Prequel to Sodenia

They came in a blink of an eye and without warning, and intentions unknown. But when aliens made landfall, they began destroying everything in their path.

Fain was excited to see his dad who had been away from home for a long time. But instead of spending quality family time, they found themselves fleeing, running for their lives.

Hundreds of thousands tried to escape the alien wrath, but most did not survive.

Space Bound: Zero Hour by Luigi Robles is a prequel to a series about life after an alien invasion. The next installment is the novel, Sodenia. Fain, is a returning character. While the prequel held my interest from beginning to end, showing the invasion through multiple POVs of children, the reading level is definitely geared towards middle-schoolers. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.

As always,

AstraDaemon

The Collapse of Society

The world around ten-year-old Sunni Brown is crumbling. War, disease and crushing poverty are everyday realities. For a while, she counts herself amongst the lucky. But will she survive when she's forced to live in an abandoned parking structure?

The Shelter by SunHi Mistwalker is a prequel to the novella, New Hope City. This short story reveals how Sunni's childhood quickly falls apart, as America suffers a socio-economic collapse. With an absent father, a drug-addicted mother and predators all around her, the little girl soon finds herself exploited for scraps of food.

The story is a great intro to Sunni's coming of age, but also functions well as a stand-alone story. Mistwalker provides disturbing insight into an issue already taking place in the States.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Choosing The Post-Apocalypse

It’s 2168, and twenty-two-year-old Sasha Roborovskiy’s life is in freefall after the death of his beloved grandmother. He falls into a routine of drunken ambivalence, running internet scams in his filthy Moscow apartment. When he happens upon a bizarre website on the darknet offering him a start at a new life with a research team in the lawless wastelands of America, he sees the chance he needs to turn himself around and be someone Grandma would approve of. However, the opportunity comes with a catch, and Sasha’s not sure it’s one he can live with.

One Way Ticket by Alia Hess is a prequel story to her Travelers series. Sasha lives in a heavily regulated society, where people are chipped, forced to take medication and have their every move tracked by the government. His existence seems so miserable, especially after he loses his grandmother, I don't blame him for choosing to move to a new community in the post-apocalyptic United States.

This prequel is a great way to hook readers into reading the series. Sasha is a very relatable character, wanting to improve himself and his life...and who hasn't thought about starting over somewhere new? Even with the dangers facing Sasha in America, better to risk your life doing something than allow yourself to waste away doing nothing.

As always,
AstraDaemon