Escaping Anarchy

Dark Nation, Book 1

By: Grace Hamilton

Narrated by: Andrew Tell

Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

They’re trapped inside a prison when the power goes out....

Molly is determined to get the troubled teens she teaches back on the right path and is convinced a trip to a local prison will show them the consequences of bad behavior. But when an EMP blast knocks out all power across the country, Molly and her five students, along with their former-Marine bus driver, Colton, are locked in with the prisoners with no safe exit.

The guards are little help against clever convicts, and when a riot throws everything into chaos, Molly and Colton must find a way to get to freedom with their charges, even if it means trusting a prisoner who is using them for his own gains.

Prisoners aren’t the only danger in the suddenly powerless world. Escaping the prison and bugging out to Molly's cabin may be more dangerous than staying inside as it becomes clear that the power isn’t coming back...

...and society is about to crumble.

©2022 Relay Publishing (P)2024 Relay Publishing

World Coming Apart

World Coming Apart

This book's title seems peculiar. As this is the first book of the Dark Nation series, everybody involved is being dropped right into anarchy! Nobody's escaping it quite yet! If you've read any post-EMP books by this author, you will be familiar with her formula. I don't say “formula” as if it's a bad thing, because this author is skilled. She takes a decent amount of time at the start of the book to set up all the main characters and their scenarios. As always in these books, we don’t just follow one group of people as they're trying to navigate their post-EMP world. Instead, the book follows several in different locations, with some connections between them. Compared to other books by this author, much time is spent at the beginning of the book showing the world as it was before the EMP happens. I don't recall prior series spending quite so much time setting up the pre-EMP world. But I liked how we see the characters’ lives before disaster struck.

As a former addiction nurse, I have a quibble. One character is a woman who suffered from opioid addiction after she was injured. In the book, she struggles with whether to take some of her leftover pills, and at one point, she decides to take some. The character mentions the “sweet release” it gives her. It doesn't quite work that way. People who have battled with opioid addiction don't continue to take it for the initial “sweet release” it gave them when they first started using. Rather, they take it to chase away the bad feelings they have when they're addicted and don't use. Opioid addiction is complex, having both physical and psychological components. It's hard to say, given how much time had lapsed before her relapse, if she would still be feeling poorly physically because of her addiction, but at that point, she wouldn't get any physical “sweet release.” And also, there is the very real danger of overdose if people do relapse, as any length of time away from their substance will decrease their tolerance, making it so that if they use at their prior level, they will be more likely to have an overdose. That actually could be quite a dramatic moment in a book like this. So if the author ever chooses to go down the opioid addiction road with a character again, she could consider going that route.

This book is full of action once the EMP strikes. A group of children is in particular peril. They were going on a field trip to the local prison for the Scared Straight program. Essentially, they are locked in with the prisoners once things go down! They've got a fantastic teacher and a former military bus driver who protect them. I felt a little frustrated with the teacher at some points, especially when she endangered four children to rescue one. I understood her rationale, of course, but seeing what happened next to the children was hard to swallow. One mildly annoying thing I've noticed in all these post-EMP books by this author is that she has things go bad rather quickly. I understand that from a storytelling standpoint, but I'd hate to think that if an event like this really happened, we would all descend into such lawlessness, anarchy, and cruelty to others so quickly. I've already got the next book queued up and ready to listen to. I'm curious to see what happens next to all the groups of people.

Loved it

Great first book. Really sets up for the next book. Characters and storyline were wonderful.

great story

Love the premise of the story and the struggle the characters go through as the power goes out. the narrator does an excellent job bringing the characters to life. I recommend this book.

I recieved a free code and have left an honest review

Great Series Starter

This audiobook kept me entertained from beginning to end. The author did a great job with the character work and story line. The narrator did a fantastic job of breathing life into the story and kept me listening from beginning to end.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Crazy Full on Start to a Series

I wasn’t sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised with how the author handled the EMP, especially having set it in a prison.
I loved each and every one of the characters.
I was all for guard Fox until what he did at the end.
Thankfully Zack was a good guy in the end. Molly, a strong woman, a fantastic teacher, I did love how well written she was and that there’s more to come in the rest of the series.
Poor Laura but what happened to the dog?? That is why I’m diving straight into listening to book 2.
Andrew Tell could narrate anything and I'd enjoy listening to him.
Had to laugh, some of the characters frustrated me but I put that down to how the author is able to write them, and if done well enough then even those that annoy you will be memorable.

While I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review, I ended up purchasing my own audio and ebook copies of this book.

A new take-Misbehaving Teens Meet an Apocalypse

This is a well written book in a setting that very well could happen. In our new world of don't expect the best outcome unless you help make that outcome a reality, Molly and her students all step up to make their new reality a better reality using their collective knowledge, strength, and ingenuity. This is a fast paced book and I enjoyed it. Looking forward to the rest of the series.