Paradise (Aftershock Series Book 1)

The setting of Paradise, using earthquakes as the vehicle of the disaster, provides an interesting and plausible twist on the story. It leads neatly into the classic dystopia breakdown of infrastructure and mass civilisation, and the rise of local power structures, of which this book offers a number. The roaming Raiders, the feudal system of the Tent City, the religious enclave, and the survivalist hermits hacking it on their own all add to the backdrop of the plot.

There were, however, aspects of the writing that I found impacted the read, including technical challenges in grammar and spelling that were continuous enough to keep pulling me out of the story. In addition, the point of view, which stayed steady on one character, first person, for the first two-thirds of the book, began to move around in the later stages of the book, including switches into third person, which was a trifle jarring.

There was also only one true antagonist, the Governor of the Tent City. The religious enclave was open-minded and accepting, at least provided the women made all the meals, the raiders were actually working the Robin Hood angle underneath the bad reputations, and even the leader of the brutal encampment guards turned out to be nothing more objectionable than a good old boy. Despite the dystopia setting, things never really got rough, which I found made it difficult for me to keep my disbelief suspended through the plot.

In short, I felt that the book had a good initial idea, but it didn’t quite manage to pull me in and convince me over the long run.

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