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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Well that was pretty insane.
I didn’t read a synopsis of this book before I picked it up. I just knew it was by Nora, one of my favorite authors to read when I just want to escape. So when this book began with the apocalypse rather than setting up a romance, I was...a little confused.
Still, I was unable to put the book down, and I liked what it set up, the characters, the story, etc. I’ll look forward to the sequel impatiently!
I didn’t read a synopsis of this book before I picked it up. I just knew it was by Nora, one of my favorite authors to read when I just want to escape. So when this book began with the apocalypse rather than setting up a romance, I was...a little confused.
Still, I was unable to put the book down, and I liked what it set up, the characters, the story, etc. I’ll look forward to the sequel impatiently!
I realized it was too soon after covid for me to read pandemic books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Weird to being reading this during a pandemic, but loved the cool twist of Magick on the traditional apocalypse (normally Zombies for me anyways) novel. I especially loved the in depth long term survival discussions they had to have. Looking forward to the next book!
This is the nicest apocalypse I’ve ever seen.
It was advertised to me as a big epic story like The Stand, but with magic. It even has a mystery flu as the apocalypse-causing incident. But The Stand, this ain’t. Where’s the bleakness? Where’s the stakes? Where’s the beef?
The blurbs and reviews made it out like the next best thing since Patrick Rothfuss, but really it’s just a standard novel that feels like it belongs on mass market shelves at the grocery store. I was hoping for a unique twist, but it’s underdeveloped. And all you get are a bunch of nice people doing nice things in hard times. It reads more like the Katrina disaster than the end of the world.
For another thing, it has the problem of a big sludgy middle. It’s nothing like Swan Song or other apocalypse fiction I’ve read. Everyone’s too nice to each other. No one’s a hoarder. Everyone gives what they have willingly, like it’s a Meg Ryan apocalypse. Everyone trusts each other. And the weird part is how the build up around it is so unsatisfying. They create this big town called “New Hope” (eye roll), then it’s ransacked by bad guys and looters. But that’s not the end of the novel. You think it is, but it keeps going.
No one has a goal stronger than “survive”. No one has a character arc. If there are bad guys lurking, we don’t know anything about them. I’d call it “The Stand Lite“. I don’t think the author took time to think about what happens in a real worldwide disaster, as Stephen King and Robert McCammon did.
Some people said that it fell apart for them when the magic came in. I say it needed to have more magic. As such, there’s just a sprinkling of wiccan stuff and cliched prophecies going on. No one blasts each other with a spell. No one conjures up water. The fairies are human-sized and they actually have very little power. Don’t expect something like “the fae come to take over the ruined Earth”, because that’s a far cry from this.
I won’t be reading the next in the series. I probably won’t be reading any more Nora Roberts after this disappointment. Another case of an excellent idea executed poorly.
It was advertised to me as a big epic story like The Stand, but with magic. It even has a mystery flu as the apocalypse-causing incident. But The Stand, this ain’t. Where’s the bleakness? Where’s the stakes? Where’s the beef?
The blurbs and reviews made it out like the next best thing since Patrick Rothfuss, but really it’s just a standard novel that feels like it belongs on mass market shelves at the grocery store. I was hoping for a unique twist, but it’s underdeveloped. And all you get are a bunch of nice people doing nice things in hard times. It reads more like the Katrina disaster than the end of the world.
For another thing, it has the problem of a big sludgy middle. It’s nothing like Swan Song or other apocalypse fiction I’ve read. Everyone’s too nice to each other. No one’s a hoarder. Everyone gives what they have willingly, like it’s a Meg Ryan apocalypse. Everyone trusts each other. And the weird part is how the build up around it is so unsatisfying. They create this big town called “New Hope” (eye roll), then it’s ransacked by bad guys and looters. But that’s not the end of the novel. You think it is, but it keeps going.
No one has a goal stronger than “survive”. No one has a character arc. If there are bad guys lurking, we don’t know anything about them. I’d call it “The Stand Lite“. I don’t think the author took time to think about what happens in a real worldwide disaster, as Stephen King and Robert McCammon did.
Some people said that it fell apart for them when the magic came in. I say it needed to have more magic. As such, there’s just a sprinkling of wiccan stuff and cliched prophecies going on. No one blasts each other with a spell. No one conjures up water. The fairies are human-sized and they actually have very little power. Don’t expect something like “the fae come to take over the ruined Earth”, because that’s a far cry from this.
I won’t be reading the next in the series. I probably won’t be reading any more Nora Roberts after this disappointment. Another case of an excellent idea executed poorly.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The story is good, but I don't seem to have the motivation to continue reading the first book of the series, therefore I most likely won't finish the series.
Nora Robert's (and JD Robb) used to be the go-to author for me when I was in my twenties, but it seems my style of story-telling has changed.
I would still recommend this book.
Nora Robert's (and JD Robb) used to be the go-to author for me when I was in my twenties, but it seems my style of story-telling has changed.
I would still recommend this book.
I’ve just started reading Nora Roberts books and have loved them, but this was the first time I read one of her fantasies. It took me a little while to get used to her take on the genre, but when I did it was fantastic…
I haven’t been sucked into a fantasy book this much since I was in middle school, and it’s definitely geared for a more mature audience. I really enjoyed seeing the characters evolve and grow in the midst of a horrendous pandemic where people are also developing “superpowers” (and especially after just living through a pandemic and seeing how crazy people were, this pretty much hit the nail on the head). As the reader I grew to love the characters individually before their stories are woven together…and there’s twists everywhere. There were some portions of the plot that were pretty predictable, but overall there were plenty of surprises that kept me on my toes. I was very very entertained.
And the ending has me very curious about the next book…
I haven’t been sucked into a fantasy book this much since I was in middle school, and it’s definitely geared for a more mature audience. I really enjoyed seeing the characters evolve and grow in the midst of a horrendous pandemic where people are also developing “superpowers” (and especially after just living through a pandemic and seeing how crazy people were, this pretty much hit the nail on the head). As the reader I grew to love the characters individually before their stories are woven together…and there’s twists everywhere. There were some portions of the plot that were pretty predictable, but overall there were plenty of surprises that kept me on my toes. I was very very entertained.
And the ending has me very curious about the next book…
Year One is the first book in the Chronicles of The One trilogy by Nora Roberts.
The book starts at New year in Scotland and where Patient 0 was infected before leaving to return to the USA. The virus and its symptoms came on suddenly while Patient 0 is on the flight home, however by the time this has happened he has already infected at least a dozen people before landing.
Within a matter of weeks life as the world know has changed dramatically and the governments which are in place start to fail them. Along with this failing, the electric grid splatters and has periodic outages, and law & government collapsing. This Virus has infected and resulting deaths has already claimed 50% of the world's populations.
Nora Roberts describes the state of chaos which has happened with the kind of detail which make you blood run cold but holds your attention and makes you want to keep reading and and not put this down. It is in the descriptive language she uses that she has explained that with the demise of order, magic has surfaced with both good and bad elements. It becomes evident that there are some individuals who are immune and the gifted realise that even though they are immune there is no safety for them from the authorities who patrol the empty streets.
The novel depicts the pockets of immune and gifted travelling in the same direction. It is clear that all of the characters on edge when they meet other groups because anyone that you meet could be either friend or foe. It is the journeys and eventual settlement of the group together is this story line will give them all a purpose in the community that has been created. I have read several other novels by Nora Roberts and this is a welcome change in direction as she has started to bring in fantasy on a classic thriller. The way that she ensures that you have a backstory for each of the main characters and love listening to the way that they develop.
I will say that this has made me think how bad the real world could have been if the governments had not introduced lock down. It has shown how quickly a virus can be spread and the way it mutates as conditions change. I would advise that any one which has been effected by Covid-19 may find that this a hard book for them to read, however i would recommend this book to everyone.
The book starts at New year in Scotland and where Patient 0 was infected before leaving to return to the USA. The virus and its symptoms came on suddenly while Patient 0 is on the flight home, however by the time this has happened he has already infected at least a dozen people before landing.
Within a matter of weeks life as the world know has changed dramatically and the governments which are in place start to fail them. Along with this failing, the electric grid splatters and has periodic outages, and law & government collapsing. This Virus has infected and resulting deaths has already claimed 50% of the world's populations.
Nora Roberts describes the state of chaos which has happened with the kind of detail which make you blood run cold but holds your attention and makes you want to keep reading and and not put this down. It is in the descriptive language she uses that she has explained that with the demise of order, magic has surfaced with both good and bad elements. It becomes evident that there are some individuals who are immune and the gifted realise that even though they are immune there is no safety for them from the authorities who patrol the empty streets.
The novel depicts the pockets of immune and gifted travelling in the same direction. It is clear that all of the characters on edge when they meet other groups because anyone that you meet could be either friend or foe. It is the journeys and eventual settlement of the group together is this story line will give them all a purpose in the community that has been created. I have read several other novels by Nora Roberts and this is a welcome change in direction as she has started to bring in fantasy on a classic thriller. The way that she ensures that you have a backstory for each of the main characters and love listening to the way that they develop.
I will say that this has made me think how bad the real world could have been if the governments had not introduced lock down. It has shown how quickly a virus can be spread and the way it mutates as conditions change. I would advise that any one which has been effected by Covid-19 may find that this a hard book for them to read, however i would recommend this book to everyone.
They talked this up as a departure for Nora at sales conference, and they weren’t kidding! I quite enjoyed this story of a magical apocalypse and the events that followed (food for thought: this is set in the US, and post-apocalypse everyone seems to carry multiple guns. What do we think would happen in a similar situation in Canada?). The prose is serviceable at best, but the story really sucked me in, and I read it in just a few days.
A pandemic devastates the world, wiping out more than half the population. The government all but callapses and magic has blossomed in those who are unaffected by the “Doom”. There were a lot of moving parts in this and it dives right in to the Doom and gloom, which I was not expecting. I did like how it reflected good and evil in both humans and the “Uncanny”. The build up was a little slow and I felt like it jumped some major events in places but the overall story was interesting. I didn’t love the ending but I am excited to see what happens in the series.