Selection Event [Versión Kindle]

Selection Event is a well-written end-of-the-world story with several interesting themes. I clearly don't come from the same political or philosophical viewpoint as the author, but found many of them engaging and thought-provoking. I could certainly relate with the live and let live aspect, and found plenty of interesting questions to ponder: What are the rules of our society? Do they truly make sense? How would they change in the event of a restart? How should they change?

Unfortunately, the story was held down by the author's apparent hatred for all things religious. I'm not a religious person, so that doesn't bother me per se, but when it drags down the story with silly characterizations and predictable plot lines, it becomes a problem. Simply put, everyone evil is religious, and everyone religious is evil. It gets boring, quick. It's made all the more ironic by the fact that tolerance for differing lifestyles is a clear theme of the book. If this is truly how the author views all religious people, he needs to get out more. I suspect he's lived in a leftist cultural echo chamber.

Still, if you're into that sort of thing, it's an engaging tale by a talented author.

Oh so many books to read, so little time. I've read, to date, about 60 post-apocalyptic novels. I've enjoyed a great many of them - some of them were so badly edited I almost had to give up the effort.
But with Wayne Wightman's novel Selection Event that was not the case. This book is so engrossing that, I think even if the editing was horrible, I would still have been captivated by it. The characters are so rich and full you almost feel like they are someone you've known all your life.
Haven't you wished on occasion that you could just go underground by yourself for a year - not have to make anyone happy, not have to wake up a child (or husband/wife) that doesn't want to get up to face the day, not have to make any decisions for anyone other than yourself - oh, how tempting it sounds. So when Martin Lake came up from his below-ground home of more than 14 months I was hooked. I had to stick around to see how he handled that much aloneness and what would happen when he finds out he's still going to be pretty much alone - at least for a little while. Who knows, maybe someday...?
There are dozens of surprises in this book - starting with the giraffe; then the dog that waits patiently for his masters to come get him, or to give him water and food. You heart will almost break for this little pooch - until you realize that some things do work out right; also, the hippie on the motorcycle that becomes a devoted friend to Martin. I think I could have fallen in love with him - he has so much heart.
I'm not going to give away everything - you have to read the book for that. And believe me you won't be disappointed. I've only just discovered Mr. Wightman but I've already read Selection Event and Hunger and Thirst, which I also loved. But, I'll leave that one for you to discover on your own. My advice - don't miss either one of them because they are among the very best of the genre.

A decent story that could have been great with the inclusion of one Christian who didn't violently force feed their religion to others and the inclusion of one meat eating human who didn't violently force feed their beliefs on others. It's fine to have Christian antagonist. It's fine to have vegan protagonist. But when all of your Christians are evil and all of your vegans are heroes and the converse then you are insulting the reader by assuming they won't get your point otherwise. When you do this in a story strongly centered on how bad intolerance can be then you; the author; end up becoming an ironic image of your own arch villain.