Soze Says

White is a fantastic novella depicting a refreshingly different type of apocalypse referred to by the characters as The Ruin. Told from the first-person POV of the main protagonist, White throws the reader right into the mix of the horror as six surviving individuals holed up in a country manor wait out the worst of what has befallen the main population centres, only to learn that they have isolated themselves, amongst the seemingly endless snow falls, with something incredibly deadly that is intent on devouring them all.

I have an affinity for snow. Not that I get to see it very often, but when I do, I am regularly amazed by just about everything to do with it. I guess it's like someone who lives landlocked and gets blown away whenever they see a crystal clear beach (whereas I live near a whole coastline of those). So stories set in or around snow already have an advantage for me. And White runs with that advantage, carving out something truly special along the way. Lebbon's writing has a way of insidiously weaving its way into your psyche to leave you shivering - both in fear and in anticipation of more...

The bonus short story at the end, KISSING AT SHADOWS, is nowhere near as powerful, but from what I can tell, serves to depict another area of the world after The Ruin has taken place.

All in all, White is highly recommended and goes straight into my top 10 reads of the year.

4.5 (4 here; 5 on Amazon) Barely Glimpsed Figures for White.