Matt Bone's Endless was published in 2011. It's the first book of the Crescent series.
Here's information about Matt Bone:
Matt Bone lives and writes in Bath, UK, where he is steadily working through the city's supply of caffeine. He has degrees in both Astrophysics and English Literature, supporting his ambition to be entirely unemployable.
Click here to visit Matt Bone's official website.
Here's a description of Endless:
Two women flee their subjugated city...
An agent of the half-man gives chase...
Crescent shudders with the threat of a monstrous war...
The Endless have returned.
After an inexplicable catastrophe on Earth, John is left to live out a solitary existence. Around him the streets are desolate and unchanging - yet he cannot escape the feeling of being hunted. Are his debilitating headaches and the glimpses of an impossible, living light symptoms of what happened to everyone else, or does the universe have something else in mind?
John's fate is entwined with Crescent, a world teeming with life both human and supernatural, where Spirit storms rack the skies and rumours of a terrible army in the north have the great nations in unrest. A world where John could rediscover the bonds of life and love - and where he could lose everything again.
A REVIEW OF MATT BONE'S ENDLESS
Matt Bone's Endless is an interesting debut fantasy book, because it combines post-apocalyptical fiction and fantasy fiction before turning into an epic fantasy book. Post-apocalyptical fiction is usually connected to science fiction and horror literature, but in this case it's connected to fantasy literature.
The author has created an interesting post-apocalyptic world. He writes fluently how the streets, car parks and other places are beginning to turn green with vegetation and tells how all the bodies were either eaten by predators or rotted away on their own. One of the best things about this book is that the author hasn't written anything about zombies. I have nothing against post-apocalyptical zombie fiction, because I love good zombie fiction, but nowadays several authors tend to write too much post-apocalyptical zombie fiction, so it was nice to read about a different kind of a global disaster. In my opinion this kind of a disaster is an exciting way to start a fantasy book.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
At the beginning of the book John finds out that a woman, Mrs. Kirsch, who lives in the same house, is dead. He also finds out that she isn't the only one who has died. His neighbours have also died and there are bodies everywhere. Soon John notices that he's the only one who's alive. He learns to survive and lives alone in the empty town. John almost mysteriously finds a way to a different realm from the hotel and he is transported to another realm. He wakes up in the world of Crescent...
There are several books in which the main character finds himself or herself in another realm (some of the most famous examples are Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland). I like these kind of fantasy books, because it's interesting to read how the characters survive in a new world, but it's difficult to find original books. Fortunately Endless turned to be a good book. It's one of the best "transported into a magical kindgom" type of books I've read.
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I managed to do so, I liked it. Endless is one of those books, which must not be judged by their first chapters, because the story develops gradually and it takes time to realize what's happening in the book. When you know what's happening and who the characters are, it's difficult to stop reading.
I have to mention that I was impressed by this book. Matt Bone's worldbuilding is intriguing and his characters are fascinating. He has created an interesting world for his fantasy series. His fantasy world is believable and it reminds me of a medieval England, but there are several differences. Cultural and social progression, evolution and other things have evolved differently on Crescent than on Earth. The other world has its own culture, kingdoms and beasts. There are also two moons and Spirit storms ravage the land.
The author has a good imagination, because he has created fascinating monsters. The Endless are interesting beings, because they differ from normal monsters. They're horrible beings of light and energy. The controller of these beings is also an interesting being, because he's only partly human.
The characters include John, Ceria, Telde, Manvedian and Jago. The author writes fluently about John's life and also about the characters' lives (the author builds his characters gradually and reveals more things about them). I enjoyed reading about John's new experiences in Crescent and how he accepted his fate. It was also interesting to read about the other characters.
I liked Matt Bone's prose. In my opinion his prose is at its best surprisingly beautiful and he shows talent for writing creative fantasy. I also liked the scope of the book, because the world of Crescent is huge and full of wonders. The small and nuanced details are nice and they give the reader more information about the world.
Endless is a fine example of how a talented author can self-publish an interesting fantasy book in e-book format. Matt Bone is a promising new author and I'm eagerly awaiting the next book, because it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next book. Endless is a good start to a new fantasy series, which has every chance of becoming a popular series.