WHOA. So, I’m really glad I didn’t read this book two years ago this time or I would’ve been freakin’ the f*** out as coronavirus took over the planet! Thankfully, I didn’t discover the fibercast Needles at the Ready (Instagram link) until late 2021 where one of the hosts, Ray, recommended this series.
It was bad enough when I read The Names We Take in May 2020 (or even Severance back in late 2019) where a virus wiped out huge swaths of the world’s population, but Roberts takes it to an entirely different level! The opening chapter is gut-wrenchingly dark and I actually stopped reading it in bed the first night I started because it was seriously creeping me out.
The only experience I had with Roberts before this was my mom faithfully reading her hundreds of romance novels. Seriously, going in I was like how creepy could this really be, and how good will she be as a fantasy/sci-fi author, she writes romance. Yeah no, I legit was wigged out and had to stop . . . talk about underestimating an author!
‘It’s global,’ Max said flatly. ‘We’re global. People travel—or did—all over the world every day. It passes from person to person, and the next person spreads it wherever he goes. A handful of infected—maybe not knowing they’re sick—get on a plane to China or Rio or Kansas fucking City, and the rest of the passengers are exposed, the flight crew, the people at security, in the airport gift shops, bars. And they all spread it. It wouldn’t take long.’ (126)
I mean this quote above could just be about the coronavirus we’ve experienced the last few years because that’s pretty much what has and continues to happen.
The first half of the book is split between three groups all in NYC:
- Lana and Max, practicers of the craft (witchcraft) even before The Doom
- Arlys, Fred who work in journalism, and Chuck (NJ) who is their source after the Doom
- Jonah, Rachel, and Katie (plus her twins and another baby) who are the first to interact with The Doom that Katie’s parents bring from Scotland
We spend time with each of them as they escape NYC and the tales are harrowing and we get to see just how pervasive death has become and how many people are starting to gain powers or turn magical (including Fred, which was a great reveal). The most harrowing journey out was Arlys and Fred’s because they walked through the tunnels to NJ and it was a disgusting dark journey that had me reading as fast as I could because I wanted to just be done. It was well written, just horrifying.
Lana and Max eventually meet up with Max’s brother Eric and some friends that he escaped their school with. The drama coming was obvious, but it intensifies to a ridiculous level and a little bit unexpected, I mean of course his girlfriend is going to be some sort of succubus. But, the most interesting character they meet is Flynn and his wolf, Lupa, I really hope they come back later!
And then you have Jonah and Rachel the EMT and doctor who worked on Katie’s parents in NYC and found out early on they were immune to The Doom. Katie finds them when she goes back to the hospital to have her twins after everyone has died she knows. Jonah can see life and death and he can see the twins are important. All I have to say about them is they better make an appearance again at some point in the next two books, there was so much build-up to then just disappear.
They all end up somewhere together in the Virginia area and have created an oasis called New Hope, but it’s grown large enough they need rules and enforcers. This, of course, causes a split and the anti-magic people leave only to return with Max’s brother and his girlfriend who they assumed was dead to kill Max, Lana, and the baby. It causes chaos, Max dies and Lana flees.
I wasn’t super impressed with the end of the book with Lana fleeing and us not hearing from any of the other characters, but she does meet a nice man, Simon, and does give birth to Fallon her daughter. They scare off some anti-magic thugs and welcome Mallick who I’m assuming will have a much larger role to play.
A lot of people complained about the way the book ended and the writing style how it changed throughout the story. I’m not sure I noticed as much because it felt to me the style changed to match Lana’s slowly deteriorating mental condition as she remained isolated and basically went feral for a few months avoiding contact with anyone to try and have her baby.
Recommendation: WOW. I thoroughly enjoyed this even though it was darker and more violent than I thought it would be. I avoided reading it for a couple of weeks because I thought it would take a lot longer to read at nearly 420 pages, but it flew by! Now that it seems The Doom has settled I’m interested in seeing where the story will go with the anti-magic cult that’s risen and the good and bad magical beings. I’m looking forward to it, but will probably space the next two books out over the next couple of months. And, one last thing, I’ll probably look at Roberts’ other non-romance novels as this was engaging and clearly, she knows how to write a story!
Opening Line: “When Ross MacLeod pulled the trigger and brought down the pheasant, he had no way of knowing he’d killed himself. And billions of others.”
Closing Line: “And waving her hand out, set the candle to flame.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Year One
“Often, on dark nights, they’d crept out of the house to hike to the very field they walked now, to hold secret meetings and try to raise the spirits within the little stone circle the locals called sgiath de solas, shield of light. They’d never succeeded, nor had they ever chased down the haints or faeries young boys knew traveled the forests. Though on one midnight adventure, when even the air held its breath, Ross swore he’d felt a dark presence, heard its rustling wings, even smelled its foul breath. Felt—he would always claim—that breath blow into him.” (4)
“‘All right, Ben. I’m turning on the recorder. This is Arlys Reid. I’m speaking to Ben. I’ve asked him to tell me, tell all of us, his story. The pandemic has changed everything for everyone. How do you cope?”
“You get up in the morning, and do what you have to do. You get up, thinking for just a split second, everything’s the way it was. Then you know it’s not. It’s never going to be, but you get up and keep going. Three weeks and two days ago, I lost my husband. The best man I ever knew. A police officer, decorated. When things started to go bad, he went out every day, trying to help people. To serve and protect. It cost him his life.'” (96)
“‘I think if we could set up a kind of school or training center for the kids, or even people really new to abilities.’
‘Hogwarts,’ Chuck said, poking her in the ribs.
‘Sort of. Bryar would really be good at it. She’s so patient.'” (309)
“‘To make the Savior is your fate. Life out of death, light out of dark. To save the Savior is your fate. Life out of death, light out of dark.’
He rose, went to her. He didn’t touch her, didn’t speak as she stared through the window with eyes as deep as the night.
‘Power demands sacrifice to reach its terrible balance. It calls for blood and tears, and still it feeds on love and joy. You, son of the Tuatha de Danann, have lived before, will live again. You, sire of the Savior, sire of The One, embrace the moments and hold them dear, as moments are fleeting and finite. But life and light, the power of what will come, the legacy within, are infinite.'” (337)
“Into yours on the windswept night. And lightning heralds the birth of The One. Will you teach her to ride, and think she was born knowing? I teach her the old ways, what I can, but she has so much more. Safe, time out of time, while the dark rages. Until in the Book of Spells, in the Well of Light she takes her sword and shield. And with the rise of magicks she takes her place. She will risk all to fulfill her destiny, this precious child of the Tuatha de Danann. For this she grows in me, for this she comes into your hands.” (392)