I’m disappointed in the totality of this book. It has some great action sequences and is well written. I just could not get a good connection with the characters, so it left me wanting a bit more from them. For the action sequences I would recommend the book. It was given to me for an honest review, which I appreciate.

A bit of a dramatic story, and in many ways not a very happy one. But there is some good action and I stayed engaged with the story, which was unpredictable.

I really appreciate the free copy for review!!

WHITE RACISM ALERT
Do you like watching movies about catastrophes? Such as Twister, San Andreas, The Day After Tomorrow, etc. I do. That´s why I had to read this book because it was so promising. Unfortunately, there are also movies with Jason Statham or Sylwester Stallone, where there is lots of action, horrible dialogues and no logic at all. Muscles without brain. Well, this book is not a Twister, it´s Meg.
The book started off so well, and so promising. Imagine Huston, or any other city, devastated by two storms paired together and then right after that with a Cat 5 hurricane. Imagine the destruction. Add to it torrential rain that lasts for days and the seawater that comes inland with no intention of going back to the sea. Sounds like a great movie, right? Well, movie yes, but it didn´t work out in a book. Not in this book, anyway.
That’s because the writing is just terrible. There is no world-building, no scene-building, no descriptions whatsoever. Places, characters, everything is melted into a pulp. Also, the spoken language in this book is just horrible.
Ex: “My wife is complaining that she´s developing webbed feet from the rain” (…) “Oh? I thought she already had feathers and shit. Didn’t you say she quacks during sex?” “Damn, Griff (…) That is really fucking harsh.” “Specially since Jeanie is more birdlike when we do it. You know, ´Caw, caw, CAWWWW oh fuck I´m coming.” – masterpiece, isn´t it?
“ And a CAT 5 on a burning oil rig in waters infested with monsters pretty much puts the cherry on top of your collective resume.” Oh yes, did I mention the moglis? These are monsters, I guess we´re talking about genetically mutated polar bears by the Chinese if I understood this correctly? Honestly, this is so ridiculous that I hadn’t thought much about it.
There are a few things that are purely stupid. Like a thread of a nuclear war, like the fact that a woman after a major trauma gets up and carries on like nothing ever happened. Oh, and don´t forget weapons, fighting, etc. You know, Statham style, or Stallone.


What really buggers me in this book is WHITE RACISM. It´s disgusting, really. Here´s an example:
“Mr. President, we have federalized National Guard troops up and down the Eastern Seaboard. We have massive, worsening flooding and hints that we´re about to have problems on the West Coast. We need to understand where to put the people that have been displaced.”
(presidents’ response) “Fuckém. Probably all niggers and spics anyway.”
Ok, so the character of the American President is portrayed as a racist arse. I get that. But this goes further. The whole Project Overlord (not a spoiler) is to understand the impact of climate change and to make a plan of necessary actions taken in order to adapt to the new world. This new world is supposed to be for white people only. New world, new American dream. So, all the police and other forces are white, whereas everybody else is not needed in a new society.
“And the last name is Cervantes, so Cuban. Don´t confuse me with the white trash that´s running things. That´s why I´m here, because I´m not white trash.”
Seriously?!!! The author is Black, which is fine, there is nothing wrong with that. He hates White people. Ok, he has a right to feel whatever he feels. But THIS IS SPREADING HATRED! If a White author wrote a book with racist characters in it, he would have been called a white supremacist and whatnot and his book would have never been published! So it´s ok to bash White? Come on!

My thanks to Atmosphere Press for the ARC of this book. This novel explores a grim look at the effects of climate change with good science fiction thrown in terms of rising waters, grisly monsters and the best and worst of humanity. If you live on coastal America, it makes you wonder as familiar areas succumb to catastrophic climate impacts. The main characters work their way through to survival against overwhelming odds for a heinous dictator. A very good read,

**Thank you to NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for the free ebook of this title!!*

I love climate fiction, especially with dystopian elements thrown in so this one really worked for me. The concept reminded me a lot of Matthew Mather's work, especially in Polar Vortex (although I didn't like the writing itself quite as much.)

What I appreciated most about Overlord is that the reader gets to experience the world as it is after disaster has fallen and factions have been made as people learn to survive. Most often with this genre we are experiencing the disaster as it happens, alongside the characters. The way that Overlord was styled and the timing of the novel vs. major change in Earth reminded a lot of Blackfish City as well which is one of my favorite climate fiction novels.

Check this on out if you like cli-fi, sci-fi, polar bears, and dystopian societies!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Atmosphere Press, and of course, Eric James Fullilove for providing me with an eARC of this novel. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This book should've been an automatic love for me, but it didn't quite hit all the marks for me. It started off so great and I enjoyed the first chapter and everything that happened in Houston because I felt like that what this book would have been about. Then it switched so quickly and I never really got that feeling again.

I get that with a story like this, government and their ability (or lack-there-of) to handle situations like this would be huge, but this book became so involved in the politics. There were some action-filled moments, but they revolved around military-like operations and even those didn't hold my interest like I would have expected.

The time is constantly jumping around and it felt more disjointed than anything, it didn't flow throughout the book, I had to constantly think about whether something was happening before other parts or not, aside from the "present day" chunks.

The characters also fell flat for me, we never really got a distinct voice or any real moments with characters that had me rooting one way or another- I just didn't love any of them. It made it so hard for me to get through parts of this book because I had such an apathy towards them all.

If you're a fan of military operations and how people in the government and beyond might handle some freak weather, then this is the book for you. It was an interesting premise, it just wasn't for me.