Book Review: American Apocalypse

As per FTC regulations, I am required to disclose that the author of this book sent me a free copy after I agreed, at his request, to review it. I receive no financial benefit from him or from Amazon for recommending it.

Months ago, my sweetie mentioned reading an interesting post-apocalyptic story online, being written in serial format on a blog. I got the link from him and started reading the fictional story of the American Apocalypse.

Since Nova wrote this in serial form, the reader starts at the earliest post - back in July 2009 - and works his or her way forward. The advantage of this format to the writer is he is able to get immediate feedback on his work and find out if there is any interest in his writing. The readers get to enjoy a story in the making and provide feedback and comments which, in some cases, actually influenced the future direction of this story.

In the serial format, nova has definitely mastered the art of the cliff-hanger, often leaving the story hanging at a critical point, all the better to draw readers back for the next installment. I often lingered over each installment, since I found that reading the comments was almost as much fun as reading the story, especially when the author spoke to his writing process.

The reader must keep in mind that the blog is essentially a rough draft, however, and take typos and grammatical errors in stride. Since one does not necessarily make money from blog-writing - many readers out there still prefer a printed book, or at least an entire book available all at once in electronic format - rewriting and corrections come later when the author pulls the material together for publication. These products can then be sold to a wider audience than those that may stumble across one's blog.

Nova is a prolific writer on the blog, has already finished three volumes of the American Apocalypse, and is currently working on the fourth. The first one has been in print for a while and the second just became available this month. But, I'm here to review the first volume, the one that started it all.

The reason I was willing to accept a free copy of the book for review - something I generally do not do - is that once I started reading his blog, several weeks before the author contacted me, I was hooked on the story. Nova is a great storyteller with an interesting and fresh take on post-apocalyptic America. Think Wild West meets economic collapse with the setting on the East coast.

Over the course of the story which follows a young man struggling to survive after losing his job, the reader learns how things fell apart. The parallels to trends happening today are sometimes alarming as the story follows the implications out to a possible future. Crowds of newly homeless all striving to find ways to survive and get their next meal in a world of disappearing public resources spells trouble for society.

Our main character earns the nickname "Gardener" after using a sharpened garden trowel to dispatch someone trying to take advantage of another in need. In a world too broke to pay for much law enforcement anymore, Gardener sees a need for those who would commit evil or take advantage of others to be dealt with and he has the desire to be the one dispensing justice.

He learns the hard way that he is not equipped for the job. Luckily for him, he is mentored by another man who has better training. With Max's guidance, he learns to handle a gun - a more potent weapon than a sharpened garden trowel - and they are endorsed as their town's volunteer deputies.

Gardener makes several friends, and a fair number of enemies, over the course of the story. While starting a relationship with a local girl, he still struggles to get over his unrequited love for an old flame. He learns what it is to have friends that look out for you and that you want to look out for in return.

This book has, as a friend put it, a "high testosterone level." While there is good character development and exposition, some may be turned off by the amount and type of violence. Anyone familiar with the stories of the Wild West, however, will remember that gunfights and violence were part of life in those times. There were those who broke the law, those who kept the law, and those who fell somewhere in between. Even when Gardener and his friends fall somewhere in between, we cheer for them nonetheless.

The only negative comment I have about the book is that it needed more thorough editing. Some corrections have been made since the printing of the copy that I received, but I have not seen the later version and can't speak to it. However, it is imminently readable and I do recommend this book.

Plus you'll have to read it in order to move on to the remaining books in the series for which I can guarantee improved editing. More on that in my upcoming review of the second book.