Andrew Cunningham (1)

Eden Lost by Andrew Cunningham is the second book in his Post-Apocalyptic trilogy. The Earth as we know it has disappeared, the result of a gigantic nuclear bomb set off in space. First 95 percent of the population died and all electricity ceased. The weather patterns changed and eventually North America suffered a series of earthquakes that changed the lie of the land forever. Seven years after the original event, Ben and Lila, along with their young daughter Katie were living in the back show more woods of Northern Carolina when a forest fire forced them to give up their home. They decided to travel west to a rumored community near Yellowstone.

Once again being on the move meant that they met different types of people, some were good but there were also some bad ones. Ben and Lila eventually got to Yellowstone, made a new home and were genuinely happy when their daughter and her friends were kidnapped. Rescuing Katie and extracting revenge has left Ben with more than a few enemies that he may have to deal with in the future but he also found his brother Aaron and was happily reunited with him.

I am still enjoying this story and I plan on picking up the third volume immediately. show less

Set on Cape Cod island just after July 4th, plenty of folks are heading home after the holiday weekend. Terrorists put an end to their fun by cutting the island off from the mainland killing several and threatening more damage. On top of this, Hurricane Chad is about to hit land and hit it hard.

This was a fast-paced fun action read. There’s Marcus, a CIA operative, who’s been following a suspicious crew and ended up saving Seth’s life. Seth has a key to the terrorists’s plans. show more Meanwhile, disgraced ex-police detective Sara has noticed Marcus skulking around and the two have to decide whether to work together on this major threat or work independently. Then there’s Joe Doyle who made a very questionable decision to steal from his boss, but he got more than he bargained for and now he’s on the run for his life. With the island cut off, he decides to hide in a little tucked away place, taking the elderly Anne hostage.

I love big weather events and how they impact humans, so the hurricane element of this story was a lot of fun for me. People have to prepare for it. Well, the smart people prepare for it. Hopefully the authorities prepare for it. It was interesting to see how having the island completely cut off affected this aspect of the story. Now the folks on the island can’t expect supplies and recovery crews to come in right after the storm. So they have to adjust, stretching out the supplies they do have to last longer.

My favorite character in this tale was Anne. She’s in her 80s and has weathered many a storm on the island. She’s gone the shelters before and found them wanting so some years ago she made the decision to wait out any storm at home. She’s smart enough to prepare her home for the fury of Mother Nature and has laid in supplies and boarded up windows. But she wasn’t expecting a desperate Joe to show up at her door. I like her response to this situation though I felt that Joe’s ineptness was a bit overplayed. He’s in his mid 30s and yet he acts like he’s in his 20s. Anne treated him like a wayward kid that just needed some guidance, but I think there comes an age where very few of us can pull off being simply a wayward kid who just needs a little push in the right direction.

The back and forth between Sara and Marcus was OK. I liked Sara’s backstory but I found her acceptance of Marcus (who she just witness kill someone with a silencer) to be a little too quick. I don’t recall anyone at any time during the story independently verifying Marcus’s credentials. Seth was a bumbling idiot who was used by the terrorists but he helped move the plot forward.

The plot pulls in many threads. The US President made a promise 3 years ago to spend the weekend at a certain key supporter’s house on the very weekend of the attack. Then there’s anthrax, which may or may not be more of problem with the hurricane coming in. Then a lost valuable that belonged to a murdered priest turns up. The mastermind behind it all has a personal vendetta with a Cape Cod family. All these little strings got pulled into the overall plot and some of them mattered and some of them didn’t go anywhere at all. for instance, I would have liked a line or two to wrap up the ending for the murdered priest.

All together, it was a fun action flick with some interesting characters. I would like to see Sara and Marcus team up again. I hope Anne gets a chance to have a little vacation in Bermuda.

I received a free copy of this book via The Audiobook Worm.

The Narration: Greg Hernandez was OK. While he was good with some emotions (excitement, surprise, anger), he didn’t really have distinct character voices. I had to pay close attention during dialogue sections to keep track of who said what. His female voices weren’t particularly feminine. His pacing was good and the volume level was steady all the way through. show less

Eden’s Legacy by Andrew Cunningham is the third book in a Post-Apocalyptic series. I thought it was the final entry in a trilogy but I see that there is a fourth book. At this point in time I think I have read enough of the series and will most likely not bother with reading the fourth. This in no way means that I did not enjoy the series but I think all bases have been covered and any further story would only be repeating what has already happened.

Eden’s Legacy opens seventeen years show more after the world ended. Our main characters of Ben and Lila are not firmly established in Yellowstone country and their daughter is turning sixteen, the age they were when the nuclear event occurred. Cat has grown into an independent, self-sufficient young woman with a strong bond to animals. She has also fallen in love with Simon, a young man who is very much like her. A group of young people, Cat and Simon included, go off on an exploratory trip but run into problems with a colony of ex-miners who are desperate for women. A group from Yellowstone heads out to help the youngsters, but in actuality, they are quite able to handle themselves. Cat and Simon find a beautiful valley in Colorado and decide that this will be their home.

Meanwhile the country is slowly recovering, the settlements are interacting with each other and a mail system has been set up. Ben and Lila as well as Cat and Simon are looking forward to the future which is a good place to leave them. I’ve enjoyed all three of these books with their adventure and survival techniques. show less

Eden Rising by Andrew Cunningham is an apocalyptic story about two young people who manage to survive when 95 percent of the Earth’s population are wiped out in a catastrophic event. With their families dead, Ben and Lila decide to leave Boston and move south before the winter weather traps them.

What follows is an adventure story as they travel the Appalachian Trail, fall in love, and decide to find a home in the wilderness where they can raise their expected child in peace and quiet. Of show more course, this is a survival story and so they experience many incidents that they have to fight their way through. They learn to rely upon each other and hone their skills until they have built a “Robin Hood” reputation up and down the trail.

I enjoyed this story of Ben and Lila’s journey and I was happy that although they were often forced apart, they always managed to find each other again. The world has become a dangerous and violent place but these two seem to have the expertise to not only survive but to thrive. I am looking forward to immediately picking up the second book in the trilogy and continuing on with their story. show less