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A review by diifacto
Radio Apocalypse by K.M. Gallagher
3.5
I really, really wanted to love this. And it was right up my alley: post-apocalyptic and sapphic, mixed media (well, transcripts and prose), and the monsters—the monsters were perfect. Biblically-accurate angels (complete with the whole "BE NOT AFRAID" shtick), the holy grail of eye-imagery, body horror and gore and transmutation—just awesome. Kayleigh Gallagher's descriptions in general were excellent, but the monsters really shone. Which makes the execution of the rest of Radio Apocalypse that much more disappointing, since it just … didn't.
I would love to see Radio Apocalypse republished after another round or two of editing with a professional. This is one of those self-published novels that I discovered on TikTok that I believe could be bestsellers if they had the support of a publishing house—the marketing team, the cover artists, the editors, etc. Because all of my issues with it come from poor pacing, a lack of character development (or of fully fleshed-out characters in the first place), implausible plot developments (solo-sailing across the Atlantic with no experience, for one), and a lack of worldbuilding—every single one of which would’ve been fixed by an editor.
And maybe someone with some experience or professional know-how relating the radiation, because the way radiation worked in Radio Apocalypse was really, really strange and, in my unprofessional opinion, did not seem scientifically sound. Not that accuracy is all that important in fiction, but it was odd to the point that every time they mentioned radiation, I was distracted from the story by how confused I was. Honestly (and again, in my unprofessional opinion), if I were Kayleigh Gallagher, I probably would’ve dropped the radiation aspect altogether—the monsters themselves were deterrent enough to limit the characters' ability to go outside or to travel, and radiation didn't end up affecting the plot in any way other than forcing the characters to wear radiation-proof suits (which also didn't affect the plot).
Maybe a bit of backstory as to how, exactly, the world ended would've made the world's radioactivity seem less out-of-place. But, at the risk of including a sort-of spoiler in this review, Gallagher never included any flashbacks, any stories—even, really, any comments—about how or when the world ended throughout the almost-500 pages of Radio Apocalypse. Lota mentions being four when the world ended, and both her and Rachel mention the deaths of their parents (very, very briefly), but that's it. Nothing about how these monsters appeared, nothing about how society collapsed, nothing about where the radiation came from (or why it's still around), absolutely nothing.
There is a passage where Lota, describing one of the creatures, says, "I suppose he may have been human at one point." Which is horrifying, and a really, really exciting potential plot point! But it's brought up within the last fifty pages, and completely glossed over. They never mention that possibility—that these abominations are, actually, the rest of humanity we never get to see, transmuted themselves into creatures completely unrecognizable—and we never learn what happened to the rest of the human race. In general, the lack of any backstory paired with the fantastic descriptions of the monsters is especially disappointing for me. Being Gallagher employs all this gorey, twisted religious imagery in their designs, and I would've loved to read her take on that sort of an apocalypse. The whole trumpets-blaring, four horsemen, revelations-type apocalypse event that seems to me to fit Radio Apocalypse’s dystopian landscape perfectly.
This would've fixed the issues I have with the characters, too—neither of them feel fleshed-out, like I said, and including flashbacks to their stories, to how they lost their families, etc. would've added some of that depth they were lacking.
In short, Radio Apocalypse is fantastic—for a draft. And, unfortunately, you can tell. The bones of it are great, but, again: some heavy editing, some rearranging, some aspects being changed, and a bit of backstory added—all that is needed before I can rate Radio Apocalypse at anything more than four stars, and right after my first read, it's a solid 3.5. (This could change, the more I think about it; we'll see.) I had a lot of fun reading it, loved the atmosphere, and would definitely recommend it, but it's just not fully cohesive or satisfying in its current form to be a favorite.
I would love to see Radio Apocalypse republished after another round or two of editing with a professional. This is one of those self-published novels that I discovered on TikTok that I believe could be bestsellers if they had the support of a publishing house—the marketing team, the cover artists, the editors, etc. Because all of my issues with it come from poor pacing, a lack of character development (or of fully fleshed-out characters in the first place), implausible plot developments (solo-sailing across the Atlantic with no experience, for one), and a lack of worldbuilding—every single one of which would’ve been fixed by an editor.
And maybe someone with some experience or professional know-how relating the radiation, because the way radiation worked in Radio Apocalypse was really, really strange and, in my unprofessional opinion, did not seem scientifically sound. Not that accuracy is all that important in fiction, but it was odd to the point that every time they mentioned radiation, I was distracted from the story by how confused I was. Honestly (and again, in my unprofessional opinion), if I were Kayleigh Gallagher, I probably would’ve dropped the radiation aspect altogether—the monsters themselves were deterrent enough to limit the characters' ability to go outside or to travel, and radiation didn't end up affecting the plot in any way other than forcing the characters to wear radiation-proof suits (which also didn't affect the plot).
Maybe a bit of backstory as to how, exactly, the world ended would've made the world's radioactivity seem less out-of-place. But, at the risk of including a sort-of spoiler in this review, Gallagher never included any flashbacks, any stories—even, really, any comments—about how or when the world ended throughout the almost-500 pages of Radio Apocalypse. Lota mentions being four when the world ended, and both her and Rachel mention the deaths of their parents (very, very briefly), but that's it. Nothing about how these monsters appeared, nothing about how society collapsed, nothing about where the radiation came from (or why it's still around), absolutely nothing.
There is a passage where Lota, describing one of the creatures, says, "I suppose he may have been human at one point." Which is horrifying, and a really, really exciting potential plot point! But it's brought up within the last fifty pages, and completely glossed over. They never mention that possibility—that these abominations are, actually, the rest of humanity we never get to see, transmuted themselves into creatures completely unrecognizable—and we never learn what happened to the rest of the human race. In general, the lack of any backstory paired with the fantastic descriptions of the monsters is especially disappointing for me. Being Gallagher employs all this gorey, twisted religious imagery in their designs, and I would've loved to read her take on that sort of an apocalypse. The whole trumpets-blaring, four horsemen, revelations-type apocalypse event that seems to me to fit Radio Apocalypse’s dystopian landscape perfectly.
This would've fixed the issues I have with the characters, too—neither of them feel fleshed-out, like I said, and including flashbacks to their stories, to how they lost their families, etc. would've added some of that depth they were lacking.
In short, Radio Apocalypse is fantastic—for a draft. And, unfortunately, you can tell. The bones of it are great, but, again: some heavy editing, some rearranging, some aspects being changed, and a bit of backstory added—all that is needed before I can rate Radio Apocalypse at anything more than four stars, and right after my first read, it's a solid 3.5. (This could change, the more I think about it; we'll see.) I had a lot of fun reading it, loved the atmosphere, and would definitely recommend it, but it's just not fully cohesive or satisfying in its current form to be a favorite.