This book has a great premise, ten years after an alien invasion the invaders suddenly disappear and the remnants of humanity have to resume their lives in a shattered world. The execution leaves me completely cold. The mysterious spark that ignites a story in a readers imagination so that it comes to life is not present when I read this book. Reading the book was an effort, I was conscious of actually reading all the time, I did not find myself willing to spend time with the cast, nor did I find that the execution of the premise was sufficiently intriguing to entice me on.
I found the cast to be unpersuasive and the plot mechanics, while thoughtful were just not establishing a grip on me. There is a significant level of craft and skill in the book, the art is a bit looser and less detailed than I really like, the cast were not given quite sufficient substance for my taste. Post-Apocalypse stories are tricky to bring off effectively, disintegration has inherent dramatic possibilities, re-building requires a more subtle dramatic imputes if it is not to be stogy, the mix between the two is critical to engage the reader. This time the formula was not to my taste.
