Thank you to the author for the opportunity to read this free digital edition for an honest review! Your responses to my emails were encouraging!
Nairne, a fourteen-year-old girl lives with her father and mentally challenged sixteen-year-old brother in an what I would classify a pre-apocalyptic period. She seems like the character that doesn’t trust easily yet she is the one that seems excited at the prospect of bringing strangers into her home and convinces her dad it is the right thing to do. She is displayed as an outcast, but I’m not sure exactly why except because she is poor and her dad is vocal about his ideas of the future disasters to come. She has to deal with life and death issues constantly over the period of a what I presume to be about a year. She learns not to trust anyone. She later realizes there is only herself and one other person she can count on. I really became interested in the story around chapter 25 when the plot began to come together and organize itself. This is when I see Nairne and Paul as true characters. I like how they developed a real backbone and made a plan and followed through. The fact that there was an excerpt of the next book made me feel optimistic about where this series is headed and that it may be in a positive direction. By the last quarter of the book, I saw the author’s writing emerge into something mature and thought provoking.
I originally had a difficult time with this book because it seemed disconnected and I couldn’t quite understand how the back story had much to do with what I later found to be the main idea. Some of this may be the difference in cultures between my way of thinking and that of the UK. There were also several grammatical errors. This again may be an issue in how writing is different between the two populations. I was intrigued by the differences in the spellings and words I was unfamiliar with. I feel that reading a book that was written in the UK and is set in the UK should be written in the native grammar and I began to enjoy the nuances after letting go of the American grammar education I was provided.
I would give this 4 stars based on the last 10 or so chapters and after having read book 2.
For more information on how to obtain a copy head to http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0YRLJ2?ref_=cm_rdp_product
Amanda's Book Nook 