Falling

The Well #2

by David J. Nix

After escaping the Well, the underground bunker that has sheltered his people for fifteen generations from the horrors of Surface, Singer and his three cohorts find themselves falling from the frying pan and into the fire! The world outside the Well could not be more hostile – a place of barren desolation and airless death. However, the blue and white orb hanging in a black sky beckons them toward the true path to Surface.
The escapees promptly run afoul of others that occupy the desolation, and land in confinement with death or return to the Well as the only viable options. Faced with the puzzle of finding a third option – one that takes him to Surface – Singer works to keep his small crew alive long enough to convince his captors to spare them. When the moment of epiphany occurs, Singer’s existence becomes more endangered still, for it requires a return to the Well – which has descended into madness. Even success of his plan may not save his life, let alone take him to mythical Surface. And even a journey to Surface to face the menacing mystery of The Darkness may result in certain death!

125 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2015

About the author

Engineer by day and writer by night, David broke into traditional publishing in 2020 writing historical romance for Entangled Publishing under the pseudonym Sawyer North. In a stroke of luck, a photo of him wearing a cowboy hat on a Regency romance writers’ social media page landed him the opportunity to write a three-volume progressive western series for Sourcebooks in 2022. His love of researching history and bringing it to life – especially the stories of forgotten women – has led him lately toward writing historical fiction. He has a podcast in the works, Plot Twisted History, that tells true historical stories from a writer’s viewpoint – in service of the surprises and plot twists along the way.

David has called Austin home since 1998 with his wife and three children, where he fully embraces the city motto of “keep Austin weird.” He is a member of Regency Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of Central Texas, female centered organizations that have taken him under their wing and shared their collective wisdom.

Reviews

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mystery of the outside world was solved in book 1, for me, as the reader. But it was interesting to watch it through the eyes of Singer and his friends, who were from the fifteenth-generation born inside the well. And then, at the same time, see them meet new challenges in their dangerous adventure.
Singer’s romance seemed a bit soon. Maybe the love shouldn’t have been so quickly declared, and rather just hinted at. Maybe. And perhaps he was just a tad too apt at solving puzzles. Perhaps he should’ve a bit more difficulty with some of them. But aside from that, the characters kept growing on me and I liked the path the story took. So, again, on to the next (and this time final) installment.

[David Nix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 30,000-word sequel immediately follows the original short novel, The Well, picking up just minutes after the first. The narrative maintains the Singer-dominated view of the story, complete with deadpan wit and a slow-burn relationship between Singer and Kate. However, now every passing minute brings them a moment closer to airless death, so the stakes are high from the first sentence.

[Sandra Sandel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that it picked up right where the first book left off. I very much enjoyed the last 2 books and can't wait til tomorrow to read the 3rd. I highly recommend this serise!