Author TJ Hapney

Description/Blurb:

Ashley Kelly is your typical American teenager—or she would be if it wasn’t for the cluster bomb that crippled her. Seven years after the invasion, over a hundred million Americans have been displaced by the war, with millions more dead. Ash has spent seven years learning to walk again, and she’ll be damned if she’s going to lie down for anyone, human or otherwise.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

One thing that can be said about Peter Cawdron is that the man certainly has a lot of questions about how things come about and how we as humans react to the hurdles we must face. I wonder sometimes if he doesn’t keep a notepad of weird questions he’d like the answer to. From reading his books I’ve also come to the conclusion that he reads science books like others read novels. This isn’t the first book of the author’s where a text book comes in handy. What We Left Behind immediately comes to mind when I look back at how the author has used simple bits of science to bring us somewhat frightening dystopian results.

There are some things I’ve come to expect from Mr. Cawdron’s books over the years. One is that he provides us with a character we can ride along with. I like the way his characters explore not only there own inclinations, but those of others. The story itself is very interesting. Unlike much other science fiction, when we join this story the aliens have all but won the war against humanity. We join Ashley as she makes her way into a refugee camp, one of thousands that has been shuffled around in a system with nowhere to go.

Mr. Cawdron’s characters do a lot of soul-searching along the way and Ashley is no different. She spends a lot of time thinking about the unusual alliance she’s made to see if peace can be attained. There’s lots of action in this story. As we often find in the author’s stories, the characters are on the run and looking over their shoulders as they search for solutions. In the end, this is a first contact story with a really rocky beginning as far as interspecies relations go.

Another really good story from Peter Cawdron. It was enough to drag me away from the water for a summer day and we all know the blog is a little light through the summer when I can swim. That’s a pretty good recommendation if you know how much I like to swim (almost every day and sometimes twice a day). Happy reading.

On a side note, I just realized yesterday that I never posted the review for Jason Gurley’s book The Man Who Ended the World so I’ll try to get that out in the next few days when I can stand to sit at a desk again for an extended period. Seeing the hip surgeon at the end of July and hoping I’ll be back to normal before too long.