As starving, travel weary people overrun High Meadow, Tillie and Angus must do a delicate dance to keep the doors open. Angus has set the boundaries for their new territory and Martin is tasked with keeping it safe. Tillie struggles to get everyone fed while keeping an eye on the stores for winter. Wisp helps where he can, vetting the newcomers and finding stragglers, but not every person comes under his scrutiny. He has to learn new skills to deal with the increasing mental pressure of the desperate arrivals. The refugees seem to be only concerned with food and shelter, but a handful of them might be working toward malicious aims. After a dangerous confrontation, Nick warns Angus that the biobots at High Meadow need more security. Within the flood of people, not all are who they seem to be. The gentle people of High Meadow need to prepare for war or lose what they cherish most.
Alice Sabo is the author of character-driven stories in multiple genres. Her characters struggle to make the right choices in difficult and often dangerous situations. Whether seeking lost cultures in an unforgiving galaxy or finding a murderer on the streets of LA, her books have strong world building, multi-layered characters and a satisfying culmination.
You can find all her series and the order in which to read them on her website, along with maps and other extras. www.alicesabo.com
I want more. Seriously, more please. A post apocalyptic setting, but it's ten years post all the disasters. Do you move on and adapt to a changed world or cling desperately to the old? Those are the questions asked in this fascinating trilogy. Very engrossing read, and I love how the new world was built.
This is the 3rd book in the A Changed World series, and I just didn't love this one as much as I did the first 2. That being said, I still really enjoyed the book and would recommend it. And I hope there is a 4th book in the future!
These characters have become friends by now, and I just didn't like Tilly anymore. She became...well, a shrew. She panics at the slightest thing, and rags on her husband a lot. Just seemed out of character for her. She still came through bravely, but not as much as in the 2nd book.
There is a lot of violence in this book, and some not very nice behavior. It fits with the story, and with the growth of Green Meadow. It's just hard to read sometimes - I almost feel a member of that community by now.
Much progress is made in this changed world and there is new hope for survival. Probably not fair, but three stars for the evil returning to try to ruin the peace.
All too often dystopian fiction paints the future all in black and gray. But Alice Sabo’s inventive Changed World series is full of life and color. After a killer pandemic late in what seems to be the twenty-first century, one community—presumably among many—painstakingly crawls its way back into self-reliance after the human race gradually dies off to virtual extinction. These beautifully paced novels depict a hopeful view of the future after the Apocalypse.
In Lethal Seasons, the first book in the series, we learn about the annual “flu” pandemic unintentionally set off by a madman determined to kill off the humanoid “biobots” who serve humanity. Sabo introduces us to the High Meadow Medical Center, where a brilliant couple are struggling to reconstruct a functioning community around the high school where they’re located.
HOW HUMANITY MIGHT RECLAIM CIVILIZATION
Their story continues in Scattered Seeds, as starving survivors from around the region join them. And now, in Gleanings, High Meadow is gaining population, hundreds at a time. And Angus and Tilly Moss, its leaders, are moving ever closer to establishing formal government structures. Yes, in this hopeful view of the future, we can see a time down the road when life has resumed in something resembling just a little what we today view as “normal.”
This is superior science fiction, a worthy and realistic projection of how humanity might reclaim civilization after nearly losing all.
A CAST OF CONTINUING CHARACTERS
This is a big story with vast implications. But Sabo tells the tale through brief excerpts from A History of the Changed World, the work in progress of Angus Moss chronicling life after the Apocalypse and the growth of the community at High Meadow. A quotation, a blurb, really, leads off every chapter. At the same time, we immerse ourselves in the lives of a small cast of continuing characters. By now, in the third book in the series, we’ve gotten to know them well.
** Angus Moss, the soft-spoken older man who leads (never rules) the High Meadow community
** Tilly Moss, his capable and efficient wife who is, in effect, the community’s manager or chief operating officer. As the population grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to establish specialized committees and organizations to tend to the growing needs for food, shelter, clothing, medicine, entertainment, and education for the children.
** Nick, a former FBI agent who takes on the role of managing trade relations with outlying farms and villages
** Martin, formerly a special operator in the US Army, who commands what are now three militias guarding High Meadow: the Watch, who protect High Meadow from the vicious Raiders; the Sentinels, who patrol the borders Angus has set out; and the Rovers, who roam through the territory seeking retail stores with valuable goods
** And Wisp, a biobot who is an empath capable of feeling at a distance the emotions of people and animals. He roams far and wide, looking for people hiding out from the Raiders in homes and farms throughout the territory. Wisp is one of five “brothers,” biobots of the same generation, each of whom has specialized skills in such fields as medicine and chemistry.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alice Sabo writes in the brief bio blurb at the end of this novel that she “grew up in suburban New Jersey with a brother and three sisters. . . After attending college in New Jersey and Massachusetts, she finished her Bachelors in Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico. Since that time, she has worked a variety of jobs on both coasts and in the middle—Boston, Los Angeles, Grand Junction, Long Beach Island. And now she lives in Asheville, NC, where she gardens and writes.”
Wow. Usually by now so many multi-part stories are starting to fade and you can feel the author desperately trying to meet their deadlines. Not so with 'Gleanings'!
Another absolutely delightful chapter in the 'A Changed World' series by Alice Sabo. I even woke up well before my alarm this morning as I found myself literally worried about several of the actors that I had left in tense situations as I settled into bed last night. I find myself caring more about these all-too-real characters than I have about an fictional beings in a long, long time! I'm just glad I had the foresight to make enough coffee to get me ready to hit the road running!
Again, if you're like me and a 'fan' of dystopian tales, this is NOT your typical '...and we foraged and fought and killed all the zombies and eventually made it to a false Utopia' type book. Honestly, what are you going to do when all the houses and malls have been ransacked or destroyed? Does a group of 2 people trucking across the continential USA ever make sense? No. This is definitely the thinking person's view of a dire future, one that asks, nay demands that the reader wonder just what it takes to survive in such a scenario. Where do you sleep? Whom can you trust? What will you eat? How do you prevent the lifestock from getting too inbred? Betcha didn't think of that last one, did you?
Like I'm trying to say: it's not just the 'humans being utter bastards' part (there is quite a good deal of that mind you) but also the 'can we get the corn in before the storm' questions that mankind will undoubtably have to face as we continue to destroy our environment and treat each other with an ever-lacking sense of compassion and real community (yes, I think of these books in large part as training manuals). Sure, we see what that does/will do to us as humans and the way we interact and form new families and communities (if possible). But Sabo's expertise in things as 'simple' (its not, I know, just humor me for a moment) as gardening and harvesting of needed herbs and spices makes this just oh so very real! And the fact that the characters ranging from kids to biobots to adults are all so real with real weaknesses, needs and strengths just makes it all the more enticing!
This series is just a breath of fresh air and exactly what I needed. I can't wait for the ending! Read these extremely fairly priced books and enjoy!
Absolutely loved Book 1. Loved Book 2. Still loved Book 3, but it had a feel of haste.
The story moved along very well with good character development and a good plot, but I found many typos and even an incorrect use of the word reticent. (Context indicated that reluctant would have been the correct choice.) That might sound a bit petty, but it's a pet peeve because I ran into it often in my editing days.
On the other hand, it's a testament to the story and the series that I stayed up late to finish this book and gave it five stars as I did the first two.
Book three delves into keeping High Meadow and it's neighbors safe while preparing for the coming winter. More refugees arrive weekly and the community expands with people as well as new beginnings of every type of business with needs fulfilled for everyone. Wisp finds his one brother and Ted sets up the plan for the final brother to come to High Meadow. New alliances are made. Nick is finally thinking about marrying Jean and having a family. Life is settling down as Gleanings comes to an end.
There is an overabundance of pages on food and coffee which are unnecessary and makes it seem the author gets paid by the word count.
Yet I continue reading.
Entertaining but not a must read. I am invested, so I continue.
Flat characters, decent world building, mediocre story. Continuity issues, and although much has been thought out by the author, there is still a clear lack of research.
I'm new to world of Alice Sabo but I'm definitely a fan. I suggest reading these books in order. I love this genre and found this story to be a well written saga of what might be.
Felt like the filler episode. Stuff happened but quite a bit was off "screen" and it didn't hang together narratively the same way. There didn't seem to be a particular beginning, middle and end but just lots of middle.
I love your words. Every step has untold roads that gets me excited. I know now, I won't be disappointed with anything your mind comes up with. I hope you continue to write, if only, for avid readers like me.
Four and a half stars. This series just gets better and better. Gleanings is the third book in the series and involves more discoveries, a developing society and new enterprises as well as bandits and hostile militia.
Another excellent story in the A Changed World series. High Meadows is being overrun with refugees with all the complications that brings. I am really enjoying this series and highly recommend it.
I really enjoy this series! I quickly buy the next book in the series to add to my queue. Such a good story of life after a manufactured plague (flu). Good vs evil and advanced technology!
I read the first book as part of a set and immediately read the second book followed by the third in the series. I hope there is a fourth book in the works.
Such a nice way to end it. There were several loose ends tied up. Nick and Jean, so glad he made time for her. So happy all the living brothers are back together, in a safe place. Alice, you wrote a great series and I've enjoyed all 3 e books. I will try more of your books. Thank you so much for the entertaining books.
I am so sad to be at the end of this series, I keep scouring google to see if there will be more books to continue this series, but I can't find anything. This world & character building is so realistic it's like you are there without effort. Drawn into the joys, sorrows fear & victory if real heros
If there is a continuation of this series I would read it in a heartbeat. We certainly could use more people or biobots like Wisp around to detect evil. Unfortunately for society that isn't happening and society as a whole seems to be experiencing the beginnings of a death spiral if something isn't done to put an end to the episodes of violence exploding across our land and the globe. Thank God for all those who are performing acts of humanity and love.