Tiānmìng – Mandate of Heaven by Adolphus Writer and Nomi Smith

In the not too distant future, the world is falling apart at the seams, which is depicted in the political thriller, ‘Tiānmìng – Mandate of Heaven’ by Adolphus Writer and Nomi T. Smith. This fast paced novel tells the story of Michael Babbage, a freelance reporter who is hired to document and analyze what is happening to the civilization of man. Between the political conflicts that have arisen and the natural disasters that are destroying the balance of society, there is not much to hope for besides an alternative to the failing situation at hand. The United States is a nation at unrest, but due to the strong will of President Moses Orestes, he refuses to let his people give up on the nation that he cares about so dearly. When Yellowstone erupts, half of the United States population has to move to Canada, while elsewhere in the world weak governments are taking advantage of the fact that other formerly powerful states are falling apart. Nuclear explosions are also reshaping the Asian continent, as Michael strives on to find answers on how to stop the ongoing calamity from continuing.

It is clear due to the complexities of this book that a lot of work was put into the creation of this story. Not only is it thought-provoking, but the characters and the situations that they are thrust into are a joy to read. The descriptions of the United States falling apart alone are very chilling, but to think of our entire world failing so helplessly during such an unmanageable point in time is rather frightening. The characters are all well-developed and by the end of the narrative things start to weave together in a pleasing and surprising manner. Although the natural disasters that occur seem a little bit farfetched, the reactions to them and the other manmade fiascos are plausible, given the other conditions that are occurring. Michael is a very likeable character, someone who the reader will be rooting for as he tries to figure out what is going on in this very unstable predicament that Earth has found itself in. (Reviewed September 19, 2013 by Red City Review, used by permission.)

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