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DNF @ 20%

Distant writing, uninteresting characters, slow plot, and questionable theology! How lovely 🥰 (that was sarcastic, if you couldn’t already tell)

In the first 10 chapters of this book, we get told that Atlanta lost power. Planes stopped working mid-flight and free fell to the earth. Cars stopped working all at once, causing mass pile ups. Generators wouldn’t start. Watches stopped ticking.

So Doug and his hot-shot news-intern daughter Deni had to walk home from the airport. They trudged 16 miles along highways and country roads in the spring Atlanta heat. (Also, to my extreme displeasure, Deni is unbelievably stuck up and complains the whole way home. And additionally, complains constantly once home as well.)

Sounds like a pretty bad day, huh.
(Poor Deni. She’ll be late to her internship!! Don’t bother worrying about the whole entire population of Atlanta being without power or generators or cars. Is she so childish that she can’t grasp how many people would eventually die?)

I don’t know if Blackstock offers a reasonable explanation for how this happened later in the book, but I honestly can’t see how that could even be explained logically. The power going out? That’s believable. The cars stop working? Yeah, I can see that. Most cars these days require electricity of some sort to run. But gas generators? The ones that are literally designed to work when there is no power? Watches? Mechanical watches don’t require power.
Considering all this, I think Blackstock wanted to write a dystopian novel, but wanted to also be unique. Well I’m sorry darling, but it’s better to have an actual plausible plot than to be unique.
Her (boring) characters speculated as to why this has all happened, wondering if it’s an EMP, terrorists, or even� God.

“The bottom line, Kay, is that God does do things like this. And look at all the stuff that’s been happening in the world—war, hurricanes, tsunamis—it’s like He’s been trying to get our attention.�

Later, another woman contemplates how thankful they should be that it isn’t worse than this. That God was getting their attention in such a “gentle way.�

When I read these two parts, I knew it would be a DNF. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly believe that God is active today, works miracles, and will give us signs, but I don’t believe He would cause war and terrorist attacks to do so. Sin like war and terrorism is what happens when people are turned away from God. He can certainly use bad things to do good, but He made a covenant to never devastate the Earth again.

Maybe Blackstock redeems herself and makes her message more clear later in the book. Maybe I’m misunderstanding her point. But what seems like flawed theology/false doctrine combined with the less than satisfactory writing and bland characters is why I won’t be continuing this book.

And to anyone who enjoyed this book, I’m happy for you! It just wasn’t my piece of cake. (If you’re wondering, my favorite flavor of cake is chocolate ;)