Books › Year One
Year One
660 pages
A harrowing but ultimately hopeful journey through the ashes of the modern world, where ancient magic blooms in the ruins of technology.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like watching the lights go out on the modern world, only to see something ancient and glowing ignite in the dark. The experience is intensely propulsive, opening with the terrifying, rapid-fire collapse of society before settling into a gripping, cross-country journey of survival. It balances the dread-soaked reality of a global pandemic with a surprising, earnest warmth, focusing heavily on how strangers forge unbreakable bonds in the ashes of their old lives. The prose is accessible and cinematic, grounding the sudden emergence of dark magic and supernatural abilities in gritty, relatable human struggles. It will deeply satisfy readers who love post-apocalyptic epics that lean away from pure nihilism and instead champion resilience, found family, and the enduring fight for the light.
- Mood
- dread-soaked
- eerie
- resilient
- cinematic
- Tone
- earnest
- dramatic
- suspenseful
- hopeful
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- found family · light versus dark · societal collapse · resilience of the human spirit · sudden loss
- The writing
- Accessible and cinematic, blending gritty, fast-paced survival mechanics with the warm, character-driven focus of a seasoned storyteller.
- The arc
- Plunges from the terrifying, chaotic grief of sudden global collapse into a determined, hopeful fight for survival and community.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave apocalyptic survival stories that prioritize found family, clear-cut battles between good and evil, and a spark of magic over relentless bleakness.
Content notes
- pandemic and mass death
- grief and trauma
- violence
- suicide
- threat of sexual assault
About the book
"It began on New Year's Eve. The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated. Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most..."--
Description from Open Library.
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