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jfogg's review
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
As someone who struggled to interact with disaster media through COVID (I dropped Parable of the Sower in 2020 and didn't play Pandemic again until 2023), it was interesting to read an argument for how they can be helpful to take time to process an ongoing apocalypse. It was interesting seeing the adaption of disaster media post 9/11 too, not something I knew about.
That said, Goh's ideas weren't as clearly set out as some of the other 404s I've read and (perhaps understandably for a book published in 2021) focused disproportionately on COVID rather than other, more persistent apocalii like the climate crisis. There's also a conflation of "preppers" (the hyper-masculine subculture of bunker builders with kit to survive a zombie apocalypse) and disaster preparedness which I didn't love.
That said, Goh's ideas weren't as clearly set out as some of the other 404s I've read and (perhaps understandably for a book published in 2021) focused disproportionately on COVID rather than other, more persistent apocalii like the climate crisis. There's also a conflation of "preppers" (the hyper-masculine subculture of bunker builders with kit to survive a zombie apocalypse) and disaster preparedness which I didn't love.
beansandfungi's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Not my favourite Inkling, but still a solid read. It's interesting to look at how (and why) we keep turning to apocalypse fiction
messymimms's review
5.0
Wow! I loved this book. I picked it up recently as I wanted to reflect on why I love all things post-apocalyptic, and this book went above and beyond. I really appreciated the focus on marginalised groups and it was an unexpected plus to have so much good analysis on the pandemic and its relationship to media.