Category Archives: Post-Apocalyptic

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

Three (Legend of the Dustwalker 1) by Jay Posey

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Stars: 2.5 out of 5

I really wanted to like this book. I am a sucker for a good post-apocalyptic story, so I had high hopes. And that cover is amazing. 

The book started strong, and I really connected with Three, even if I was confused about the different pieces of worldbuilding the book was throwing at me left and right. Surely, everything will get explained eventually, I thought. Right?

Wrong. NOTHING is explained. We have a world surviving some earth-shattering technological catastrophe that left everything in pretty much ruins. Yet it seems like advanced technology still works. I mean, all the people born in this world have a genetically implanted ability to connect to satellites to check the time, use GPS, ping each other, etc. So that means that the satellites are still functional… How exactly? Without constant monitoring from the surface and course corrections, all of them would have slowly drifted out of orbit and burned in the atmosphere. 

At one point, it’s also mentioned that people can upload their consciousness into a digital afterlife before they die, but where exactly are those servers kept? That’s a lot of data that would require a lot of processing power and infrastructure. It’s not like it can exist in thin air alone. So are there still places with advanced enough technology to keep the satellites and other complex systems functioning? Don’t know. It’s never mentioned.

The same catastrophe presumably also created the Weir, but we never get any explanation as to what those Weir really are or where they come from. Why do they attack at night and hide during the day? Are they all part of a technological hive mind? Do they infect other connected people or reuse the bodies of those they kill? 

And speaking of uploading and leaving their bodies behind. It’s mentioned at one point that one of the characters uploaded, but then came back into his body, even though it’s implied that that is not possible… And afterwards, it’s never mentioned again. All the characters just shrug at something that is clearly abnormal and just go on about their business.

And this whole book is like that – the author throws in a concept or mentions some kind of event, but never expands on it. Nothing is ever explained. It’s hard to understand the hardships the characters are facing if we aren’t clear about the rules of this world. What is the Strand? We are told that it’s mortally dangerous, but it’s never explained why. 

And the Weir’s behavior also changes depending on what the author needs it to be. In the beginning of the book, Three mentions to Cass that if they stay silent and “unplugged”, the Weir won’t sense them. Yet, the Weir find them anyway in the Strand, so which is it?

My other issue is with the characters. While I liked Three, I was a lot less happy with Cass and Wren. I mean, Cass doesn’t have much personality apart from Mama Bear when Wren is concerned and a damsel in distress when he isn’t. We are told that she was a valued member of RushRuin, but why exactly? What was it that she brought to the table? 

And once again, this is where the lack of worldbuilding is hurting characterisation. Cass is augmenting her body and mind with chems, and it’s killing her, but we never get a real explanation as to why. What is the difference between the chems named in this book? Why is quint so dangerous? How exactly is it killing her? How is all this produced if most of the world is in ruins? Also, what are the limitations? See, I cannot tell when Cass is doing something normal, phenomenal, or even extremely dangerous because I have no clue what quint is supposed to do to her.

I was okay with Wren, because even though he is the Special One, he behaved like a normal 5 year old child for most of the book. A scared child who is out of his depth and forced to see and confront some pretty ugly things. 

What I didn’t like was that Three transformed from this ultra-compenent survivalist, a lethal warrior who roamed the desolation between various human enclaves for years, into a self-doubting wreck of a man who couldn’t do anything right. Also, I wasn’t sold on the sudden affection he developed for Cass. Sorry, don’t buy it. Grudging respect – yes, care for her and Wren – absolutely, but love to the point of sacrifice? Erm, nope. 

It is hinted that she reminded Three of someone he had loved and failed to protect, but once again, the lack of worldbuilding does a disservice to the characters. We get brief mentions of Three’s past, but not enough to explain his behavior. Like what ties him to jCharles and his wife? Where does his guilt come from? What was this House he was created in and for what purpose? Also, WHEN was that? 

In the end, I was left with a lot more questions than answers and a very vague worldbuilding that left me frustrated and unengaged most of the book. And the final confrontation with Asher was just ridiculous. Talk about a one-dimensional villain with no redeeming qualities. It begs to question, if Asher was such a horrible human being, why didn’t the other members of RushRuin do him in or walk away from him? Most of them seemed like decent people and were powerful in their own right, so he must have had some kind of hold on them.

Anyway, I am not sure if there are more explanations about this world in the next book, and I am not even sure I feel like continuing with this series.

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, science fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Space opera

We are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse 1) by Dennis E. Taylor

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Stars: 4 out of 5

This was a rather unique premise for a story. At least, I haven’t encountered this kind of story before. I have read plenty of books about real AI and sentient starships, but not one where the digitalized consciousness of a real person is put into a starship. 

The world in which this story takes place is a rather bleak one, and I would really hope that humanity can do better. Though, judging by everything happening around the world right now, I might be giving our race too much credit. I think humanity has an infinite potential for self-destruction. Unfortunately, I can very well see humanity going into an all-out nuclear war just to prevent a nation from sending out a probe ahead of others. It’s not science fiction anymore, it’s a fact of life.

Fortunately, Bob is a very endearing character who brings much-needed levity to what otherwise would be a very depressing book. His positive outlook and curiosity are what made this book fun. All the problems he encounters don’t discourage him at all. He approaches them as challenges to overcome. In that sense, this book reminded me of The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. The protagonist has the same vibe – ready to McGiver his way out of any situation. 

Granted, it feels like some of the problems Bob faces are non-problems at all, because he overcomes them so easily. I understand that this is a world 100 years into the future, but some of the technological advances seem implausible with the state of science and technology we are at now. Unless there are some significant breakthroughs in the next 100 years, and a lot more money is invested into research. It’s even less plausible in a country that reverted to fundamentalist Christianity like FAITH. 

But the story is engaging enough that I was willing to overlook the parts that stretched my disbelief a little too much. I was invested in the exploration of every star system the new Bobs go into. Heck, I was on the edge of my seat during the first contact story and the migration Bot initiated with the Deltans. 

My only issue, and the reason this book didn’t get 5 stars, is that it ends on a cliffhanger. None of the story arcs were brought to a satisfying conclusion, but just left in media res, to be picked up in the next book. 

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

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Stars: 3 out of 5

This is a difficult book to rate or review. I really liked parts of it, but other parts left me indifferent to mildly irritated.

I liked the melancholy vibe of the book, and that’s best translated in the chapters detailing Arthur’s life as well as what happened to all the people whose lives he touched. It was interesting to see how they spent their last days before the world as we know it ended… and what those who were lucky enough to survive made of themselves in the new world that rose from the ashes.

I admit that I was less attached to the characters from the Traveling Symphony. Where people from Arthur’s time seemed pretty well developed, the members of the Symphony didn’t have much depth past their names and functions. I mean, I can’t even remember who was who, apart from Kirsten and Arthur, and I just finished the book. So to me, those chapters dragged, and I found myself loose interest more often then not and putting the book aside.

My biggest problem is that I don’t get the point of the whole Prophet subplot. Even with the spoiler discovery of the Prophet’s identity, his existence in this book doesn’t particularly make sense. He is way too milquetoast to be an antagonist in this book, and the way this whole situation ended is rather… anticlimactic. There was this whole buildup to this confrontation between the Symphony and the Prophet that didn’t happen in the end.

All in all, it was a decent story about loss and grief, and lost dreams, and how different people cope with surviving the end of the world, but to me, it was lacking a secret ingredient that would have made it perfect.

books, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

Among These Bones (Among These Bones 1) by Amanda Luzzader

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Stars: 2.5 out of 5.

This started pretty strong but petered out by the end. 

The premise is fantastic – a global pandemic destroyed society as we know it. The survivors must take a serum every year in order not to contract the disease that killed most of humanity. The unfortunate side effect of this serum is that it wipes your memories. So every year you start as a blank slate, with the Agency telling you who you are, who your family is, and what you did in life. But who is to say that any of it is true? Is that child that the Agency shoved into your arms really your son or a random stranger? Is your name really Allison? 

I believe the author wasted the potential of this premise because there could have been so much more she could have done there! Allison in particular seems prone to accept these facts at face value and not even question them until the later part of the book. She is content just to keep her head down, get her rations, and hole up in a ratty house for the rest of her life. It’s Arie that is trying to push the limits of their world and to discover what really happened on Year One. 

And I think that was ultimately the biggest issue for me. Allison is the protagonist, and she is boring as fish. I couldn’t care less for her tribulations because she didn’t really commit to anything until the end of the book. Until then, she just kind of floated along the current and followed whichever person of authority she happened to be with, be it Arie or Ruby. Also, she is written as a bit dim. I mean you know an Agency supervisor took a special interest in you and your son, and you discovered that Arie was being tracked via his chip. Why oh why would you bring a very recognizable truck straight to your house? Especially when working vehicles are so rare? And why would you rush back there after the stint you pulled at the serum storage facility? That’s next level stupid.

Actually, all the characters in this book are written as not very bright, even if the author says otherwise about some of them. They survive and pull a successful heist only because of plot contrivances and kevlar-thick plot armor. And once I realized that, I couldn’t really care for their well-being because it felt like they would survive no matter how dire the situation was. Apart from Gracy that is, but then again, we barely knew the girl. I’m almost convinced that she was introduced only for the purpose of fridging her to create some motivation for Allison.

All in all, this was a rather disappointing read. It started great but devolved into the standard and stereotypical story of an evil corporation doing something to common people for nefarious but nebulous reasons. Also, the bad guys in this story had no shades of gray whatsoever. I don’t think I will be continuing with this series.

books, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

A Mirage in the Memory by Simon Tull

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Stars: 3 out of 5.

I like the concept of this book. This is a post-apocalyptic world where some humans have been turned into vampires… then exterminated normal humans. Now the world is ending, the civilization is crumbling, and the immortal vampires linger in sun-shielded cities under the tyrannical rule of a handful of families. 

I was fascinated by the few glimpses we have of this world and I would have loved to learn more. Unfortunately, the author gives us only crumbs of information. Though I understand that this is a prequel, so maybe the events that led to the current state of affairs are explained in the main books.

My issue with this book is that even though the world is fascinating, I simply couldn’t empathize with the protagonist. Yes, he is haunted by the things he has done and the lover he was forced to leave behind, but it felt rather flat for me. I think I would have felt more invested in his plight if the author had introduced me to his relationship with his wife a bit more. Maybe in flashbacks or something. Or if I got to experience the event that made him leave her behind instead of just seeing it mentioned here and there. As it stands, I had no clear feel for their relationship, and no clue why he left her, or why he felt guilty about it. 

I also need to mention that a lot of the choices the protagonist makes in this story are… questionable, to say the least. Not to mention that the ending is a complete downer. I mean, nothing was accomplished. Thibault is still as much of a slave as he ever was, AND he still doesn’t know where his wife is or if she is even still alive. So what was the purpose of all this?

I was honestly more interested in the side characters, like the burned hacker or the android mod builder. Them, I wouldn’t mind reading about. Thibault? Not so much.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

The Last Storm by Tim Lebbon

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Stars: 2 out of 5.

This book tried to marry two different ideas in the same story – a climate disaster story and a story about people with a special ability that ties them to a different world/dimension. I think the author wanted to pay homage to Stephen King and his many books that did the same thing.  Lisey’s Story comes to mind. That was one creepy and fascinating book.

Unfortunately, where Stephen King managed to marry the weird and the mundane into a seamless buildup of creepiness, this author failed, in my opinion. 

I think it stems from the fact that the power the Rainmaker family has is never truly explained or explored other than as a tool to rain disaster and death on an already ravaged country. That and the fact that it is described almost like a drug, an addiction, makes it really unpredictable and unattractive. 

Also, it is never truly explained how that power is tied to the horrible draught that is killing a vast part of the States, of if there is even a connection. And if there isn’t a connection, then what’s the point of this power in the story?

My other issue with this book is that all the characters are unlikeable, especially Ash. I mean, I was pretty interested and invested in her story while she was on a quest to assemble her device and make it rain… Until at about 61% in the book where she unleashes rains of blood and horrors upon this town, kills several people… and has absolutely no remorse about it. That’s where she lost all my support, as well as my desire to continue following her story.

I also don’t understand why everyone else is making excuses for her behavior. Oh, she is so special. She can make rain out of a clear sky… Yes, she can also unleash venomous creatures that attack everything in sight along with that rain. Oh, and by the way that rain will turn into a deluge that will make matter so much worse. 

Of the other protagonists we have Ashe’s father, who is a coward who’s response to a traumatic even had been to hide his had in the sand for almost a decade. Her mother who turned her whole life into an obsession. An ex-addict turned into Ash’s insta-groupie. And a psychopatic killer. Honestly, not a single one of them is likeable or even relatable enough follow into the story. 

I think I would have enjoyed this more if Ash wasn’t such an unrepentant addict who made excuses every time she messed things up. Or if the supernatural element was better tied into the rest of the story.

PS: I recieved an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in Exchange for an honest review.

books, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, science fiction

Steelheart (Reckoners 1) by Brandon Sanderson

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

Brandon Sanderson is one of my all time favorite authors, because the amount of work he puts into creating distinctive new worlds with wonderful internal logic is amazing. When I pick up one of his books, I know I will discover a complex magical system that works in the parameters of his world. I know that there won’t be any deus ex machina, and that all the actions and consequences will make sense. So his books are a pleasure to read.

The premise of Steelheart reminded me a little of the TV series The Boys, only taken to the extreme. Imagine that all of a sudden certain people had super powers. Only with those super powers comes an absolute sense of self-entitlement and complete disregard for human life. The results is… apocalyptical, so say the least. The world as we know it is no more. Powerful Epics rule their domains (be it a city, a town, or another piece of land) with savagery and not a care for the normal humans who happen to live on their soil. Sometimes they engage in bloody battles with each other to try an conquer what they consider a better piece of real estate. The victims are again normal humans caught in the crossfire. 

And there really is nothing normal humans can do about it, because most high Epics have unbelievable powers and are virtually unkillable, unless you know their particular weakness and can simulate all the circumstances that trigger it. That weakness is unique for each Epic and often doesn’t even make sense.

This is a bleak and violent world, aptly impersonated by the city of Newcago, where the buildings and even the soil they stand on have been turned to steel, and the sky is shrouded in perpetual night. Where people live in underground tunnels and scuttle away from Epics like rats. Enter David and the Reckoners – normal humans who have one goal in life – killing Epics. 

I lot of reviews I read found David an annoying character, but I must disagree. Yes, his bad puns and inexistent social skills are sometimes painful to read, but this makes sense for his character. All his life, he’s been driven by a singular purpose – to kill Steelheart and avenge the murder of his father. So everything he did was to advance that goal. He is extremely smart and driven, but he is also somewhere on the autistic spectrum, in my opinion. So interacting with people seems awkward, even painful to him. And deciphering their emotions is harder than gathering intelligence on Epics. Let’s also not forget that he is only 18 in this book, so basically a kid that grew up in less than ideal circumstances. Yes, his infatuation with Megan was a bit cringy at times, but that’s what you would expect from a socially inept teenager towards his first crush. I loved David.

I liked the other members of the Reckoners. They are each one weird in their own way, but they make this teamwork work. Their banter and interactions were fun to read about. It was also fascinating to watch them study an Epic, figure out their weakness, then implement a carefully crafted plan to eliminate them… Then the plan would inevitably go wrong and lots of improvisation would issue. 

I loved that there is a hint of an explanation of why all the Epics are such awful human beings. I hope that this idea will be explored further in the future books, and knowing Sanderson, it absolutely will. And I will be along for the ride.

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

Extasia by Claire Legrand

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Stars: 1 out of 5.

DNF at 35%.

This is definitely not for me. I don’t deal well with religious drama, cults, and religious zealots, and while I was told that the book eventually moves past that, I just didn’t feel the strength to slog through that part of the story to get to the interesting bits. I put this book away and picked it up so many times, I finished 3 other books in the meantime. And I had to force myself to pick it back up every time. The only reason I stuck with it so long is because it’s an advanced copy. I usually feel obligated to at least make it through a quarter of a book I received for review before I call it quits.

Religious oppression and violence is not the only reason I couldn’t finish this book. I can’t stand the main protagonist. I also don’t understand her motivations. The choices she makes don’t makes sense. She is so pious and ready to become a saint, and judgmental of anyone she considers not pious enough, especially her mother… then she decides that she wants to find the Devil? Hmmm, why exactly? How a barely remembered story (that ended badly, by the way) would make her think that confronting the Devil would save her village? Why is she willing to commit theft and perjury for that?

There are a lot of her other choices and behaviors that made me shake me head in dismay. And they made me like her even less. For someone who sees herself as a sort of paragon of piety and virtue, she is extremely judgmental and unkind to everyone who she sees inferior to her. That’s especially glaring towards her fellow saints and her sister. I’m sorry, but I can’t possibly root for someone this unlikeable.

The worldbuilding is wobbly at best. I can’t even picture how this village lives. What kind of technology do they have? How do they feed themselves? What do they wear? How do they craft their tools? Nothing. The explanation about Extasia is also rather unsatisfying. 

I’ve seen a lot of raving reviews for this book on Goodreads, but for me, it was a disappointment.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, Zombies

Z2134 by Sean Platt and David Wright

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Stars: 1 out of 5

This is the second book I try by these authors, and I am less then impressed once again. Though to tell the truth, this seems to be a reprint of a much earlier work, which is probably why it is so bad. I mean, I gave Pattern Black 2 stars where this one barely scrapped a single one.

This book is tries very hard to be a cross between 1984, The Hunger Games, and the Walking Dead. Unfortunately, it does this very poorly, so neither of those three components really work. On a personal note, I was there for the zombies. Unfortunately, there are too little zombies in this book. They barely serve as a plot device. So that added to my disappointment with the book. If you come to it with a different lens, you might enjoy the battle of the “little man” against the tyrannical regime. I didn’t.

Probably because those parts of the story are also rather poorly realized. Subtle this book is not.  The author has to telegraph every action, every plot point, and every plot twist in the book. It’s like he doesn’t trust the reader to get it, unless he is hammered on the head with it. This gets annoying really fast. I can get a hint. I don’t need everything spelled out for me. 

It also devalues the events in the book, because that plot twist about City 7? That could have had such a big impact if it wasn’t telegraphed from a high mountain several chapters ago.

I also couldn’t care less about the characters, so nothing that happened to them was particularly shocking to me. I know I was supposed to root for Jonah in the Darwin Games, but I didn’t know him from Adam at that time, so I didn’t really care if he won or if Bear killed him. Honestly, the little we had of Bear’s backstory made him a lot more compelling as a character. And the least said about Ana, the better, because she is a typical YA dystopia heroine, and I stopped reading YA years ago precisely because I couldn’t stand that stereotype. 

I would also like to point out that this book is not a complete story. It ends in a cliffhanger. Nothing is resolved, nobody is saved or even achieved their goals. There is no resolution or even payout for investing hours of your time into this story. If you want to know what happens to the characters, you will have to pick up the next book, I guess. Unfortunately, I don’t care enough to do so.

PS: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, science fiction

Souldier (In the Shadows of Eternity 1) by Andrew Dahms

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Stars: 2 out of 5

DNF at 50%

I am honestly amazed at all the 5 stars reviews on Goodreads. Have I read a different book than everyone else? They talk about a good story and gripping action… Well, I had to force myself to read to halfway point, and I honestly saw neither. Maybe things get better in the second half of the book, but if I have to wait until then for the story to get interesting, something is wrong. Plus, I don’t have that much patience. 

I think the biggest problem is that the author doesn’t know how to show anything. All he does is tell. We have paragraphs upon paragraphs of descriptions of everything from buildings to uniforms, to what is happening to the character. But it’s all tell, tell, tell… I mean, he even managed to make the basic training sequence boring as fish. And it lasted way too long, by the way. I mean we are barely out of basic training and actually on the Line by the halfway mark. 

It doesn’t help that Vivian’s character is a non-entity. Because the author tells us everything instead of showing, we are never privy to her inner thoughts or find out how she actually feels about the things that are happening to her. I mean we have several chapters describing how grueling her basic training was, and how the drill sergeant did everything he could to break her… but that’s just words. I have no clue how she felt about it. I don’t see her exhaustion, her frustration, her determination to continue. None of that is there.

And why is she here anyway? Yes, she wants to find out what happened to Sally, but again, apart from what the author tells us, nothing shows us just how much she meant to the protagonist. Show us some flashbacks. Show us their interactions when they were friends. Show us how Vivian felt when Sally left to join souldier, or how she felt when she received the news of her friend’s death… then I will believe that she could drop everything and travel half the world away to seek some answers. As it stands, I don’t care.

And that’s the trend in this book. We are told that the characters are doing something or reacting to something, but we aren’t shown that. And often, we aren’t shown any reactions at all where there should be something. 

For example, when Vivian and her fellow enlistees are sent to help load and unload planes during the new wave, the pilot of one of them has a mental breakdown, literally saying that he brought his squad back in boxes. They were unloading coffins. Surely, there would be a reaction to that? We get nothing. No horror at the realization, no desperation, no fear even. Nothing but the description of how grueling it was to work for such long hours for several days. NOT the thing you want to put the accent on in this kind of story. That was a lost opportunity to immerse the reader in the world and show just how bleak the situation is. 

When I realized that at halfway mark the book wasn’t getting any better, and that I was just getting more and more frustrated with the writing, I gave up.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.