This week I am posting my review of Extinction Point by, Paul Anthony Jones. This is the first book in his series. I rated it four out of five stars. The third book in the series released this week. I am kind of excited to dig into it.
A scary and action packed book, I enjoyed it. I look forward to finishing the series. I can’t help but wonder what will happen to the protagonist Emily.
What I liked about the book:
1) The construction of the red rain-to the extinction of life on earth was very well done. It was scary, and brutally real to witness through Emily’s eyes.
2) The creatures and what she learns about the fallout from the red rain is so fascinating. I was right with Emily-terrified through every grotesque moment.
3) The authors handle of loss, shock, and not letting the protagonist “magically” find her way out New York City. Emily suffers physical pains from getting hurt, she spends a night terrified in her closet, and has to suddenly plan for daily food and water when a day ago she was eating lunch in a café. She struggles emotionally through it all, dealing with the death of her boyfriend, her parents, her neighbors, and co-workers. I felt her reactions were sincere and genuine. When the protagonist is faced with a particularly disturbing “creature” she makes it to safety and finds she wet her self. That was real-and we see Emily do her best to keep it together.
I hate to say these were things I didn’t like, but more questions I think an editor should have exposed.
1) Jacob and his Alaskan friends found her how again? Social media-which kind? I really wanted to know this. Why-I don’t know call me crazy, but I think I’d be posting stuff to Facebook before I made phone calls to the White House or political parties. I think her “contact to do list” was a little backwards-but that’s just me. The White House-really?
2) Her priority of what she needs to take. I don’t know, was this just supposed to reflect or be more “true to life” of an average person’s survival competence? She’s smart enough to acquire a sweet bike, and take a small stockpile of bike extras, but looses her brain when she hits the camping store. She upgraded her bike but STILL sticks with a lame used army ruck. WHY? She was already chafed by the thing when she was at the store. I was in the Army, I carried those rucks, I know intimately how horrid those things are. I can get you a laundry list of other women who have served who will all agree with me-Those damn things were NOT made for women to carry. You couldn’t pay me money to carry one of those POS into the backcountry. Her food rations, does she like to carry more weight than necessary? Why on earth did she choose to carry heavy canned goods over lighter-and made for long shelf life backcountry food? Idiotic. Her reasoning, because she did think about it, no she’s going to resupply on the road. Only when she’s on the road she did this once. Her clothing supply, it was adequate before she hit the camping store. But once there I would have turned the camping store out. The first leg of her journey is roughly 150 miles-and she’s not going to get pants to pedal in. NO-WAY! I’ve pedaled enough to know she will be raw as all get out after 30 miles weighted down like she is. I’m sorry her jeans would be in the dumpster. I also would have turned out any house I slept in, but maybe that’s just me. She didn’t even look for sunglasses or dogfood-and she knew she needed those. I’d have scrounged up a map-stopped at a bookstore and picked up a good old Randall McNally with pages dedicated to each state. It’s not like she’s going to MapQuest her route-does she magically know all the interstates to Alaska?
3) Screw the bike-I would have taught myself to ride a motorcycle. I get how a car could be trouble with so much debris on the road, but a motorcycle/dirt bike she could have figured out. No way would I have been as calm as she was about pedaling her way to Alaska from New York.
