Year One book review

Year One by Nora Roberts
Published by St. Martin's Press on December 5, 2017
Pages: 419
Goodreads

It began on New Year's Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.

I bought Year One on my Kindle what seems like years ago and I have been putting off reading it until now. I want to start off by saying this one was a little disappointing and I would have loved for it to have stayed on its original path rather than moving into the more surreal and magical elements. The problem I had with the magical elements was that it didn’t feel as though it added anything to the story and I feel as though it actually ruined the story for me. I won’t even talk about the ending, not only because how underwhelming it was but also for spoilers.

The one thing that I enjoyed about Year One was the fact that there was multiple points of views with different parts of the pandemic. I really loved the different dynamics from the characters and their point of view on everything that was going on around them. Although it was an interesting turn of events I think there were too many characters introduced too quickly and without enough development, I found myself lost and not really bothering to connect with the different characters. There was also the issue in which some characters were really well-developed but then dropped off towards the end. Overall when it came down to the characters none of them were particularly memorable and I wasn’t connected to any of them so I can’t really do my usual favourites and whatnot because I actually didn’t care too much about any of them.

When I think about Year One and what I would see as being a best bit was definitely the pandemic itself and the way that it spread. When this part started I was really worried that it was going to stress me out especially with it being the year of COVID-19. However the speed in which everything happened not only cured me of the panic but also seemed exceptionally realistic given the infection and fatality rate. I enjoyed reading about the way the world fell to pieces and how they struggled to keep their heads above the water.

The worst bit for me was definitely the ending and the romantic relationships that came and ended throughout this book, it was unbelievable some of the things that happened and went on. I was SO angry about the way everything ended and how it was all explained. I wish there had been some kind of warning that this was going to have a god awful ending that was going to leave me wanting to throw it across the floor.

To be quite honest no I wouldn’t recommend this book, I think there are definitely other books that are better written and have better developed plots and deal with an outbreak better. There were some redeeming factors in this but not enough for me to love the book all the more. I just think if you’re looking for a good dystopian fiction this isn’t it.

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!