Derek stopped himself at that very thought.
Life before… life before what? What exactly had happened to end everything as decisively as it had?” – After Oil by Kristan Cannon
(I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.)
With no power and no means of communication, people try to survive what seems to be the end of the life they knew. In the area of Sudbury, Ontario, a group of people gather what they need to get through the harsh Canadian winter. In this book, we follow Sheridan, Terrence, Derek, Marissa and many others as they establish their own government when it seems as though the government they knew has fallen.
I was able to really visualize a fallen city in this book. I liked that I was in suspense along with the characters. In some books, I feel like we get the idea of what is going on from the get-go but in this one in particular, the first thing we see is the black out. We see a bunch of people confused and asking questions and we don’t get to really understand what is going on until the characters put one and two together. It’s interesting to see what they need to do in order to survive. Being Canadian, I never realized how much I take heaters for granted in our harsh winters. So many lives have been shattered in this book. So many lives have been changed without our usual comforts. It made me stop and wonder what I would have done if something similar had occurred for real.
I had no trouble getting into the story whatsoever. The only part I had trouble with was the similarity of some of the characters’ names as I kept mixing up Derek, David and Daniel throughout the first half of the book. In all, I really enjoyed diving into such a strategic read.
I don’t recall reading that many Canadian novels so the setting itself felt very refreshing. I recommend this book if you want to dive into a story based on survival; one that would really make you wonder if you would be okay in such dire situations.
I give this book a 3.5 out of 5 rating!
I’m looking forward to reading the next installment of this series!