- Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa

I have to admit, I mostly requested this book because I love The Immortal Rules books, and I wasn't disappointed. It told the story of Kylie, a doctor trying to keep up with the fallout from the Red Lung, which she survived, but many don't. In fact, she is just discovering the horrors of what happens to the people who don't. Ben brings a friend in, which is how Kylie and Ben meet. Unfortunately, Ben's friend doesn't make it, and when he turns. he seems to spread the disease on to the other patients, who then die and turn themselves. Ben and Kylie are forced to leave and make their way to Ben's family farm, but it proves to be a journey fraught with danger.

I enjoyed this story very much, although, like other reviewers have commented, this one leans more towards new adult than young adult. It's still a great addition to the series, though. Julie Kagawa is a goddess to me, so I loved every moment of this prequel short story.

- Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre

I haven't read any books by Ann Aguirre, but I definitely will now! I was absolutely taken in by this short story. The post-apocalyptic world she created was chilling, and her descriptions of it gave me the chills. I don't even know how to describe the story without going into long detail, but I'll try to be brief: Mari is a thief who is raising her younger brother and sister in a horrible environment, where everyone looks only after themselves because it is unsafe to do anything else. Violence is a constant in the Red Zone, where some people would kill you rather than look at you, and steal anything you had afterward. Mari is forced into a job by the local warlord and only finds out afterward that she was set up to fail as an excuse to raze her section of town. She meets an "employee" of this warlord, Thorne, who helps her evade capture, but he has his own agenda.

I told you it would be long! And that's not even half of it! I absolutely loved this story. The setting was, as noted above, enough to give you nightmares, and the writing was superb. I look forward to reading more of this author's work.

- Sun Storm by Karen Duvall

I've never read anything by this author, either, and I don't think I will read anything else as I didn't enjoy this story. The description made me eager to read it, but the writing made me regret it. This story takes place after the biggest solar flare in history, and anyone caught out in the open during that flare, or any of the smaller ones that follow it, will either go crazy and die, turn into a crazed mindless monster, or become a Kinetic, someone who survives the flare and is left with "powers." Sarah's power is that she can feel and pinpoint where and when the next flare will happen, so she can warn people that it's coming and they can take cover, and so she can chase the storm because that's the only thing that recharges her abilities. She lives and works in a hospital where her father is being treated, and that's where she meets another Kinetic, Ian, who can control wind and rain, to some extent.

I was turned off immediately when Sarah and Ian met and she instantly fell in love with him. I detest instalove. There was no consistency to this story, either, as one minute she would say she had to stay away from him and the next she would say that she had to be with him, as if she hadn't just decided to avoid him at all costs! This happened all through the story. It was like she had dual personalities, and it was very disconcerting and really turned me off. The world building was just okay, and the plot didn't make much sense. I would have sworn I was reading a book written by an inexperienced author, with rather sophomoric writing abilities. It could be that this story followed the previous ones, which were so well written they made this one look bad by contrast, but I don't think so. Needless to say, I won't be searching out anything else written by this author.

In summary, I'm giving the first story and the second story each 5/5 stars, but the third one only 3/5 stars, which I'll average out to be 4/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )

*No spoilers.


★★★★☆ for Kagawa's Dawn of Eden only.


Well, that was unexpected. I thought this story would focus on the main characters of Kagawa's [b:The Immortal Rules|10215349|The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)|Julie Kagawa|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323357921s/10215349.jpg|15114912]. Instead, it's a different set of characters and their story of the beginning of the apocalypse.

I thought this was creepy as hell. Kagawa's "vamps" are not your everyday vamps. They're more like rage zombs and I LOVE rage zombs. (In film and on paper. -_- When the real zombie apocalypse happens, I want the zombs to be the slow, shuffle-y kind.)

The horror part of this short was on point. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars from me, is the romance. Oh authors, why oh why do you insist and stuffing romance into every single story you write? Had Kagawa focused solely on the horror in this one, it would have been a homerun. It's not that I didn't like the couple, it's just that the story wasn't long enough, in my opinion, to make the relationship believable. In a full-length book, it could have attained the level of poignancy Kagawa was obviously reaching for, but in a short, it fell just short.

Despite this, Dawn of Eden is a good story and a great intro to the series. As a matter of fact, I think it's a better story than [b:The Immortal Rules|10215349|The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)|Julie Kagawa|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323357921s/10215349.jpg|15114912], if only slightly.




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In this prequel novella to The Immortal Rules Julie Kagawa takes us on a short journey. This is the story of Kylie and Ben. Kylie is a doctor, a survivor of Red Lung who is introduced to Ben, an IT tech who worked with his friend, Nathan, in the DC lab where the Rabids were created.
Kylie and Ben's story is a union of a sad circumstance, anger and devastation, and most of all- hope.
Oh, and there's also a glimpse to our favorite vampire and what made him resolved to make up for his grave mistake. ( )

Til the World Ends is comprised of three short stories: Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa, Thistle and Thorne by Ann Aguire, and Sun Storm by Karen Duvall. All of the stories are apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic and feature some sort of romance.

In Julie Kagawa's Dawn of Eden, a disease threatens to wipe humans off the face of the planet. Red Lung is widespread and only a small percentage of people survive. After a mysterious man, Ben, and his friend show up at Kylie's clinic, a new symptom appears: bleeding from the eyes. Then the people who died get up again and savagely attack any human around them. These zombie-vampire hybrids are wild, insanely strong, and bloodthirsty.

The situation basically a zombie apocalypse situation except the zombie aren't around during the day. I liked this story, but it seemed a little run of the mill. The plot was very typical for a zombie situation with one slight difference. The romance is based on instalove (eyeroll) with one sex scene, which was unexpected since it's the prequel to Kagawa's teen series Blood Eden and it did seem a little out of place and out of character for Kylie. I think the characters make pretty stupid decisions and don't stand out much, simply being defined by their attraction to each other. The writing was engaging and really the only reason why I liked this story at all. Overall, it was an ok story with a lame romance and zombie-vampires.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Thistle and Thorne features a post-apocalytic world ravaged by pollution and chemical spills. The only law of the land is kill or be killed and the mob bosses have taken control of each city, ruling with fear and intimidation. The extremely rich get to live in protected communities, away from the harmful pollution. Everyone else, including Mari Thistle, gets to live in the Red Zone, scavenge for valuables, and protect what is theirs at all costs. Mari takes jobs as needed to provide for her little brother and sister. A heist goes wrong when she tries to steal a figurine from a rich community based on out of date plans. She goes into hiding to escape the mob boss Davros that hired her and teams up with Thorne, who works for the mob boss but is using Mari's situation to plan his downfall. Together, they hope to bring Davros' reign of terror to an end.

I loved this story the most out of all of them. There was a sense of companionship between Mari and Thorne and the story didn't focus too much on their romance. There is initial attraction and they get to know each other over time, but that's about the extent of it. Other events were much more important. These characters had the most development out of any of the other stories and the world was much more interesting. I found the structure of society fascinating and utterly believable if the pollution levels got that bad. I loved that Mari is tough, but has a soft spot for her siblings and will do anything to protect them. The storytelling was good and the pacing added tension and kept me interested. My only real complaint is that the ending feels too abrupt and I want to know what happens to the characters and that world after the ending. This is the only one I would have liked to see as a full length novel.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Sun Storm describes a world where sun storms cause radiation and either kill people or give them cool powers. Sarah Daggot has the power to predict the sun storms and chases them to warn the potential victims and to get power from the storms. She meets another Kinetic who can control the weather, but he's on the run from a rogue government agent set on caging and experimenting on Kinetics.

I did not like this story. I love a good sci-fi story, but emphasis on the science part. There was no real explanation for the sun storms or the radiation or anything else for that matter. I would have preferred a straight fantasy story with magic if there was going to be no effort to scientifically explain the extreme climate change. The love story was frustrating. One moment, Sarah doesn't trust the guy and then she does and then she doesn't. Ugh. The changes came out of nowhere and didn't really make sense to me. The developments and revelations were cheesy and unbelievable. The ending was too convenient. The characters didn't develop much and the villains were practically cardboard cutouts. I would not read another story by Karen Duvall.

My rating: 1/5 fishmuffins ( )

*I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

ARC received on November 30, 2012. This review was first posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews.

'Til The World Ends is an anthology written by two authors I adore, and one whose books I had never read before. All three stories are set in a dystopian world, and each has something very scary to be on the lookout for! All three also have some pretty cool female characters, as well as a well built world, some suspense and a wish for more! ( )