Review of The Conflagration

[Oyedeji Okikioluwa]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Conflagration" by B. Sabonis-Chafee.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Conflagration by B. Sabonis-Chafee is a compelling tale about the resuscitation of a cryonically-preserved woman three hundred years after the conflagration era. The theme of the book revolves around values, compassion, and ethics.

After the global annihilation of World War III, the earth's remnants come together and begin to rebuild themselves. Holding in memory the mistakes of the 21st century, they draw forth a more value-based, compassionate, and ethical system with a vehement distaste and suffocation of a repeat situation. When the 'ice-woman' is found and resuscitated, her team works hard to acclimatize her to the present world. Identifying herself as Sydney Constance Thrasher, she finds support in the arms of Trevor, Dr. Hillin, Ellen, Rashita, and Quillin in starting her life afresh. She gets into an educational program with Dr. Hillin and begins exploring questions about her past. However, as time goes on, she gets overwhelmed with everything and risks running away. Would Sydney ever get a hold of this life so different from the world eons ago? Read to find out more.

B. Sabonis-Chafee spins a very intriguing story with a vast depth of intellectual topics. She deftly whips a fudge of thought-provoking issues within the lines of this story that seems to plague our world today. The author was precise in her characterization, as she was meticulous about the value elements each character seems to uphold best. She didn't only draw a character; she gave them a resonating uniqueness of thought that was undoubtedly impressed in the readers' minds. A lot impressed me from the book, especially this quote, which says, 'The earth cannot change for the better unless the consciousness of individuals is changed first.'

Sydney's character intrigued me the most in this book. I love the slow-burn change and development that occurred in her adaptation and the high level of intelligence she displayed. I also liked the characters' personal lives involved in the book, however minuscule. It added color to the otherwise serious contents of history and global death. The peculiarity of the topics discussed in this book piqued my interest. Most of them were highly intellectual, and I struggled to flow with them but enjoyed it. I particularly liked Trevor and Sydney's first discussion of values; that scene was a treasure of admirable articulation.

There are just a few things about this book I dislike. I observed that some characters' names were misspelled throughout the book. For instance, Sydney was sometimes called Sidney, and Quillin was called Quillen. There was also the premature unveiling of Sydney's name at the beginning of the book before she introduced herself, alongside some punctuation and grammatical errors. This showed that this book might need another editing. Therefore, I rate The Conflagration 3 out of 4 stars.

I recommend this book to fans of sci-fi and post-apocalyptic events. From me to you, this is a very exhilarating read with a plethora of valuable information to be learned.

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The Conflagration
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[kensgarment odogwu]

You made very good observations about this book especially with the spelling of thr characters names. Your summary of this book was absolutely exquisite. Great review.

[Amy Luman]

Ever since I first heard about crogenics I wondered how these people would function in the future. I hope Sydney can acclimate

[Patty Allread]

I enjoyed your review very much. This book seems to have a lot of dimensions--strong characters, social values, and intellectual topics. It sounds like the author was skillful in putting a lot of elements together in her book. The premise of a cryogenically preserved person from 300 years ago waking up in modern times is not entirely far-fetched. I lived in Colorado, where they celebrate "Frozen Dead Guy" in Nederland.