Book 35/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
On New Year’s Eve, a mysterious illness spreads rapidly, devastating the world within weeks. Governments collapse, the power grid fails, and more than half the population dies. As civilization falls apart, magic begins to emerge, bringing both extraordinary abilities and terrifying dangers. Lana Bingham and her partner, Max, flee the ruins of New York City while authorities hunt those who are immune or gifted.
Along the way, they encounter other survivors, including a tech genius, a journalist determined to preserve the truth, a young man developing mysterious abilities, and a doctor and paramedic caring for a mother and her three babies. In a world where anyone could be a threat or an ally, they journey west without knowing what awaits them. But their paths are leading toward something that could shape the future of humanity. The old world is gone, and a new one is beginning.
Year One may be a post-apocalyptic dystopian fantasy novel, but best believe Nora Roberts did not leave her romance roots behind and I love that for me 🥰 It was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Readers’ Favorite Fantasy in 2018 (losing out to Circe), so it is safe to say the 31,131 people who voted for it know ball 😅
I liked this well-enough (Nora can do no wrong in my eyes), but a number of reviewers found it quite disappointing that the main body of the novel felt so different from the tone and atmosphere established at the beginning. The consensus is that what initially seemed like a promising dystopian story soon shifted into a fairly predictable urban fantasy, losing much of the originality and atmosphere that made the opening so compelling. Which, fair. But also, I did not care about any of that even one bit because (again) Nora can do no wrong in my eyes, and you can be very sure I will be reading the other two books in the Chronicles of The One Series.
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing