Review: An exciting disaster novel!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 18, 2014
Flare explores what might happen if solar flares took out the world's technology. Let's face it, our world is pretty much dependent on technology - so, the results are not pretty. People must suddenly fight to survive. The synopsis describes the results pretty well, so I'll skip right to my review.The negatives:Quick degradation of society.It did seem like things went downhill awfully fast in this book. I definitely think that a disaster of this proportion might cause people to act in ways that went against their character, but I don't see it happening quite so quickly. Of course, there would be people who would take advantage of the situation or react badly, but it seems like, at least at first, there would also be more people really trying to help out and do good. We did see some of that (especially later in the book), but the occurrences were few and far between.What I loved:The flares.I thought that Grzegorzek did a fantastic job creating a realistic disaster and imagining what would happen to the world because of it. Since one of the characters was an expert on the flares, he was able to explain why they caused the damage they did and what could and should be expected. Now, I'm not a scientist, so I can't say for sure that everything that was said was absolutely correct, but I will say that there was a thorough explanation given for everything that happened and that it all seemed very plausible to me. It also wasn't explained in such a way that it was too technical, which would either make it boring or confusing. One thing that I loved about the flares themselves was how beautiful they were - I was fascinated by the idea that people would be enthralled by the beauty of this thing that was going to destroy their world!Malcolm and Emily.Malcolm and Emily were a unique pair - opposite of the typical stereotypes that we see. Malcolm was a journalist. He was used to seeing the good and bad in the world, but he wasn't exactly tough, and he certainly wasn't prepared for an apocalypse. He was completely dedicated to his daughter, though, and was willing to sacrifice whatever he needed to in order to reach her. Emily, on the other hand, was ex-military, and she was prepared for just about anything. I enjoyed these two together and was rooting for them to become a couple. However, I appreciated that the book did not center on a romance between these two.Government plots.When the world is coming to an end, there are always people who try to pick up the pieces and salvage some sort of government. As is typical in this sort of book, not everyone who tries to take over is doing it in an entirely positive way. Malcolm and Emily certainly find this to be true when they are captured by a government army that is supposedly trying to rebuild society. I was very intrigued by this aspect of the book and hope that we get even more of it in future installments.I recommend Flare to anyone who loves a good disaster story. This story was exciting and action-packed! I give it 4/5 stars.***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***