If I was a rich person, I'd buy the rights to make this novel into a movie. Full of tension, action, adventure, creepy things falling from the sky and a very good dog. Buy yourself a 32-ounce drink when you read this (or see the hoped-for film) because the desert and fire scenes will make you thirsty. The scorpions will make you feel like something is crawling up your legs. Ick.

There are some needles in arms scenes and some people being killed and, uh, devoured by above mentioned creepy things from the sky, but I close my eyes, which makes it hard to read but will work better in the hoped-for movie.

Thanks to Titan books and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Last Storm

This is enjoyable, and has lots of elements of a good story. I most that pick it up and like the sci-fi or horror genre will like this. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

What. A. Story. Tim Lebbon has crafted a speculative fiction/apocalyptic tale so very different from all the others out there. In Eden, Lebbon gave us a PA world with regions overtaken with wild vegetation. In The Last Storm, a very foreseeable near future has much of the United States (at least) ravaged by dried up, burnt out land referred to as "The Desert" as a severe lack of water has turned the land to sand and ash. Jesse comes from a rare lineage of people with a special gift. They are Rainmakers who use a special apparatus to call forth rain from the skies. But doing so taps into something dangerous, and after an attempt to call the rain brought scorpions, other lethal creatures and death he hangs up his apparatus. Now his daughter, Ash, is answering the calling within her to be a Rainmaker, even stronger than her forebears ever were. With his estranged wife Karina, it's up to Jesse to try to save her and the world from the dangers that lurk within the power of rain.
While the strangeness of what makes a Rainmaker took a little time to fully grasp, the narrative of this book just flowed at a quick pace. Had it not gotten late at night I would have devoured this novel in one sitting. I have to agree with the esteemed Paul Tremblay that this is Lebbon's best writing to date.

Huge thanks to Tim, Titan Books and Netgalley for the ARC of this one!

Over the last number of years, I’ve read a bunch of Tim’s work and really come to love his way of storytelling. No matter which book it has been, at the cores have always been family and the resolve to survive and work together, even if the ‘family’ within isn’t always the tradition parent-children dynamic.

Tim infuses his stories with heart wrenching moments and enough cliffhangers to always have the reader on the edge of their seat, and such is the case with his newest novel, ‘The Last Storm.’ 2022 is turning out to be a boom year for Lebbon fans, not only do we get this novel, but he also has a collection, a novella and a graphic novel/novella coming out, giving new and old readers of his plenty to be excited about.

What I liked: Set in the near future, where the world’s climate has continued to erode, humans now live with the results from that change. A large section of America is now deemed ‘The Desert,’ where it is always scorching hot and dust storms rage. As well, a large portion of the western side is burning up, wildfires rampaging and destroying most of that side of the country.

Lebbon takes that and introduces the Rainmakers, a familial trait that allows certain people to be able to conjure storms and cause it to rain. Though, the story picks up years after those people have seemingly disappeared. The story centers around the character, Ash. A teen girl, whose family presumed she was dead following a storm-creating incident, she is feeling herself drawn back to making rain and following the clues that call to her. Along the way she meets Cee, a woman, who decides to help her.

This relationship is the highlight of the book for me, seeing how Ash opens up to Cee and how Cee resolves to help her and be there for her. Of course, there are those out there who want to end the Rainmakers and this adds a secondary layer of suspense and thrills as one of those people track Ash and try to kill her.

Fundamentally, this book feels like a prequel to Lebbon’s phenomenal ‘Eden,’ but for one small difference. When the storms are created, a window is opened and crazy creatures come through. This was a phenomenal bit of storytelling and really had me hooting and hollering when Lebbon went full cosmic horror.

What I didn’t like: Oddly, even though Ash is the main character here, or main driving plot aspect, she often felt secondary. I think part of that was the POV changes that Lebbon employed, which may or may not work for readers. I found it to be both good and bad at times and did wish we had more Ash-central chapters.

Why you should buy this: I do see people sometimes scoff at the blurbs on books. Look, the reality is, a blurb from another author is there to generate buzz and get people excited. But I will say this – Christopher Golden declaring this Lebbon’s best is absolutely spot on. This book gallops along and not only are all of the characters great (even the random side-characters who pop up ie coffee shop people etc) but the settings play such a vital role throughout and really bring the entire story to life.

Really amazing work here, can’t recommend this one enough.

**This review has been posted here and will be added to Amazon on release date: https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/2022/06/17/book-review-the-last-storm-by-tim-lebbon/**

Since the late nineties the prolific Tim Lebbon has published an impressive range of genre fiction, effortlessly moving between fantasy, science fiction and horror, whist experimenting with the full range of formats includes novellas and several short story collections. Along the way he has written for many long-standing franchises, including Aliens (2014), Hellboy (2006/2009), Firefly (2020) and novelisations of successful films 30 Days of Night (2007) and The Cabin in the Woods (2012). Lebbon’s 2006 novel Dusk was also awarded the British Fantasy Society's prestigious August Derleth Fantasy Award for Best Novel (which I haven’t read!) Winning this gong is similar to grabbing the Bram Stoker Award in the USA.

Although I haven’t tackled Dusk I have read a number of his other works including Echo City (2010), Coldbrook (2012), The Silence (2015) and Relics (2017) and have always been impressed by the sheer range of his fiction and wildly varied (and always fast moving) plots. At one point he also dabbled in YA with the excellent Secret Journey’s of Jack London trilogy (2011-13). In recent years Lebbon has been on a fine run of form and I rate Eden (2020) and his latest The Last Storm amongst his best work.

The Last Storm continues with the general theme of climate change (sometimes called ‘cli-fi’) featured in Eden with the setting being a near-future version of dust-bowl America where water is scarce, deserts are expanding and deadly fires a daily occurrence. Parts of America are now inhabitable and sections of the population are environmental refugees who try to stay one step ahead of the desert or find ways to make a living in the scorching hot climate. The picture Lebbon paints is all very believable and only a couple of step away from where we currently are, but at the same time all the protagonists in The Last Storm are entirely at home in this challenging environment. He does not dwell on long descriptions of desert life and the texture of the sand, instead delivers a story which is part western (because ultimately it is all about revenge), part road trip (as every character is a nomad) and a supernatural almost cyberpunk vibe regarding the technology used.

Lebbon is great at mixing up the genres and The Last Storm nails it beautifully with characters who would be equally at home in a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western as they would in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior. The western feeling the novel has is enhanced by a trippy futuristic version of the Native American rain dance ritual, which in their culture was used to connect with their gods in prayer for rain. In The Last Storm there are individuals called ‘Rainmakers’ almost mythical figures who build devices they connect to their veins (hence the cyberpunk reference) and spiritually connect with the device to make it rain. However, it has psychological and almost addictive side effects as they connect to a mysterious place called ‘Skunkville’ and sometimes when it does rain, not only water comes from the sky, with blood, scorpions and other deadly creatures also a possibility. Lebbon does not go into a huge amount of detail about how this happens, but it is a crucial part of the book and is beautifully described. The glimpses we have are a cross between Lovecraft monstrosities and the beasts in Stephen King’s The Mist.

At the heart of The Last Storm lies a complex dysfunctional family drama in which the dots are joined together quite slowly and it took me a bit of time to pick up the intricacies of the five narratives. This includes Jesse, Karina, Ash (who are in the same family), Cee and Jimi, both of which are introduced later. Early in the novel we realise that Jesse is a ‘retired’ rainmaker who has not made rain for years but has passed his gift onto his estranged daughter Ash. When the novel opens she is tracking down parts to build a new device which she believes will bring rain to the parched earth. Reminiscent, of a mariachi (and as cool as Antonia Banderas in the classic Robert Rodriguez film of the same name) Ash stores the parts of her device in an empty guitar case as she goes to work and rumours spread across the desert that there is a new Rainmaker at work.

The character driven story which is both fascinating and sad had a very nice blend of action and absorbing detail on how this society ticked. For example, ‘soakers’ were travellers who collected, recycled and resold dirty water, one of which played a major part in the novel. Interestingly, this was portrayed as a land hurtling towards an apocalypse (not post-apocalyptic) and I loved a quip that noted that ten killed in a New York train wreck would attract more media attention than a tornada that kills a thousand in the desert!

The Last Storm was a great book and if you have never read Tim Lebbon before this is a great place to start with his desperate group of characters who are all looking for either redemption or revenge.

Not so much a post-apocalyptic tale but a very much a world hurtling toward the apocalyptic times. The world has been reduced to small towns, separated by harsh dry lands. Rainmakers are mythical, though there is one who has been stupid enough to accept a job from a drug growing gangster. The trouble is that the rain being created from a different 'plain', a place where strange creatures exist. Years later, the rainmaker is approached by his ex-wife with stories of their presumed dead daughter rainmaker is operating in the desert - A daughter who the rainmaker had thought he had killed. Can he save her this time? or will he have to attempt to kill her again. Im a big fan of the author, and this might be his best

I love weird books. This is a story about one family's gift for summoning rain, the confusing, odd life that it forces them to lead and a world dehydrated by drought. In addition to beautiful prose, it also has a character driven storyline that is both fascinating and sad, with a 'Talisman' (Stephen King) feel to it. Firmly in the subgenre Eco-horror bc of the climate change, Dust Bowl type setting, it also has sci-fi appeal. I appreciated the unique direction Lebbon took with this apocalyptic book and the explosive ending. All of the characters were compelling and original. Lebbon masterfully ties all the story threads together with an explosive, high action ending.

If you liked: The Mist by Stephen King, Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher or Inked by Jonathan Maberry then give this book a shot.

A beautifully written, heartbreaking story filled with loss, love and vengeance. I fell in love with these characters.

The Last Storm
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror
Tim Lebbon
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis:
"With global warming out of control, large swathes of North America have been struck by famine and drought and are now known as the Desert. A young woman sets out across this dry, hostile landscape, gradually building an arcane apparatus she believes will bring rain to the parched earth.
 
Jesse lives alone, far from civilization. Once, he too made rain, but he stopped when his abilities caused fatalities, bringing down not just rain but scorpions, strange snakes and spiders. When his daughter Ash inherited this tainted gift, Jesse did his best to stop her. His attempt went tragically wrong, and he believes himself responsible for her death.
 
But now his estranged wife Karina brings news that Ash is still alive. And she’s rainmaking again. Terrified of what she might bring down upon the desperate communities of the Desert, they set out to find her. But Jesse and Karina are not the only ones looking for Ash. As the storms she conjures become more violent and deadly, some follow her seeking hope. And one is hungry for revenge."

This author also wrote "The Silence" which is on Netflix and I knew I had to read this. The style of writing is great and had me on the edge of my seat. The atmosphere that was created was almost haunting and the characters were great.

It was full of action and was very well paced. I love dystopian books and this, combined with the apocalyptic world it is set in, made for a very good read.

*Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers @Titanbooks for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*