Apocalypse: Underwater City

The Hope Saga #1

by Chrissy Peebles

***This is a 15,000 word novella***

This series does have dark moments and is intended for mature audiences only.

I’m a survivor, living in a post-apocalyptic world. I live deep in the ocean and that's how we all survived the world's greatest catastrophe known to man. I’d often dreamt of a normal life, but sadly, that wasn’t what fate had in store for me.

Where do I even begin? Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

My name is Sky Hammons, and this is my story. It’s actually quite like my name, because it is a tale of hope, faith, and new beginnings—like a bright, blue summer sky. Or at least that was what I’d wished for, back when I was naïve and clueless enough to believe it. I really wish my journey could be summed up like that, and at first, it seemed like that might be the case. But then that bright sky darkened, and things fell apart. As if Chicken Little’s fears were coming true, my blue sky shattered. They say “The truth will set you free,” but I can’t say I believe that—at least not anymore. In my case, the bitter truth shook me to my very core. I never would have imagined that life could be so cruel or that people could be so deranged outside of an Alfred Hitchcock script or some awful horror movie, but I learned one thing: Never, ever believe what you’re told.

I’d been hand-fed lies since birth from my so-called government, and like a mindless drone, I’d happily believed every fraudulent word of the garbage they were spewing. Maybe I just wanted that warm, fuzzy feeling; their lies comforted me and allowed me to sleep better at night. After all, who doesn’t want peace and hope and goodwill and all those other things splattered in snowy glitter all over the front of Christmas cards?

When I got a little older and started to take a good, close look at the world around me, I began to challenge the world I lived in. I began to realize it wasn’t all marshmallows and unicorns and Norman Rockwell paintings, and I started to ask questions. I’d always hoped for a bright future, but little did I know that absolute terror was lurking just around the corner. As I dug into the unknown, I was confronted by my worst nightmare.

My name is Sky, and this is my story.

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Amazon, Fiction, Apocalyptic

59 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2014

About the author

Chrissy Peebles, a practicing nurse, has always loved reading and writing fantasy from the earliest age she can remember. She plotted every single twist she could think of during bedtime stories for her children. When her little ones begged for more adventures, she felt confident enough to let her overeager imagination and sense of humor spill out into her first novel. She lives in Ohio with her husband, two young kids, one hamster, three dwarf hamsters and cat. When she's not taking the kids to Little League soccer, basketball, or baseball, she loves to snap photos as her favorite hobby.

Reviews

[Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realised Apocalypse: Underwater City was going to be lame on about page 14 when, faced with an apocalypse (in the form of extreme natural phenomena) and the likely death of most of human kind, a scientist has this to say: '"Oh my gosh,” he stuttered, nearly paralyzed with disbelief and fear. “We were right, and they’re all going to die.”'

That's right. Oh my gosh. For considering the synopsis warns "This series does have dark moments and is intended for mature audiences only", Apocalypse: Underwater City was so damn tame that yes, the only extreme emotional reaction anyone could conjure up is "oh my gosh". In fact, the word "gosh" is listed six times in this brief novella and three more in the sample chapters of another of Peebles' books included at the end. If you're going to label your book as adult only then show some fucking emotion and swear already! Even if this book was deemed YA - which I would call it, personally - I think just about every reader on the planet could cope with some strong language in the context of the end of civilisation. Peebles doesn't do well with expressing emotion at all, actually. Every time one of her characters gets upset/angry/embarrassed, they stutter. It's the default emotional response. It's like bloody staccato, there's so much stuttering going on.

Our main character, Sky - self-labeled as "a badass who grows pansies" is



You know, like most YA heroines. You get the ineffectual damsel in distress or you get the kick-ass know-it-all wunderkind with all kinds of special abilities. Our wunderkind considers her society to be despotic and is desperate to escape it.

This is incongruous on all kinds of levels:
- She was actually born in the underwater city (but feels the need to tell us that she tries her best to look at it in a positive light, even though it's really a prison - even though she's lived there all her life and therefore should not actually find it strange. "I can't live like this for the rest of my life. I refuse to.")
- Supposedly people who speak out against her society disappear, which does seem kind of despotic...
-...until you realise that she wanders around showing attitude and bitching about the society all the time and yet, unfortunately, still seems to be alive and kicking.
- “I’ve got just enough rebel in me, and I’m one of the good guys. I want to fight for positive changes. I think we should get everyone together and have a big meeting, get everyone to sign a petition."
- Maybe it's just me, but I tend to think governments that go around making people disappear aren't terribly interested in petitions, even if they are organised by our super-cool-rebel-with-a-heart-good-guy-heroine. Like... you're bitching about how terrible the president is and you think a petition is going to help?
- Would a government trying to suppress and imprison its citizens be training them on how to use weapons? In school?

Peebles tries to strengthen our belief in Sky's righteousness about her evil society by having "some kind of sicko" "brutally murder" "two innocent girls". Of course, we're supposed to assume the girls are innocent and their murderer was a sicko because Sky said so. Then to top it all off, the government dispose of the bodies. Why Sky thought it would be better to leave them around to rot in their underwater grotto, I'm not sure. Perhaps she was going to bury them in her vegetable garden.

This causes the mother of one of the girls to go insane and start speaking out about the government, after which she disappears. But even though it seems obvious to me that everyone in the domes would know about this and think it dodgy, I'm wrong. No! It's brave warrior Sky, valiantly fighting evil alone! (Except she does nothing but whinge - but surely that counts?) And then... the story abruptly ends.

But alas my review doesn't end because I still have a couple of things to complain about. Firstly, the proof that Peebles' brand of apocalypse is possible because "we all know about the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs." Except, actually we don't. That's just a theory. Secondly, the depiction of the new civilisation being built overhead as "a metropolis". How a few descendants of a few survivors living in a few domes underwater amount to a metropolis, I'm not sure. A large village, maybe. Then, all the gifts of flowers by Sky's secret admirer. Don't get me wrong - I really don't give a shit who said person is. What gets to me is that a society living in domes under the water, having to grow the majority of their own food, would waste resources on growing flowers. But maybe someone's bringing them down from above, you say! Maybe, except the flowers arrive more often than visitors seem to. And in any case, Sky also grows flowers in her underwater vegetable garden so the point is moot. Speaking of wasted resources, Sky and her friend Rachel have access to makeup. Admittedly, they say they have limited supplies... but if you were fleeing from an impending apocalypse, would you really pack your makeup bag? And by makeup bag, I mean enough makeup to last a fair few citizens several generations?



So does Walter, who seems to think "blue floral wrapping paper" is a good use of resources.

There are worse books out there, but there are also better and I wouldn't waste your time on this one. The only thing I liked was the cover which, while not very well photoshopped, is not without promise.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an OK story. It is a fast, light read.

[Lizzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the number of badly written or poorly plotted free books I have read in the past two years, that I feel completely ripped off though paying $0 for this eBook says it all. My first thought while reading was that it was very juvenile. The main character didn't trust the people in charge - got that with it being repeated on every page. She has a secret admirer, a friend, a boyfriend, she is a rebel, there is a serial murderer loose - and the book ends. According to the kindle reader I was one-third through the book. The rest of the book are advertisements and some chapters for the multiple other books by this author.

I am angry at being treated this way as a reader. I will never read anything by this author because of this. In 10 years she could write the next Hugo winner and I would not read it. Despite how juvenile the voice felt I would have read a complete book, because I always finish any book I start. I would have found something to at least justify one star. In this instance I wish there was a NO star rating.

[Destiny Causby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but too unfinished for it to be so short

[Candy Robosky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very sad that this was only really an ad for Peebles various series. As I was reading trying to figure out what was really going on in Asha and on the surface .....all of the sudden the writer stops and the other 2/3 of the "novella" are simply advertisements. Really?????? So disappointed. It would have been a better advertisement to continue the development of this story and really show us what type of a writer she really is. Instead I felt like I was readings story turned in by one of my middle school students who stopped because it met the minimum requirement for the assignment. VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!! Her description of the surface sky and the view were wonderful but the characters were undeveloped and there were too many plots opened but not developed so all we were left with was a bunch of questions.

[Tina G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apocalypse: Underwater City (A Dystopian Novella, Part 1, The Hope Saga) by Chrissy Peebles and narrated by Elizabeth Meadows was meh all around. It’s forgettable, which is a bummer because the cover is fantastic and the idea has potential. It should be labeled YA. 2 stars.

I’m not really sure what I can say that other reviewers haven’t- Sky lives in a dystopian world and likes to venture out into places she shouldn’t and it catches the eyes of those in charge (who appear to have some nefarious plan). It is meant to be a series and you get more unnecessary dialogue than story in this novella. I struggled hella with this narrator- voices not distinct, a bit annoying at times. I’m not sure I’ll be finishing the series if it continues as is (even though I have the remainder in my library and have heard good things about this author and narrator). At this point, I do not recommend this.

[Mutated Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I have to base my rating on the story itself, I would give it four stars. But if I had to base it on length, it would be three stars. At only about thirty pages, I read this easily and enjoyably on the bus. What I didn't like however, was that my kindle ebook claimed it was one hundred and seventy one pages, one hundred and forty of which were ads and sneak peaks for other books. I'm not sure if I'm in the majority of people here, but I'm not really into the whole sneak peak thing in books. I'd rather wait and read the entire book.

Check out my full review here!

https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpr...

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am really disappointed. I am a fan of this author and I was really looking forward to reading this book. There are a couple issues with this book.

1. It is NOT 179 pgs. It is really 59 pages. It has a bunch of preview chapters from various books by the author. Not one book preview, not two but MANY.

2. The ending is just not there. The book feels incomplete. Where is the rest of it?

I hated giving a book by Chrissy Peebles a 2 star. I have never done so before and I really hope I never have to again. I was super disappointed.

[Rosemary Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have submitted this review after listening to the audiobook of this title.
It's hard to imagine what our world would do if a asteroid threatened earth. Yes there would be those that would find a solution, like in this episode.
Then, afterwards, how would that population re-assimilate into a new world.
A sixteen years old youngster's view of a situation is often narrow and emotional.
This is an ongoing story, so expect to have to read (or listen) to the rest of the episodes, to have the whole story completed.

[Bigbear Woolliscroft · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the opener of another of Chrissy Peebles eternal series and yes it does not stand on its own. Based in an underwater city after a meteor crash, our heroine finds out that not everything is as it should be....and at the end somebody is dead and you need to buy the other four books to find out, what happened. I declined.

[Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good short book to start the rest of the books. Now I'm curious what Sky will do in the next book about the underwater community place she grew up in and the different people going missing.
Sky is a very curious and adventurous 16 year old. She's wondering why they can't leave the Underwater place they live in.
On to the next book.

[mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but found it a very, short just enough to tempt you but not satisfy! The narration was distracting, but I definately want to follow this series. I received this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting to read enjoy the plot so far

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story until I read the words "To be continued." Books have 3 parts a beginning, middle, and end and so many authors seem to forget that lately.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chrissy Peebles created a post apocalyptic underwater glass world and threw a few cracks in just to make sure you were paying attention.




The book is incredible short and I feel this was done on purpose to make you by the next one, this first book is free. This is great book for light reading, enjoyable though the writing is a little frustrating to read because she tends to repeat things a lot. Once you get over how whiney the main character is you actually start to understand her thinking if you were in her place.

[Ashley Fetterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was a very short one, only about 15,000 words. I finished in about an hour or less.

It was a pretty good idea for the start of the series and the concept. Reading this now has me wanting to read the rest of the series. Why? Because of the way it left off and because of how short it was. Ms. Peebles was very brilliant in doing this, because she can do the free kindle, but it won’t be too much of a loss, what the smart thing was, is that the book just sucks you in.

It was pretty decently written, though the shortness is really my only peeve about it. As well as leaving off in what seems to me like the start of book, instead of finishing it completely. It left me hanging at the most crucial time and s a bit of a whiplash. Mainly because it simply ends. It could be the make or break for a reader. Either they want more (very much like I want) or they don’t want to even try.

Apocalypse: Under Water City - An In-Depth Look [Spoilers]

So I don’t have much to work with, since it is just a glimmer of what it should be. So I’ll do my best.

For the plot, it’s interesting but I was only able to gleam a small amount of it. But the gist of it is is that so far there is this 16 year old girl that is more paranoid and politically sound of mind than any her age. Which I was the same way (not to that extreme, but I did do a lot of questioning), but she takes it to a whole new level. Most of this is about her opinions and what she believes to be happening, which I am inclined to believe. But she goes about it the same way any other teenager would, brashly. She doesn’t try to keep her voice down when talking about it, instead talking openly. She needs to be careful or people will catch wind of her.

For her personality, I do like a bold character that isn’t afraid of doing things and speaking her mind. What I don’t like is that she doesn’t think, but acts. But that is the perils of being a teenager on the brink of adult, impatient. I hope that this develops later into something more, and doesn’t remain stagnant.

The setting was one of the oddest places, being off the coast of Miami, but it does allow for the readers to feel a bit more familiar with things, at least those from America. I do enjoy that Ms. Peebles used our world and built upon that and not another world.

I can’t really analyze it much more, since there was not too much to analyze. One thing, Sky is a little too much starry eyed for Brett, it’s a bit unhealthy how much she trusts him and believes in him. It’s going to lead to disaster.

[Iman · Rating 2 out of 5]

We follow a the main character named sky. We start off on her 16 birthday and how everything came to how it was. She's got a mind of her own and is rebellious. She doesn't listen to no one and tends to not follow the rules.
*SLIGHT SPOILERS*
I really enjoyed this book it was very good. The only problem I had with it was that it was short. Like really really really short. It was well written except too rushed. I gave it four stars because eir was good but I would give it 1 star because it was too short. It was more of a part one in a book then part one in a book series. It was entertaining but not very well thought. So its more of a 2.5.

[Ingrid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed. The dialog was juvenile (even for a couple 16-year-olds) and the ending was very rushed. The characters seem rather flat as well...little to no substance. I know that it is just a novella and, therefore, can be reasonably expected to hold a lot of information in a limited amount of words but I feel like most the viable and important information was crammed into the very last page or two. I downloaded the "Suspending Realty" combo so I will be giving Ms. Peebles another shot to impress me. So far, I am not a fan.

[James Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of people knew that an asteroid was going to hit the Earth so they work on constructing a large underwater city. Some years later it seems that anyone who goes to the surface never returns. There is a President who governs the city but he's a dictator. There's a lot of government propaganda the people are fed. Sky is the major character and finally realizes not everything is as it seems.

Over two-thirds of the book consists of ads for other books.

[Lanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

What could have been a cool story was utterly destroyed under the weight of bad editing, crappy world building that made no sense, a "rebellious badass" Mary Sue protagonist who is nothing but a whining idiotic bitch, terribly tame emotionless and childish writing, and 1 of the worse cases of telling instead of showing I've ever seen.

Don't waste your time on this "book" not recommended to anyone. If I had spent money on this, I'd demand my money back.

[Tara Holman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very intriguing story about life after an asteroid hits and humanity survives in an underwater city. Fast forward several years and meet the main character as she struggles to understand why their leader is keeping them below ground and who is killing off young girls before they reach the age of 18, to finally go up top.

[Esmeralda · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a very short book. I feel that there was a lot of telling instead of showing. The main character Sky says she is a bad ass when in reality this is not the case. She is a annoying and whinely character that has a big head. Everything else was just there. People were naive. It's not the worst book I read but not the best.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of humanity surviving a natural disaster by building a city under the sea. This novella is the start of a series and is written from the perspective of a headstrong teenager desperate to see the sky.

[Paula Genereau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sky & many others survived the apocalypse because they live deep in the ocean. As Sky got older she began to question the world around her. Little did she know how cruel the world could be


Hurricane readers book review gave me this book for my honest review. I really enjoyed this book

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super short quick read. I think I read it in about an hour. It has so much potential to be a great book! Unique plot. Fun characters and a under used storyline. However I felt like there should have been just a little more. Other then that a good story

[Kathryn Synoracki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Hurricane Readers for an honest review! Great young adult series! Can't wait for Book 2!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could read the rest of the series!

[Fangs for the Fantasy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The world as we know it is gone. Who would have thought that humanity would suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs? When a huge asteroid hits the earth, only a small group of people saw it coming. Armed with the knowledge that the surface of the earth would no longer be habitable, they built a dome under the ocean as a sort of ark in the hopes of saving as many as they possibly could. They watched in horror as the asteroid made it's way towards the earth and people studiously ignored or denied the implications.

It's been years since the asteroid hit the earth and sixteen year old Sky Hammons is desperate to join the small group of humans who are attempting to repopulate the land. Even though the small dome proved to literally be a life saver, Sky is desperate to leave and sees herself as little better than a rat trapped in a cage. Unfortunately, it seems that the leader of humanity may not necessarily believe that everyone should have the right to feel the suns rays on their skin.

I'm truly thankful that Apocalypse is only a novella because I don't think that I could handle a full length book. This short entree was absolutely riddled with grammatical mistakes causing me to re-read portions of it continually trying to divine the meaning of the text. I'm not one to complain about mistakes in a self pub if I can understand the authors meaning but when it becomes a reoccurring problem and detracts from my enjoyment of the story, it's absolutely worth mentioning.

We are told repeatedly that people who complain about the ruler simply disappear without explanation and so what does Sky do? Well, she's constantly running her mouth about how something just doesn't feel right and questioning if they've been lied to about the condition of the surface. If people are suddenly disappearing because they are too vocal, the intelligent response is not to boisterously complain but maybe to investigate quietly and perhaps question even more quietly. Furthermore, if people are disappearing for being vocal or resisting authority, why is Sky still strolling around growing pansies and sparring with her bff? The disappearances of people speaks to authoritarianism but beyond Sky's continually blather about something not feeling right, we were not given any evidence to back up her suspicions. If her government is so evil why are they allowing the people to train with weapons, thus gaining the skills to revolt if necessary?

Then we have the murder of two young women who we are told are innocent by Skye but the government doesn't seem interested in investigating. Here's a question, why should a sixteen year old, known to have a big mouth be privy to the inner workings of any investigation? In fact, what investigator runs around telling the populace what they've learned before establishing who the guilty party is? If that were not enough, Skye takes objection to the removal of the body. Should the authorities have just left the body to rot in a small enclosed public space?

The synopsis says that Apocalypse: Underwater City is dark and upon reaching the end, I don't think it could have been described in a more inaccurate fashion. At best, Apocalypse: Underwater City is twee. It's only three years old but the pop culture references already feel so damn antiquated. Look, I'm a nineties girl and totally love the Smashing Pumpkins, but never has the lyric "Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage", been so misused. We get it, Sky feels trapped but we don't understand is why exactly, despite repeatedly being told by Skye that this is how she feels.


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