Yvonne
CLIMATIC CRISIS
This is a modern-day tale of a family scattered over the globe who experience various different weather phenomena, spectacular, dangerous and awe inspiring.
Some suffer heart rending injuries, others the devastating loss of loved ones.
It is a fight for survival against all that Planet Earth can fling at them, enraged with the Human Race who have placed importance on economies and compilation of wealth rather than respecting the natural resources of their wonderful world.
The seas are contaminated and marine life is dying. The temperature on land is so hot that fires are destroying large parts of the forests. It is a race against time and every second counts as governments around the world endeavour to set right the years of neglect and pollution.
But will they be in time?
C.G. PENNE
C. G. Penne has published three short story books and two full length novels.
Her latest publication ‘Climatic Crisis‘ is contemporary, thought-provoking, stirring and dramatic.
Carol likes: Writing, dog-walking, travelling
She dislikes: Sushi, call centres
Visit Carol at her website
“One of my hobbies is dog walking and I own an absolutely adorable Westie pup, called Bertie, who is thoroughly mischievous!
I love travelling too and, along with many of you, have felt the frustration of not being able to get out and about visiting family and friends due to Covid restrictions and not doing all the normal things that are so much part of our lives.
My other passion is writing and recently, whilst out for a walk enjoying our beautiful countryside and realising that I take it for granted, I felt compelled to write my latest novel “Climatic Crisis” to express through the characters in the story, the absolute urgency for governments, industry and all of us to act before its too late.
Very much hoping you will enjoy this latest novel”
FIRST LINES
CHAPTER ONE
“The unusually strong wind whipped up her hair and stung her face as she turned the corner of the Cornish-stone building, carrying her large black bag bulging with refuse. Normally, she would have divided up the waste, but today struggling against the force of the wind, she gave up and just chucked the whole lot into one dustbin. She knew she would be slammed by enthusiastic environmentalists, but then what did one load of unsorted rubbish really matter”
MEMORABLE LINES
“Cold realisation was dawning on her that she wasn’t the love of his life, but more a part of his life sectioned off and completely divorced from his life in England. Basically, he wanted both. It suited him and all he needed her to do was accept his declarations of love and intent”
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“Then she wondered where she was going or if she was going anywhere. She didn’t know. No one knew the answer to that question; well no one alive that is. If there wasn’t anything else then the inhabitants of this earth should look after it very carefully because this was it, nothing else, just a planet with precious life”
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“There were more news items, but Robbie switched off at this point. He had seen enough. He had the feeling that the world had got smaller somehow, that there were no differences or borders anymore between countries or cultures. The world had changed dramatically almost overnight and to Robbie it was clear, clearer than it had ever been. Mankind was being forced to take part in a race against time”
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“What they couldn’t realise while they stood and watched the planet’s anger unravel before them was that the North Pole was about to speak for the planet who had sent so many warnings on so many occasions that had been ignored. Planet Earth was no longer interested in remedial action. It had gone beyond the point of no return”
REVIEW
“A family fight for survival in a dramatically changing world”
Wow! That was one action packed, emotional rollercoaster of a story and now I need to sit quietly and ‘come down’ for a few minutes, as I hadn’t realised just how quickly I had been racing through the chapters to get to the final outcome, only to be stopped in my tracks and floored by those last few pages – What a unique, super clever twist, with no clue along the way, making for one hell of an ending I definitely never saw coming!
As absolutely everything has to have an acronym these days, I had no idea, but did a search and yes, there is such a thing as cli-fi! and this is one powerful way of getting the message out there. Climatic Crisis it transpires, is actually a story within a story, dystopian by nature, but to all intents and purposes, as I was reading, and at that time none the wiser, it was very much a story told in the here and now, narrated by multiple voices, across several worldwide sites of action. The chapters were perfectly just the right length, as there were scene changes virtually every time there was a short breathing space. However although there was also quite an extensive cast of characters to take on board, once you had in mind who was who, the fast-paced, fluid action was never really difficult to follow.
This multi-layered storyline, is a very cleverly crafted and executed, seamless blend of fact and fiction, so fluent and well constructed that where one stops and the other begins is almost impossible to spot and separate. It wasn’t until I sat and actually analysed the many simultaneous, disparate climatic events we have experienced here on planet Earth recently, that the facts behind this highly textured, intense and fast evolving plot, came together in that light-bulb, “OMG! what if it did?” moment.
Wildfires, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, melting ice masses, pandemic and disease – individually each event is going to be devastating, however collectively they represent just about every potentially bad outcome for mankind, and the frightening thing is, that somewhere in the world at least one of these events is happening right now. But what would happen if all of them were happening, in different places, and all at exactly the same time!
My thoughts became even more focussed and polarised, when reaction to, and consequences of events, were brought together as a fictional story, centred around the members of a single extended family, who have made their homes in, or who are visiting, some of the farthest-flung corners of the globe, all experiencing the single phenomenon of climate catastrophe, but in so many different guises, all equally life-threatening and potentially fatal. It really could happen like this! Just imagine all those disaster movies being screened as virtual reality events, at the same time in different rooms and you don’t know which scenario you are going to find playing out around you, that you are going to have to hope to deal with!
Gripping, suspenseful, totally immersive, rich in atmosphere and detail, the dramatically descriptive narrative and observational dialogue seemed to flow completely effortlessly, whilst the visual imagery of the words added some excellent depth and range to the storyline. Even down to the duplicitous machinations of the mega-rich, who think they have found a way to cheat on their ultimate final ‘big deal’, only to discover that the planet conducts business in a much more brutal way than mere humans ever can, and when necessary, with fatally terminal consequences.
Carol has also created a cast of well drawn, vibrant and developed characters, who totally owned this space with their presence and strength of collective voice. By no means all likable or relatable, they were nonetheless authentically and realistically portrayed and together they each played their part in this volatile, complex jigsaw of human emotions, although in their naivety and with the inherent human traits of optimism and greed, they each think that they have defeated their unseen enemy, with their promises of a more thoughtful and considered future. But as it transpires, all too little, all too late!
So why 4 stars and not the full complement of 5, I hear you ask? I have made a slight downwards adjustment for no other reason than what I can only imagine is the author’s over-exuberance in getting the words consigned to paper and out into the world. The story is solid. The characters sound. The continuity is fine. I just wish that the editing process had been a little more robust and rigorous, which would have removed a few of those irritating little grammatical errors.
Futuristic this story may have been intended, however the potential this entire scenario has to play out within my own lifetime, is a really scary thought, especially that as a sexagenarian I was hoping for a peaceful retirement when it arrives, not to become part of the Obliteration Age!
However, what makes reading such a wonderful experience, is that with every story, each reader is taken on a unique and individual journey towards a common outcome. A small handful of books are so difficult to define and explain without that journey having been made, and this is one such story, so I recommend that you read this one for yourself and see where your journey leads you!
A complimentary ARC for review, was kindly gifted by the author.
Any thoughts or comments are my own personal opinion and I am in no way being monetarily compensated for this, or any other article which promotes this book or its author.
I personally do not agree with ‘rating’ a book, as the overall experience is all a matter of personal taste, which varies from reader to reader. However some review sites do demand a rating value, so when this review is posted to such a site, it will attract a well deserved 4 out of 5 stars!
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I am a bit of a “weather freak”, so this certainly piques my interest! It’s definitely a hot topic, one about which I can have mixed feelings. I might hold off on this awhile in hopes that future kindle editions will have corrected some of those grammatical errors.
I don’t know how much International news and weather you guys get shown in broadcasts, but the range of weather catastrophes and crises happening around the world right now, is really scary and Carol seems to have pretty much nailed it in the storyline behind ‘Climatic Crisis’.
When you consider each phenomenon as an isolated incident, it’s bad enough, but to think that given the right coincidental conditions, the outcomes could happen simultaneously to one family, does not bear thinking about!
The grammatical errors are not gaping holes or anything like that, but I guess if I were purchasing the book, I might be a little miffed. That however, is purely my own personal opinion and I don’t want to put you off reading it, as it was really good and would definitely feed your ‘weather freak’ soul!
Have a peaceful weekend 🙂
Would definitely add this to my Kindle list! We just have this one planet to live on and we should take good care of it, but I don’t like how politicians use the climate issue as their campaign tricks, which bring nothing but just more chaos.
I agree with just about everything you say, although you do get to an age where you tend to leave the rallying cries to the younger generation, even though that seems a bit like ducking out and leaving them to clear up the mess we ‘oldies’ have made!
Despite politicians from all countries making a real ‘dog’s breakfast’ out of the whole climate crisis agenda, it is a difficult problem to fix, as we are such consumer driven societies, and to fix that is going to take an entire re-alignment of global economics and finances!
Result – Undoubted chaos!!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and I hope that you manage to make the time to give this book a try. Happy Weekend 🙂
This sounds like an enthusiastic writer, full of ideas
Carol has taken just about every climate catastrophe which has happened during the course of Covid and wrapped it around a fictional family, so that each branch of the family has to contend with their own personal climate related emergency. It really works and the ending is definitely one I never saw coming! 🙂
This probably isn’t a book that I’d give a second glance at as if I’m being totally honest I’d have thought it one of the numerous novels featuring global warming. However, such is the power of reviews, you have convinced me that there is so much more to this novel than just this.
If I am being totally honest, I probably wouldn’t pick this one off the shelf in a bookshop, but I think that’s because the title would put me off a bit.
That’s the good thing about Blog Tours though, isn’t it? We get to read books which take us out of our usual comfort zone, to explore new genres and meet new authors.
I think this one is just so action-packed and descriptive, that I certainly never had chance to get bored by the whole premise of climate change and global warming, which I have to say, can get me down after watching it night after night on the news.
Carol also has such an enthusiastic way of writing, it’s almost as though she was in the room with me, reading aloud over my shoulder.
Perhaps you’ll be keeping an eye open for a copy on your travels, I do hope so 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend 🙂
Yes, the scary thing is that this is happening all around us as we speak. I keep seeing reports of volcanoes going off and wonder what would happen if they all went off at once. Or, God forbid, one of these super-volcanoes. Talking of pollution, the book I’m reading at the moment features sperm whales quite strongly and talks about how we almost killed them off with whaling and now we’re doing it with pollution – micro-plastics and industrial leakage into the oceans. It’s utterly tragic.
That is exactly what happens in this well structured story. Just about every climate emergency that could happen, did, and not only all at once, but to different members of the same family! It’s really spooky, but totally plausible the way things are heading right now.
The thing with micro-plastics is really worrying and the dumping of masks and PPE is only going to make things much worse, although I can’t think of any alternative. The government are trying to get us to eat more fish, but the amount of plastic beads they have been finding inside the fish, which then works its way into the food chain is unbelievable. We eat quite a lot of salmon, but for how much longer I don’t know!
I think the problem with all this, is that unless we can get the buy in of the super-powers and main polluters like the US, Russia, China and India, any little that we smaller countries can do to help alleviate climate change, is going to make little or next to no difference.
It’s a bit of a vicious circle and I am really pleased that I am the age I am and not much younger. Have a good weekend 🙂
I like that she didn’t see the problem with not recycling because it was not convenient. It’s very easy to blame others such as governments and big corp, and completely ignore the large part we play in the climate change crisis. This is a book that I would like to read, only the lack of time keeps me from adding it to my to-read list.
I think we have more different recycling bins in my part of the country than just about anywhere else, it’s just a good job we have space in the garage for them all! I am generally really conscientious at sorting the rubbish, but I sometimes wonder why, as I have watched the recycling collectors come round and stick it all into just one or two of the cubby holes in the van, rather than distribute it correctly. You do get to the point of thinking ‘what’s the point’ if everyone in the chain isn’t doing their part correctly!!
Roadside littering and fly tipping is also a real problem here, as we have lots of traveller sites in the county. Perhaps the government or local councils should invest in a used PPE and Covid mask, collection point too, as this is causing such huge problems to our marine life!
This book offers a much more catastrophic take on the entire climate change problem, the storyline was very well structured and thought through. I can however understand your time constraints right now, but maybe it is worth a space on your ‘wish list’ for the future 🙂