This is almost two separate books melded together. First is a story of some college kids who witness the CME. They are at the University of Maryland, which is a University where affluent kids go. Not much happens here, apart from the occasional hurricane. Ripley and her friends are prepared for the worst, the worst being a hurricane! They are preppers, of a sort, they are aware of what to do and where to go in the case of an emergency, but their skills are put to the test when the electricity and water go off.

Then we have Dotti and her community. Dotti is not really prepared but knows that something serious is going on. She gets whatever money she has available and tries to buy essential items. Following her story we see how life is for a community.

This was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t sure what too expect from it but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I loved how we kind of get two books, in one. We see the end of civilization both from a group of people who are somewhat prepared, or at least have an idea of what to do, and we see it from a community of people who are just trying to survive.

It’s quite a frightening scenario that plays out here. CME’s are something that do and have happened and seeing what life could be like, and how quickly things degenerate, was truly scary. The plot and pacing were realistic and fairly fast paced and kept my interest throughout.

Character wise. Each of them were well written and developed. I liked Marco and am interested to know more about him! Ripley was awesome too. She has a good head on her shoulders and I liked how she stayed the same even when things were hard. Dotti was also awesome. I am so rooting for her and can’t wait to see what happens her.

In all, an exciting and entertaining start to the series. It’s intriguing and definitely makes me want to read the next one.

Kevin Pierce is the go to guy for a post apocalyptic book. He has a voice that suits these type of books and always delivers a flawless performance. He is a narrator I always recommend. Becket Royce, meanwhile is a new to me narrator and I have to say that she did an amazing job too. She had plenty of tones and voices for the characters and performed the story brilliantly. I will definitely check out more from her.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.