Til The World Ends - Book Review

'Til The World Ends
by Julie Kagawa, Aguirre, Karen Duvall
Anthology

What is it about:
Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa:
Before The Immortal Rules, there was the Red Lung, a relentless virus determined to take out all in its path. For Kylie, the miracle of her survival is also her burden-as a doctor at one of the clinics for the infected, she is forced to witness endless suffering. What's worse, strange things are happening to the remains of the dead, and by the time she befriends Ben Archer, she's beginning to wonder if a global pandemic is the least of her problems....

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre:
After a catastrophic spill turns the country into a vast chemical wasteland, those who could afford it retreated to fortresses, self-contained communities run by powerful corporations. But for Mari Thistle, life on the outside-in the Red Zone-is a constant struggle. To protect her family, Mari teams up with the mysterious Thorne Goodman. Together, they'll face an evil plot in both the underworld of the Red Zone and the society inside the fortresses that could destroy those on the outside...for good.

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall:
Sarah Daggot has been chasing storms since she was a child. But after the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, she becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to sense coming storms-in the cosmos and beyond. And she's not the only one. Sarah believes the Kinetics are destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun. She'll vow to keep trying to convince the one missing link in their chain of defense, the enigmatic Ian Matthews, up until the world ends.

What did I think of it:
Because this books contains three stories, I'll give my thoughts about each separate story.

Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa:
I liked this story.
The world building was done very well and the story was pretty intense. Especially the start of the story was very disturbing and creepy. I liked Kagawa's writing and I was hooked from the start. Near the ending the story lost its momentum and appeal to me, but the action scenes made up for that. Overall this was an enjoyable story and I'm tempted to pick up The Immortal Rules, the first book in the Blood of Eden series for which this story is the prequel.

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre:
I totally bought this book because it had a story by Ann Aguirre and I'm happy to say that Thistle & Thorne it just as cool as I had hoped it would be. Mari Thistle is a character I could relate to and I really liked how she doesn't immediately swoon all over Thorne, who's a definite 'bad boy'. Instead she is on her guard and knows just how dangerous Thorne can be. Thorne was a really cool character as well and I loved reading about how the two of them have to rely on each other and learn to trust each other to get things done. I fell in love with this story and hope Aguirre will write more stories about Thistle and Thorne.

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall:
This was a nice enough story, but it wasn't for me.
Duvall went for the Doomsday scenario where all of humankind will perish if the lead characters of the story don't succeed. I'm not a big fan of total doom stories and that's why this story fell short for me. The writing was pleasant though, so I might try another book by Duvall sometime.

In conclusion: This is a really enjoyable book that I can recommend to anyone who loves post-apocalyptic settings.

Why should you read it:
It's a cool collection of post-apocalyptic stories