When college student Coral pulls up in front of an Idaho cave in her brother’s RV, all she has in mind is a spelunking adventure. The last thing she expects, as she clambers out of the vehicle, is to see a billowing black cloud in the southeastern sky. She’s smart enough to realize it can’t herald good tidings, so she hurriedly crams all her food & water into her backpack and races into the cavern, just ahead of the first blast of searing hurricane-speed wind. The heat drives her further and further into the cave, until the blackness surrounding her matches the faraway entrance into the sooty, roasting landscape she can no longer see.

After nearly a week, the temperature drops enough for her to venture out … into a silent, charcoaled world. Nothing has survived the mysterious scorching — wood ash heaped on stone foundations, stripped hulks of melted metal at intersections, human bones buried in cinders along the road. She plods for days through the gray, eerie stillness, all the time wondering: what happened? Where did this this inferno originate? Is she the only survivor?

Finally, in a small river town, Coral encounters a big, bearded man who quietly materializes out of the permanent dusk. Benjamin survived the firestorm much like Coral — he burrowed into a cellar with a water tank — and now lives in the basement of his home, but both realize their limited food & water supply will eventually force them to muster out. As the summer temperatures plunge and sooty snow begins to fall in this sunless world, moving on together, they decide, is the safest, and sanest, path forward.

As they search for food, shelter, and the distant dream of a safe new home, Coral & Benjamin encounter the raging, raucous, rambling remnants of humanity, now more feared than welcomed. As they approach Boise and a rumored settlement at the University of Idaho, they cautiously anticipate a safe landing zone. However, in this post-apocalyptic world, nothing is as it seems in the frigid, colorless wilderness. ( )

I've read a lot of dystopian/ post-apocalyptic books because it is one of my favorite genres but I got to to the point where I was tiring of the same old, run of the mill post-apoc books. So I admit when I came across this series I was hesitant to start it because I thought it was going to be "one of those."

I'm so glad I didn't discount it and proceeded to listen because even though it does contain the usual tropes, it was a very, very solid post-apoc series! It was extremely well written and the storyline and audio performance kept me engaged from start to finish. It really just exceeded all of my expecations!

I think what really makes this series special are the two main characters, Coral and Benjamin. I liked both of them immensely and was fully invested in their survival and outcome. I enjoyed watching Coral's character grow in strength and maturity and I liked seeing the dynamics between her and Benjamin's relationship evolve.

Another thing I really liked about this series was the ending. I was glad it didn't follow the norm like so many others I've read, and Coral and Benjamin decided to branch out on their own, just the two of them, instead of returning to the community to rebuild.

If you are also a fan of post-apoc stories and/or you're a woman in a relationship, friendly or romantic, with an older man, then you should give this series a try. I think you'll really enjoy it! ( )