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Fallen Down World
Florida was supposed to be all sunny beaches and Disney World, the perfect vacation. Instead, fifteen-year-old Dani is the only member of her family not struck with a ferocious new flu. Now the only part of Florida she cares about is the road out. Home is what her family needs, but home is a thousand miles away.
Dani's family aren't the only ones who are sick. The hospitals and highways are littered with the dead and dying. Dani is soon adrift in a world where she struggles to find food and fuel as she tries to get her family home. In this terrifying new world, every stranger is a threat and each mile is a battle.
But home isn't the salvation Dani hopes for. Now, she needs to survive in a world that will never be the same.
Dani's family aren't the only ones who are sick. The hospitals and highways are littered with the dead and dying. Dani is soon adrift in a world where she struggles to find food and fuel as she tries to get her family home. In this terrifying new world, every stranger is a threat and each mile is a battle.
But home isn't the salvation Dani hopes for. Now, she needs to survive in a world that will never be the same.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 23, 2014
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 2, 2016
Way back in the seventies, there was a UK TV program called ‘The Survivors’. The premise was that almost everyone on earth had been wiped out by some kind of virus or illness, and dealt with how the minute number of people left alive coped. They passed through several stages: immediate survival, meeting up with other survivors, scavenging, forming larger groups, beginning to build sustainable communities and so on. Along the way, they dealt with deeper issues, like avoiding hostile communities and exploitation, and law and order: how do you deal with crime when you can’t spare the manpower for prisons, and the criminal may be an essential worker?
It’s a dramatic theme, and must have been tackled a thousand times, in different ways, but there’s always room for one more take on it. This book starts in the same place, with some kind of unexplained flu-like illness that is invariably fatal. Fortunately a few people are immune, like Dani, the main character here. The plot covers her family’s attempts to flee to safety, then the struggle for basic survival, meeting up with a small number of other survivors, and the very first stages of long-term planning. It doesn’t quite reach to settled communities or the more difficult issues, but this is the first book in a series, so undoubtedly that will come later.
You would think with such a well-trodden plot, this would be a predictable story, and in some ways it is, but that certainly doesn’t make it dull or dry. The early chapters, the cross-country escape bid, beautifully captures the tension and fear of Dani and her parents and sister as they try to get home. Then there’s the pathos of coping in isolation, without most of the trappings of the modern world, and having to do the sort of dreadful jobs that someone else always took care of - like burying bodies.
Dani is a smart and resourceful young lady, and although sometimes her decisions felt just a little too clever, and she seldom made mistakes, that’s far better than being stupid. The other characters were well-drawn, too, but they fell rather too neatly into the good guy or villain dichotomy; I like a little more grey in my characters for preference.
The ending fell slightly flat for me. It was hugely dramatic and a real page-turner, but it seemed to me that the villains behaved pretty stupidly, in a number of ways. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses, and accept that you’ve been outsmarted. Plus, waving guns around really isn’t terribly sensible when everyone else has guns too and there’s no hospital to patch up any accidents. Survival is the name of the game. But it all made for a breathlessly exciting climax.
My only other slight grumble is that, since this is YA, the characters we spent most time with were all teenagers, which made me feel about a hundred and three. I am so far outside the target demographic it’s silly, and for that reason (and probably that reason alone) I felt little emotional engagement with the characters, even in their darkest moments.
On the other hand, I read this from cover to cover in no time flat. It’s an engaging, well-written story with a clever array of breathless car-chases and dramatic escapes, intermingled with more introspective passages, very appropriate for the end-of-the-world scenario. Dani may be a bright girl, but she’s still, in many ways, just a kid, and the author doesn’t shy away from the desperation Dani feels from time to time. An enjoyable and thankfully zombie-free post-apocalypse story. Four stars.
It’s a dramatic theme, and must have been tackled a thousand times, in different ways, but there’s always room for one more take on it. This book starts in the same place, with some kind of unexplained flu-like illness that is invariably fatal. Fortunately a few people are immune, like Dani, the main character here. The plot covers her family’s attempts to flee to safety, then the struggle for basic survival, meeting up with a small number of other survivors, and the very first stages of long-term planning. It doesn’t quite reach to settled communities or the more difficult issues, but this is the first book in a series, so undoubtedly that will come later.
You would think with such a well-trodden plot, this would be a predictable story, and in some ways it is, but that certainly doesn’t make it dull or dry. The early chapters, the cross-country escape bid, beautifully captures the tension and fear of Dani and her parents and sister as they try to get home. Then there’s the pathos of coping in isolation, without most of the trappings of the modern world, and having to do the sort of dreadful jobs that someone else always took care of - like burying bodies.
Dani is a smart and resourceful young lady, and although sometimes her decisions felt just a little too clever, and she seldom made mistakes, that’s far better than being stupid. The other characters were well-drawn, too, but they fell rather too neatly into the good guy or villain dichotomy; I like a little more grey in my characters for preference.
The ending fell slightly flat for me. It was hugely dramatic and a real page-turner, but it seemed to me that the villains behaved pretty stupidly, in a number of ways. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses, and accept that you’ve been outsmarted. Plus, waving guns around really isn’t terribly sensible when everyone else has guns too and there’s no hospital to patch up any accidents. Survival is the name of the game. But it all made for a breathlessly exciting climax.
My only other slight grumble is that, since this is YA, the characters we spent most time with were all teenagers, which made me feel about a hundred and three. I am so far outside the target demographic it’s silly, and for that reason (and probably that reason alone) I felt little emotional engagement with the characters, even in their darkest moments.
On the other hand, I read this from cover to cover in no time flat. It’s an engaging, well-written story with a clever array of breathless car-chases and dramatic escapes, intermingled with more introspective passages, very appropriate for the end-of-the-world scenario. Dani may be a bright girl, but she’s still, in many ways, just a kid, and the author doesn’t shy away from the desperation Dani feels from time to time. An enjoyable and thankfully zombie-free post-apocalypse story. Four stars.
June 30, 2014
Fifteen-year-old Dani is on vacation in Orlando, having a great time, when her mom and younger sister come down with typical flu symptoms--headache, chills, fever--along with one odd one--bloodshot eyes. Then her dad comes down with it. Then lots and lots and LOTS of others get sick, leaving Dani to figure out how to get her family safely back to their home in Missouri.
As they make their way across the southern U.S., the red flags keep piling up: Where are the people? Where are the cars? Where is the electricity?? Dani starts to realize that things may never be "normal" again.
Without giving anything away, this debut novel, the first in a trilogy, is about a girl who is learning to cope with a changed world. About the importance of allies, and the need to think ahead. How, in a world without infrastructure, the weather can mean the difference between life and death. And that two-legged animals can be the most dangerous of all...
If you're a fan of Mike Mullin's Ashfall, or of post-apocalyptic YA fiction in general, I recommend this one. The writing is very good; the pacing is solid; and the characters are believable. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is I always want to know how the series ends first! :-)
As they make their way across the southern U.S., the red flags keep piling up: Where are the people? Where are the cars? Where is the electricity?? Dani starts to realize that things may never be "normal" again.
Without giving anything away, this debut novel, the first in a trilogy, is about a girl who is learning to cope with a changed world. About the importance of allies, and the need to think ahead. How, in a world without infrastructure, the weather can mean the difference between life and death. And that two-legged animals can be the most dangerous of all...
If you're a fan of Mike Mullin's Ashfall, or of post-apocalyptic YA fiction in general, I recommend this one. The writing is very good; the pacing is solid; and the characters are believable. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is I always want to know how the series ends first! :-)
February 27, 2015
This was a pretty decent book for its genre. I’ve reviewed other dystopian/apocalyptic books before, and they all seem to follow the same pattern. There’s the cataclysmic event, the breakdown of society, the initial panic. Then the slow recovery. I think every book I’ve read also has the inevitable meeting with the Bad Guys who try to take over in the chaos left by the event. This book was no exception.
That being said, I thought the author did a pretty good job. The viewpoint stayed true to the young nature of the protagonist, and there was some obvious research that went into the settings, particularly the prepper bunker that they find. I wasn’t thrilled about how events played out with the bad guys. I suppose it was more realistic than a good old fashioned shoot out, but it just seemed a bit stupid to me. That was my only issue with the book–otherwise I think it was very well done. I liked that there was no immediate romance. It was more about survival.
That being said, I thought the author did a pretty good job. The viewpoint stayed true to the young nature of the protagonist, and there was some obvious research that went into the settings, particularly the prepper bunker that they find. I wasn’t thrilled about how events played out with the bad guys. I suppose it was more realistic than a good old fashioned shoot out, but it just seemed a bit stupid to me. That was my only issue with the book–otherwise I think it was very well done. I liked that there was no immediate romance. It was more about survival.
February 8, 2015
Actually quite good
So refreshing, an end of the world book with nary a zombie in sight.
I think this is geared for teens and young adults, but I absolutely enjoyed it too. A bit reminiscent of The Stand, which is acknowledged by Dani and Chris, the main characters. But there weren't any supernatural happenings, also refreshing.
A superflu virus kills Dani's family, and almost everyone. She's a teenager trying to cope. While she is very resourceful, she has no super talents and no psychic powers. She's just trying to cope and survive. She meets Chris, a boy from her school, with a Harold Lauder vibe.
I don't know if this is a series, there's no cliffhanger ending, but it leaves the door open for further adventures.
Results: a pretty good EOTW story for teens and YA
So refreshing, an end of the world book with nary a zombie in sight.
I think this is geared for teens and young adults, but I absolutely enjoyed it too. A bit reminiscent of The Stand, which is acknowledged by Dani and Chris, the main characters. But there weren't any supernatural happenings, also refreshing.
A superflu virus kills Dani's family, and almost everyone. She's a teenager trying to cope. While she is very resourceful, she has no super talents and no psychic powers. She's just trying to cope and survive. She meets Chris, a boy from her school, with a Harold Lauder vibe.
I don't know if this is a series, there's no cliffhanger ending, but it leaves the door open for further adventures.
Results: a pretty good EOTW story for teens and YA
July 29, 2014
I'm not one who reads works in the young adult/post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre and that's the only reason why I didn't rate this book higher. Fans of this genre will enjoy the character, the story, and the concepts presented. The book is well-written and the story moves at a brisk pace. As the book draws to a conclusion, the reader will find that the door has been left open for a follow up work which should provide even more twists and turns than this one.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews