The Weatherman
DYSTOPIC QUEST
Ooze sets off on a journey of discovery that could cost him his life
In this sci-fi thriller with a twist of urban fantasy set on a far distant planet, Ooze, a teacher from the lowly Sector D, stumbles upon a young woman, lost in the never-ending thick blanket of fog that covers the sector. He immediately realizes that she’s not from his sector. She accepts his offer to wait at his house until visibility improves — the fog never fully clears. He discovers that she is from the affluent Sector A and agrees to journey across Sectors C and B with her to her own sector, in defiance of the colony’s immigration policies.
However, the girl is not who she seems to be and the couple are pursued by the Weatherman, an assassin who is determined that they shouldn’t reach their destination.
4.4 Rating
Reviews
Krojac built a very imaginative post apocalyptic world in The Weatherman. Society has been divided into four sectors spilt by weather and economic background. Sector A being wealthy and always sunny and sector D being all but impoverished and constantly socked in by fog. We follow Ooze who has never seen anything outside of sector D until the night he stumbles upon an adventurous young woman from Sector A. Sestra convences Ooze to break the law and return to A with her. What follows is an unexpected adventure filled with danger, mystery, and The Weatherman doing everything in his power to stop them from reaching their final destination.
I was drawn to this book by it's well drawn and intriguing cover and had a lot of fun reading it.
Daphne L. Thompson
The Weatherman by Greg Krojac is a sci-fi story taking place in a world divided into four sectors: A, B, C, and D. Each sector has specific weather and people with different incomes—A is sunny and is inhabited by rich people, B is snowy and is inhabited by high middle-class people, C is rainy and is inhabited by low middle-class people, and then there’s D. Sector D is distinguished by fog and rather poor people. Učitelj is a teacher in sector D who, out of curiosity, wishes to visit other sectors. However, the law forbids it. His dream comes true when she meets a Sestra, a woman lost in the middle of a fog warning. Sestra knows the way to sector A and wants to help him visit all other sectors, but doesn’t warn him about the dangers ahead, nor about the Weatherman.
Another weird story by Greg Krojac, who‘s become one of my favourite sci-fi indie novelists. Krojac’s style is right up my alley, his stories are always refreshing, and never predictable. This one was a funny distraction from reality.
Keyla D.
In a world where it seems that everyone wants to buy into the post apocalyptic market (where, as a result, so many stories get lost in the mix), author Greg Krojac gives us “The Weatherman,” a quick and snappy read that clocks in around 140 pages.
The premise of the story simple: On a distant colony on a distant planet, descendants of earthlings live out their life in four class based sectors, A, B, C, and D. Each sector is defined by four distinct weather patterns—Clear, sunny weather, snow, rain, and fog. Travel is generally not permitted by the sectors, which are all separated by towering walls.
In sector D we meet our narrator, who goes by the nickname “Ooze.” His existence is a bland and simple one—he teaches at a local school, navigates his way through a chain of people through thick fog, eats a simple diet of powdered food, and wears (as does everyone else), a limited selection of clothes and colors.
His world changes immediately when a strange visitor shows up in sector D and asks Ooze to travel through each sector. Ooze agrees.
I can’t say more than that without giving away too much of the plot, so I’ll stop there.
The Weatherman, to me, is proof of a few things.
1) In a market where there is an over saturation of apocalyptic literature, it is still possible for a story to stand out.
2) Less is often more. Krojac does a splendid job building a fully realized universe that has its own customs, dangers, and socio-economic conditions. Many authors would take 800 pages to set that kind of mood.
Shorter novels tend to crunch the ending a bit, and this one is no exception, but there are benefits to this. Much of how things play out, in the finer details, is left up to the imagination of the reader, and underlying themes, though direct, aren’t overly preachy.
This a fun and suspenseful little book; it’s an example of how a vast universe can be compressed and presented in its most basic parts. I’d recommend this exciting and accessible book to just about anyone.
Nathan Coley