I have recently finished reading John Lockley's novel After the Fire. I enjoyed several aspects of the book. One of the things I liked was the exploration of the loss of faith of one of the characters.

The book has several harrowing moments, with many lives lost in a new great plague. Martin, a vicar, becomes one focal point of the subsequent narrative of the survivors' lives. I really enjoyed watching the journey Martin took in the book, perhaps particularly because it is one I can identify with.

I always enjoy narratives that include loss of faith or faith-struggles in them. Erich Segal's Acts of Faith, the story of a struggling Jewish rabbi, comes to mind, as does even an old tale like The Way of All Flesh. While Butler's classic isn't one of my favorites, I still appreciate the struggles of the protagonist.

I had read that Lockley has written some Christian books in the past, and was afraid this would get very preachy. I thought that, even in the dialogues that explored Martin's struggles, it did a fairly good job of avoiding that. I enjoy faith-exploring novels, but I prefer that they stay on track with the story and let the exploration be part of that. Sometimes such tales get off on a sermonizing tangent, and they lose the storyline. This one didn't do that, and it made it a readable tale.

I did think it took a little long to hone in on the few characters who were going to form the crux of the novel. The world-building (or world-destroying) took long enough to tell that there was an impersonal feel to the early stages. That made it so that I had to get quite far along into the story to feel attachment to the characters, though there was plenty of sympathy for them when we got there. I think this was probably the main weakness of the book.

There is supposed to be more to the story -- it ended with an obvious invitation for the tale to be continued. I haven't been able to locate the other volume(s) in which the story continues. But if I do find the continuation, there's a fairly good chance I would keep on reading. The story was good enough to warrant that.

tags: after the fire, books, john lockley, recommended reading