Gray: The Complete Series by Lou Cadle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Plot. Coral, a young woman camping alone in Idaho, takes refuge in a cave to escape a violent storm and fire that goes on for days. The book never clearly defines precisely what happened. We never learn if there was a war, celestial event, or volcanic eruption – but the result is a very long nuclear winter. Gray is a story of survival – the sky rains mud, snow, and ice gray with soot. Nothing has survived, no game, no birds; everything is burned to ash. Coral is confronted with devastating hunger, thirst, fear, attacks, and the worst and best of humanity.
Liked. This is a survival story of an apocalypse that does not involve zombies, clicking knees, or ghouls from the grave. It’s a thoughtful representation of what might really happen and what lengths man will go to survive. No sex, no objectionable language. There is violence, but not grizzly. Narration and production are fine.
Not so hot. A bit of fill with Coral thinking too much; she creates paranoid scenarios of events that never happen but could, a bit too often, IMO. This is a three-book series – so long – which is not a criticism.
Written by Lou Cadle, narrated by Lauren Fortgang, about 25 hours of listening in unabridged audiobook format, released in August 2017 by Podium Audio.
