The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette

 

From the blurb:  "The whateverpocalypse. That’s what Touré, a twenty-something Cambridge coder, calls it after waking up one morning to find himself seemingly the only person left in the city. Once he finds Robbie and Carol, two equally disoriented Harvard freshmen, he realizes he isn’t alone, but the name sticks: Whateverpocalypse. But it doesn’t explain where everyone went. It doesn’t explain how the city became overgrown with vegetation in the space of a night. Or how wild animals with no fear of humans came to roam the streets.

"Add freakish weather to the mix, swings of temperature that spawn tornadoes one minute and snowstorms the next, and it seems things can’t get much weirder. Yet even as a handful of new survivors appear, life in Cambridge, Massachusetts gets stranger and stranger."

My thoughts:  This book is an entertaining mix of science fiction, mystery, and survival. Doucette's imagining of the end of the world is a unique and unexpected one. He writes well and does a good job of weaving together the narratives of the seven different characters. I liked all of them from Pastor Paul, to Win and her horse, Elton, to Ananda, the MIT astrophysicist. Most of the novel centers around Robbie, Carol, who's blind, Touré, and thirteen-year-old Bethany. These four team up near the beginning of the book and are a fun combination of contrasting personalities. The mystery behind the apocalypse is a little crazy and out-of-this-world, and the ending is definitely a bit mind-bending, but I still enjoyed this one. And I'm curious to see what else Doucette has written. 

Rating:  3.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

Red was not some movie superhero any more than the man was a movie villain. She was just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that didn't look anything like the one she'd grown up in, the one that had been perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago....Red didn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she wasn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she was a woman alone in the woods....She had to get to her grandmother, and she still had a very long way to go.

I love this apocalyptic version of Little Red Riding Hood! Henry's writing is amazing, and I especially love Red (whose real name is Cordelia). And because so many people have already reviewed this book, I'm not going to try and summarize the plot; I'm just going to tell you a few of my favorite things about Red:

• She hates black licorice and wet socks (as do I!)
• When she was packing her evacuation bag, she included two books because "the apocalypse would be a lot more pleasant with Robin McKinley along." (I so agree!)
• She has her own set of Apocalypse Rules gleaned from a lifetime of watching and reading apocalyptic movies and books.
• She's cynical, practical, stubborn and tough. (And if she were a character in a horror movie, she'd be the girl who survives at the end.)
• She doesn't let the fact she has a prosthetic left leg stop her from doing anything.
• She always has a plan.
• She has an ax, and she's not afraid to use it.

Happy Reading!

Urban Fantasy Fun...

3 Reasons this one's worth reading:

• Irresistible title:  It happened One Doomsday
• Fun first line:  Dru Jasper had no idea that the world was prophesied to come to a fiery end in six days.
• It's got magic, mayhem and some very engaging characters:  Dru uses her magical powers and the crystals she sells to help people with supernatural problems, which is good because Greyson Carter has a big one. He recently purchased a possessed black muscle car at an auction and because of it he's now turning into a demon. And not just any demon; he's turning into one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And unless Dru and her sorceress friend, Rane, can figure out how to reverse the curse it just might mean the end of the world. And the end of Greyson, who's handsome and nice and who can amplify Dru's magic in ways she never expected. (Plus, he kisses great.)

Need more?

With scary demons and some awesome crystal-powered magic, memorable (and likeable!) characters and good writing, Laurence MacNaughton has created a magical roller coaster ride of a fantasy novel; it's humorous, entertaining, and a lot of fun. I can't wait to get to the library and check out the sequel, A Kiss Before Doomsday, to find out what happens to Dru next. This fun urban fantasy certainly cast a bookish spell on me.

Happy Reading!