Book review: The Last Storm by Tim Lebbon

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tim Lebbon has won two British Fantasy awards, a Bram Stoker award, and a Tombstone award, and has been a finalist for International Horror Guild and World Fantasy awards. Several of his novels and novellas are currently under option in the USA and the UK. He lives in South Wales with his wife and two children.

Publisher: Titan Books (July 19, 2022) Page count: 352 pages Formats: ebook, paperback, audiobook

The Last Storm is the perfect novel for those who love an apocalyptic story with a combination of human emotions, fast-paced action, and horror elements.

It’s a post-apocalyptic tale about a group of people attempting to survive on a sun-ravaged earth. It follows a few characters, but the most important one is Ash, a young woman with an extraordinary gift that feels like a burden. She’s a Rainmaker, and she’s traveling with a guitar case filled with enigmatic items and spare parts. She is determined to construct a device that will permit her to access her power, one that can bring down rain.

Simultaneously, the story follows her parents, trying to find her through an arid landscape of a ruined, parched America. In The Last Storm, global warming has wrecked the Earth. Water is scarce in most places and flooding has become a regular occurrence in other areas. Subsequently, vast sections of North America are now arid and desolate, where famine and drought have forced people to adopt a new way of life that is marked by fierce hostility.

Lebbon knows how to write an interesting and fast-paced story; he filled The Last Storm with emotions, action, horror, suspense, and well-written characters. A family drama adds nuance to climate fiction. Not to mention that climate and rain affect the story and characters in various, and imaginative, ways. The action scenes are intense and violent, and the picture of a broken, desperate country is memorable. But there’s more to it than just action and family drama. It also highlights preventive measures that can be taken to make sure we never wake up in a future like this.

I recommend The Last Storm to anyone looking for a good dystopian read that balances its pulpy and reflective sides. I had a good time listening to the audiobook version of the story.