New Review! Darkness Falls (Nature's Fury #1) by A.E. Faulkner 3.5 Cranky Stars

Darkness Falls by A.E. Faulkner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Cranky Stars


"Why do I always have to be such as ass and expect the worst from people?" Because in the world of post-apocalyptic fiction, the worst is usually what you find, Quinn!


I enjoy reading YA Dystopian fiction, so I jumped at the chance to read this book through the Cranky Review Team. I have to say that I was slightly disappointed. Maybe I have just read too many books in the genre to enjoy this one as much as other readers.

First of all, the blurb makes this book sound like a story set in a dystopian atmosphere about two sisters who have to navigate the changing environment brought on by Mother Nature plunging the world into chaos through unusual weather events. It makes it sound like Mother Nature is mad and going to take back the planet by eliminating the human population.


In my opinion, the story focused more on the sisters and the parts about Mother Nature were just background to the book. I would consider it an apocalyptic book, not a dystopian one. Yes, you have a freakish earthquake, tornadoes, some huge storms and the mention of a possible volcanic eruption, but it wasn't what I expected from the blurb.

My review does contain spoilers, so you might want to quit reading here.


Riley and Quinn are going with their parents on their annual vacation to their Aunt's trailer in Delaware when a freak earthquake causes a massive pile up on the highway. Their parents are killed, so the sisters walk to their intended destination. Miraculously, the power and water are still working, so things aren't so bad. This was my first twinge of warning about the storyline.


The two brothers next door, Dan and Jim, are still in the area and Jim especially is still creeping out Quinn. She doesn't trust him, but they can't hide away forever. But, even though she doesn't trust these two after knowing them for years, she immediately trusts a stranger she finds lurking in the area. Aiden and his friends have wandered into the area after the earthquake and Quinn and Riley hit it off with them.

However, Aiden says that he has found a woman in one of the trailers who has been stabbed to death. He and Quinn go to check it out, then leave. Huh? At this point, the book started to feel like a B-horror movie in a lot of ways. This group decides to steal Jim and Dan's dirt bikes and try to make it back home. My question is: Where is home? The girls' parents are dead, so what are they going back to in Pennsylvania?


Jim and Dan figure out who has stolen the bikes, so they take them back, along with kidnapping Riley since Jim has been in love with her for a long time. Of course, Quinn has to find her sister, so she talks Aiden and crew to help her in her quest.

The rest of the book is basically the story of Quinn and crew travelling toward the safety (?) of a military base since this is where she thinks Riley has been taken. There is plenty of trouble along the way and encounters with unsavory types, as well as death and injury among the group. At the end, the two sisters are reunited, but I am sure that their adventure hasn't ended. "Home isn't 300 miles away in a boxy brick structure. Not anymore. Home is my sister."


I will probably continue to read this series, but I hope that the author figures out what she is really wanting to write. It felt like she had several stories in her head and tried to put them all together in this one book. Then again, maybe I was just waiting for the zombies to show up!

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