What do you think?
Rate this book
An Empty Land of Plenty
It's a different world now...
Given enough time and the right conditions life will always find a way, even in the interior of a comet as it speeds through the interstellar void. 30,000 years ago this comet swept by a very different Earth, a planet where two types of humans struggled to survive against the environment and each other.
The lethal virus that rained down from the sky proved to be the death knell for those who called themselves The People, but through a mother and her daughter they leave a legacy that will come to be the salvation of humanity when the comet returns with its deadly pathogen.
Rusty Weber, a nerdy high school senior, doesn't know how or why he survived the Prionic Flu but sees the newly-depopulated Earth as a fresh start, a chance to do things his way. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he discovers that the girl he secretly loves has also survived, and he sets out to find her in this new and often dangerous world.
The novel is not a typical "gear list" sort of story that so many post-apocalyptic books tend to be, with the brand and model number of water purifiers, etc. listed in excruciating detail. Instead, this book details the reality of a young man's journey in a depopulated world that lacks little in the way of material goods, but much in the way of societal structure.
Given enough time and the right conditions life will always find a way, even in the interior of a comet as it speeds through the interstellar void. 30,000 years ago this comet swept by a very different Earth, a planet where two types of humans struggled to survive against the environment and each other.
The lethal virus that rained down from the sky proved to be the death knell for those who called themselves The People, but through a mother and her daughter they leave a legacy that will come to be the salvation of humanity when the comet returns with its deadly pathogen.
Rusty Weber, a nerdy high school senior, doesn't know how or why he survived the Prionic Flu but sees the newly-depopulated Earth as a fresh start, a chance to do things his way. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he discovers that the girl he secretly loves has also survived, and he sets out to find her in this new and often dangerous world.
The novel is not a typical "gear list" sort of story that so many post-apocalyptic books tend to be, with the brand and model number of water purifiers, etc. listed in excruciating detail. Instead, this book details the reality of a young man's journey in a depopulated world that lacks little in the way of material goods, but much in the way of societal structure.
374 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 14, 2013
17 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 23, 2013
I really enjoyed this post apocalyptic tale. The start was totally different in that it was set 30,000 years ago during Neanderthal & Cro Magnon man times , then whipped forward to the present day to set up the apocalypse and introduce the characters. Some I must admit I thought would be boo, hiss 'baddies' but I was pleasantly surprised. A really good road trip book , gathering the characters today and with some back story. A worthy addition to my ' Apocalypse Now' shelf, definatelty a keeper. looking forward to reading more by this author if he carries on in the PA genre which I adore. I gained this book as an freebie but would have willingly paid money, its that good. If you love The Stand/ The Road etc I can highly recommend this book!!
Want to read
May 4, 2015Is this going to be on the Giveaways?
June 10, 2013
An Empty Land of Plenty was a mediocre read at best. I had higher expectations going in because the average Goodreads rating was in the mid-4 star range. The lesson learned on this one is to approach highly rated books rated by few reviewers with skepticism.
The plot seemed superficial and the characters were not fully developed - Rusty, John, and Ashley in particular. The relationship between Rusty and Ashley, if you wanted to call it that, is so one-sided that it is uninteresting. It was as if the author felt the need to jump around from sub-plot to sub-plot in order to keep his audience interested. But that approach is a poor substitute for a more deeply developed plot line.
In general, the plot held together ok and I admit that I was entertained, but in my opinion this is not one of the better examples of post-apocalyptic fiction I’ve come across.
The plot seemed superficial and the characters were not fully developed - Rusty, John, and Ashley in particular. The relationship between Rusty and Ashley, if you wanted to call it that, is so one-sided that it is uninteresting. It was as if the author felt the need to jump around from sub-plot to sub-plot in order to keep his audience interested. But that approach is a poor substitute for a more deeply developed plot line.
In general, the plot held together ok and I admit that I was entertained, but in my opinion this is not one of the better examples of post-apocalyptic fiction I’ve come across.
May 23, 2013
This book was pretty good. I enjoyed the characters and the descriptions. It was nice because it actually went through the apocalypse first before actually beginning the story, so you could see the lead up. The characters were, for the most part, well written, though the good ones were awfully nice and the bad characters were just straight up bad. Only once or twice did you actually see a "good" character contemplating doing something bad. So, that was interesting. There were some minor spelling errors, and a couple editing glitches, but for the most part it was a good book.
May 20, 2013
A very well written PA book, following a group of survivors immediately before, during and after the event. Focuses on the gathering of supplies, grouping up, surviving the bullies. Only minor errors in the actual writing, none of them were distracting from the story. I was disappointed in the ending, the timeline seemed rushed and left me feeling let down. If you liked The Stand, you will probably like this one too!
June 4, 2013
I really enjoyed this book the main characters were easy to identify with them just being regular people. It was great to have a PA book that actually told the story of how the world was ending in the first place and one of things I was really impressed with was that it didn't just read as a survival guide book.
Want to read
June 1, 2013Ooh! I'm so glad I randomly saw this on Amazon...sounds right up my alley. I LOVE the title!!, love the cover, the blurb...everything about it. And it has some good reviews, rather quickly after publication. Intrigued!! (Oh and lookee there, it came out on my birthday -- it MUST be great!) Can't wait to read this...soon as I can buy it :)
July 5, 2016
What an excellent book!
Typos practically non-existent, characters well defined and some suspense made for a fun few hours for me. I loved it!
Typos practically non-existent, characters well defined and some suspense made for a fun few hours for me. I loved it!
June 8, 2013
It's not perfect, but it is compelling. This is a book I read even though I was supposed to be sleeping or working. It's a believable scenario for life for survivors of a prion plague that kills most of humanity. I thought I would be put off by the beginning, the prehistoric section, but I wasn't.
The reason it doesn't get five stars is it needs some editing -- not copy-editing, but editing to make the story flow more smoothly. There were long sections of detail, the step-by-step stuff we don't really need. But otherwise, I believed the characters and I liked most of them. I am very interested in seeing what happens to this group and their city down the road so I hope there is a sequel.
What I did like is the writer assumes that most people are decent, moral people -- I get so weary of PA stories that assume people will settle into some dog-eat-dog world where some tyrannical ruler takes control of everything and the rest fall into line if they want to survive. This story doesn't sugarcoat the bad guys by any means, but it shows that society can indeed re-form cooperatively -- kind of like the growth of America from colonies. And what I really liked is the really bad guy wasn't anything like I've read before -- completely different motivation!
The reason it doesn't get five stars is it needs some editing -- not copy-editing, but editing to make the story flow more smoothly. There were long sections of detail, the step-by-step stuff we don't really need. But otherwise, I believed the characters and I liked most of them. I am very interested in seeing what happens to this group and their city down the road so I hope there is a sequel.
What I did like is the writer assumes that most people are decent, moral people -- I get so weary of PA stories that assume people will settle into some dog-eat-dog world where some tyrannical ruler takes control of everything and the rest fall into line if they want to survive. This story doesn't sugarcoat the bad guys by any means, but it shows that society can indeed re-form cooperatively -- kind of like the growth of America from colonies. And what I really liked is the really bad guy wasn't anything like I've read before -- completely different motivation!
August 16, 2013
While I enjoyed the different take on the PA genre (focusing more on rebuilding and relationships between people than the survival-of-the-fittest-everything-is-awful view that most PA books take), I had a hard time connecting with a couple of the central characters, particularly Rusty and Ashley. I felt like Ashley was very under-developed and more a fluff character, and Rusty came off as sort of creepy and obsessive when it came to Ashley, viewing her as more of a trophy than a person, at least that's the vibe I got from it until toward the end of the book. While the ending was a bit predictable, I really enjoyed it all the same. Also, I agree with another reviewer--the "girlfriend" nickname was causing me to grit my teeth. Overall, a solid PA and I would recommend giving it a read.
January 10, 2016
Held my attention.
I chose 3 stars for two reasons. One was that the story was somewhat f formulaic. Other than Rusty, the somewhat unlikable protagonist, ALL of the other 'goog' guys were pretty one dimensional. The second is that the book needs serious editing. It cut back and forth between scenes with no warning from paragraph to paragraph in an annoying way. Also annoying were the extra words that didn't belong in the sentences. This got worse as the book progressed. BUT, if you like this genre of end of world as we know it, it has its moments and I would have given it 4 stars if not for the above.
I chose 3 stars for two reasons. One was that the story was somewhat f formulaic. Other than Rusty, the somewhat unlikable protagonist, ALL of the other 'goog' guys were pretty one dimensional. The second is that the book needs serious editing. It cut back and forth between scenes with no warning from paragraph to paragraph in an annoying way. Also annoying were the extra words that didn't belong in the sentences. This got worse as the book progressed. BUT, if you like this genre of end of world as we know it, it has its moments and I would have given it 4 stars if not for the above.
September 4, 2013
I really enjoyed this book, exceeding my expectations by a great deal. Most people's first books are a disappointment but not this one. Yeah,it had some of the hallmarks of a first book like less than perfect editing, but if you can put that aside this is a really good story with characters that were not superhuman survivalists. No ex-special warfare specialists here! I hope there is a followup to this because i want to read more about these characters.
Typically I would not rate books in this genre as 5 star, but its 5 star in the genre itself.
Typically I would not rate books in this genre as 5 star, but its 5 star in the genre itself.
June 16, 2013
I enjoyed this book very much. I particularly liked the way Rusty was depicted. The teenage boys in most apocalyptic/post apocalyptic books are characterized as junior he-men; always smart,tall, good looking, athletic. It seems that whenever there is a geeky nerd in this type of book he's depicted as a psychopathic wacko (Harold from The Stand comes to mind immediately). While it ended pretty much the way you would expect, I did enjoy the ending.
September 3, 2013
Another apocalyptic tale. I liked the pre-amble in ancient times, following up with the modern day. It set expectations and dread well. I thought the scenario relaistic - it could happen. There's plenty of darama in the struggle with human behavior and survival. I found it a nice read, if a bit predicable in some of the love interests. Well worth a read.
August 7, 2013
this book was awesome, it has everything you need, although it's a post apocalyptic book it's not solely based in that, it's a book that teaches you that everybody has purpose in life, about self discovery, rusty is your typical "loser" so as a reader one enjoys watching becoming a man. Give this book a chance, but also give yourself the pleasure of enjoying this book.
October 21, 2013
This was great! There are so many terrible apocalypse books. This was definitely not one of those. Characters that you can believe in. Action scenes where you genually worry about the hero's safety. There aren't any ubersurvivors who can out gun and outthink everyone around them. Just normal people. The editing wasn't perfect so I can only give this 4 stars.
Currently reading
May 11, 2017 As the author, I won't rate the book, but I do think that this story adds a little variety to the post-apocalyptic genre. Adventure, action, romance, and even a bit of social commentary (hopefully) offer something for everyone.
June 5, 2013
an absolute stunner if a book, every page kept me hooked.
June 24, 2013
Very enjoyable read! Good story, though a slow start, but got going quickly and was hard to put down after that. No zombies for a change :) will look for more by this author, enjoyed his style.
June 21, 2013
Good read. Took awhile to connect the first (pre-historic) part to the rest, but overall it was fairly well done. Plot was good, characters were interesting. I enjoyed it.
January 15, 2014
The only part I liked about this book was the prologue.
January 26, 2014
Started out neat, I'm always an end-of-the-world book fan. Then got really predictable fast. And boring at the end.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews