Ebook Review: A Different Alchemy

A Different Alchemy is author Chris Dietzel’s dabbling into the end-of-the-world dystopian drama. The book revisits an incident briefly mentioned in his previous work - The Man Who Watched the World End.

After Jeffrey learns that his son, who is completely paralysed, has died in a stadium fire along with Philadelphia’s other paraplegics, he steals a tank and heads north to come to terms with his death.

If you have not read the original book, the series revolves around the idea that mankind is going extinct because women can no longer produce healthy babies. All babies born into the world are fully paralysed and mentally unaware - dubbed Blocks. 

Jeffrey’s story alternates between the days he spends on the road heading north and past events of his life; from getting married, to having a Block son, to the day his son died. 

While A Different Alchemy kept my attention I did not find it as addictive or disturbing as The Man Who Watched the World End. I felt a lot of ideas from the first instalment were reiterated, which is ok if you’ve not read the previous book but if you have, it’s a bit repetitive. That said, there were some fresh ideas in here as well, like how badly some parts of society, like the disabled, are treated by certain people. While this book is fictional, it does make you wonder about the injustices in real life carried out against those in the past who are unable to defend themselves.

Also, I felt the theme of man’s decline was overused. I appreciate it is integral to the book’s plot but in the flashbacks of Jeffrey’s life, all TV programmes and news seem to centre around this and Blocks every hour of every day. It also seems to be the only thing anyone ever talks about. I know the end of the world will be a scary time but since it takes place over so many years, I found it very difficult to belief that it is the only thing people ever talked about. 

Some other things seemed a bit silly as well, like how fast certain cities rotted away. I’m not a civic engineer by any measure but this seemed to happen a little too fast. Also, I seriously doubt military installations would be left unlocked for anyone to wonder into - especially in the US. The same idea of houses going on fire and no fire crews attending and hospitals being closed, also sounded a bit ridiculous. I think there still would be emergency services, even on a smaller scale, operating at this point in the population decline. 

That aside, Jeffrey’s journey coming to terms with his son’s death was well captured through the narrative. You could really feel his hurt and heartache at such a tragedy and that is to be applauded.

Book Review: The Man Who Watched The World End

Feeling slightly gloomy this week what with the party season finally being over, I read Chris Dietzel’s The Man Who Watched The World End. As you can probably hazard from the title this is a tale about the end of mankind. 

The story is told through the diary of an 80-year-old man who takes care of his wheelchair-bound brother. The two are the last people living in the town of Camelot, which has long since been abandoned by many residents. The man recounts the events of his life and how mankind will become extinct in the space of a generation. This is because when he was a child the number of normal births plummeted to zero in the space of five years, never to recover. All children born in this time are paralysed both mentally and physically - thus creating the last generation of mankind. 

It’s basically the same idea as Children of Men, except it isn’t crap. The Man Who Watched The World End is written well and as a result feels believable. Despite knowing how it will end, the memoirs of the protagonist keeps drawing you in read on. There are no happy endings here and no miracles, just the end of one man’s life told through his final words. 

Author Chris Dietzel has put a lot of thought into how the world would react and how things would change if mankind was to come to such an end. Many social aspects, cultural and political themes are considered, as well as day-to-day practical tasks like whose going to collect the garbage when there’s no one left. 

What really gripped me about the book though, was the constant foreboding sense of doom. It is something the author did not have to reinforce constantly; instead it was done subtly through the diary entries. It plays on one of our deepest fears, something we all know will happen one day. It’s that creeping sort of fear - you know it is coming but you also know there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s that constant reminder throughout that makes this book so gripping.