The Life of Riley
By Alexander C. Irvine
Subterranean Press, 2005
Reviewed by William I. Lengeman III
(First published in Apex Digest)

When I first picked up this slim volume I wondered if perhaps Irvine - best known for his debut novel, A Scattering of Jades - had tried his hand at a young adult book. Not so, but it's refreshing nonetheless to confront a genre novel these days that couldn't also double as a door stop.

Irvine's presumably tongue-in-cheek dedication is to "apocalyptic kooks everywhere" (you know who you are) and his tale is set in a fairly grim world a few decades hence. It's a world that's been ravaged by earthquakes, floods and other unpleasantness, but has become severely overcrowded even so.

Into all this come the Bettys, a small group of humanoid aliens. Though they haven't exactly popped up on Earth for kicks, Irvine withholds the exact reason for their visit until the very end of the book. As revelations go it's a fairly satisfying one.

What leads up to this ending is a fairly involved tale filled with a good bit of plotting and intrigue, a handful of rebellious religious fundamentalists, a smattering of renegade Bettys and much more. It's quite a lot to be wedged into such a modest tome, or so it seemed, and it's just a bit too much plot to adequately summarize in the short space allotted here.

Especially noteworthy is Irvine's sort of circular narrative, which recounts the story in four long chapters from the perspective of four key figures. They are Zena Riley, wife of Gabriel "Bib" Riley, a military policeman and pivotal figure in the tale. Also Counselor, a high ranking Betty; Truman Throckmorton, an addled prophet, of sorts, who has spent seven years in near isolation in post-apocalyptic Illinois. And finally there's Nate Drinkwater, a homeless guy who witnesses a crime one night and is drawn into circumstances he'd rather have steered clear of.

A well-told and rather intriguing tale overall, though the offbeat narrative was a bit confusing in spots. But maybe that was just me.

Copyright 2007 – William I. Lengeman III