Review: An outstanding series that will draw you in to follow a post-apocalyptic adventure set in Ireland
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 13, 2013
The family of three was on vacation in Ireland, renting a country cottage far from the madding crowd, when a war began on their first day there.  A bomb went off in the air over the United Kingdom, sending EMP pulses throughout England, Ireland and Scotland, launching them back to a near-medieval lifestyle in moments.Now Sarah and David and son John find themselves ill-equipped to survive in a farm economy with only minimal tools and supplies, the only plus being a few head of sheep, goats, and three ridable horses.  Now they have to learn how to do without all the  modern conveniences and become medieval crofters overnight, in a community that is sparsely populated and also ill-equipped to do without modern conveniences.Some of the locals hate them for being Americans, blaming them for everything that's happened, every death, every disaster.  Other locals seize the opportunity to become brigands and highwaymen, armed with modern firearms and evil intentions.  Law and order has evaporated, and in its place is only the protection you can provide for yourself.Isolated farmsteads are raided and their occupants left dead, or taken as slaves.  The good people find that it's best to live in small communities for protection against these outlaws, but not everyone wants to move into such a group.Now it's hunt, farm, garden...or die.  The supplies one may have amassed by salvage or from one's own stores can be erased in moments by a fire, or the thieving outlaws.  A full stomach in late summer will be replaced by starvation in late winter, as it just isn't possible to store enough food for the whole cold season.I was enthralled by this trio of books and recommend getting the set of three, so that you don't have to wait to find out what  happens next.There are some very original turns of events that you simply won't see coming.  This isn't just a "local survival" post-apocalyptic tale, but a look at how things could go backward in a hurry.  Some parts of Great Britain have a partial recovery, but poor cousin Ireland is left to starve.  Victorian-style factories return, complete with child labor and slavery, and so does white slavery.  Women are chattel, property of the  man with a gun.In this world there are only victims and survivors, and at any moment, one can be swapped for the other.  Those who seem like friends can turn on you in a heartbeat, or manipulate the situation to suit themselves.A love story, a disaster story, a survival story.  The woman who is afraid of everything now has to make it in a world where there is everything to be afraid of.