Swan Song

"Mutually Assured Destruction", " Duck and Cover", "Starwars Weapon Systems", "The Day After", "Amazing Grace and Chuck", "Threads", "The Iron Curtain", "The Red Menace". If you, like me, grew up with these terms floating around your childhood than the premise of Swan Song by Robert McCammon will resonate with you. I wish I had read Swan Song when it came out in 1987, because in reading it today the premise itself seems dated. The novel starts with the start, and end of a nuclear war between the then super powers of the United Sates and then U.S.S.R. Both countries release their entire nuclear arsenal in one grad display. After the smoke clears, agents of "good" and "evil" are drawn together under the banner of a young girl named Swan, with the power to make plants grow, and an evil daemon/man called "Friend" who is able to change faces. There are battles and a drawing together of all the main characters for good and evil where evil is defeated by goodness and sacrifice.

Now let us discuss the elephant in the room, it is almost impossible to discuss this novel without at least mentioning Stephen King's The Stand. And for valid reasons. Both are about the destruction of most of the population of the world. They both include a drawing and gathering of the remaining survivors, especially the key players. Evil is personified in both novels by a nameless, faceless man who appears to both the good and the evil in visions. To overcome evil in the end, good people are required to sacrifice themselves. And in the end the reader, if not the characters know that evil is not gone; only beat back for the moment. So all that being said, why would someone want to read Swan Song, if they have already read The Stand?

Two words, Character development. Because the characters in Swan Song awake to a world completely destroyed, their struggles for survival are both touching and heartbreaking. It made me feel a connection to the characters that I frankly never felt in The Stand. When Swan makes the apple tree, the only apple tree left in the farmers orchard, start to blossom in the middle of the nuclear winter, I felt that farmers hope in my own heart. I rejoiced with the people of Mary's Rest when they found the fresh well, and could almost taste to pure clean water that brought with it memories of happier, better times.

So I guess in the end I would say that as a novel, The Stand may "stand" the test of time better, but for character development, characters that I actually cared about, I would say, Swan Song by Robert McCammon wins hands down.