Review: Strictly for Beginners in PA reading
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2013
Dark Days is an OK read for those who are totally uninitiated in the PA (Post-Apocalypse) genre, but will be of little to no interest for those who have already read even a few books of this type.  Without knowing at the time I read it, I deducted that DD was written by a female who had no background of any kind with military or tactics, or any actual dangerous situations.  The story line is "soft".  The reading goes quickly because it's a short book and an easy read; but I couldn't wait to get to the end and get it over with.  The overriding focus is about a romance between the two main characters.  That actually had potential to make a good read had it been a significant but smaller portion of events.  The author uncovers every possible way to rehash the details of their romantic breakup in the past and their mutual rediscovery in the story.  It just goes on and on and on repeatedly about the same thing.  It was interesting for a few pages or even a couple of chapters, but the author needed to find something else to talk about.  Good PA books like "Going Home" and "Surviving Home" by A. American or the "Holding Their Own" series by Joe Nobody, or "The Right to Bear Arms" by Mike Foster, develop multiple characters more intensely.  Some authors try to use too many characters, but don't develop them near enough.  AA, Joe and Mike know how to provide the right balance, along with an intensely interesting plot.I suppose if folks who have been living in a cave regarding the many things that could bring life as we know it to a grinding halt, which is probably most folks, "Dark Days" does serve some purpose.  It is an extremely gentle intro to life as it would be.  I got a good laugh out of a couple of other reviews that noted how this author would shake up the reader, so to speak, with a dose of reality - yeah, maybe like a mom scolding her three year old.  DD is the milk toast version of how bad it will actually get if society collapses. If you think the scenarios depicted in DD are scary, you have a lot of reading and preparing to do, because that isn't even close to how bad it will get; and you have a huge learning curve ahead of you.  Read up on things that took place after Katrina and even lesser disasters; and those pale in comparison to a collapse that could engulf an entire region, country or the world.  The tragedy would be if folks start their PA reading with DD and never branch out to more serious stuff.  Newbies really need to read the ones I cited above, plus "The Pulse" by Scott B. Williams, "One Second After" by William R. Fortschen, "Lights Out" by David Crawford and "Holding Your Ground" by Joe Nobody.  All of these are available on Kindle.  These books are not only a spellbinding read, they will make you think about your own level of preparation.  I began my reading in this genre totally ignorant and completely unprepared two years ago.  Now after reading the noted books above and many, many more, I am much better prepared, but still not where I want to be.  At least I do now have multiples of night vision equipment, multiple weapons for every various contingency with lots of ammo, all kinds of survival gear, and a decent cache of long-term food.I will give a shout-out to author, L. M. May,  for two things however:1) There were only 23 grammatical errors in the entire book; and most of those were so small that most folks would never notice them (I'm a school teacher and editor).  That's a low count for SHTF genre.2) I did get one great idea for prepping from this book: use of the bicycle.  It is an obvious choice for an EMP-related scenario of course, but one I had dismissed because my wife has never been able to conquer riding a bike.  I still have mine, but we sold a great bike we bought for her that never worked out after many attempts.  BUT, "DD" gave me pause to reconsider.  EMP is of course only one of many things that could bring society down, not as likely as economic collapse or a pandemic disease, but possible IMO.  If my AWD vehicle and 4WD ATV ceased to function, walking would be the only remaining choice, except for my bike.  But that doesn't provide transport for me AND my wife should we need to bug out vs. bug in.  The answer for us hit me after finishing DD: my wife will be receiving a new "adult trike" with a big basket on the rear for her next birthday.  Anybody can stay upright on a three-wheeler.  And the large basket could be extremely useful after our food cache is depleted for hauling fishing gear to the nearest lake. And it could help transport hunt gear to other areas once the woods near our house are hunted out.  And even in normal times it could serve as a good way to get more exercise by making runs to the grocery store.  So thanks to the author for helping me augment my survival gear yet again, plus taking care of what to get for my wife's birthday!