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EMP Survival in a Powerless World #8, 15

The Last Cabin and The Last Orchard Box Set

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Last Cabin

A cabin on the outskirts of a city becomes the sanctuary for a mother and her two children during the unfolding crisis of an EMP.

Life has hardened Joanna Mercer, and she has spent the past four years since her husband's death preparing herself against the uncertainties of life. After an EMP destroys the nation's power grid, every ounce of that strength will be tested.

The Last Orchard

When an EMP renders the country impotent, Charlie Decker and a small band of survivors head toward his family's orchard outside of Seattle. But while food and water is abundant, their safe haven becomes a target not just for the enemy, but anyone looking to survive.

709 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2019

493 people are currently reading
116 people want to read

About the author

James Hunt

167 books228 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

James Hunt's passion for writing began at an early age. While his journal of yesteryear may never be the work of great fiction, he's been working hard every day since then to bring pages to life. James has well over a decade of writing under his belt, but his professional career in literature didn't take off until 2014.

James currently lives in Orlando, FL and when he's not pounding away at the keyboard you can find him at the theater or somewhere outside enjoying the beautiful Florida weather.

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5 stars
109 (45%)
4 stars
90 (37%)
3 stars
26 (10%)
2 stars
10 (4%)
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5 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Cath.
950 reviews17 followers
November 27, 2019
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.
Profile Image for Pat Eroh.
2,618 reviews32 followers
November 28, 2019
This is a great boxset by one of my favorite authors. The first book, The Last Cabin is about a strong woman taking care of her kids in a world gone crazy. Joanna is a fabulous character and this is a great story that held my interest throughout. The Last Orchard is similar in that Charlie and his group make it to a safe place but now must fight off all of the outside world to keep their safe location. Both books are really good reads and the price is awesome.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
226 reviews3 followers
January 5, 2020
I enjoy this type of fiction. However, this book was, in my opinion, horrible. Far too simplistic, no actual sense to it, and totally unrealistic. The worst part, for me, is its underlying hatred. It portrays the worst of Islamaphobia, xenophobia, and other bigotry that is tearing this country apart. I hated it and wish I could leave no stars. I made it through the first half and deleted it; I do not want this type of tripe in my library of books. Absolutely dreadful and I cannot understand the 5-star ratings. Simply cannot.
Profile Image for Scarolet Ellis.
7,445 reviews53 followers
November 27, 2019
The Last Cabin Boxset by James Hunt is sucha an amazing box set that I have had the privilege to read. I loved reading very much cause it has suspense and mystery in the story and I love the characters and story line. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about mysteries, suspense, Sci-Fi and thrillers.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
128 reviews3 followers
August 7, 2025
Loved it! No, really loved it!

The story was very convincing and got me wanting to start preparing for an EMP to hit the US. That, I believe will be the way the next war is fought, but when someone launches against us, we will also launch against them. The winner will be some other country that will hit both of us at the same time. Because neither will have enough weapons/vehicles/aircraft operational for a fight like in the book.
2,416 reviews
November 27, 2019
This is a really great box set. I always look forward to reading James Hunts books. They are well written with well written characters. I find them hard to put down and the story’s interesting. I highly recommend reading.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
295 reviews
December 13, 2019
Enjoyable while still frightening

The twist in this box set is what makes this unique and well worth reading. Of course I can’t say what I really want to without revealing too much! Story is well written but sometimes a little slow. It makes up for that with excitement throughout. Good job Mr. Hunt. I look forward to reading more of your books!
Profile Image for Krisaundra.
218 reviews13 followers
January 13, 2020
Easy Reads

Despite there being two books in my opinion both books were incredibly similar from the type of disaster to the characters and even the plot. While nice easy reads for things like a book to take on a plane or for some down time on a weekend away it never came across as anything deeper than that but they were both still a good read.
Profile Image for Susan.
2 reviews1 follower
September 14, 2020
When I started I couldn't put it down. Then I started noticing editing errors. I almost stopped reading because of the errors. Put I wanted to know what happened. So I started counting the errors at 28% of the way through the books. I counted 32 editing errors. That really is a lot. I liked the books a lot except for that.
3,352 reviews18 followers
November 26, 2019
A great boxset from James Hunt! Mystery, intrigue, suspense and captivating story lines. Well written and you'll be turning the pages until you're finished reading. Highly recommend.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Profile Image for Paul Madsen.
507 reviews4 followers
December 19, 2019
Well thought plots

I enjoyed both stories in this boxes set, The Last Cabin and The Last Orchard. Each bringing strength and growth to the main characters as they grew from the challenges that they faced. They each could be made into a movie I would do see.
215 reviews4 followers
August 9, 2020
Great read

Another great EMP box set. I enjoy these stories and have been reading them fairly fast. They have great character and the stories are believable. My only issue is that there are quite a few spelling mistakes in them.
9 reviews2 followers
January 1, 2021
A different slant

There were quite a few typos but they didn't distract took much. A different approach to AMPs. A little too violent and bloody but that is what a lot of people like






Profile Image for Charlyna Hines.
51 reviews
February 28, 2021
The last Cabin an boxset ; EMP survival in a powerless world

Both book were good ; I enjoy reading books about how would American survive if something would happen to our way of life like EMP.
Profile Image for gloria marquardt.
733 reviews7 followers
September 17, 2024
For diehards mainly.

These were real war stories. Not survival only. There were foreign enemies. For what they were , it was good reading but not my genre so much. I would recommend this book to many pepper readers.
12 reviews
December 23, 2019
interesting

a bit different perspective on survival after the shtf... didn't agree with everything I read but believable... good read, good story...
10 reviews
January 1, 2020
Great read

Loved the story lines and the characters. Pulls you in and makes you really think about what if... it could happen!
Profile Image for Donna Arthur.
Author 4 books3 followers
January 9, 2020
Hang on to your hats

This book is intense. It says exactly what would happen in The event of an EMP. Scary as he'll and yet filled with the people who make it through.
21 reviews1 follower
February 17, 2020
Extremely violent

Couldn't finish it, it was just to violent, nothing but death and violence, I couldn't go on, it made my stomach churn
Profile Image for Barb Gunzenhauser.
55 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2021
Another Good Read

I enjoyed this story. Love it when the author concentrates on family. The characters are well written and storyline is fast paced.
Profile Image for Royce Gordy.
5 reviews
November 2, 2024
It grew on me

It took a minute, but suddenly I was looking forward to getting back to the story! It was a great story and well worth reading.
494 reviews4 followers
January 8, 2020
James Hunt is one of my all time favorite writers in the post apocalyptic genre and he certainly doesn't disappoint with The Last Cabin. It contains 2 separate novels, The Last Cabin and The Last Orchard. Both great stories of hardship, perseverance and survival with great characters and plots.
I took a short break between reading both books as I usually find reading 2 in a row from the same author can be a bit repetitive but needn't have bothered. Both books are such stand alone stories written without making you feel like it was the same story just with different characters.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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