Sky on Fire
Sky On Fire by Jesse Greyson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I met the author at a writers' conference a few years ago. This is the first thing of hers that I've read, and I found it highly enjoyable with several unique perspectives.
The first such unique perspective was the setting. Jesse Grayson lives in Gold Coast, a city of a half-million or so on Australia's east coast. That's where she set her novel, which is not the typical setting for the apocalypse to occur. It also allowed her to create a very strong sense of place. Having said that, as an American, some of the Aussie language was confusing at first. For example, type of shoe Americans call a flip-flop Aussies call a thong. But I eventually figured it out.
The second unique perspective was the characters. In typical end-of-the-world fare, the main characters have highly functional families. Dante Jones, our narrator, is living with his mother, a diabetic narcissist, who is frankly abusing him. (Mostly emotionally, but occasionally physically.) She is quite frankly not the kind of person you'd want around at all, let alone in a crisis.
The last unique perspective was the nature of the disasters that were befalling Dante. Although society is clearly under massive stress due to solar flares and radiation-induced mutations, for the first third of the book it still sort of functions. Passports are useful, school is in session, and at society somewhat functions. Then the big one hits, and things go downhill from there.
Despite the grim nature of the end of the world, I found the story very entertaining. It was a quick read with some compelling action and characters. I look forward to more from this author.
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