Even books that are part of a longer series often seem to have the ups and downs of trilogies. This book very much felt like the middle book of a trilogy to me, even though it is a part of a much longer series. The prior book saw the end of the, shall we say, prison segment of this story with that novel’s main villain being taken out at the end. But of course, an even worse villain that we’d only heard of in the prior book dominates this one, and the “prison” he creates is of his own, not of society. He finds the new world order an opportunity to take control of their small community and its limited resources, treating anybody who doesn’t agree with him harshly. Like other middle books, groups we had come to know in the prior book get broken up and segmented, each group developing their own subplot. and like a middle book, these groups that had been either forcibly torn apart or chosen to break apart come back together at the end to face the challenges that will come in the next book. I’m sorry if this sounds obtuse, but I’m not wanting to give too much away. The villain in this book will certainly rear his ugly head again in the next. While he was dealt with most satisfactorily by the one against whom he was most vile, he yet lives!
All these authors’ series about post-EMP worlds have a very similar flavor to them, which can get a little tedious even if they are well written and have sympathetic characters. Even within the same sub-subgenre, you can have a bit more variety. The villains, in particular, feel two-dimensional and show the same sort of villainy. I did like how the core group in this series is what regular society would consider to be a band of misfits, some teenagers who have been problematic. But each of these teens is showing more mettle than one would expect from potential deviants or delinquents. We certainly saw the strength of most of them in this book, including the abused daughter of the villain of this piece, as she truly showed what she was about and her choice to protect and go with the family of her heart.