cover image The Purple Cloud Project

The Purple Cloud Project

Adolfo E. Ramirez. Sands (Midpoint, U.S. dist.; Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Canadian dist.), $17.99 trade paper (292p) ISBN 978-1-988281-01-8

In Ramirez’s derivative and meandering debut novel, the mysterious invaders sweeping across the Earth have no interest in communicating with their victims. Their focus is conquest and extermination. Conventional weapons mean nothing against the enemy because no human has ever seen an enemy to shoot at. Human technology proves all too vulnerable. Forays against the invaders end in abject defeat. Faced with an unbeatable foe, Cpl. Christopher Denmark and other soldiers focus on the struggle to survive each battle, not on long-term goals. As Denmark’s dwindling pool of allies could attest, it does not seem like there is a future for pitiful humankind. The author fails to make his work stand out from the legion of other alien invasion books. Endless battle sequences do not compensate for the lack of characterization, polished prose, or coherent narrative. The violent work’s patina of environmental moralizing and morose philosophizing cannot distract from its essential emptiness. There is not one element that has not been done before and better. (May)