The Night of the Triffids

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The Night of the Triffids

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author Simon Clark
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date 2001
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 406 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-340-76600-X
Preceded by The Day of the Triffids

The Night of the Triffids is a science fiction novel by Simon Clark published in 2001. It is a sequel to John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, and Clark has been lauded for his successful emulation of Wyndham's style. This is more faithful in the earlier half of the book, and later chapters seem to follow the author's natural style of writing. The book is written in the first person and narrated by David Masen, son of the first book's protagonist.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

The story starts 25 years after ending of The Day of the Triffids. Pilot David Masen has grown up in a community on the Isle of Wight, safe from the Triffid plants who have dominated the world since most human beings were blinded by a meteor shower 29 years ago. As the novel begins, a mysterious darkness falls - dawn has not come as something is blotting out the sun. Masen takes to the air to determine if high cloud is blocking out the sun, but he loses contact with his community and crash-lands on a floating island populated by Triffids. There, he meets an orphaned young girl, and the pair are rescued by an American ship and taken to New York.

Manhattan, another safe island community, seems like a utopia, but David soon realises it is a dictatorship, run by an old enemy of his father. David and his young friend are soon being used by both the dictator and the rebels who oppose him, while the Triffids - now evolved into more dangerous forms - are trying to take advantage of the slowly lifting darkness.

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

Comments on The Night of the Triffids include:

"Clark scores fairly high in pastiching Wyndham's style, at least." [1]
"Wyndham did hit notes of poetry and grim beauty more often than Clark does" [1]
"Overall, The Night of the Triffids is a fine work of fiction that will keep any sci-fi/horror fan happy" [2]
"It fails, however, in its main aim, that of supplying a worthy follow-up to one of the classics of British science fiction." [3]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Di Filippo, Paul (2006). The Night of the Triffids : Off the Shelf. scifi.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
  2. ^ Seaman, Dave , (2005). The Night of the Triffids review. curledup.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
  3. ^ Hudson, Patrick. Triffids - book reviews for zone-sf.com. zone-sf.com.

[edit] References

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