Dust by Jacqueline Druga (CBR-V #40)

Cannonball Read V: Book #40/52
Published: 2002
Pages: 288
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic

Dust follows a group of people in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Jo has been preparing for this most of her life by stockpiling supplies into her basement and encouraging her friends to do the same. Still, she never actually expected it to happen. When the bombs hit, she takes her teenage son and her young nephew she is babysitting into the basement cellar. Her daughter, Matty, is at the school a few miles away. While waiting out the initial few weeks until she can safely go upstairs, Jo makes a list of her close friends and family and it becomes her goal to try and find them.

This book was unique in that it wasn't a YA book. I can't remember the last time I read a post-apocalyptic book that wasn't teenage based. I like YA, but this was refreshing. I also thought it was unique that it followed a woman who had prepared for this scenario. Most of the book took place in her basement or within a few blocks of her home -- no traveling across the countryside or anything. The characters were great. I liked that there was a pretty wide variety of people's reactions to the bombs. Some went psychotic, some stopped talking, some pretended nothing happened, and some simply used sarcasm to make it through the day.

One of the things I didn't like was the ambiguity of some of the characters ages. Initially, I thought Jo was in her 20s. Then she has a teenage son so she must be closer to 40, although she acts more like a 20 year old (such as leaving her children to go off with a new love interest later in the book). I'm also not sure how old her daughter Matty was. She supposedly goes to a school that has lockers (so she must be 13+ or so) but she acts more like she's 7-8 years old most of the book. I'm still confused as to why she kept drawing pictures of one guy as satan throughout the book. I kept waiting for the explanation that he did something awful to her (he found her and brought her home), but they never said anything about that.


Overall, I think it's a pretty solid book, especially if you're tired of exclusively reading YA dystopian fiction. Beware: there is a sort of cheesy love story thrown in towards the end, but it's not too bad. 

The Twelve by Justin Cronin (CBR-IV #51)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #51/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 568
Genre: Post-apocalyptic/Horror

*First of all, I'm going to apologize for the brevity of my last two book reviews. It's a really busy time of year and I just need to get these written before Jan 1. for Cannonball read.*

The Passage was actually one of my favorite books that I read last year. It had a few downfalls, but overall I really enjoyed it. The Twelve is the second book in a soon-to-be trilogy and it didn't disappoint.

I was a little worried because The Passage was so intricate and had a large group of characters that I had a hard time following at times. I like to read a book series all at once otherwise I tend to forget plot lines and characters. The most genius thing in this book was the prologue that summed up everything that happened in the first book. I probably would have been a lot more lost without it.

The Twelve has some characters from the first book but also quite a few new characters. I kind of liked that because it almost felt like just another book in the same post-apocalyptic setting instead of a straight sequel. 

My only complaint is the same as with The Passage: I had a hard time getting a grasp on some of the characters because there were just TOO many to try and differentiate them all. However, this book was a little shorter than The Passage, which was a good thing. The Passage had a little too much fluff in the middle and it dragged. This book didn't drag at all and I couldn't put it down. Even when I forgot who certain characters were or what they had done, the plot kept my attention and kept me reading. 

Swan Song by Robert McCammon (CBR-IV #24)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #24/52
Published: 1987
Pages: 956
Genre: Horror/Post-Apocalyptic

Swan Song has been on my to-read list ever since I heard it being compared to Stephen King's The Stand. I read The Stand in high school and loved it, so I wanted to see how Swan Song measured up. It does have some similarities to The Stand: both novels take place after an apocalyptic event (although Swan Song is a nuclear war instead of a disease) and follow several different groups of people (the "good guys" and the "bad guys") until the final good vs. evil battle at the end. But other than that (and the length), it's a totally different story.

The characters were great and well-written. There's a little girl named Swan is has been cared for by a former wrestler named Josh since the death of her mother. Then a crazy New York bag lady who escapes from the city after the bombs. Then there's Colonel Macklin and his sidekick Roland a.k.a. the bad guys. The story rotates between these different groups of characters until they all come together at the end of the novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel but probably wouldn't read it over and over again like I could The Stand. Definitely worth a one-time read for any fans of long, post-apocalyptic novels in the same vein as The Stand or The Passage.