The Night of the Triffids

From Publishers Weekly In John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids (1951), mankind is overtaken-and much of it blinded-by the demonic walking plant of the title, a monster created in a lab in an act of Cold War profiteering. Clark (Vampyrrhic, etc.) picks up the story more than 25 years later, puts a new narrator at the helm and spins a brisk and engaging adventure-cum-horror yarn. Clark's narrator is David Masen, son of scientist Bill Masen (the protagonist from Wyndham's book). The Masen family, along with a handful of other survivors, has set up an outpost on the Isle of Wight, and have gone about rebuilding society. A major part of this renewal involves a particularly bizarre idea called the Mother House, a convent-like home where women spend their lives giving birth over and over again. All seems well, until one morning when the sun doesn't rise and the triffids, long thought condemned to the mainland, attack. Clearly marketed as a genre horror title, this crafty continuation is elegant in its construction. Clark's prose is clean, thoughtful and perfectly suited to his faux doomsday-memoir approach. Less cautionary than the original, but more literary than many books of its ilk, this is a truly enjoyable voyage.Awards-one for The Night of the Triffids and one for the short story "Goblin City Lights."Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal A quarter of a century after an invasion by the deadly alien plants known as triffids blinded most of the world's human population and caused the collapse of civilization, only a small colony of survivors on the Isle of Wight continues to preserve what they can of society and culture. When a new phenomenon arises, resulting in the darkening of the atmosphere, pilot David Masen, the son of the colony's founder, sets out to discover the source of the problem-and encounters a new group of technologically advanced survivors from across the Atlantic. Continuing the classic tale of alien invasion begun 25 years ago in John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Clark envisions a world poised to fight back against their invaders. Winner of the 2002 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel, he retains a feel for sf pulp horror in an action-filled tale that captures the spirit of the original story. Recommended for most sf collections. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the Publisher The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham’s classic bestseller, is one man’s description of doomsday: almost the entire population has gone blind, and the world has a new master—the monstrous triffid plant. The novel ends with its narrator, Bill Masen, leaving the British mainland with his wife and son to join a new colony on the Isle of Wight. In The Night of the Triffids, which takes place in the 29th year since the fall of the old world, David Masen, Bill’s now grown–up son, wakes one morning to discover that the world has been plunged into darkness. The few sighted people have their artificial lights, but once more the triffid has the advantage. Setting off to find the cause of the darkness, David finds himself stranded. Eventually rescued and taken to New York, he discovers a very different sort of colony, prosperous and technologically advanced. But this sophisticated society hides an evil secret—and David is about to come face to face with an old enemy from his father’s past. Read more