This boxset contains two books, Last Cabin and The Last Orchard. Both books are post-apocalyptic tales, following on from EMP strikes. The first book has a main character called Joanna, who has moved out to a remote cabin on a mountain with her two girls, after her husband’s death. There is a small town near the base of the mountain, which Jo avoids as much as she can. She didn’t deal well with her husband’s sudden death and has retreated from society. Her oldest daughter escaped off to college as soon as she was old enough and has been somewhat estranged from Jo and the cabin, preferring city life.
Her younger sister is happy in the cabin, but misses her sister and is looking forward to her return in time for her birthday. On that day, an EMP attack happens, but it takes her oldest daughter a while to figure this out, after a drunken night out! Jo figures it out fairly rapidly and sets out to the city to pick up her oldest daughter. She comes across terrorists, who are killing people indiscriminately, as they walk through the streets. Jo might have been preparing herself, mentally and physically, over the last few years to survive in her cabin, whatever happened to those around her, but even she was not prepared for the level of violence being shown on the streets.
Even once back at her cabin, she may not be as safe as she once thought. She wil have to learn to trust others and work with those in her local town to overcome a greater evil. A hard task after isolating herself for so long, but it could be that or die!
The second book starts a bit differently. The main character Charlie is at a bank, looking to get a loan to improve the family orchard. Something that has been through a few generations of his family and he studied hard at university, to have the knowledge to make improvements, now his is taking over from his father. But, the banks are not eager to lend any money to people in these dire financial times, especially when the orchard has previously been under severe money issues under his father’s hands and repayments were not kept to. He may have wasted his time and training, if the bank follows through with its foreclosure plans.
As he leaves, a car crashes into him and he goes to help the driver. He then notices the rest of the roads around are all surrounded by broken down cars and has no idea what has happened. A slight memory tries to rise, but he is more concerned with helping the driver to the nearby hospital to pay much attention. Arriving at the hospital soon turns to chaos as the place is overwhelmed and then gunshots are heard! Having just waylaid a busy nurse, they follow her to another exit and run out of the hospital onto the busy streets.
The only suggestion Charlie has, is to get to his family’s orchard, outside of the city and the terrorists that are killing people everywhere. He has now collected a small group of other survivors and they will have to travel for hours by foot to reach that hopefully, safe haven. Events occur as they travel, adding and also taking away from their numbers, with danger flaring not just from the terrorists, but from normal people who have now realised something serious has happened and there is now no longer any sense of law and order around. Some will take advantage of this and only the strong will survive.
Charlie and his group soon find they have to change and become stronger to survive. If they don’t band together with like-minded people, then they will be overrun and die. The Orchard and its nearest neighbours have plenty of food and a fresh water supply, but they are lacking in skills and weapons. A deal must be done to help in this and any such deal will have a down side. Groups of people are banding together, some with evil in mind, but others with the wish to survive and keep their families safe.
The terrorists have not yet left, nor been defeated and they are starting to spread outside of the towns. The safety of the last orchard and a nearby large and vitally important structure for getting life back to normal, are both in danger of attack and who may survive is up to chance and determination.
This is a great set of books in this genre and I read both straight through, as they kept me wanting to know what would happen to both sets of characters. Each is slightly different in the scenario being told in the storylines, giving the reader great main characters that are both believable and fierce in their want to keep family safe. The EMP scenario is one that could come true in our own near futures and is one that a lot of people in our current society would have no skills to survive under. We are all too dependent on our gadgets and tech to have any real insight into where our food comes from and what to do to survive!
A great set of stories and a good boxset to buy and read, which I would recommend to others who like this genre. It’s easy to read, keeps your attention throughout and is totally believable in the scenarios portrayed. Some events are very graphic in their violence and evil, but it shows the extent some will go to get what they want, whether this be the terrorist groups or normal civilians using the situation to their advantage and their base desires. It gives you information and ways of survival hints that could maybe save your life in the future. You have to decide who you may become in such a situation and question your own morality.
I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and have also bought the boxset, since it was on offer. I will continue looking out for some more books by this author to read, as I have loved every one so far! I have freely given my own opinion of the boxset above.