This is a nice interesting and engaging beginning to a series. It has a lot of scientific explanation of what solar flares and CMEs are, how they work, and what they would do if they hit Earth. It’s a good read and a strong start to the series.
The author tries pretty hard to emphasize (many times) that the characters in this book are not ‘preppers’. I’ll give you a hint though, even though they aren’t they still manage to prepare really well before the event happens.
Some people say they felt this book was really ‘right leaning’ politically and that it was really noticeable. There were only a few times I even noticed this (and I was looking for it since it was mentioned in some reviews). I will say though, the characters in this book are definitely Republicans and Christian so at times they will (in a realistic way for their characters) mention religion or how they feel about politics, etc. I don’t think it was overly preachy about either one and I am a Democrat and Atheist. Of course there are some things in this book about buying guns, and that was another point that some might not like. If you don’t think people should have guns or that there should be more restrictions on ownership you will disagree with the few paragraphs about that, but he’s not making much of a statement. A character tries to buy a gun, but isn’t able to because there is a waiting period. This means she can’t get a gun before the event happens, which she is upset about. The only place he really pushes a viewpoint is that he wants to make it clear that preppers are not crazy or bad people. If you are reading this book MOST LIKELY you already believe that as well though.
The narrator is great. He is good at creating a ‘voice’ for the different characters and conveying realistic emotions through their dialogue.
Overall I was really enthralled and the story really pulled me in.