"PORTENT.." CHARACTERS " JAMES RIVERS, DAINE,HUGO POGGS,BIBBY, EVA, JOSH and MAMA PITIE.. World is disturbed with Natural calamities..Where ever they happen whether it is great tidal wave destroying the Fort St.George(Grenada West Indies),Forest fire in New Orleans Louisiana, Falling huge rocks of ice over Harbor Freeway Los Angeles California..hot waterspout Varanasi India..people happen to witness a strange vision of a white light, a shape of a base ball shining in all these places prior to these incidents... James Rivers aka Jim Rivers a climatologist.. researching the the pattern of cyclones, himself witnesses these strange visions on his mission over the Gulf of Mexico with his crew in an aircraft..after witnessing this strange white light balls (Tinkerbells) his aircraft crashes in the sea, leaving all his crew dead, he being the lone survivor.. He joins hands with Hugo Poggs a geologist..to analyse what actually happening to Earth. Hugo Poggs is of the opinion that these strange visions are Portents..signs issued by the mother Earth to signify its change of patterns to humans, in order to help the mankind..but Rivers being a non believer is not accepting the Hugo's views and argues that these are the results of air pollution and other natural disasters caused by mankind to Earth. So with Huggo's family.. Dainy the daughter in law, Bibby his wife , Eva, Josh twins.. Dainy's adapted children and his grand children..Rivers is all set to find the reason behind all these calamities., at last good wins over the evil, Mother earth saved, new hope begins. A good attempt by the author, but at times..he is confused with what actually he is planning to give to his readers,so the out come is half boiled..and it becomes difficult for the reader to rate this novel as a horror or sci-fi . There are lot of unanswered Questions at the end, whether the natural disasters are nature's malfunctioning or caused by some evil forces, like Mama Piete a black woman with evil powers? Whether these disasters are controlled by human/scientific efforts or by magical powers possessed by the twins Eva and Josh?With destruction happening all over the globe what is left on earth after everything was over ? No logical explanation for all these questions in this fiction.. So in short..not a classic, but you can enjoy the novel if no logical questions are raised..!!!
I discovered James Herbert completely by accident,in ship's library - his "Nobody true" was actually genuinely interesting,original and enjoyable thriller told from a point of view of murder victim who is watching everything from above,unable to actually react or help anybody. Than I did some research and found that Herbert is actually very famous in UK and sort of local Stephen King,I read several of other novels by him but nothing left deep impression on me like the very first one.Now again - Deja vu - ship's library and James Herbert,perhaps he is perfect vacation read,who knows.This time around I gulped his book but it was more in frustration than in real excitement as I waited the whole time for something exciting and in the meantime read weather reports from around the world - Herbert enjoys his little side-stories about this indian dying in earthquake,that chinese dying in tsunami,that australian dying in whatever natural catastrophe - when you look closely,it's all bombastic and real story not so interesting,actually it is a very thin,cartoonish plot focused on mysterious children and people who are protecting them from some evil fat woman. But it drags forever (because we need to go through earthquakes,floods and tsunamis) and at the end of course it's all one big explosion and evil destroyed not unlike some big budget movie hit with special effects bursting from the screen.Because I read Herbert earlier,I noticed a certain similarities in his work - there is always some kind of disability involved (in this case main character walking with a stick and limping and falling everywhere), there are kids or some other helpless creatures in danger and FAT WOMAN who is usually negative character and described as mythical evil. Just go and check Herbert's other novels, sooner or later it turns the evil comes in disguise of fat woman who is dangerous and needs to be stopped from her evilness.At this point I have one more Herbert's book lined in front of me and not really looking forward to it - I can imagine cliche after cliche and fat woman wanting to destroy the planet.
What do You think about Portent (2004)?
What started as an interesting premise, eventually turns out to be...quite unsatisfying.Portent is a really addicting and intriguing book, until halfway. But, as I have noticed with other Herbert books, tends to lose its strengths towards the end. It's as if the development of the story cannot quite live up with its premise. Which is a shame: had the book a more interesting outcome, it would had been definitely a classic.Nevertheless, can be enjoyed by Herbert/horror fans. Just don't expect it to develop into an interesting ending.
—Rodrigo Marinho
Could anyone please email me the last 2 pages of Portent please as my son tore the page out and I'm almost coming to the end of the book. Many thanks [email protected]
—Ann
Very interesting and showed a lot of promise. It held my attention all the way through, though it just lacked that little something to make it really special.A story of natural disasters and how and why they were being caused. The main character is a 'weather man' for want of a better term and an unlikely hero or plot lead. Also involved are a family with two young children who witness visions about what is going to happen.The story reminded me of the start of Weaveworld by Clive Barker, but never went there. Not quite as powerful as The Fog eitherIt could be made into an interesting screenplay and is quite topical for todays state of the planet issues.I liked it, but wouldn't read it again.
—Brian McCusker
