When the Sky Falls

This book was scarily realistic on what could happen to the world if humans don't stop messing with everything.

When the poisonous air keeps everyone from going outside.

Emily manages to get herself and her sister sammi to the Mall, which is the best place to hole up until things getter. They spend 15 years there in hopes that one day, they can return to a normal world but humanity is just as sick after the deadly fog as before it.

It started out really good but when they hit the 15 years later part, it kinda fell apart a bit for me. The girls being older seemed a bit of a weird transition and their likeability went down. It was almost as if the next aprt of the story was rushed and not quite as cohesive.

I am open to listening to book 2 becuase the ending did catch my attention enough to want to.

3.5 stars rounded up

Explosive Opener Leads To Survival Epic. One of the first things you need to know about this particular (now) duology of When The Sky Falls and When The Dawn Breaks is that this is now the third time this story has been revised and repackaged - thus, when it feels like the book suddenly switches gears and becomes seemingly an entirely different book at around the 2/3 mark or so... that's because in its original forms, it *was* a second book at that point.

But taking that into consideration and reading this duology back to back, effectively reading what was formerly a four book series all at once, feels a bit like reading a shorter version of Douglas Adams' epic five volume romp through space in The Hithhiker's Guide To the Galaxy... but in a far more grounded, survival scifi type story. As with The Complete Hitchhiker though, this story actually works quite well in this form.

Part I has the explosive opener reminiscent of the opener of Brett Battles' SICK, the opening salvo of his seven volume epic apocalyptic survival series PROJECT EDEN, and in some ways - the mall scenes in particular, but also some of the scenes between the opening and that point - really challenge Battles as to which is truly the more compelling story.

Part 2 of this text is set a bit "down the road" from the events of Part I. The Apocalypse has effectively happened, and the survivors have set up what civilization they can. Here, the story becomes more of an exploration-survival story, where we learn how the world has changed from the one we know... and how humanity, in many ways, never really changes much.

While Part I has its heart wrenching moments and makes the room a bit dusty at times in certain ways, Part 2 manages to twist these things a touch and do a bit of its own thing - which is why it can be jarring to read it in the same book as Part I - but also manages to up the stakes a bit in its own way, before finally leaving the reader almost literally begging for the continuation of the story - now to follow in When The Dawn Breaks, with both books being released together.

Very much recommended.