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Land of Tomorrow #1
Glimmer of Hope
Following a nuclear holocaust, Nathan Taylor and his family face grim choices in order to stay alive. Fleeing deadly radiation, plague and desperate men, Nathan, an army officer, leads his wife and their two teenage sons away from chaos and madness toward his ancestral home in Kentucky.
Horrors lie in their path. From the prison struggling to maintain control of its inmates, to the desperadoes who enslave anyone who comes their way, even survival may cost Nathan his humanity...or that of his sons, Joshua and David. Nathan struggles to keep his family intact, but it requires making brutal choices. He wants to protect his sons, but knows they now must be deadly and cold at times.
Nathan's home has been spared from the worst of the destruction, but a larger conflict over scarce resources erupts. For the survivors to have any chance they will have to fight and the desperate journey has transformed young Joshua and David into men called upon to lead and sacrifice. Torn between harsh realities, and wanting to hold onto fleeting childhoods, they are often conflicted and angry about the roles thrust upon them. Much will depend on how Nathan and his sons respond to a madman and his military regime seeking to conquer the fledgling community they are helping to build.
GLIMMER OF HOPE is an epic tale of one family's endurance and triumph after tomorrow's apocalypse.
Horrors lie in their path. From the prison struggling to maintain control of its inmates, to the desperadoes who enslave anyone who comes their way, even survival may cost Nathan his humanity...or that of his sons, Joshua and David. Nathan struggles to keep his family intact, but it requires making brutal choices. He wants to protect his sons, but knows they now must be deadly and cold at times.
Nathan's home has been spared from the worst of the destruction, but a larger conflict over scarce resources erupts. For the survivors to have any chance they will have to fight and the desperate journey has transformed young Joshua and David into men called upon to lead and sacrifice. Torn between harsh realities, and wanting to hold onto fleeting childhoods, they are often conflicted and angry about the roles thrust upon them. Much will depend on how Nathan and his sons respond to a madman and his military regime seeking to conquer the fledgling community they are helping to build.
GLIMMER OF HOPE is an epic tale of one family's endurance and triumph after tomorrow's apocalypse.
428 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2012
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1089 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
March 12, 2017
The story starts off great; good depth, character development, moves at a great place. And then it got lost in a battle that consumed so many chapters it became boring. I enjoy the survival aspect of the apocalyptic genre and would have appreciated more of that here. This would have been a great read if the author hadn't felt the need to create the next trilogy or multiple series story. Too bad.
March 14, 2019
Pretty good book, held my interest from the first page
March 25, 2015
Good book
Good book. There was quite a bit of military strategy in it but it made the story believable, even for someone without that background. This story is what I imagine it to be if such a situation were to really occur.
Good book. There was quite a bit of military strategy in it but it made the story believable, even for someone without that background. This story is what I imagine it to be if such a situation were to really occur.
February 15, 2019
Great writer
One of the better written books that I've read this Year and I'm an avid reader. Thanks for the realistic production
One of the better written books that I've read this Year and I'm an avid reader. Thanks for the realistic production
February 16, 2020
It's clear right from the start that this book is self-published. I'm not sure if an editor was involved or not, but if so, the editing was terrible.
Parts of this story were good and the author has some knowledge of military history, but the errors were obvious and very annoying. Obvious errors include choppy sentences, no flow, and not knowing the difference between you're and your and has and have. It really distracts from the story and knocks a 'writer' out of the game when simple mistakes like this can be found throughout a book.
I've been moving away from self published authors over the last few years and can only think of a few that I really enjoyed.
I did not pay full price for this, but right now it's selling for $14.99 and that is a ridiculous price for a book that hasn't been edited.
Parts of this story were good and the author has some knowledge of military history, but the errors were obvious and very annoying. Obvious errors include choppy sentences, no flow, and not knowing the difference between you're and your and has and have. It really distracts from the story and knocks a 'writer' out of the game when simple mistakes like this can be found throughout a book.
I've been moving away from self published authors over the last few years and can only think of a few that I really enjoyed.
I did not pay full price for this, but right now it's selling for $14.99 and that is a ridiculous price for a book that hasn't been edited.
September 25, 2017
Starts off with a captivating story of a man and his family and the trials that would come with a nuclear event. Its switches back and forth between his entertaining story and a not so entertaining story of a "political and army" based area - the JP.
The story of what it does to his boys, his wife him and the survivors they pick up along the way is great, and then they arrive at the JP
The story goes down hill from there.
You get long drawn out, I will make this guy my lieutenant, and this guy a colonel, and this guy a this and BORING. I started skimming instead of reading about 2/3rds of the way through.
It could have been great instead it sucked.
The story of what it does to his boys, his wife him and the survivors they pick up along the way is great, and then they arrive at the JP
The story goes down hill from there.
You get long drawn out, I will make this guy my lieutenant, and this guy a colonel, and this guy a this and BORING. I started skimming instead of reading about 2/3rds of the way through.
It could have been great instead it sucked.
November 25, 2016
Not too badly written with a few appealing characters to follow, but far too military battle oriented for my personal taste. I'd rather read about clever survival solutions in my own post-apocalypse reading.
November 10, 2019
I love dystopian novels. Have read this one twice. It's a different premise since acopalypse starts with nuclear holocaust and not the usual zombies or plagues. Well written, lots of action. Interesting to see survivors efforts and methods to re-build a democracy.
August 24, 2021
This starts off in a very exciting way with sudden nuclear strikes. A lot of the desolation is expected, but I am a bit skeptical that so much of eastern-southern Kentucky and western Tennessee would be intact with only minor effects from the nuclear attack. The author tries to explain this in a speech from the outgoing JP president, but it does not seem to be rooted in science or nuke map projections. There were a lot of editing issues in the book, both with some grammar and spelling as well as prose that did not flow well. This could be cleaned up a lot with a decent editor. Some of the characters are surprisingly developed, especially Reggie Phillips, General Anderson and Brazen. That brought it from 2 to 3 stars for me. The battle and military strategy started to drag quit a bit and I was relieved when it it ended. I was puzzled why Anderson would have been castigated for using strong methods to keeping his troops disciplined and stop them from murdering their vanquished fellows. The alternative seemed much worse. Another major weakness was there were no decent female characters. Bethany was nearly useless. The most effective female was Janice, Reggie's wife, whose brief appearance was to stop an assassin with her skillet. Surely with the National Guard, military personnel in the JP, municipal police, sheriffs' departments and the general population, there were women capable of fighting and providing leadership, but the story makes it clear only men were fighting. Very disappointing, enough so, that I am on the fence about continuing to book 2.
March 8, 2019
I found this to be one of the more realistic post-apocalyptic books I’ve read recently, because it largely focuses on the survivors who were smart enough to hole up in defensible positions, wait out the initial chaos, and then decide what they wanted to do. I honestly think the apocalypse would look more like this, or the gone-too-soon show Jericho, where small, isolated areas are quicker to rebuild and re-establish some independent civilization. I don’t think it would turn into Mad Max overnight, and that there would always be places that managed to keep things together and keep going forward in some form or fashion.
This story did a good job balancing the points of view of lots of different kinds of survivors—military, civilians, public servants, those who were out on the road and those who never really had to leave town. It also dealt with a lot of the more practical issues isolated communities would have to face as they started to rebuild, once the initial fear of death and radiation was over. Transportation, sanitation in refuge camps, who’s in charge and why and for how long, when and even if to hold elections, entering negotiations with areas that used to be a neighboring state but is now a hostile foreign government—these issues weren’t mundane to me at all. I really connect to the human element of survival stories, and this did not disappoint.
This story did a good job balancing the points of view of lots of different kinds of survivors—military, civilians, public servants, those who were out on the road and those who never really had to leave town. It also dealt with a lot of the more practical issues isolated communities would have to face as they started to rebuild, once the initial fear of death and radiation was over. Transportation, sanitation in refuge camps, who’s in charge and why and for how long, when and even if to hold elections, entering negotiations with areas that used to be a neighboring state but is now a hostile foreign government—these issues weren’t mundane to me at all. I really connect to the human element of survival stories, and this did not disappoint.
July 1, 2023
This book has caused a lot of different emotions to be felt. In someways, it is still conflicting my final opinion. This book starts off with Nathan and his family struggling just live and get back home to where he and his wife are from, after a nuclear war breaking out months prior. You never learn who caused the war, but towards the end you do find out just how wide spread it was. The book then picks up where Nathan and his family are heading to, which turns out to be the one last remaining ray of hope widely known. You see the new country struggle, as well as Nathan’s family continues to struggle as they both fight just to survive. Parts of the book do feel disjointed, which makes sense as the author admits he did cut out portions during the editing. He just didn’t go back to smooth those cuts over. The one area that made me love this book was the simple fact that King captured human nature perfectly. You see the characters struggle with very real and human flaws, from their own fears to ambitions to people not paying attention to what goes on around them. Thus, I found myself loving many quotes from this book. I think that is where this book shines, as well as perfect for those who are fans of the old show Jericho.
March 21, 2019
When nuclear war devastates the US, luck and geography conspire to let a small part of Kentucky survive relatively unscathed. They have food and even - thanks to a hydroelectric dam - electric power, but they also have gangs and hostile fiefdoms emerging on their borders. Can they protect what they have?
It's not a bad premise, but King spreads his attention over rather too many point of view characters, which exposes the lack of depth of character - it's hard to tell the voices apart - and makes the lack of female characters really, really obvious, since literally every single one of the near-dozen such characters are of course, dudes.
There's also a ham-fisted "To Be Continued" epilogue, which always irks me. Don't undermine this book to try to sell me your next one. It literally has never worked.
It's not a bad premise, but King spreads his attention over rather too many point of view characters, which exposes the lack of depth of character - it's hard to tell the voices apart - and makes the lack of female characters really, really obvious, since literally every single one of the near-dozen such characters are of course, dudes.
There's also a ham-fisted "To Be Continued" epilogue, which always irks me. Don't undermine this book to try to sell me your next one. It literally has never worked.
October 1, 2023
Started strong
The book started strong and then halfway thru it fell flat. I feel that it was a bit unrealistic at how quickly new governments were formed after a nuclear war. The last 50% was more like the civil war between 2 groups, throw in criminal gangs and loners. It seemed like not a lot of suffering happened. World building was ok but character development fell really flat.
The book started strong and then halfway thru it fell flat. I feel that it was a bit unrealistic at how quickly new governments were formed after a nuclear war. The last 50% was more like the civil war between 2 groups, throw in criminal gangs and loners. It seemed like not a lot of suffering happened. World building was ok but character development fell really flat.
March 21, 2019
A good read that started out very strong then fell into the same old same old. Still, it was entertaining. My chief complaint is the lack of a nuclear winter. I don't see how this would be possible with the amount of ordnance exchanged.
I will be checking out book two in the series, we will see if it will hold my interest.
I will be checking out book two in the series, we will see if it will hold my interest.
November 28, 2019
Very Good
My second apocalyptic book in a row. This story was good, the storyline was thought out and the characters were meaningful. The only part that stalled for me, was the,war between areas. I have to admit I scanned through a lot of that. I hope I will be long dead before such a time happens. Happy Reading.
My second apocalyptic book in a row. This story was good, the storyline was thought out and the characters were meaningful. The only part that stalled for me, was the,war between areas. I have to admit I scanned through a lot of that. I hope I will be long dead before such a time happens. Happy Reading.
March 9, 2025
Nuclear war has broken out. There remains a few pockets of survivors scattered around the world. A portion of Kentucky known as the Jackson purchase is going strong. They have a function government, bartar system, food, and most importantly electricity. Their neighbors in Tennessee want it for themselves. This book is full of political maneuvering and a large military presence. Not a fan .
July 1, 2015
Takes a bit to get into, but once things start moving, things get interesting. A good mix of action, plausible situations (rather than far-fetched ones found in many similar books), and most importantly, several characters the reader just wants to cheer for. (3.5 stars)
December 26, 2018
Good Read
Interesting take on a often written about subject. Interesting perspective on life. Particularly in light of the current world situation. Not a literary masterpiece but a well done tale of human endeavor.
Interesting take on a often written about subject. Interesting perspective on life. Particularly in light of the current world situation. Not a literary masterpiece but a well done tale of human endeavor.
February 24, 2019
Nice
Started out slow but it turned out to be a good read. I did skip a few pages that really dragged on but other than that, I really liked this book.
I'll have to read the next book because the ending piqued my curiosity. Who is Ethan, really? Hmmmm.
Started out slow but it turned out to be a good read. I did skip a few pages that really dragged on but other than that, I really liked this book.
I'll have to read the next book because the ending piqued my curiosity. Who is Ethan, really? Hmmmm.
March 11, 2025
Was a decent read but felt like events rushed past very quickly. It is the first book of a series so could be doing so to set the scene, but pacing it could have got me to buy in on the world alot more.
September 26, 2015
A struggle!
This book was very hard to get thru, I didn't find myself invested in any of the characters, I wasn't dying to get back to the story. Glad it was free!
This book was very hard to get thru, I didn't find myself invested in any of the characters, I wasn't dying to get back to the story. Glad it was free!
June 8, 2018
Cracking read
A fast paced disaster book . Read it in two days. Fast paced and non-stop action will be definitely downloading the others in the series.
A fast paced disaster book . Read it in two days. Fast paced and non-stop action will be definitely downloading the others in the series.
July 15, 2017
stopped 1/3 of the way through didnt like it
October 4, 2017
A decently well written and engaging tale, Glimmer of Hope tackles the possibility of nuclear war and its aftermath. While there were plot developments that seemed to be a bit of a stretch, overall it felt like the author had done his research. The pace will keep you turning pages to find out what happens next, and I commend the author on avoiding the military fiction trope of creating drama by killing off leading characters.
In this post apocalyptic scenario, the thing I found most jarring was the view that anyone without military-style training will become some kind of slavering degenerate, raping, looting, and turning on their fellow man rather than working together. The lack of depth and understanding of human psychology bothered me throughout the book.
The other thing that stood out was the stark absence of developed female characters after the prologue. Even the protagonist's wife gets little character development and even less influence on the plot. From a strictly military standpoint, there are many competent and capable female soldiers who would have survived this nuclear apocalypse alongside their male counterparts. The omission of their existence seems rather strange.
But while it is an imperfect view of the world after a nuclear holocaust, it's still an entertainingly fast-paced story that will find fans with mil fic aficionados as well as those who enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction.
In this post apocalyptic scenario, the thing I found most jarring was the view that anyone without military-style training will become some kind of slavering degenerate, raping, looting, and turning on their fellow man rather than working together. The lack of depth and understanding of human psychology bothered me throughout the book.
The other thing that stood out was the stark absence of developed female characters after the prologue. Even the protagonist's wife gets little character development and even less influence on the plot. From a strictly military standpoint, there are many competent and capable female soldiers who would have survived this nuclear apocalypse alongside their male counterparts. The omission of their existence seems rather strange.
But while it is an imperfect view of the world after a nuclear holocaust, it's still an entertainingly fast-paced story that will find fans with mil fic aficionados as well as those who enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction.
August 26, 2018
A powerful beginning and many tense moments as Nathan and his family do whatever they can to survive and get to a safer place. Home.
Home is the JP and they have had their own struggles and challenges. Their goal is not only to survive, but also to thrive and grow. With outside threats and internal problems making those goals varyingly difficult.
Overall character development was good. The story had many thrilling and tense moments and is one of the more realistic seeming depictions of life after a nuclear event.
However, I couldn't help noticing that there was significant focus on the rank of men who were given various jobs to do towards the survival and maintenance of the new colony. I eventually determined that military ranking would be the best way to organise things to prevent total chaos and anarchy but I'll admit it was a little distracting at first.
Aside from the senator, who was absolutely the best person for the job of pulling everyone together, the most interesting character was Brazen. His methods were not the same as the senator but the results he achieved were very similar, and impressive.
Happy to recommend this story and if the sequels are as good, I will be thrilled to add them to my collection as well.
FIVE STARS!
Home is the JP and they have had their own struggles and challenges. Their goal is not only to survive, but also to thrive and grow. With outside threats and internal problems making those goals varyingly difficult.
Overall character development was good. The story had many thrilling and tense moments and is one of the more realistic seeming depictions of life after a nuclear event.
However, I couldn't help noticing that there was significant focus on the rank of men who were given various jobs to do towards the survival and maintenance of the new colony. I eventually determined that military ranking would be the best way to organise things to prevent total chaos and anarchy but I'll admit it was a little distracting at first.
Aside from the senator, who was absolutely the best person for the job of pulling everyone together, the most interesting character was Brazen. His methods were not the same as the senator but the results he achieved were very similar, and impressive.
Happy to recommend this story and if the sequels are as good, I will be thrilled to add them to my collection as well.
FIVE STARS!
August 9, 2020
I liked the way the story centres around one family and the struggles they go through to get from the place they were living to the family home of their upbringing.
The story opens with an immediate challenge and the fears the father has on the impact it is having on his children even though he's thankful they are enduring and meeting the problems head on. Though the cost of those successes will also have a payment that could destroy what was once a happy family.
Storywise, it's not long before they reach their destination but rather than being the end of their troubles, things just get more complicated and it's not long before hard decisions have to be made.
A well written story, the flashbacks are done well and follow a natural progression rather than throwing you out of the story and you feel for the characters as events unfold.
The story opens with an immediate challenge and the fears the father has on the impact it is having on his children even though he's thankful they are enduring and meeting the problems head on. Though the cost of those successes will also have a payment that could destroy what was once a happy family.
Storywise, it's not long before they reach their destination but rather than being the end of their troubles, things just get more complicated and it's not long before hard decisions have to be made.
A well written story, the flashbacks are done well and follow a natural progression rather than throwing you out of the story and you feel for the characters as events unfold.
February 22, 2019
Post Apocalyptic (nuclear this time, not zombie!). The story follows the Taylor family after nuclear bombs are dropped on most major cities around the world. Nathan, as an ex army vet has good skills and survival instincts and is quick in getting his family to relative safety in the immediate aftermath of the bombs dropping.
A month later they resurface to find the world irrevocably changed. They begin a journey across the country to the town where Nathan and his wife grew up, hoping the country side will be a safer environment to for them and their sons. But the journey is not straightforward or safe, not everyone wants to help and when they do arrive, will they get the welcome they are hoping for? Can they begin to rebuild the destroyed world, into somewhere they can live in peace?
A month later they resurface to find the world irrevocably changed. They begin a journey across the country to the town where Nathan and his wife grew up, hoping the country side will be a safer environment to for them and their sons. But the journey is not straightforward or safe, not everyone wants to help and when they do arrive, will they get the welcome they are hoping for? Can they begin to rebuild the destroyed world, into somewhere they can live in peace?
March 20, 2019
Certainly a well written book and worth of a high recommendation!
This book would have achieved a fifth star except for the editing that was perhaps below par. Very good character development and definite writing skill and talent.
The beginning starts off with hard core survival amidst radiation, starvation and murder and quickly transits into the previously established area of peace, hope and goodwill surrounded on all sides by those who are looking in from without and filled with greed,selfishness, and run by a tyrant.
The plot moved swiftly along which moves well in setting up an overall plot that will do well in carrying forward into other books within the series. One of intrigue, suspense and political chessman-ship.
This book would have achieved a fifth star except for the editing that was perhaps below par. Very good character development and definite writing skill and talent.
The beginning starts off with hard core survival amidst radiation, starvation and murder and quickly transits into the previously established area of peace, hope and goodwill surrounded on all sides by those who are looking in from without and filled with greed,selfishness, and run by a tyrant.
The plot moved swiftly along which moves well in setting up an overall plot that will do well in carrying forward into other books within the series. One of intrigue, suspense and political chessman-ship.
July 14, 2020
Compelling
This is not my usual end of world book but I really enjoyed it. The world starts off just at the end but the survivors make for a good story. The travel of the main group from beginning to end let's you see them grow in many ways. The story gets you involved and has many characters that you can't help but be interested in. There is a good depth here but you don't get lost in too many details. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here in the next book. I hope to start it soon. I may prefer zombies but this one was really intriguing. Give this one a read.
This is not my usual end of world book but I really enjoyed it. The world starts off just at the end but the survivors make for a good story. The travel of the main group from beginning to end let's you see them grow in many ways. The story gets you involved and has many characters that you can't help but be interested in. There is a good depth here but you don't get lost in too many details. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here in the next book. I hope to start it soon. I may prefer zombies but this one was really intriguing. Give this one a read.
March 14, 2019
Good revolution like story (may contain spoilers)
I liked the story as it was different than my typical read. I would have liked more of a background on what caused the change in the world, like why the bombings occurred. I was left wanting more at the end but that is expected since it is the first in the series. There were a enough typos to be slightly distracting since they usually were of the type of a wrong word but not enough to that it took away from the story. Overall I enjoyed the read and plan to read more in this series
I liked the story as it was different than my typical read. I would have liked more of a background on what caused the change in the world, like why the bombings occurred. I was left wanting more at the end but that is expected since it is the first in the series. There were a enough typos to be slightly distracting since they usually were of the type of a wrong word but not enough to that it took away from the story. Overall I enjoyed the read and plan to read more in this series
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews