Year One

Not very interesting and I really dislike the writing.

The book starts off quite strong. We're in New York, and a plague has broken out. Either you're immune to the plague, or you catch it and die. The plague somehow strengthens the ability for a small percentage of the population to use magic. Society collapses, and people flee the city.

However once the book moves onto the bit where you travel the countryside, foraging for supplies, finding shelter and more travel companions (or losing them) it kind of loses steam a bit.

Especially when you get to the too good to be true 300+ person community of New Hope. Which obviously is going to have a conflict of some kind (you let those bad guys leave, who have intimate knowledge of the town, and you don't think they're going to come back and bring more bad guys with them? Really?)

The author builds up a lot of different characters, and so when Lana abruptly leaves them all behind, I don't think that really helps the book either. Especially considering Lana by herself isn't that compelling of a character.

The beginning of this book was amazing, and that's about it. I haven't read many dystopian books, and liked the few that I have, but this is a very stock urban fantasy novel disguising as a dystopian. The sudden shift from ‘plague' killing billions, how it effects people and how it starts to witches, fairies and elves is so jarring. Maybe, if I knew before hand it was going to be more like a fantasy novel my expectations would have been different. Instead it was disorientating discovering that 90% of it was very different from the set-up. Seriously, my copy's description had nothing about the fantasy element it was leaning more towards Sci-fi. Honestly, though I don't think I'd would have liked it much if I did before hand, would have just given it a 3. I found the writing style distracting and difficult to know who's talking at times. The main characters Jonah, Lana, Max and Arlys were very boring, bland characters. There were many other characters (good or evil) were just as bland and I already forgot about them all. I really liked the beginning and I'm disappointed it turned into a boring story with unrememberable characters.

Nora Roberts is a wonderful writer.

She is one of my favorite romance novel writers, maybe even the most favorite, and expanding her romance writing style to urban fantasy is fine by me. :-D

I like Nora Roberts' kind, gentle look on humans and human relationships. I like her characters. I like the friendships, and I like the view on women she has. It's OK to be a bad-ass fighter who likes pretty things. It's OK to be a sweet, soft, fashion loving chef, who becomes a tiger when her cubs are threatened. I feel Nora's characters are real people.

I was expecting more traditional fantasy, though, because of what Tomi Adeyemi wrote (when she accused Nora Roberts of riding on Tomi's success by naming the #2 in series “of blood and bone”, as if she stole Tomi's book title), but this is in no way related to that.
What I got was a post-apocalyptic story... well, apocalyptic story of magical people - people who can heal, sense things, people who are fairies, elves, and other things.

And then there are the a-holes, the bigoted hateful people who want to harm others just to harm them...

I am writing this 2021. Year 2 of the Pandemic. And I can't avoid relating the events of this book to what is happening now, here. How some a-holes are attacking people who look Asian in USA (and possibly elsewhere as well) because of “China virus”. Idiots.

A-holes like that make me believe in Eugenics. I can't imagine anyone would be worse off without those people. Not even themselves.

This was REALLY good!!! I especially LOVED the lore and the world building!!!!! The descriptions of the magicks was Fascinating!!! I also really REALLY liked how Nora Roberts writes characters!!! I grew so SO attached to this cast of characters (most of them, anyways) and I can't WAIT to hear more about them!!! Especially after that ending!!! I'll definitely be starting the second one ASAP!!!!!

Solid 4 stars!

This book is crazy! I felt that the book started really good, creepy, and uncomfortable. But in the middle, it was a little slow, and the end wasn't great!

Here we have a modern world that is infected by a virus that has 100% of mortality. However, there are some people that are immune and these people start to develop magical ability. Some of the people already knew that they had power and some are still developing it. Here we see a lot of characters and how they survive in this new crazy world. How they start to build the communities and how there are a lot of people who just want to do evil and destroy everything.

Nevertheless, the reading is very captivating and exciting. There are a lot of super tense moments and we just want them to end.

The best part of this book is that the writer is not afraid of giving complicated and often deadly challenges to her characters.

As this was my very first Nora Roberts book, I was really looking forward to liking it.

Interesting story, well written. A bit to religious for me this Day. Still a good read.

Dystopian novel, heavy on the fantasy and I enjoyed it. The action does go up and down...so it's not fast paced all the way. About halfway when the smoke begins to clear, the story does slow down some..as people begin to settle but it didn't make me want to stop reading. I was invested by this point.
Some things kept me from 5 starring this. There are a lot of characters so it's told from several point of views. I didn't get confused. I got where everyone was in their story but it had several main characters and that can leave a story with one too many holes to fill. I would have also liked just a bit more explanation between the magical races that appear. Such as the differences between them etc etc.
Other than that, I am definitely looking forward to getting my hand on the next book in this trilogy.

Quite odd, jumpy narrative and felt completely disconnected from the characters.

Also, somehow ended up listening to the abridged version of the audiobook so no idea how much I missed. Why are abridged versions even a thing?!

I was honestly surprised by the number of good reviews on this book. The dialogue was awful, the characters were uninteresting, and Nora skipped all the potentially exciting parts in the book to move the plot along! It honestly seemed like a setup for book 2, which is weird for the first book in a series. It felt like all the action happened off-screen, and then I had to sit through monotonous conversations about the characters' plans for the future.

I think there was a lot of potential here, but it did not hit the mark.

It seems Nora Roberts decided to write a post-apocalyptic paranormal fantasy. And, she did a pretty damn good job of it. This is a pretty dark book. There is death, lots of death. And there is dark evil. Of course there is also hope (otherwise it wouldn't be much of a story) and there are some good and courageous characters. This appears to be the beginning of a series. I expect I will continue with it.

Meh...I found it predictable and the writing itself, the dialogue, a bit too soapy for my taste. And in the end, I really did not care about any of the characters.
While reading it, I kept thinking how much better Justin Cronin's The Passage (and its sequels) are. Now THAT book made me feel the terror and the anguish, the hope and the love. And it made me care.
2 1/2 ☆

I started this book without knowing what it was about – I just knew it was popular and some of my friends were going to read it. So, I picked it up and went “Woah...” I figured the sci-fi, but didn't think it would that much fantasy. Right out the gate too; I know some people say the fantasy really doesn't set in until later– and there are more fantasy elements later, but it starts with blood in a... was it a mushroom circle? fairy circle? One of those types of things.
So, expect the fantasy more than sci-fi.

There are also some very large time jumps. This book is like a prequel in that everything is explaining how the virus attacked, how people started living, which big bads came out, and we learn who “The One” is. So, the time jumps are necessary in order to cover a whole year. I didn't always like them and at the end of the book I wondered if the multiple POV were even necessary.

There is death in this book and mentions of rape. I was a bit taken aback by the death part – so shocking with who dies. Then again, this is an apocalyptic world, so I suppose not too crazy.

I did really like this book. It isn't one I had to read in one sitting, I tended towards wanting breaks either from the violence or sadness or just because... well, I'd feel like I should/could stop reading. I don't want to say I lost my interest since well, I didn't, but... I honestly don't know how to talk about this book.UGH.

I thought all the characters were interesting, albeit some felt a little ‘holier-than-thou' at times. All the main ones definitely have separate personalities. There wasn't one POV over the other I preferred, although with Lana sometimes I got tired of Max.
The magic wasn't ever explained, but I think this is something the next book will cover. I hope. I want to know why the sickness and everything that happened caused some people to have wings.

All in all, a good book and I'm glad I read it. It is just a bit weird (story and the writing), slower paced, and feels like a set-up for the rest of the story. I will recommend this to people with a love of dystopia with a dash of fantasy and are prepared for a long one.

I was very excited to read Year One by Nora Roberts. First off, I have read close to thirty of her books. For a while there I was plowing through them. She writes great characters and exciting plots. Especially her later work. I also have read pretty much all the post-apocalyptic books I can get my hands on. Except for “The Road” which I won't touch with a ten-foot stick. 

My first observation is a positive one. The entire novel rests on an interesting, if not a slightly trite premise. World plague that decimates human the population. The thrilling thing is that the epidemic is based on lore mythology and magic. The disease is itself named “Doom,” and is made of these dark energies escaping and infecting the world. I think. Nora Roberts was a little fuzzy on it. In response to these increasing darkness and sickness infecting, a reaction in people with any spiritual and/or magical is that the latent power these people had increased exponentially. Another point I'm fuzzy on. Otherwords, some people get big woo-woo, others not so much. No idea what it is based on or why. Some people get nothing at all and remain human. Also no clue. It just is. Plot points like these that lay the foundation in novels, in my opinion, need to be rock solid. Otherwise, niggling questions remain and throw the reader's mind out of the story. 

The second observation is also a positive one. Nora Roberts knows how to write good dialog. It may be a little schmaltzy, but it flows like people talk. The dialog was well written. I may not have liked what the characters were saying, but she is damn good at writing it.  

Character-wise, it is just damn confusing. She has some well-written ones in there that are fleshed out, and some that are flat as a board (I am looking at you Eric and Allegra) and you scratch your head wondering what the hell. Why are the ones that are vapid come from out of nowhere and give so much page time? Also, the pacing and plot arcs are jarring as hell. I have never read a novel that jarred me like a car accident from one vignette to another. 

Lastly the third act of the story. I am going to speak in broad terms so as not to do any spoilers, but I spent 75 pages scratching my head. It was all so bland and wrapped up in a neat little bow. I didn't give a damn about the characters at the end. The ones that I really liked and thought were interesting got unceremoniously excised from the last act of the novel which was a weird pacing and story arc thing to do. Maybe I was just slightly miffed at that. Where are my Arlys, Fred and Jonah? She should have at least nodded her head at them and told us a little of what was going on. 

I want to be very clear here. This isn't a crap book. Nora Roberts is a master storyteller, but this isn't her best work. That's ok not everything is going to be a shining star. It is a serviceable book with highs and lows and is very readable. I will read the next book in the series to see what happens. If I had to give it a rating, I'd rate it 3 out of 5. 

Okay, Nora Roberts, that sure was different. Not quite sure it worked, but you've got me on the hook for the next book. The pacing of this was strange - a lot of build up to the beginning of the Doom, then BLAM we're in the aftermath. Transitions from scary, creepy bad things in subway tunnels to “let's build democracy from scratch” in a somewhat awkward way, and jettisons some intriguing characters (perhaps they'll be back in book #2, although the focus looks like it will be on the Savior Child). I'm giving it three stars because I actually returned it to the library un-read (unheard of for a Nora Roberts book in my previous reading history) but then picked it up again 4 months later. As I said, she's got me hooked but in more of a”I wonder if/how she'll pull this off” way than a “gotta have it” manner.

Nora Roberts never fails to entertain and this latest book is no exception. I have read a few of her books that have had a pagan witchy feel to them, but this one added a dystopian element to it. It had me hooked from the very beginning and was creepy and scary at times. So if you are looking for a Nora Roberts romance novel, this isn't it. But if you enjoy a well written dystopian fantasy then you will be hooked by this one. My only question now, is how long do I have to wait for the next one?!

Spoilers!

WOW!! I was surprised by this book. I have never read a Nora Roberts book... (I think?) I am pretty sure I tried and put them down. My Aunt was reading this, and said its a post apocalyptic book, and she think I'd like it. Well I did! I mostly did anyways. The story premise, phenomenal, while delivery was a little.... less impressive.

The book starts out innocent enough, a family gathering, and then some weird things happen, blood is involved, and then all of a sudden, everyone is getting sick. I could have done without the super detailed description of mucus and diarrhea, I almost gagged while reading it. And then, the family spreads their mysterious sickness to like, the world! That escalated quickly. This apparently releases magick into the world. There are fae that are released as well. There are not many people left, the Doom(sickness from earlier) killed about 2/3 of the world population. The only reason I coudnt give this book 5 stars was I felt the prophecy of the one was thrown in last minute.

There is a pandemic that sweeps over the world killing many and changing some into magical beings. The people remaining have to try to survive the new world for there are some that will kill just for the fun of it. Lana and Max leave NY to try to find safety elsewhere. As do Arliss, Fred and Katie, meeting new people and banding together to try to form new societies. There are factions against the Uncanny (new magical ability people). There are Dark Uncanny who want to take over the world.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel.