Customer reviews
3.8 out of 5 stars
296 customer ratings
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They Came With The Snow
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Customer reviews
- They Came With The Snow
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- Customer reviews
Top positive review
Not a bad novella
April 6, 2017
This is a short novella that seems similar in some ways to Ronald Malfi's "Snow," and it shares general similarities with post-apocalyptic fiction, especially ones involving, well, snow, that also revolve around a strange catastrophe befalling the world and populating it with hostile creatures.
Essentially, an American college professor and the woman he's having an affair with are holed up inside, some time after a mysterious explosion blanketed their world with snow, and also brought along strange, snow-white-skinned creatures wandering around outside, humanoid in shape but scuttling around like crabs. Were they aliens? Mutants? Something else? Our protagonists have no idea, and they don't even know if this snow has covered the whole world or just their area, but they're running out of food and they know they have to leave soon. This story covers their journey, as well as the answers to these mysteries that they manage to find!
This wasn't terrible for the price. The characters were surprisingly compelling. However, the writing never rose above competent, IMO, and there are some awkward phrases here and there. Also, the revelations at the end seemed kind of ham-handed--no spoilers, but IMO the author did a bit more telling than showing, I think he might have been better served to have the story come out through slow discoveries rather than dialogue. Anything more than that would be a spoiler, though! But I liked this, so I'll give it 4 stars--you can give it three if you're not as generous. For some reason, though, I can't find this on Amazon any more...when I left this review and clicked on the book's title, it gave me an error! Weird...
Essentially, an American college professor and the woman he's having an affair with are holed up inside, some time after a mysterious explosion blanketed their world with snow, and also brought along strange, snow-white-skinned creatures wandering around outside, humanoid in shape but scuttling around like crabs. Were they aliens? Mutants? Something else? Our protagonists have no idea, and they don't even know if this snow has covered the whole world or just their area, but they're running out of food and they know they have to leave soon. This story covers their journey, as well as the answers to these mysteries that they manage to find!
This wasn't terrible for the price. The characters were surprisingly compelling. However, the writing never rose above competent, IMO, and there are some awkward phrases here and there. Also, the revelations at the end seemed kind of ham-handed--no spoilers, but IMO the author did a bit more telling than showing, I think he might have been better served to have the story come out through slow discoveries rather than dialogue. Anything more than that would be a spoiler, though! But I liked this, so I'll give it 4 stars--you can give it three if you're not as generous. For some reason, though, I can't find this on Amazon any more...when I left this review and clicked on the book's title, it gave me an error! Weird...
17 people found this helpful
Top critical review
A disappointing heap of wasted potential
November 12, 2018
Humor me: take a second and imagine a sudden unseasonal snowstorm that turns out to be infested with hostile, crab-like creatures who blend into the snow so well that often your first sign of them is a sudden loss of everything below the kneecaps. Also, they attack in groups and there are buttloads of them. The stars of this story are a ragtag band of college students and teachers that were tough/smart/lucky enough to survive the first encounter with these crab-thingies, and now they need to get to safety. Sounds interesting, right? You'd want to read that, right? Well, too bad! The 'crabs' in the actual novella are basically fast zombies with snow camo, claws, and no bite-contagion. They're called crabs because they reminded one character of a crab one time...somehow. So much wasted potential I literally can't even. On top of that, the plot is unoriginal, the characters are forgettable, and the climax has technical failures that could have been avoided with five minutes of Googling about tanks (technically, a tank doesn't even BELONG in that situation, but knowing that requires having military nerds for friends, so we'll let that one slide)
19 people found this helpful
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July 26, 2018
The monsters CAME WITH THE SNOW, and an illicit affair with a persistent student saved his life....or did it?
For 5 weeks after a mysterious blast, Professor Dominic and Naia are alone and trapped on campus.....the white creatures with black eyes always watching.
Attempted escape proves disastrous, but leads to others in hiding, confessions and a bit of hope, but what really happened? A guilt ridden Dominic loves his wife....needs to see her again....and then........
A creepy, but satisfying end....hehehe.
Super short, but lots of substance.
For 5 weeks after a mysterious blast, Professor Dominic and Naia are alone and trapped on campus.....the white creatures with black eyes always watching.
Attempted escape proves disastrous, but leads to others in hiding, confessions and a bit of hope, but what really happened? A guilt ridden Dominic loves his wife....needs to see her again....and then........
A creepy, but satisfying end....hehehe.
Super short, but lots of substance.
August 23, 2018
Was looking forward to this book but was sorely disappointed that it’s less than 40 pages.☹️ I didn’t see when looking to order this book the amount of pages it had. It’s a lesson learned.
September 11, 2018
38 pages long. You've been warned. 38 pages
September 5, 2018
My fault for not looking more closely at the description; 38 pages is not a novella or a novelette, it is a short story. This particular story is average at best, not interesting enough to buy any follow-up publication.
July 22, 2018
This book jumps right into action and is a quick read. A mysterious explosion over a quiet town has its residents alarmed and stranded. The people question whether to stay put or leave if they can make it out alive. It could be better if there was much more to it since it was a very short read.
May 23, 2018
Its written ok! for an Eng. Lit teacher, But I'm sorry the story makes no sense . It reminds me of the old 60's underground comic's . I love sci- fi but this doesn't get it for me . Possible spoiler alert ! Monsters ? people? experiments with no explanation Big bang. Bust!
October 28, 2018
I normally read off the Kindle but was in the mood for a paperback. Love a good horror story so I bought this. I was really surprised to find that the entire story is a mere 40 pages long! It was a decent read, but oh so short.
December 17, 2018
I don't normally write reviews. I wish I had read the description better as I would never have paid for a 42 page work of fiction. Regardless of how good or bad it is. The page count should be near the top of the web page near the title of the product. I checked the reviews but some how missed the page count. I never have been this disappointed with Amazon. I won't make this mistake again.
October 27, 2018
This story engages right away and reads incredibly smooth from start to finish. Coleman creates a vivid reading experience with minimal words, and no over explaining. Being only 40 pages long, this is a very quick read and leaves the reader anticipating the sequel.
November 19, 2018
Only 42 large printed pages. My bad. Should have paid attention to description.
There are 293 customer reviews and 296 customer ratings.
