Title: The Edge Of Defiance
Series: Edge Of Collapse
Author: Kyla Stone
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller, Suspense
Release Date: 22nd September 2020
BLURB from Goodreads
Freedom demands a price...Weeks after an EMP attack devastates the United States, the country is falling apart.Hannah, Liam, and the others have survived the brutal cold and violent adversaries,but the threat has never been greater.
Enemies from within have taken control of the town--including what little remains of the food. On the verge of starvation, and with Michigan still locked in a brutal winter, the townspeople are faced with a desperate choice.
To be free, Fall Creek may have to sacrifice more than they ever thought possible.
When the country goes dark, ordinary people find themselves facing the end of the world as they know it. With society collapsing before their eyes, they'll have to risk everything to protect their home and the people they love.
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REVIEW
| As soon as I realised this one book was available to buy, I knew I had to read it. I needed to know what would happen to the Fall Creek and Winter Haven divide as well as contemplating whether Noah & Hannah would rekindle their relationship. If they do will it just be for the sake of Milo? Then there’s Charlotte Rose, who is the granddaughter on Rosamond Sinclair! Even if she doesn’t want to acknowledge it. I had so many thoughts and feelings about the characters and what I wanted to happen to them in this book. Some of it happens even more dramatically than I expected. Other parts of the characters lives are on the way to where I thought they would be and there are a whole load of extra things and surprises I hadn’t imagined happening at all. The cover again fits in really well with the rest of the books in the series. The cold, wintery backdrop but then there’s the smoke in the distance and Hannah at the forefront of the cover looking towards the smoke rising and her gun at the ready. The cover certainly suggests that there is more hardship and heartache to come. It seems Fall Creek was lucky when Liam arrived with Hannah as those living there need his military, no-nonsense mind quite a lot in this book. I love the chemistry between Hannah & Liam, the way Liam has kind of become the father figure to Charlotte the baby created during Hannah’s kidnap and torture at the hands of Gavin Pike, who is Rosamond Sinclair’s son. Though Rosamond is grieving the loss of her sons, she is still ruling Winter Haven and Fall Creek with a hard hand with the help of her cousin Mattias Sutter, leader of the Militia. If anyone dares to disagree with them, or in the case of the Militia even be considered to have looked at them in a wrong way they are blacklisted. If blacklisted you are not included in food handouts. Molly & Quinn are still setting up their trading system, though Molly is approaching this by teaching new skills so people can become self-sufficient where ever possible. They have big plans hoping to start trading with other local communities too. However, that won’t be so easy to accomplish when it’s revealed during an attack on Fall Creek that the Militia have been forcibly taking supplies from other communities, just as Liam had suspected. Liam and Bishop decide that they need to end the Militia’s reign of terror after one of the Militia men almost shoots a teenage boy. Though Liam doesn’t know the boy or his family, he manages to stop the shooting, but puts himself firmly in the sights of the Militia again. They know that Liam is their largest threat and if the community join him, they could have a battle on their hands. Mattias Sutter, leader of the Militia and cousin of Superintendent Rosamond Sinclair decides they need to concentrate their forces and any supplies they gather on only those at Winter Haven. At the beginning of the book Hannah & Charlotte are living with Noah & Milo at Winter Haven. With both Rosamond’s sons now being dead she seems to have latched onto Noah as a kind of replacement. Noah is slowly changing from the by the book Police Officer into something more like a member of the Militia. It started by turning a blind eye when first Julian and then other Militia members just shot people for disagreeing with them and their actions. When Rosamond turns things into a them/Fall Creek and us/Winter Haven situation a few characters need to make difficult choices. On the Winter Haven side, Noah tries to order Hannah to stay within the boundaries of Winter Haven. Then Ghost is threatened by one of the Militia Men for simply walking at Hannah’s side. It seems like Noah has chosen his side of the way to live, he is starting to think like the Militia men around him. To take what he needs for him and himself no matter the cost to anyone else. Although Noah is a good father to Milo, he barely acknowledges the existence of Charlotte which naturally bothers Hannah. When the time comes during a heated exchange between Noah & Hannah, she blurts out she is leaving. Hannah had already been seriously thinking that the time make come when she would have to choose between Noah & Winter Haven and Liam, Molly, Quinn etc at Fall Creek. Hannah chooses to take Charlotte and move to Fall Creek but Noah insists she has to leave Milo with him. Hannah does ask for Noah to bring Milo to visit her in Fall Creek at either their old home or Molly’s but he refuses. When Milo asks to visit his mum, or Quinn & Molly Noah simply puts him off to begin with. Noah does end up upsetting and alienating his son by keeping him from his mother and his friends in Fall Creek. Now that the Militia is no longer patrolling Fall Creek it means that no one from Fall Creek can visit Winter Haven which means Noah needs childcare for Milo whilst he works and ends up trusting someone he really, really shouldn’t from Winter Haven, meaning when disaster strikes there’s no one reliable with his son Milo. There’s lots and lots of action, altercations and fighting in this book. Liam using his military tactics training. Bishop steps up to back him up despite being a man of God, he knows the only way they will be rid of the Militia is to shoot them. As things change for everyone, to begin with nothing changes for Rosamond, she has power for cooking, warm showers etc. Every surface in her kitchen has food and supplies in abundance on them. The thing with Rosamond is, she actually thinks it’s acceptable to keep all these things for herself even though on some level she must know she couldn’t possibly use all of them! This book really reveals more about Rosamond as a character and you certainly know where her son Gavin got his sick, violent personality and ways from. I loved the scene in the book where Hannah and Quinn face off with Rosamond. Hannah finally gets to meet the mother of the evil man that kidnapped her and stole so much her life head on. There are a few shocks/surprises revealed when they confront Rosamond, she knew a lot more about things that had happened than she had previously revealed. It becomes clear that Rosamond has no feelings towards her granddaughter, Charlotte, all she had time for were her sons or any men around her that she can manipulate. I also enjoyed the end of the book where the surviving characters reflect on what they have had to do to get rid of the Militia, who is no longer with them and looking towards the prospect of a new way forward. Then there’s the very end where someone tells a group of crazy, violent teenagers who want to stay in a world without power, the where abouts of Winter Haven!! Another mystery in the book is who Rosamond was talking to on her secret satellite telephone. It seems that the fight for independence and survival for Fall Creek has only just begun. I felt this book, for me, was a slightly slower than usual for this series. I think it was the increase in detailed fight scenes, some of which kind of went right over my head with me not really having gun knowledge. There were lots of deaths in this book too. I thought the scenes around the death of one of the major characters in the book was really dramatic. I honestly don’t think there was any more for this character going forward. I don’t think this character will be forgotten in the forthcoming books and will probably mentioned quite a bit. I thought it was really fitting how Bishop & Liam stayed true to their characters. The way when they came across a fatally wounded person, they did not leave them suffering, but shot them and put them out of their pain. I think the character flashback sections were really well done and it made them even more realistic and relatable. Bishop thinking of, and reliving the scenes where he lost those he loved. Quinn remembering the day it all began and Noah getting them down from the ski lift. Finally, the flashbacks Hannah still has, being haunted by what happened in the hunting cabin that she was held in the basement of by Gavin Pike. My immediate thoughts upon finishing reading this book were, Oh, wow, what a battle, what a shame to lose that character but there wasn't really another way...and wow what an ending. Just when you think it could all be over, someone raises their ugly head, whispers in the 'wrong ears' and trouble is heading for those survivors trying to rebuild Fall Creek. Summing up this was another great addition to the Edge Of Collapse series that has left me counting down to the next book. This is seriously addictive series!! I still have so many feelings and thoughts about what could happen, what I would like to happen to and for the characters in this series. I also have a feeling we are going to learn more about the Fall Creek residents and maybe some from the surrounding communities, that we met or learnt a little more of in this book as well as some new maybe not so nice characters being introduced.  |
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