Ratings8
Average rating4.1
People come as well as go.Twelve years ago, Edwin Tully came to Oxford and fell in love with a boy named Marius. He was brilliant. An artist. It was going to be forever.Two years ago, it ended.Now Edwin lives alone in the house they used to share. He tends to damaged books and faded memories, trying to build a future from the fragments of the past.Then the weather turns, and the river spills into Edwin’s quiet world, bringing with it Adam Dacre from the Environment Agency. An unlikely knight, this stranger with roughened hands and worn Wellingtons, but he offers Edwin the hope of something he thought he would never have again.As the two men grow closer in their struggle against the rising waters, Edwin learns he can’t protect himself from everything—and sometimes he doesn’t need to try.
Series
4 primary books6 released booksSpires Universe is a 6-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Alexis Hall.
Reviews with the most likes.
Short and rainy. Common old ephemera collecting and restoration sounds like fun. Like some random person's old calendar from like 2008 with all their little notes like appointments and birthdays and trips. How do you go about finding stuff like that?
(actual review starts on third paragraph)
Quite an adventure with this book. I started reading it a while ago, then I decided I wanted to try something else and left it aside for a bit. It really didn't entice me and I didn't think I'd like it. But then I went on Hardcover while planning what to read next and I saw there's a 100% probability I would enjoy it so I started reading it again. And last night I got in bed and thought I'd read one more chapter of it, and that's how I discovered I had one more chapter left.
I was surprised, really, I thought I'd get a bit more, but I guess a recipe is pretty useful (is it accurate, though? I'm kind of tempted to try it).
"Waiting for the Flood" is the definition of short and sweet. I liked Edwin. At first he didn't make such an impression on me, but as I learned more about him, I got to really like him. He was so endearing and his emotions were so raw, it was impossible not to feel him.
Adam was great too, I liked his reactions and his honesty. I feel like he's a what you see is what you get type of person and I really liked that kind of transparency.
And throughout the book I liked the metaphors, some of them actually made me melt, they were so well picked and so full of meaning. Everything together made this book feel very gentle and real. I really enjoyed it a lot.
Note: Just found out this story is part of a series, but I am not really interested in the series and I also don't feel like I missed some context.
That's left to be seen, of course, but I feel like this short side-story can be read as a standalone with no issues.