Year One by Nora Roberts

Author: Nora Roberts
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date of publication: December 2017

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.

Nora Roberts has kind of been hit or miss with me when it comes to her fantasy series. I have loved some of her older ones. However,  I really didn't care for her last witch series and only read the first two out of the trilogy.  I had high hopes for this newest series. Year One is about a virus that wipes out 80% of the world's population with magic thrown in.  It sounded like a good read.  Unfortunately, it was more of a miss than a hit for me.

The story overall was entertaining enough.  But it honestly it was kind long and kind of boring.  That's not really something I would hope to get when I read a post apocalyptic story. There was no real suspense or sense of danger throughout most of the book. There were many predictable parts that anyone could see coming a mile away. 

The characters were just there and didn't really add much to the story.  They could have been anyone.  Except maybe Fred.  She was fun.  One of the biggest problems that I had with it was the cast of characters.  There were too many to follow. There are the initial ones that we follow throughout the majority of the book.  Then we are all of a sudden introduced to more and more once they settle in New Hope.  I lost track of who the original ones were by that point.  Then they are all dropped to follow only one for the last 20% of the book.  It felt unsatisfying to not know what happened to the rest of them.

I'm not sure the whole magic element worked for me. It made no sense why people were all of a sudden getting powers or changing into fairies and shape shifters. I guess the biggest problem is the same I have with the Walking Dead.  We have no idea what caused the virus.  I feel a bit confused.  Was it a bird? Was it magic?  Where did all of the magic come from? Hopefully in the second book there will be more of an explanation.  It was a long book with no real answers.  I also felt like it was very reminiscent of The Stand.  It had the good versus evil fight.  The good and bad making their way across the country to converge together in one place.  The big bad and the chosen good....  I'll probably try the next one just to see what happens.  I'm just holding out hope it's better than this one.