“The Boy on the Bridge” by Mike Carey – Immense Courage in a Small Package

Mike Carey is working hard to establish the mythos of the Hungry Plague Series, with the second book, titled The Boy on the Bridge, telling a standalone story set in the same common universe.

This time around, we're following a clever boy who journeys on the quest for a cure in a post-apocalyptic land devastated by a plague where humanity only hangs by a thread and monsters are roaming the wilds.

Mike Carey Pushes the Remnants to the Brink

Now more than ever, apocalyptic fiction has a very good reason for existing and being popular, and I'm not simply talking about the pandemic. Weapons of mass destruction and biological warfare should be enough to make everyone realize we are indeed a bit closer to this scenario than we'd like to admit, to the point where it's theoretically feasible.

Many writers have found inspiration in these times to come up with their own depictions of a desolate planet, and Mike Carey is, in my opinion, creating one of the more interesting and compelling worlds with the second novel in the Hunger Plague Series, titled The Boy on the Bridge.

Though it is the second entry in the series, it takes place some twenty years before the first book, which is to say, ten years after the apocalypse which wiped out most of the Earth, turning countless people into zombies.

Few survivors remain, and one such group consists of twelve military personnel and scientists aboard the Rosalind Franklin, a hybrid between a tank, laboratory and recreational vehicle. Their goal is simple: to collect tissue from the infected all over and try to come up with a cure.

Needless to say, the crew is far from leading an idyllic life, with politics, secrets and lies being the order of the day. Amidst all of this is an exceptional young boy in whom the rest of the crew have little faith in and dismiss without much thought.

Alone he is sent out time and time again on dangerous journeys equipped jury-rigged inventions of questionable reliability, and one day he makes a discovery which could change the course of humanity's failing struggle... but who would ever believe him?

The Humanity Beneath the Apocalypse in The Boy on the Bridge

Instinctively-speaking, whenever I see a book is set in a zombie apocalypse I can hardly help rolling my eyes these days, being hardly able to think of a more over-saturated genre out there.

If the premise of this book is causing a similar reaction, I want to go ahead and assure you the bulk of the story isn't about the zombies. Instead, much of the focus is placed on the human element, the ragtag group of survivors who have no shortage of interpersonal and survival problems to deal with.

I have to commend Carey for the level of character development he managed to produce in this book, with each and every member of the cast being very distinct and profoundly fleshed-out. Nobody in this story feels like a throwaway or just a tool used to advance the plot.

From the colonel who takes command and has a past filled with mistakes which cost many civilian lives to the doctor Fournier who is trying to arrange a coup, every character has their own agenda, and seeing the way in which they tangle with each other is a thing of beauty.

Every life is given an importance, and it honestly didn't take me very long to come around to be interested in even the less likeable characters which at first appeared single-note.

The author does a good job of selling the idea these are all humans trying to make the best of terrible circumstances, each having their own philosophies based on who they are. Some of them you'll end up hating, others you'll end up loving, but ultimately none of them are going to leave you feeling indifferent.

Exploring the World in Ruins

Personally, I found the interplay between the characters and their dynamics to have been the main attraction, but this doesn't mean it's all the novel has to offer.

On the contrary, there is a great sense of adventure as we follow the titular boy, Stephen Greaves, on his many excursions into the outside world where we get to witness first-hand the exquisitely-described ravages of the apocalypse. Carey never passes up a chance to depict breathtaking vistas of desolation and the emotional ruins of all humanity leaves behind in its wake.

What's more, a good amount of world-building is done through some rather detailed and precise descriptions of the “hungries”, or the zombies as you could have guessed.

It becomes clear the author put a large amount of thought into them as we learn more about how they function, their day and night cycles, their reactions to temperature, their interactions with animals, how their senses work, and so on and so forth.

In other words, there are moments where we ourselves become part of the expedition and take on the role of scientists studying the creatures. However, the author also knows not to reveal everything and leaves a good amount of mystery about them, probably to be explored in later books.

While the scope of the events and Stephen's adventure might be a good deal smaller than in the first book, I nevertheless found them to be just as captivating, largely for the extended look they give into the past of the Hunger Plague Series' world.

There is always some new discovery waiting to be made, a new mystery to be solved, and some new equipment to be tested, which as far as I'm concerned, is about as much excitement as you could ask from a good science-fiction novel, at least in regards to entertainment.

The Final Verdict

The Boy on the Bridge by Mike Carey is an excellent second entry into the Hunger Plague Series, serving as standalone prequel to the first book.

It gives a pleasing amount of insight into the world where this series takes place and how it works, all while keeping us entertained with the interpersonal drama between the expertly-developed crew members as well as all the scientific curiosities we find throughout.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction and are looking for something with more intellectual depth to it, I highly recommend you give this novel, and the series as a whole a shot.

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Mike Carey Personal site Mike Carey is a British writer who dabbled in comics, films, novels and books. He worked on well-known projects such as X-Men, Hellblazer and Lucifer , and recently he released his first best-selling novel that will soon be made into a major movie, The Girl With All the Gifts.