Status Updates From Sanctuary

The cast of characters is pretty big now, but the author manages to make each one distinct and significant in some way. There's an obvious temptation to compare this to The Stand, but more than the plot, I would compare a lot of the writing in this book to some of King's best prose. The building tension, the strategic placement of twists, expression of intense emotion and the treatment of grief are top notch.

The titular metaphor is completed here just past the 50% mark. Well done, impactful. Propulsive without using cliffhanger chapter endings.

Part of the reason I was intrigued by this book was the opulent prepper bunker aspect, and Sanctuary really delivers on that consistently. Good action, big surprises, heartfelt moments are all intermittent, but the cool tech and political context are always there adding a little extra entertainment value.

Whoah--amending the insurrection act and using deepfakes for government messaging--too close to home.

Ironic that the tagline for this book had me worried. "Survival isn't a fair fight" seemed too simplistic and proverbial to be attached to a compelling, original story. How wrong I was. This is a nuanced, high-stakes ordeal that pulls back just at the outermost border of bleak. Cleary shows signs of a poet, but keeps his prose simple here, which is why the tagline is written the way it is.

Points for using authentic dust bowl diaries to solidify the imagery in the readers' minds.

Flipping protagonist/antagonist structure--smart. In a single chapter the author brings the readers from being completely on the side of the group they've spent 75 pages with, to being totally neutral, hoping everyone makes it out as well as they can.

Now, for the surprises. The stage is set and the story seems to take off here. Great environmental descriptions just often enough to keep the reader fully immersed.

Not unpredictable, the logical progression of the story is throttled effectively to build anticipation while filling in the exposition, never pausing too long before another dose of action. Cleary is (so far) good at giving the reader what they want.

Shades of Sean Adams' Heap

This book demands a little effort on the reader's part to empathize with the characters and to suspend disbelief, but it's fully rewarded sophisticated storytelling and original ideas.