DNF; abandoned at page 168. It was a slog, with too many characters, POV shifts and too much exposition. Get to the point. It’s been compared to The Stand. At least King gave us characters we wanted to spend time with alongside one hell of a road trip. The Deluge is a deluge of words; it needs to be severely trimmed down. ( )

An important topic and a fairly good work, but using a novel and following the stories of particular characters to explore how an important issue might develop in the short term future is nothing out of the ordinary for science fiction and I wonder if Markley is getting more credit than this book deserves due to this being perceived as a "literary" work. Perceived because of his first work being literary fiction and therefore his not being a "genre" author, that is; I didn't find the prose to be any more literary than one normally finds in genre fiction (and some "genre" authors have far more literary merit on the sentence level - which is not a criticism of Markley, hardly anybody can stand up to Ray Bradbury word for word) and the character development is at a level one normally expects from a book that's more interested in its issues than its characters. If Heinlein had been born later and more interested in ecology than the economy, he could have written something similar, albeit probably there would have been more sex in his version - but also he'd have had a few more memorable lines. If you're in need of a book on climate change and it has to be fiction, this would be a good choice, but if you're looking to learn about climate change in general, there's nonfiction for that. Strictly as fiction, this is a good book but not so great that it justifies it's near-Don Quixote length. I wonder if the success of Markley's debut discouraged proper editing. ( )

This book is a lot. It extrapolates every bad thing in the US today to an existential crisis 10 years from now. Worst case scenario. With that said, any one of these crises are plausible. It seems like some of the impact of the book is dampened by the length of the saga. Worth the read if you have the courage and the stamina. Might make a great epic movie or series. ( )

Every activist should read this book no matter what their chosen cause is, but especially climate change. ( )

Tonight I finished The Deluge, the second novel of Stephen Markley, one that I had been waiting eagerly for since I was so blown away by his first novel Ohio.

The Deluge is a brick of a book but I kept turning those 900 pages and I was once again in awe of Markley’s writing. This one has a large, sprawling plot with lots of diverse and inclusive characters: female, male, black, white, gay, straight, non-binary. I loved the way Markley just brings them on the stage without talking about their coming out, endured racism or anti feminism. They just are there and they are naturally who they are.

This is a story with a message, and one of the utmost importance and urgency: climate change and what it can do to us.
Markley shows us how society can unravel within a decade from now due to the changing climate itself and the way people react to it. They do here, in both violent and nonviolent ways. It is a warning and I’m going to say something I never did before but here goes: you should read this book. To get shaken up and realize what’s happening to our world.

The Deluge is a highly political and activist novel and Markley uses his talent as a novelist to step into the discussion and he does so in a loud and urgent way, which is I believe the only way that works. The New York Times wrote about him: “novelists often preen as moralists, but he’s the genuine article.”

The style Markley uses is very interesting. Chapters are now and then written as newspaper or magazine articles, notes appear in boxes within the text. He excels though when he writes about his characters. There I see his compassion for them and also the magnificence of Markley as a novelist, just like in Ohio. I have the feeling that he will turn into one of the important writers of our time.

Read this book!