Caffeinated Reviewer

The nightmare is far from over.

After surviving the EMP blast that crippled their cruise ship, the exhausted passengers from Rose of the Sea finally reach dry land. But the deserted island has a sinister history, and one wrong step on its sandy shores can mean the difference between life and death.

Gunner- When Gunner loses his position as leader, he fears the threadbare semblance of order will fray into lawlessness—and nothing will be left to stand in the way of desperate humans.

Gabby- Now also caring for an orphaned child, Gabby is determined to see herself and her tortured family to safety on the mainland. But without her epilepsy medication, her condition is a ticking time bomb—a fatal seizure can strike at any moment.

Zon- Hungry for power, Zon appoints himself as leader of the fracturing group. When a reckless decision leads to a deadly accident, he finds himself at the mercy of the island and those he tried to control.

Tempers are high. Supplies are low. Will the group shatter into chaos? Or will the island’s deadly secrets destroy all they have left?

Find out in this gripping post-apocalyptic EMP survival thriller.

We’ve got Sophia Rose on the blog today with an intense post-apocalyptic adventure that’s available in Kindle Unlimited. Check out her thoughts on Feral Fate by Kendall Talbot.

Sophia Rose’s Review

What happens when passengers and ship’s crew are at sea on a cruise ship when someone fires off an EMP bomb overhead? How do people used to tech and convenience learn to survive on a few skills, a few materials and food, and the wild nature of the world in the middle of a vast ocean? An adventure of epic proportions where only the strong and lucky will survive.

Feral Fate is the second high-adrenaline segment of the Waves of Fate trilogy of tightly connected books.

Rather than summarize this second segment and potentially spoiler the series for those who might be interested in starting the series, I will restrict my remarks to a little recap from the first book and talk a bit about the characters, tone of the books, and my thoughts on the writing and overall plot.

As I said in the opening, the passengers and crew of a cruise ship have their lives forever disrupted when suddenly all power is gone- ship power, personal items, communications, pacemakers… everything. They are alone and stranded at sea, but that is just the beginning.  A plane slams into the side when it loses power and falls out of the sky.  Another ship.  And, another EMP bomb.  Yes, they figure that much out even as a ship of over a thousand souls is reduced to under a hundred battered, shocked, and starving survivors who must find a way to get to safety and learn how to live in a powerless world that is likely at war.  Someone hit the US and America might be in chaos, but that is home and where they want to get.

The story has four primary narrators: 

• Gunnar, who was next in command when the captain collapsed dead from his failed pacemaker.  Gunnar never wanted to lead and after a brutal time and hesitant decisions manages to get a very few to temporary safety.  He is living in his head, in misery, doubt and guilt.  He can’t seem to pull himself together, so loses leadership of the survivors. But an unlikely person gives him a kick in the butt about getting back in the game because he can be a difference-maker.
• Madeline, who was a ship’s entertainer with a secret past of being kidnapped and brutalized and then having her story exploited by her mother and journalists when she gets rescued. The ship was anonymity for her until it was nearly the death of her.  Who knew surviving a sadistic captor would prep her for surviving disaster and somehow finding love in the middle of it. 
• Zon who was a bayou living gator hunter who grew up abused and with very little which toughened him up and gave him skills that make him suddenly a hero to a bunch of pampered citified types that he sneers at even as he gladly fills the vacuum of leadership that the sniveling Gunnar seems to have abdicated. Meanwhile, for the first time in his life, people look up to him and one is a gorgeous Prepper girl who gets a lot of what he is about and respects his skills and tenacity.
• Gabby finds herself stripped from her star journalist status and her designer fashions and discovers she hasn’t got much beneath the veneer as a wife, parent, or even a help to the group of survivors. As devastating as everything is, finding out who she truly is when stripped down to the bare may be just what she needs to rebuild into a better person and a strong member of the team.  Because, when there is a chance of going for a rescue effort, she has to be someone to be counted on.

The pace of the story doesn’t let up from nature still out to get them, weird secrets on an island, struggling as a group, and find a way to get creative with the resources and survive. 

While the plot is a definite adventure, it is the sort of adventure that takes these people on a journey of self-discovery as well. Nothing like losing everything and enduring hardship to the breaking point to figure out what you and those around you are really made of.

Along with the exterior and inner conflicts, there is the amazing details of life in just such a situation.  Finding food, water, how to use available resources, medical needs, and even mental health needs.  Learning to read the skies, the tide, the nature around them as much as they used to read their phones and computers.  And, that’s just the survivors who now are figuring out that even if they manage to get home that home won’t ever be the same when it is set back fifty years and possibility a world of anarchy by now.  It was all as fascinating as the group dynamics, relationships, and adventures as well as times of loss and grief as more survivors are lost in the struggle.

All in all, this middle leg of the story kept up what was started in book one and did its job to set up for the final book. Things are left in an interesting place and the world is now a scary inhospitable place and mostly because the disaster that happened is not all that far-fetched.  I can highly recommend this series for those who love survival adventures, disaster stories, and post-apocalyptic situations.

Read Sophia’s review of book one, First Fate @ The Reading Frenzy

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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