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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
DNF. The choppiest dialogue I have ever read and some extremely cringy reveal moments. Seems more suited to Wattpad than paperback.
I kept skipping over this because I saw it was from Nora Roberts and thought it was miscategorized under apocalypse fiction but I decided to give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. It was an entertaining story but it seemed like she was trying to cram in a lot within a certain number of pages so there are some jolting jumps in time like someone hit the skip to next chapter button on the DVD player. It was refreshing in the sense that we weren't inundated with an overabundance of minutiae of everyone's trek but, at the same time, we go from fleeing NYC to getting to Ohio to suddenly having a town established in the blink of an eye.
The book almost has a sense of Stephen King's "The Stand" with the multiple individuals slowly joining into small groups and then eventually becoming one large group and the "big bad" orchestrating his minions on the other side. We don't really get a full sense of the bad guys, just glancing mentions, so we don't have the opportunity to worry about them and definitely don't fear them. It seemed more like just randomly throwing in a bad guy to a scene because the group had gone too long without adversity rather than any real coherence to the bad guys and their goals. I understand that this likely pans out further in the next book but in this one there is a big sense of void in this regard.
Overall it was entertaining but not fully immersive. It had elements that were refreshing from so many Apoc-Fic books, especially that it doesn't go into ridiculous details about weapons and become more of a prepper how-to than an actual story but it could use a little more streamlining and not so jolting time jumps.
The book almost has a sense of Stephen King's "The Stand" with the multiple individuals slowly joining into small groups and then eventually becoming one large group and the "big bad" orchestrating his minions on the other side. We don't really get a full sense of the bad guys, just glancing mentions, so we don't have the opportunity to worry about them and definitely don't fear them. It seemed more like just randomly throwing in a bad guy to a scene because the group had gone too long without adversity rather than any real coherence to the bad guys and their goals. I understand that this likely pans out further in the next book but in this one there is a big sense of void in this regard.
Overall it was entertaining but not fully immersive. It had elements that were refreshing from so many Apoc-Fic books, especially that it doesn't go into ridiculous details about weapons and become more of a prepper how-to than an actual story but it could use a little more streamlining and not so jolting time jumps.
Nora Roberts does end-of-the-world. With her signature bit of magick thrown in. And it's good. I look forward to the next book.
Hmm... okaaay. I'm not sure what to do with this one.
Here's the thing. I never read Nora Roberts. I mean, I've read her in the past, but I'm way past being interested in the types of books she writes. Romance novels are generally NOT to my taste. Besides that, certain authors have a style to their writing that seems very formulaic, and once you've learned the formula, they're totally eye-roll worthy.
So I was a little surprised to see that this book earned some glowing reviews from a few people I take recommendations from. "It's SO not like her usual," and "give it a try," they said. Ugh. I'm sorry to say that they were wrong with that bit. This book has every bit of bad writing as Nora Roberts usually churns out.
The middle was just awful. Waaay too many characters, so many that I was inundated with "who is this one again?" moments. There's a girl who's a witch, a girl who's a fairy, the girl who's a doctor and the girl who's a news reporter ... were some of these the same person? Maybe. The guys were a little easier to differentiate, but when they move to the "cabin in the woods" all living together, she adds a bunch more characters and I got lost.
During the "cabin in the woods" section, it's just SO obvious who the "bad guys" are it's almost comical, and yet the protagonists remain clueless. Suffice to say, there are a LOT of eye-roll moments, and more throughout. And then, there's just bad writing.
And yet. And yet.
The beginning started off super strong. I loved the mythical aspect of the start of the plague where the animal blood and human blood mixed in the ancient stone circle that marked the start of the Doom. I kind of liked the Epilogue too, where some of that mysticism comes back and will obviously tie into the next book. I just wish there had been more of THIS during the book and less of the boring, bad writing.
So now I'm torn. All through the middle I was thinking, "I'm finishing this, because I want to see how it ends, but I'm definitely not reading book 2!" And then it ended, and I thought, "maybe." Can I stand how terribly-written book 2 is bound to be, just to see how the story goes? Maybe. I'll think about it and see if this story keeps bouncing around in my head.
P.S. I listened on Audible, and the reader was just OK. Some of the annoyances I had may have been the reader, but I doubt it.
Here's the thing. I never read Nora Roberts. I mean, I've read her in the past, but I'm way past being interested in the types of books she writes. Romance novels are generally NOT to my taste. Besides that, certain authors have a style to their writing that seems very formulaic, and once you've learned the formula, they're totally eye-roll worthy.
So I was a little surprised to see that this book earned some glowing reviews from a few people I take recommendations from. "It's SO not like her usual," and "give it a try," they said. Ugh. I'm sorry to say that they were wrong with that bit. This book has every bit of bad writing as Nora Roberts usually churns out.
The middle was just awful. Waaay too many characters, so many that I was inundated with "who is this one again?" moments. There's a girl who's a witch, a girl who's a fairy, the girl who's a doctor and the girl who's a news reporter ... were some of these the same person? Maybe. The guys were a little easier to differentiate, but when they move to the "cabin in the woods" all living together, she adds a bunch more characters and I got lost.
During the "cabin in the woods" section, it's just SO obvious who the "bad guys" are it's almost comical, and yet the protagonists remain clueless. Suffice to say, there are a LOT of eye-roll moments, and more throughout. And then, there's just bad writing.
And yet. And yet.
The beginning started off super strong. I loved the mythical aspect of the start of the plague where the animal blood and human blood mixed in the ancient stone circle that marked the start of the Doom. I kind of liked the Epilogue too, where some of that mysticism comes back and will obviously tie into the next book. I just wish there had been more of THIS during the book and less of the boring, bad writing.
So now I'm torn. All through the middle I was thinking, "I'm finishing this, because I want to see how it ends, but I'm definitely not reading book 2!" And then it ended, and I thought, "maybe." Can I stand how terribly-written book 2 is bound to be, just to see how the story goes? Maybe. I'll think about it and see if this story keeps bouncing around in my head.
P.S. I listened on Audible, and the reader was just OK. Some of the annoyances I had may have been the reader, but I doubt it.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wonderful
Such a great book to read, one year into the current pandemic. I cannot wait to see where the rest of the series goes!
Such a great book to read, one year into the current pandemic. I cannot wait to see where the rest of the series goes!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Kicked ass. Apocalypse, magic, dystopian train wreck meets realm of fantasy. Add in a solid dash of love, hope and rebirth. Total win. Looking forward to book 2 in my near future.