The Snow
ISBN 9780575076518
eISBN 9781473224438
ASIN B07KF9YZK3
I picked this up when it came out back when I was a bookseller. The concept really intrigued me, and I started the volume. I started it and from this read was about a third of the way through it. Then my backpack went missing and with it this volume. The book would come to mind from time to time, and to be honest I could not recall the author. I though the title was just ‘Snow’. Every now and again I would do a search for it, but never stumbled upon it again. Jump ahead 22 years and with Ai I was able to track it down by redefining my search 4 times. I picked up the eBook, having switched to mainly eBooks because of my dual form of dyslexia and started reading it.
The description of the story is:
“And this is how the world will end ...
'The snow started falling on the sixth of September, soft noiseless flakes filling the sky like a swarm of white moths, or like static interference on your TV screen - whichever metaphor, nature or technology, you find the more evocative. Snow everywhere, all through the air, with that distinctive sense of hurrying that a vigorous snowfall brings with it. Everything in a rush, busy-busy snowflakes. And, simultaneously, paradoxically, everything is hushed, calm, as quiet as cancer, as white as death.
And at the beginning people were happy.'
But the snow doesn't stop. It falls and falls and falls. Until it lies three miles thick across the whole of the earth. Six billion people have died. Perhaps 150,000 survive. But those 150,000 need help, they need support, they need organising, governing.
And so the lies begin. Lies about how the snow started. Lies about who is to blame. Lies about who is left. Lies about what really lies beneath.”
The story began as I recalled and I felt some of the same bewilderment as reading the story. It is mainly personal narrative, and primarily from one source. But it is written as redacted reports and document control source much like you would expect from a secret government project. For example:
“[Warning: this is an Illegal Document under the Texts (Restricted) Act of is. The Minimum punishment for reading, possessing or disseminating this document in part or whole is a 3rd degree fine and up to one year in confinement. Do NOT proceed beyond this legal notice; notify your nearest certificated police officer or certificated military officer AT ONCE, quoting your provenance for the document and your period of access.]
[Tampering with the official seal on this document is an offense under the Government of the People (Emergency Powers) Act of 2, punishable by fines in the 6th or 7th degree and up to two weeks in confinement]
[Notice: this document, having been in general circulation for a period not exceeding two months one year or less prior to the establishment of a legal interdiction, is now an Illegal Document. Anybody who may have read part or all of this document during the period in which it was in general circulation is hereby reminded that the recall, republication (in part or whole) of any element of said document, substantive or marginal, is now an offense under the Texts (Restricted) Act of 15]
{{<<G S Seidensticker is one of the most eminent scientists to have survived the Snow. A household name for his dedication to Freedom as well as the brilliance of his technical and scientific work, he talks here to Science for Freedom about the question on everybody’s lips – the origins of the Snow.>>}}”
The chapters in the work are:
Snow
So You Want To Be A Food-Miner?
Interview with Gerard Louis Seidensticker
Know Your Snow!
Doc 08–999 [Clouds]
Confession
Text Title: [not specified] Text Code: 341–999
Website
Also by Adam Roberts
About the Author
Appendix
Coda Tira Bojani Sahai
I was close a couple of times to having this volume end up on my ‘Did Not Finish’ pile. But because it had come to mind so often over the intervening years I pushed through. Over all it was an interesting read. Parts of it feel very disjointed. And parts seem like random jumps. I really feels like 2 different stores that were mashed up in the middle. Both might have worked really well on their own. But together it just seems to miss the mark.
Was the story entertaining? - Yes
Was the story enjoyable? – So so
Is there anyone I would immediately recommend it to? – No
I have read numerous books about terraforming planets. Mostly around terraforming Mars. Including the Solar System series by Manual Alfonseca that begins with Under An Orange Sky. Or In the Shadow of Deimos by Jane Killick Terraforming Mars Book based on the Board Game. As well as the non fiction volume Terraforming Mars edited by Martin Beech, Joseph Seckbach, and Richard Gordon. This final one had essays deal with the ethics of Terraforming that fit in really well with this story, and Alfonseca’s deals with some unexpected consequences for and from native inhabitants.
I seldom look at other reviews or opinions before working on my own. But because I could not pin this one down I did take a peek. A lot of commentary out there is similar to my own impressions. But I am thankful I finally tracked it down and finished it even if 22 years after starting.
Overall it is an interesting story. And as one of the earliest in Adam’s career I can understand the roughness. For fans of more esoteric Science Fiction it will be a good read. The trajectory switched midstride in what feels a surreal way. But it was good enough that I have just picked up 'Salt' to give a try. So who knows maybe it will hit for you.
Books by Adam Roberts:
Salt (2000)
On (2001)
Stone (2002)
Polystom (2003)
The Snow (2004)
The Va Dinci Cod (2005) (as by A R R R Roberts)
Star Warped (2005) (as by A R R R Roberts)
Gradisil (2006)
Doctor Whom (2006) (as by A R R R Roberts)
Land of the Headless (2007)
Splinter (2007)
Swiftly (2008)
Yellow Blue Tibia (2009)
I Am Scrooge (2009)
New Model Army (2010)
The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo (2010)
Anticopernicus (2011)
By Light Alone (2011)
Jack Glass (2012)
Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea (2014)
Bete (2014)
The Thing Itself (2015)
Bethany (2016)
The Black Prince (2018) (with Anthony Burgess)
The Compelled (2020) (with Francois Schuiten)
Purgatory Mount (2021)
Middlemarch: Epigraphs and Mirrors (2021)
The This (2022)
Stealing For The Sky (2022)
The Death of Sir Martin Malprelate (2023)
High (2024)
Lake of Darkness (2024)
The Swoon (2024)
Frankenstein Rex (2027)
…
Novellas:
Park Polar (2002)
Jupiter Magnified (2003)
Anticopernicus (2011)
Bethany (2016)
The Lake Boy (2018)
The Man Who Would Be Kling (2019)
The Compelled (2020)
Stealing for the Sky (2022)
The Midas Rain (2023)
High (2024)
…
Parodies:
The Soddit (2003, The Hobbit)
The McAtrix Derided (2004, The Matrix)
The Sellamillion (2004, The Silmarillion)
Star Warped (2005, Star Wars)
The Va Dinci Cod (2005, The Da Vinci Code)
Doctor Whom: E.T. Shoots and Leaves (2006, Doctor Who)
I am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas (2009, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol).
The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo (2010, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
I, Soddit: The Autobiography (2013, The Hobbit)
…
Non- Fiction:
Get Started in: Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Wodwo Vergil
…
Criticism:
Silk and Potatoes (1998)
Science (2000, second edition 2005)
Fredric Jameson (2000)
Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings (2003)
The History of Science (2006, second edition 2016)
The Riddles of The Hobbit (2013)
Sibilant Fricative: Essays and Reviews (2014)
Rave and Let Die: The SF and Fantasy of 2014 (2015)
H G Wells: A Literary Life (2019)
It's the End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid Of (2020)
Fantasy: A Short History (2025)
…
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