New Beginnings

2046 - deadly pandemic and a string of disastrous events has turned the Earth we knew into a hostile environment for the last survivors. And the last survivors? Ohh, they are an interesting bunch of genius level scientists and group of elite soldiers, carefully vetoed, monitored and sent on an isolated base in Antarctica. The plans of the creators of this massive and ambitious project that selected the best of the best of all human minds and established the base in secure location, weren't able to reach the desired finale. Doomsday hit unexpectedly early and severed the arrival of last shipments and groups of people who had to join and reunite with their relatives and spouses at the base. So the last survivors were only males and totally isolated from the rest of the world. The book has a very intense Prologue with a strong post apocaliptyc dystopian feel. The plot quickly expands adding new and intriguing elements - time traveling, DNA experiments, vampires, humans that aren't actually human but descendants of lost Gods. On surface level everything seems exactly like the calm before the storm. 2000 male soldiers and scientists in forced proximity who have to adjust frighteningly fast to the new reality. They are alone, nobody is coming, the world they knew no longer exists. General McCormick has his hands full with managing this new reality, establishing rules, providing a safety net for the men that feel lost. And may be the most important - he has to be an example of moral integrity and support, thus he has to change his perception for gay relationships hard and fast.
The story holds one of the highest possible rankings for unusual bi‐awakening. For a lot of them it was just a reluctant acceptance in the way of “we don't like it, but it's the only option”.
What made the Doomsday feeling bearable was the witty banter, the beautiful friendships, the humour- even a little bit black on the edges and the first romantic bonds that formed. If only they knew how much heartbreak, shocking revelations and hardships were awaiting ahead while they were learning to navigate their new, forever altered lives....
The second installment is a total shock of its own high magnitude. While in the first one the men were learning how to live on their own, adapt and even how to preserve and create new lives in artificial “wombs”, here the story turns darker with streaks of violence and some sensitive triggering topics - imprisonment, death of key side character, cannibalism, DNA manipulation that happened before the events on page and as a result the birth of mutations, kidnapping. There is a huge information overload that felt overwhelming to me. But overall it was fast-paced, thought-provoking and entertaining in slightly disturbing kind of way - for example how far a person could go to survive and how many moral boundaries are acceptable to be crossed. You will find for yourself if you read the story, because what's totally fine for one, could be a solid No for another. I liked Eryn - king of the brawl, to a certain degree but a lot of his personal choices were questionable at best. The twins Ivan and Cian are a real menace, disaster in the making, still growing in power and knowledge. And Cian's book shows his astounding personal growth and development as well as his emotional scars and vulnerability. I have a separate review on the third book so I won't repeat myself here.
The 3 books are closely interconnected, huge and complicated world building that expands in one main ARC and a few secondary storylines.