Found this book one of a series rather pedestrian in execution. The Idea is interesting - a red rain which instantly kills birds and after a delay, people, only to revive and repurpose them with devastating effect. Unlike many similar tales, it's not a standard zombie apocalypse. However the protagonist, a female New York reporter, is a really irritating character who makes so many silly mistakes it becomes impossible to believe she would survive. Even her choices of clothing to take when she finally decides to leave the devastated city aren't sensible. She has the option to take fleeces and other modern walking kit from the camping shop she raids but keeps the woolly jumpers from home, items that, far from wicking away moisture as the narrative states, would become saturated. She takes tinned food and bottled water rather than the dried food and water purification means the shop offers. And despite being armed with a shotgun her reaction when faced with a nasty creature in New York is to shut her eyes and wait for it to kill her.

The style is clunky because every little action tends to be spelled out: for example, we aren't just told that the character removes an object from her backpack, but every little stage of unzipping a particular pocket etc.

The story is also dragged out, taking the whole of the first volume to escape the city. Luckily I didn't have to pay and also obtained volume two or might have found that more annoying. But I can't rate it as more than an "OK" 2 stars. ( )

This book grew on me, even though I didn't *dislike* it to s start with, but I didn't care a huge amount. it didn't take too long till I was interested, and by the end I was enjoying it and wanted to read more. Not life changing, but not the same as every other apocalypse book involving aliens either - not that there's all that many of them, either!

speaking of which, my son is watching V right now and I'm too distracted to think! ;) ( )

This book grew on me, even though I didn't *dislike* it to s start with, but I didn't care a huge amount. it didn't take too long till I was interested, and by the end I was enjoying it and wanted to read more. Not life changing, but not the same as every other apocalypse book involving aliens either - not that there's all that many of them, either!

speaking of which, my son is watching V right now and I'm too distracted to think! ;) ( )

I listened to this story on Audible and while it's a great idea... I had a really hard time getting past the main character's inconsistencies and ridiculous oddities.

1. She lives in NY, so she doesn't drive. That's acceptable. However, she's apparently "afraid" of driving a car on completely deserted roads (or off road- grab an SUV for pete's sake).

2. She decides to head off to Alaska on a BICYCLE. From New York. Alone. Okay.....

3. She decides against packing freeze dried food, because she has canned food. Which is easier to carry on a bike? Just curious.

4. She packs a 2 burner camp stove. A 2 BURNER CAMP STOVE. Plus propane to fuel it. Huh. Why does she need 2 burners?

5. If you're going to head across the country because of an alien invasion and everybody is dead, and you are incapable of driving a vehicle, why not grab a small trailer to haul behind your bike? She's got clothing, camping gear (No tent though, because she's apparently only going to be traveling through towns and will just break into homes to shelter.) canned food, bottled water, a camp stove and fuel, a shot gun, a flashlight, a sat phone... and it's all in her backpack and bike storage.

6. If everybody is dead because of an alien invasion and you are the last person on earth and you are going on a 3000 mile trip ON YOUR BIKE, please be concerned about changing your underwear everyday.

7. She's a reporter and pretty much just an average woman. Then she attacks an alien in a chrysalis with a kitchen knife. Why? Why not just get what you came for and leave? So now she's RAMBO.

It just goes on and on. This story has great potential, but I found myself yelling at the narrator and rolling my eyes constantly at the ridiculousness of it. ( )

Might read on a day I fee brave enough