I thought the idea of this series was pretty great, a group of survivors handling each apocalyptic scenario in a different way. Not quite. While we won’t really know which people will remain through the series until more books are released, this story didn’t have enough of them as a group together long enough to make that idea a reality. Don’t get me wrong, we do see the characters come together at some point, but it’s more of a destination than a journey, which means the stories in this series will likely focus on these characters (and groups of characters) individually each time.
Individual focus would also be fine, were it not for the characters being completely forgettable. We’ve got a guy and a dog (how old? hard to tell since he’s divorced, but is written like a 19-20 year old) who repeatedly throws himself into situations you’d think he’d be gung-ho enough to handle, but keeps getting his rear end handed to him. An ex-con for a villain that is more of a threat to himself than anyone else, a group of well-funded preppers, and 4 college students who were by far the most interesting of the pack, but also continously did stupid things that went against the characterizations the author built up for them.
The synopsis says something about “If your favorite character dies in one story, don’t worry, they may live in another”. I didn’t really have a favorite character as none were developed to the point that I’d want to bond with them — but it did seem the author kept that in mind as a few random deaths (including in the beginning) seemed designed just to give you a taste of someone who may actually live in a future novel.
Overall, the story isn’t BAD, but it doesn’t really deliver on the premise as I was hoping, and without that, there’s just a disaster survival story with a bunch of semi-interesting characters. No real mystery, intrigue or, frankly, any suspense. It was fine, but I wasn’t hanging onto every word either. I’ll give the second book (due in August) a chance before making a decision on whether or not to stick with the series.
Kevin Pierce did an excellent job with the narration, no complaints there.
I was provided this audiobook for free in exchange for my honest review.