This series, to quote Abrahams exact words “The Scourge series is based on the same plague that altered the world in the eight-book Traveler series featuring Marcus Battle. However, this collection follows the adventures, trials, and perseverance of an entirely different cast of characters.” That opening line really sucked me in (this is before the story even begins). But knowing the Traveler series and how much I liked it, I can’t wait to figure out what happens when people aren’t prepared. I’m also excited that we’re diving in earlier into the Scourge and we’ll get to see it as it begins instead of months after it’s ravaged millions of lives.
What I was… unprepared for was how similar the stuff that Abrahams wrote was going to be like our current circumstances. Example:
“It’s not blown out of proportion,” said the masked woman.
“People are dying from it.”
“Says the woman wearing a mask,”
This book was fantastic though, Abrahams is able to take a fake “scourge” and make it feel real. Of course, the stuff that is going on outside of our self-isolated windows is so close to what he described it really took this book to another level. Some people might have a hard time with this one because of that, but honestly it was interesting to see what an author wrote compared to what was going on. Thankfully COVID-19 is not plague based – but that doesn’t make any of the things that he predicted a year ago when writing this any less scary. The only thing he got “wrong” was the random run on toilet paper. Everything else (people fighting over food, mask shortages, etc) were all spot on.
The characters in this story were different than his average too. Definitely different than Battle. Honestly, it reminded me a bit of his Alt Apocalypse series since it took normal every day people and threw them into an apocalyptic situation. The jobs that they came from and the things that they had to deal with as they were trying to flee to safety all felt real and made this story even more rooted in realism.
Overall, a fantastic start to another Abrahams Post-Apocalyptic story. It looks like these are going to release quick throughout May (and maybe June). Hopefully Kevin Pierce can get the audio done as well because I can’t wait to dive into more of these and see what happens. Especially the next book since (the cover gives it away so I don’t feel like it’s a huge spoiler) it looks like it’s going to take place on a boat. I’m super curious to see how that goes.