Good Morning/Afternoon!! Today on the site I have Sophia Rose back with an Audiobook review of Year One by Nora Roberts, Narrated by Julia Whelan. I’m so excited for Sophia’s lovely review that it has myself eager to pick up this book this month. Hope you enjoy her review and leave your thoughts below, have you read this book yourself yet?

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A stunning new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author?an epic of hope and horror, chaos and magic, and a journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives…
It began on New Year’s Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed?and more than half of the world’s population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river?or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
Audiobook length: 12 hours and 20 minutes

My mind just reels after finishing this book. My hands twitched to grab for more even when I knew that I would have to wait to see what comes next. One can read the blurb and see the cover and title to form certain expectations and I thought I was spot on when this one got started. But then, I realized it was something so much more. Just an astounding blend of post-apocalyptic, paranormal, mystical, and suspenseful romance.

The book opens with ground zero for what is to come. The reader is introduced to a set of characters and follows them and a plague that oozes and rushes horrendously across the world. The author’s choice in how to open this sets the tone and gives the reader the great, hideous picture of it all. World-wide death, then pandemonium, and then that something more- a darkness and a light.

The book introduces a large cast of characters who slowly start making their way in the same direction. It brings them along in paths full of danger and survival, switches to others, shows the crazed and senseless brutality, but also the hope and joy. There is much to show that no matter if the world gets a reset that humans bring their very natures right along with them.

So much is happening in this book that I can’t really summarize it. And I also don’t want to summarize so that others can experience this riveting book for themselves without losing any of the wonder and surprise, shock, and more. Some things were cut and dry and not a spoiler to say that a few rag-tag groups make it through the plague only to discover that this is just the beginning- government has collapsed, the military is herding survivors into labs and pens, evil people are on the rampage, those who are deemed different are open season, and those who just want to rebuild and start over seem to be the most vulnerable from all sides and can’t seem to catch a break for long. A prophecy promises the coming of the light bringer, but most have not heard it and the few who have are confused and can’t take it seriously. But they will when hope is at it’s lowest.

I experienced Year One as an audio so I was carried along in the talented, capably hands of Julia Whelan. Remember me mentioning a huge cast? Oh, and all those emotions and conflicts? She handled it like a pro that just gave so much more to this story than I would have got reading it for myself. It still would have been good in print, but I definitely am glad for the listening experience.

So, in the end, I was both gutted and immensely eager to press on. So many of these characters became favorites and I need to know what becomes of them and the ones I loathed as well. This will appeal to a wider range of readers since its dystopian and urban fantasy, suspenseful and romantic.

About Sophia Rose

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

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