Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I literally read all but the first two chapters in one sitting. It really grabbed my attention, despite starting out slower with character backgrounds.
So the first thing that really stood out to me was the first bombings. Why were all the amusement type parks hit? What was the point behind destroying all the special family spots? This was the first thing that really got my brain working overtime. It especially bugged me that no one came forward to take responsibility or even give any reason as to why those bombings happened. Like that is not normal (especially in our current age where someone always seems to be claiming responsibility for stuff like this). I mean, I'd be pretty freaked out if this happened and no one claimed doing it and we didn't even know why. It would make me pretty scared to even go out and do anything in a public place then. You'd have no idea if another place was going to get hit and when.
Then the next wave of bombs. So we know a lot of cities were destroyed, Las Vegas and L.A. included. I would have loved to know all the cities that were hit. That's just me though. I'm curious if every state had a city/cities bombed and why. Of course with these bombs, we still don't know anything. These ones however knocked out the power, communications, etc. So it effectively made the U.S. go dark. I have to admit though, I did see this second set of bombings coming. When the big meeting of U.S. and a few other world leaders took place I just knew. It was the perfect target to start a second attack and I was right. I do have to wonder why all the military bases were shut down after this and why. Definitely seems like something isn't right here. The military would never shut down like this, they'd be out trying to find these people and help everyone rebuild.
Now, what the hell is the DRI/DRP??? These people are in absolutely no way normal. Yeah, obviously the country is in a crisis, but that is in absolutely no way how you treat people and get them to work with you. Killing innocent people because they didn't stay inside or just hand over all their stuff to you? Seriously? And then not letting medical staff treat injured people because there is a slim chance they could be an enemy? How awful do you have to be?? And then the fact they won't let a lot of good solid citizens join, but let a lot of the scum who do not deserve a job like that whatsoever join made it worse! Let me put it this way, stuff like what these people were doing is exactly why people fear the government taking total control during situations like this. They aren't really working in your best interest.
I was a bit surprised by the other bombings. I wasn't expecting them to bomb the hospital, I'm not sure why that was needed except to kill more survivors, which I feel like was the goal of that. I was a little heartbroken when Amber, Remy and Rylen's families were taken after the second big meeting to a "safe zone" supposedly. I figured nothing good was going to come from that. And I just knew, when the DRI/DRP's left the zone when the jet was coming in that it was going to be bombed as well. I saw absolutely no other reason for the jet being there. And it really broke my heart knowing the outcome of that.
So lets move on to the actual characters, yeah? I first wanna start off with Grandpa Tate actually. He was smart. Stockpiling all that food/water/guns etc after the first bombings happened. He just knew that wasn't going to be the end of it and he did what he needed to help protect and save his family. He also reminds me of my grandma. She is literally Grandpa Tate minus the gun stockpile. She has so much food stored away in case a type of situation like this were to arise. I have to say I also admire Grandpa Tate standing up for what was right in regards to the DRP trying to take everything, even though it got him killed. He just wanted his family to be taken care of and with the food taken they wouldn't be.
Rylen. Oh where to start. I definitely ship Rylen and Amber. But this boy. Oy. He is clearly missing the point or sweeping things under the rug A LOT! He pretty much dismissed Amber telling him she had serious feelings for him, pretended like they hadn't almost kissed one night. It was awful. You can tell Rylen does love Amber, especially with the way he cares for her and tries to protect her and gets emotional with her. He just doesn't seem to think he's good enough for her even though he is all she wants. I have to admit I was extremely pissed off at him when he just showed up on leave married with his new wife. That was a huge HUGE slap in the face to Amber. For most of the book after this, I was pretty pissed at him like Amber was. However, closer to the end, we find out he married Livia to save her from her father and the town she lived in in Guatemala. My heart softened for him at this because he was genuinely trying to help her out of a bad situation and the only way he could was to marry her. I admire the fact he did something good for Livia, even if it came at Amber's expense.
Amber, boy I felt for her. She grew up with feelings for Rylen. She tried to tell him and show him but he didn't seem to get it. And then to get slapped in the face with him coming home married, but yet still trying to be close to her and treat her like he did before. How freaking confusing! I have to admire Amber getting a degree in nursing. I could never do that job. I am WAY to squeamish for that. So I give props to anyone who can do that. And she saw so much and for the most part, didn't let it faze her. I also admire that even after every thing went to hell, and kept getting worse she still wanted to go do her job. She was the least selfish person in the world for that. I also admire her for trying to bond with Livia even though she was livid with Rylen. She got past that and cared for Livia like she was a part of the family. And I was surprised Livia chose Amber to open up to and tell about why Rylen married her in the first place. It definitely changed my view of Livia after that.
Remy, I'm sorry. She seems like such a sweet girl, but she is incredibly naive in this book. Constantly believing the DRI/DRP's were only trying to do right by everyone even though their actions spoke otherwise. She genuinely wanted to believe most people were trying to still do right and she didn't seem to understand they weren't until the life changing scene at the end.
Tater, you gotta give this guy props. When the second bombings happened he was in Georgia stationed at Fort Benning. After it got shut down, he made his way from Georgia to Nevada just to be back with his family during this whole ordeal. I would have been scared out of my mind being him with all the shady people that were popping up out there. I also have to admire that even though he was devastated at the ending of the book, he still held it together to comfort and support Remy.
The other military guys. I'm still not sure what to make of these guys. They seem alright, and at least one seems to know Tater. So that can't be bad right? I thought it was interesting how one of them mentioned they came from Huachuca. I quite liked this mention. Its in Arizona (that much was mentioned in the book). Fort Huachuca is actually a 2 hour drive from me. It's in Sierra Vista, I'm in Tucson. However, I have been on that base a few times. And interestingly enough, my fiance was born on Fort Huachuca. What is also interesting is if you google map it, it takes almost a full week to walk from Fort Huachuca to the area of Nevada they were in (along highways of course). So it probably took a bit longer having to use side roads and hide from DRI/DRP's. It makes you realize it took Tater much longer with hitchhiking if he could and walking. According to google maps it takes 27 days to walk from Fort Benning to almost Nellis AFB. So with hitchhiking, you can only maybe take a few days off that since he wasn't driven the whole way.
I genuinely felt bad for Remy, Amber, Tater and Rylen. They watched the "safe zone" their families were in get bombed. And they couldn't do anything to save them. They watched as their families were killed in an instant. I'm sure this loss will have a serious impact on them in the next book.
