| Title | : | The End (The New World #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 442 |
| Publication | : | First published April 3, 2013 |
The End (The New World #1) Reviews
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Okay folks. I read a little over a book a week and typically enjoy or suffer till the very end. However, this book - I made it to a line "16% in" and had to give up. What's the old saying - life is too short to do something you don't like? Well, reading this book falls into this category. The writing style and dialogue are very youthful. No, not in the YA sense - the talent. I love dystopain and alternative reality books - they perk me up! I also enjoy EMP that changes the world. So, this book was right up alley. Unfortunately, it really was bad.
After stopping the read, I checked out the customer reviews. Some folks love this book and some folks question the validity of those reviews. I'm in the latter camp. Don't get me wrong: The author put himself out there to be critiqued. He also self-published, which is awesome. I read a lot of those too. I can excuse grammar issues, but I just can't get passed the stilted dialogue.
Where I finally gave up: Mother and father lose their only son. A hospital administrator tells the father the he is "sorry for his son's loss". Okay, really? Yes, his son did lose his life. But this is just minor example of the dialogue issues.
This book, The End.....don't even start it. -
This is some of the worst drivel I've ever read. And sadly I'll read the next book just because I want to know what happens - even though the characters are so one-dimensional I've rarely seen anything close to it.
The main characters are SO perfect, SO happy and have SO fantastic families. They exchange pleasentries all the time, telling eachother how fantastic they are and how much they love eachother. All discussions end in seconds, because everyone agrees on everything.
When the shit finally hits the fan, the main characters actions are irrational, and they always overreact with little or no discussion.
I'm glad this was free, and I dread having to pay for the next installment just to get closure.
I would not recommend this to my worst enemy, and please PLEASE stay away. When it comes to post-apocalyptic fiction, this is the worst yet. Look elsewhere! Please! -
As seen on my blog:
*JOINT REVIEW with The Long Road by G. Michael Hopf*
I'm not going to lie to you: I KEPT EXPECTING ZOMBIES.
It's impossible not to, what with post-apocalyptic horrors, mixed with a dwindling supply of food, mixed with intense starvation, mixed with the fact that The End and The Long Road were my very first ADULT post-apocalyptic books. I'd grown SO accustomed to the plot lines of teen books that follow the fall of the world as we know it, and c'mon, let's be honest, there's usually zombies. But these books were refreshingly different, and SO detailed oriented. It took me a moment to throw out the (sometimes) horridly unrealistic explanations of apocalypse found in YA books, and embrace the VERY real possibilities that The End and The Long Road expressed to me.
I use the word "refreshingly" up there very lightly, both of these books are definitely not for the faint of heart. They both contain blunt, no-holds-barred accounts of what our planet could possibly spiral into, should a weapon of mass destruction be used against us. These realities included brutality, rape, murder, savagery, and all around hostile situations. In The End, the book begins (and ends) not too far into the future (2066), where a now aged descendant of the Van Zandt family is about to recount to a reporter, the disturbing events the day of, and weeks following, the attacks. The meat of the books take place in present day, where we follow the storylines of four main characters, all spread throughout the country, fighting their own battles for survival. All four characters were intricately linked, each making decisions that would inadvertently, or directly, affect the others. The Long Road continues to detail the events following the attacks, though with more intensity, and urgency.
The areas that completely lost me were the technical military terms and situations. The author comes from a U.S Marine background, so it was understandable that he would use that knowledge to his advantage. However, it tended to leak into moments that should have been more candid, and natural. Dialogue between Gordon and his family, or moments between those not in the military, came across as robotic, and stoic. This aspect made it hard for me to connect to some characters on a personal level. I couldn't empathize with them as much as I would have liked to-their words just didn't seem to come from a genuine place.
To reiterate, The End, and The Long Road are not books that simply brush the surface of world apocalypse. This is the camera zoomed into the specific details, the exact realities of what measures need to be taken to prepare for survival; what sacrifices, and split-second decisions, need to be made to keep those you love the most, safe. I enjoyed this aspect the most. Again, as an avid reader of YA dystopian books, I only get to read about the OUTCOME of an apocalypse-the "new world" that has been established, MANY years into the future. Hardly ANY details are ever given about how it ended up that way.
But The End and The Long Road were RIGHT NOW, they were the events leading up to that, the "behind the scenes," and I appreciated them for exactly that reason. They were fast-paced reads, and COMPLETELY eye-opening: the attack that triggered mass hysteria is a REAL possibility, and that scared me half to death.
Read these books for some real-life knowledge. I learned about things in these books that I might be very thankful that I learned, one day.
Recommended for Fans of: Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic fiction, Dystopian, Controversial topics, Political Fiction, military situations.
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*DISCLAIMER* I received this book as a print copy from the publisher, in order to participate in the blog tour. -
Originally published at
Reading Reality
I have a ton of mixed feelings about The End. I couldn’t put it down. The story is absorbing. However, there were a lot of points, especially at the beginning, where I wanted to shake the author and scream “SHOW don’t TELL”, loud and often.
There is a lot of infodumping about the characters and their points of view. Lots of exposition and not much action or dialog.
Then “the end of the world as we know it” finally happens, and the story starts to take off. Although there is action in other places, the main story is one ex-Marine who figures out right away that an Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon (EMP) has wiped out the infrastructure of the entire U.S. So the story is the breakdown of society, seen in the microcosm of one gated community in San Diego. There are side-plots focusing on the government’s collapse and the fragmentation of the military.
But the focus is on how Gordon Van Zandt and his family are affected.
Gordon is a survivor; and he has determined that his family will survive, his wife and two kids. (We know his daughter survives because the entire story is told by her as flashback)
It’s not just that Gordon is a polarizing figure, both in the moment and historically, but his point of view is very patriarchal. While that might help him survive, for the story it means that the only women seen are shown in relationship to their husbands or as power-mad, stupid and out-of-touch with the new reality.
The lead up to which is supposedly happening right now. The description of the events that lead up to The End felt more like political agenda than story because it’s so close. YMMV.
What made me keep reading was the scenario. The concept that an EMP could wipe out our infrastructure was all too plausible. But at the same time, once that infrastructure was gone, the survival story reminded me all too much of other works, particularly
Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling and the classic
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven.
The End ends on a cliffhanger; with Gordon, his family and his supporters setting out on a cross-country trek across the blasted landscape, with the prospect of fighting their way through militarized gangs and avoiding radiation-soaked destroyed cities.
Escape Rating C: In spite of its problems, I couldn’t put this book down. Once the story gets going, it really zips along.
Because this is an extreme survival story, most of the characters that we follow are more anti-heroes than heroes; they commit acts that would not be condoned in any other circumstances. It’s not just that a lot of people die as a result of the disaster, but all the focus characters kill, not just in self-defense, but sometimes as prevention of a possible threat, rather than reaction to an imminent threat.
Thank goodness there are no zombies, vampires or any other supernatural creatures involved. What made The End seem plausible is that the story completely focused on the unfortunate but all too realistic ability of humans to turn on each other, and the lengths that some people would go to survive at all costs. -
What started off as a promising read, only went downhill. I wanted to like this so badly. It had the beginnings of a wonderful post-apocalyptic novel which I adore. This one, not so much!
The characters are all so one dimensional. They happen to have perfect lives. Being a perfect husband to his doting wife and two kids. What I didn't understand was the senseless acts of violence, murdering people all in the name to defend their supplies. The main character Gordan didn't even have the decency to morn. It was like he was a robot who could care less. Also, the sudden act of wide spread looting and murders came fast and hard. I wouldn't know if this is the case, or if it would even happen, but my surprise at all the people they killed. I just couldn't understand how the character is okay with that. I have a friend in the Marines and he's never been okay ever again. There was one indication that he might have had nightmares but it wasn't the focus. I felt it was unnecessarily violent.
Even the minor story lines with the General, the president and Sebastian. I came to despise all the characters and I couldn't care less what happened to them. -
I believe this is Mr. Hopf's first novel, and he deserves congratulations for an exceptional writing debut. If you have any interest in post-apocalyptic stories, you'll really enjoy it. If you don't have an interest, you'll probably enjoy it anyway. The book is well written and the characters are believable, as is the entire story line. Mr. Hopf takes you on a journey through the eyes of a survivor. While the book has an ending that doesn't leave the reader up in the air, it also opens the door to the beginning of another adventure. I am looking forward to the next book in the series. Good job, Mr. Hopf! Keep writing
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This book sucked so much ass. All the characters were strawmen or just one dimensional, all their decisions were stupid or not likely, all their conversations were badly scripted and fake. I kept reading, thinking "he can't REALLY be that lousy a writer, he must have something good in store coming ahead", but no. Turns out its a series, so no, thank you. I have walls to look at and fingernails to clip.
The fact that this book has so many glowing reviews is actually horrifying. -
Para mí este libro peca de lo mismo que mucho libros de temática de supervivencia: Empieza en un mundo en el que todo va bien, después te plantea una situación en la que ves como todo se está yendo a la mierda, y ahí es cuando me dan ganas de leer más. Pero después a mitad del libro cuando ya se está metido en todo el meollo cuesta creerse según que cosas y mantener el interés, y normalmente las expectativas que habían creado tu imaginación no se cumplen. Aunque sigues leyendo porque tiene algunas situaciones interesantes, algunas sorpresas que no te esperas y quieres saber como acabará todo.
Diría que es un libro entretenidillo, sin más. Una buena lectura para pasar el rato. ¿Lo recomiendo? Si no tienes nada mejor que leer y te gusta la temática, sí. ¿Me leería la continuación? No creo. ¿Me leeré algo más del autor? Nop. -
Since I am an Amazon Prime member, I can "borrow" on book a month from Amazon. I came across this novel and, as I LOVE all things post-apocalyptic, how could I pass on a novel called "The End: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel"?
As soon as I figured out an EMP attack caused by a nuclear weapon explode over the U.S. was the apocalytpic event, I was reminded of One Second After. That novel tells the story of a small town after an EMP attack. The forward is written by Newt Gingrich. I am neither Republican nor Democrat. I vote issues, not party lines. However, One Second After, as you might infer from the forward's author, was pretty heavy on agenda-based rhetoric. Despite warnings to myself not to, I read Mr. Gingrich's forward before reading One Second After. It completely colored my take on the book and gave it a "Reefer Madness" tone...I was unable to read it critically because I was constantly telling myself the author was over-exaggerating to get his point across, essentially using scare tactics.
Sadly, a similar thing happened with The End. There was definite some propaganda and agenda promotion going on. The early parts of the book included scenes in which Republicans warned Democrats of the dangers of an EMP attack but the Dems seemed to shrug it off or not take the action the G.O.P. seemed necessary. Also similar to One Second After, the setting for the the main character in The End is very idyllic. The former was set in a quaint, rural college town while the latter was a wealthy suburb in San Diego. Another common factor was that the "bad guys" were "Others", i.e. non-Whites.
The difference between the two is that while, to me, the characters in One Second After seemed to embody the ideals of the author the characters in The End had their own agendas.
The book switched between 3 main story lines, each with a different character taking on the lead role. However, the over-arching main character is Gordon Van Zandt.
Gordon is an ex-Marine who, after an incident in Fallujah, has become disillusioned with the ideals the military supposedly stands for, has become a well-to-do web developer and is married with 2 kids. Whereas he once dedicated his life to defending all those who needed him...life now finds him jaded and only willing to defend those to whom he has a direct responsibility: family and close friends.
His brother, Sebastian, is currently a Marine. He's following in his older brother's footsteps but will eventually have his own bones to pick with the military.
Brad Connor, the Speaker of the House, finds himself thrust into a position of power after a nuclear attack on D.C. kills the president and vice-president.
Gordon focuses on taking care of his family. President Connor focused on re-building the nation. Sebastian is somewhere in the middle.
Breaking down the novel this way allowed me to really get into the characters and forget about whatever political influences existed (or at least that I THOUGHT existed) at the start of the book.
The story-telling was actually very good. There were moments where I was extremely tense wondering what would happen next as well as a few "Oh Shit!" moments.
Toward the end of the novel, I started to feel like Gordon was making some decisions that seemed inconsistent with how he'd behaved earlier in the book. It could have been on purpose. The added stress and injuries he sustained could have been the catalyst for him making poor decisions near the end of the book. Either way, I found myself saying, "Gordon would never do that!"
That goes back to my earlier point -- I really got into these characters. They're well written.
My main gripe is a gripe that I had with One Second After as well as some other post-apocalyptic novels: the time frame!
The events of this book happen over a 5 week period! Now, I know we are dependent on electricity. However, I think it would take much longer than 5 weeks before the total breakdown of society...before a group of people chase down 2 women and literally rip them apart for stealing food (when they had guns and could've just executed them...especially since they had "laws" with consequences for, you know, stealing food).
That took me back to the "preachy" and "Reefer Madness"-ness of this book. I got so involved in the characters that I forgot about it. Then towards the end, that feeling came back. I felt as if the author was exaggerating the fallout of such an attack as a means to drive the point home. However, it could be a plot device or just bad story-telling.
Do I think that society could and would collapse in the aftermath of an EMP? Probably. However, I also think that it would take more than 5 weeks for that to happen. There are other related issues (nuclear plants melting down and the resulting radiation sickness, hunger, etc.) that would speed up the breakdown of society. I just think it would take more than 5 weeks. You kind of lose track of time while reading the book and I was shocked at the end when Gordon talks about how only 5 weeks have passed (yup, THAT was one of my "Oh Shit!" moments...but not in a good way).
I gave the book 4-stars so clearly none of those things were dealbreakers for me. When you read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction, you start to take pieces of every novel and form a picture in your head of what a realistic post-apocalyptic world would be. More realistic novels like On The Beach, Earth Abides, and The Road give you some ideas while unrealistic (i.e. zombies, robots, vampires) novels like I Am Legend give you others.
At the end of the day, I read these kind of books for 2 reasons: I find them very enjoyable...and the subject scares the bejesus out of me! I enjoyed The End and it definitely made me uncomfortable. -
Really enjoyed it can't wait to jump into rest of the series
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Gordon is former military and a prepper, now living with his family in San Diego. As terrorist attacks are on the increase across America, he considers moving his family out to the cabin in Idaho which would be less of a target. As they begin to pack, an EMP is detonated nearby and Gordon uses the initial confusion to get as many supplies into his home, working with a fellow member of his gated community Jimmy. The two men work together to try and get in what they can before the shops run out and then they must decide whether or not to help the rest of the community. We also follow Gordon's brother Seb who is serving in Afghanistan when America is attacked. His mission is cancelled and the troops are instantly recalled to America to go and protect the capital, but all Seb wants to do is get home, find Gordon and help protect his family from whatever else might be coming.
The third main character is the Speaker of the House Brad Conner who is in Oklahoma City with his wife Julia to be at the bedside of his son who is on life support after a car accident. They are here when the EMP hits and Brad and his aides need to get to the nearest military base for information and instruction. With the government falling apart, Brad finds himself being sworn in as President at a time of national crisis. Frankly I hated Brad from the start. His constant tantrums and rudeness to his Generals was pathetic. It is clear that the man has no clue how to deal with people or run a country and I got annoyed with him every time that he was on the page. Brad decides that the best thing to do is just nuke all the countries he doesn't like-Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, North Korea, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, saying one of them probably did it, to the horror of his staff. I also found his wife bizarre. She has just lost her son and the only thing on her mind is to have a replacement child in the middle of an EMP crisis.
My issues with this book centres mostly on the decision making of Gordon before and during the crisis. For a man who is a prepper, why would he not invest in an old model car that would run in the case of an EMP frying the computer components in his newer car? How did he expect to get his family from San Diego to Idaho without a working car? It makes little sense. He seemed to be relying on there being a disaster other than an EMP instead of being ready for anything. Instead he then has to rely on Jimmy to ferry him around in his car to gather up final supplies which he really should already have. Why did he not have the water tank already in his gear after telling Seb all about it? When it is clear that they are in danger, they spend too much time packing again which leads to disaster so why weren't they ready?
Gordon's family are also pains in the neck. His five year old is a whiny kid who of course has no understanding of an EMP, but I can't understand why Gordon promises to fix the TV for him when he knows fine that he can't. It's not exactly a smart thing to do. His wife doesn't seem to grasp the situation, questioning all of Gordon's decisions and doing a lot of whining about what she thinks they should do. I don't know how Gordon put up with her going on at him all the time about giving their supplies to the community. Jimmy's wife Simone was a similar character. In fact the female characters were all annoying and clueless. Don't even get me started on the HOA chairperson Mindy, local busybody and bitch who makes it her life's work to cause constant trouble for Gordon instead of working with him.
My frustrations with the characters and the decision making of the characters did have an effect on my enjoyment of the book, I admit it. I was also extremely frustrated by the ending of the book and what the author did with a few of the characters. What I did like was the overall plot, the well written tense action sequences and the way the community worked mostly for the common good. It did have a lot going for it in plot and writing and of course each book has a gorgeous cover. By the end though, I was left wondering if I could put aside the things that bugged me like the idiot female characters and Gordon's continued bad choices, to continue on with the series. In the end, I decided not to continue with the sequels. -
Weak start to a multi-book series. I'm still going to give book 2 a chance and see if the story picks up any, but this one just about drove me nuts right out of the gate. *Awful* dialogue exchanges. Nobody, unless you're Tony Romo calling an NFL game with Jim Nantz, uses anyone's first name as often as the characters in this book do with one another.
Matter of fact, Let's pretend for a second your name actually is Jim. Does that sound good, Jim? Ok, so then go with me on this, Jim: I call you Jim in every sentence as I talk to you. Is that still ok, Jim? Jim, please, I'm trying to make a point here. Jim, just listen to me. For crying out loud, Jim. Look, Jim, I could be talking to you like a normal person does in every day conversation, but I don't know how to write any differently. I have to use your name in every sentence of our exchange, Jim. Do you get it now, Jim? Thanks, Jim!
Once I trained my brain to enter Speed-Read mode and gloss over a majority of conversations, thus omitting excessive and unnecessary use of people's names, it made the book a lot better. -
I enjoyed this book. The story was great but unfortunately the writing was amateurish (I think this was his 1st book so am hopeful the writing gets better with the series), therefore it gets a 3 star rating instead of 4 stars.
The story is an end of the world one. No zombies or monsters, just people. Sometimes they can be worse than any made-up monsters. This is the 1st book of the series and begins in 2066 with Haley telling the story of her family. The world as we know it came to an end in 2014, her story tells of the catastrophic events that lead up to the end and how America copes for the first few weeks. Her father played a major role in how America now looks in 2066. It's a good story with lots of good characters but as I stated before the writing is not the best.
I do plan to read the 2nd book (as I already have it) and will decide after reading that one if the rest will follow. -
I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't. For me personally I think it was about 100 or so pages too long. It felt like we were just rehashing over the same things, the world has changed, they needed supplies, it's violent etc etc. But I felt were we are meant to be building up our opinions of the characters and bonding with them in this terrible situation, that the endless chapters of the same situations just made me hate the characters. By the end I found myself not really caring if they lived or died, bar 1 or 2 exceptions. I think when your reading a story that you can only imagine a situation rather than live it you need to feel like your living through the characters and I think this is were the story needed more development. Not even the cliff hanger of sort ending makes me want to rush, if ever, to find out what happens next.
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The end is about an EMP blast that takes out the whole power grid of The USA, followed up by a Nuclear attack on Washington DC.This attack ruins the USA in one day.The book follows 3 story lines, the main story of Gordon Van Zandt, an ex marine who fought in Iraq, The new President of the United States and Barone, a military leader who disregards his order and takes his men to California to find family. This book covers the first 5-6 weeks after the EMP attack, jumping back and fourth from the three stories. I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down; wanting to know what would happen next to Gordon Van Zandt and his family. This book grabbed me from the start.
This book is about personal struggles in a world with no electricity, food scarcity and lawlessness.Think of this book like the beginning of a Mad max type world. all in all I really enjoyed this book. -
I got this through NetGalley.
I've been on a little post apocalyptic kick as of late, and this one sounds like it could be fun. However, the quality of the writing was lacking to a point that I couldn't slug through. Hopf hasn't learned how to show a story, and he was telling in the worst sense of the word. Back story was thrown in all over the place in such a manner that it drug what little momentum there was to a halt, everything felt passive and sluggish, the characters were stiff and unbelievable.
For those who aren't as picky about the quality of the writing, they might enjoy this series, but for those of us who appreciate the craft as well as the quality of the story, better skip it! -
I'm a big fan of this author, and this is a great book. If you are a fan of the post apocalyptic genre, you will enjoy this. The reader gets to know Gordon Van Zandt, a man with a military background thrown into a disaster caused by an EMP. The author takes us into some of the moral dilemmas we might face in such a situation, and he also uses some excerpts from a post collapse society in 2066, where they are chronicling the history of Van Zandt and his family and discussing the moral quandaries and challenges he faced during the collapse.
All in all, it was great read I couldn't put down! I'm looking forward to the next installment. -
The kind of book, that makes one want to stockpile canned food and make emergency plans.
The basic story of an EMP wiping out a large portion of the world is not so unrealistic in comparison to other post-apocalyptic novels. While the world is slowly building and interestly so, the characters are all mostly lacking something. To be honest most of the characters come over as jerks, with Ex-marine Gorgon being extremely trigger happy.
Nevertheless, the book was still an ok and entertaining read. There are two more installments in this series, which I will read eventally, as I do want to know how the story progresses.
E-galley through Netgalley. -
this is a post apocalyptic novel at its finest. the author has taken a common EMP scenario and given what readers want. who? What? when? where? Why? we often read other books and it they have all been focused on just the survival part. now we get a series that we get to read and watch them rebuild and become a nation again. well done Mr. Hopf
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Terrific book. Great story. I did have some difficulty, in the beginning, keeping the characters straight but the story kept me going. Someday I hope to read the sequel.
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Starts off a bit slow and some of the dialog is a bit stilted. Other than that, this was a very enjoyable read. I can't wait to see what happens next!
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The End by G. Michael Hopf has several storylines throughout the narrative and each had love/hate relationships between the characters. All in all, each scenario held immediate families in the highest regard and lead characters who would do anything possible to protect them in this end of the world as they know it.
WARNING OF GIVING THE STORY AWAY:
Most of the story follows Gordon, ex-military lifer, who recognizes an EMP event having taken place and quickly rallies to garner supplies for his family; alienating his neighbors and best friends. Clashes evolve between him and the head of the homeowners association who wants to discredit Gordon and goes out of her way to turn the neighbors against him. She is easy to hate.
The new President of the United States, the first available and living person in the line of political succession is hell-bent on retaliating against all on the list of US enemies as their countries were not affected by an EMP - whether they had anything to do with it or not. However, after a second strike against the US 3 weeks later, he launches against everyone on the list, but there is nothing said about the attack or follow-up of it afterward. After his road trip disaster to Oregon, his storyline ceases with about 25% left in the narrative.
Gordon's brother Sebastian wants to be reunited as a family and tries to get back to CA from Afghanistan and help protect them. The Marine Commander hijacks the fleet and disobeys orders, taking the fleet to the west coast vs. the east coast as directed. There is a mutiny at sea and US assets are dispatched from Hawaii to sink them. They are anchored near shore but this storyline also ends.
All three protagonists are portrayed as stone cold killers who don't hesitate to kill innocents...all do so in the storyline. Many of the characters within the narrative are killed...some leaving readers with mouths agape.
The story is an easy read but I felt it had too much explanation and redundancy which created "dead spots" for me in the story - spots where I either paged through or fell asleep. Mr. Hopf also built-up the Mexican cartel, who were growing and branching out near Gordon's gated community. I was expecting a showdown between the two groups - something similar to the Alamo - which never took place.
The book had multiple grammar and spelling errors throughout which I feel could have been found/corrected by an editor, and "showing more" of the story instead of "telling" it would have cut out a quarter of the narrative. This is the first of a four-book series and I'm undecided if I want to continue or not. -
If you've never read one of these post-disaster survivalist novels, then you will probably enjoy this one. I can't find much wrong with how it's actually written and I'm sure under different circumstances I might have enjoyed it.
However, I have read this sort of book before... many times. This book comes with all the usual cliches including:
1 - A man who goes to crazy/inhumane extremes that are somehow justified by the plot.
2 - A complete breakdown of society where people become inhumane animals in no time at all.
3 - An overbearing love of ex-military personal as the only ones who could possibly survive/thrive in this new world (Making the novel one long pro-military propaganda piece).
4 - Revelling in the dark side of humanity without showing any of the good
I'm not saying all of these things are wrong necessarily, just that they have been done to death in this genre.
I recently read One Second After by William R Forstchen which deals with exactly the same subject matter as this novel. With the exception of that novel mainly following just one character whereas this one is more of an ensemble, these two books are entirely interchangeable.
Basically, this book offers nothing new which is why I can't give it more than 3 stars. Like I said, it is well written and if you've never read anything like it before then you might enjoy it. However, for me, I won't be going any further into the series.
One final note, if you have never read about an EMP attack before, then it also might be worth giving this a read. It is a genuinely a terrifying prospect that everyone should be aware of. -
Just bad. So bad. The characters act very erratically, during a shooting/war zone type of scene, our hero is blindly walking into the house of a friend and shooting people (just assuming they were the "bad" guys). It was dark and the narrator says he can't see anything other than that there was someone there. He could have shot his friend or his friend's wife! He shot innocent people throughout the book, the first to steal his truck while the poor guy is bringing his hurt wife to the hospital. Our "hero" is just as bad as the protagonists. He has no redeeming qualities.
The navy mutiny was an odd story line as well...they acted just as erratically. They were surprised when the President decided that they were now enemies and would be fired upon. What? You don't defy orders, fire upon Americans (and kill a few), steal Naval ships and expect it to just be fine because you think your idea is justified and you are right.
And everyone talks like they are a therapist speaking to a patient, "Brad, I hear what you are saying, but I really feel strongly that we need to do this. Do you understand why I feel this way?". Then Brad would say something in response, and the first character would say their first name again at the start of their reply. I do not have to say the name of the person I am speaking to at the start of every sentence I say to them. It was irritating, and was always happening in some crisis situation.
Our protagonist was just your very base level bad, power hungry person with no real reason for their actions. Nothing meshed together, nothing really made sense. Yes, I finished the book. It's a train wreck, I had to, lol! -
*Würdest du ohne technische Errungenschaften überleben?!*
Ein Super-EMP-Angriff, der auf viele Gebiete weltweit verübt wurde, hat verheerende Auswirkungen - alle elektrischen Geräte und auch Geräte mit Schaltkreisen jeder Art, fallen vom einen Moment auf den anderen aus...
Gordon Van Zandt, ehemaliger Soldat des amerikanischen Marine Corps, sieht schneller als seine unmittelbare Umgebung ein, das Vorkehrungen getroffen werden müssen, um die kommenden Wochen und Monate zu überstehen. Während seine Nachbarn noch verzweifelt versuchen Handys und Autos wieder in Gang zu bekommen, rüstet sich Gordon - Ressourcen werden aufgestockt, Maßnahmen zur Verteidigung seines Umfelds eingeleitet.
Gemeinsam mit Nachbarn und Freunden muss er nun um das Überleben seiner Familie kämpfen, knapp gewordene Güter verteidigen und jedwede Menschlichkeit über Bord werfen - dann dies scheint überlebensnotwendig!! .
Ein klassischer postapokalyptischer Roman von #gmichaelhopf. Mittlerweile hat sich "The End" zu einer Reihe entwickelt - aktuell sind sieben Teile erhältlich.
Ich muss gestehen, zur Mitte des Buches hin, habe ich kurzzeitig überlegt, ob es für mich Sinn macht, die Reihe weiter zu verfolgen. Allerdings ist das letzte Drittel des Buches so rasant gewesen, dass das Lesen des zweite Teils sicher nicht lange auf sich warten lässt!!
Der Schreibstil ist packend und beleuchtet mit jedem Kapitelwechsel eine andere Sicht der Dinge.
Von mit gibts 🖤🖤🖤🖤 -
*I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
I really wanted to like this book, however, I just could not get over the writing style. It just was not for me. I requested this book from Netgalley and received it a few years ago. This review is very late, but since I am getting back into the swing of things I wanted to review this book that I finished a few years ago.
I found the premise really intriguing and wanted to delve deeper into this story. An EMP attack on major countries and dealing with the aftermath of that is something that although may sound far-fetched, is something that scares a lot of people.
This is where I started and stopped loving it, however. The hardest thing for me to get over was the characters and their dialogue. It was incredibly unrealistic, and 'perfect' and I found myself wishing for this book to be over, not because I couldn't wait to get to 'The End', but because I just could not understand some of the situations the characters were in; they were over reacting, senseless murder, and ridiculous dialogue. And the dialogue... I could not get over it. It was so stilted and uncomfortable. -
If I could have given it a 3.5 I would have but I just couldn't go as high as 4. I really like the apocalyptic genre. They also tend to be filled with a lot of ultra right wing claptrap.
Killing all those whinny, self righteous, evil fucks that tried to take his shit (Mindy and her group) was fine.
Killing the unarmed man who had just taken stuff for the hospital for his family (the same thing Gordon was doing) was too much.
Cascadia is the name of a real movement in the north west which I liked.
