a real threat, more light suspense than tense. The only other thing I can think of is more trivial than an actual complaint, but the new world had Neo put in front of everything and that was never explained why, it was just accepted for the reader to understand.
This was a very good story packed with characters I genuinely liked and rooted for. I think anyone hunting for a sci-fi novel that skips the usual genre tropes and delivers real hope inside a grim, ruined world would enjoy Saint Elspeth for its fresh take on what keeps us human even when everything falls apart.
Wolfmantula.com 