Review by Booklist Review
McCammon's latest novel is a thrilling sf adventure. Two powerful, mysterious alien races are at war; Earth is caught in the middle, collateral damage. The planet is devastated, its people made nearly extinct. Those who have survived the catastrophic destruction caused by the alien war are succumbing to fallout from the battle, which is turning them into half-human creatures preying on those who are still human. Mankind seems doomed, but there is one small hope: a young boy who possesses powers that could save humanity. The problem is, the warring alien races might just prefer that humanity go extinct. Can this boy, who barely understands his own abilities, save the race? This is a very ambitious novel, an epic-scaled story of perseverance and survival in the face of monstrous odds. McCammon brings his usual storytelling gifts to the table: his ability to create characters who feel real, no matter how unreal the situations they find themselves in; dialogue that rings true; and a story that captures our imaginations from the very first page.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Genre-busting author McCammon (The River of Souls) pulls out all the stops for this exhilarating alien-invasion epic, which harkens back to his 1987 blockbuster, Swan Song. The spectacular opening introduces an amnesiac teenage boy who abruptly becomes aware of himself in a full-tilt sprint through a post-apocalyptic battlefield, with wounds that should have killed him, and knowledge and abilities he doesn't understand. Ethan, as he calls himself, is clearly more than he appears-a fact that doesn't escape the apocalypse's survivors, expressively depicted in their despair and desperation, with whom he holes up outside Ft. Collins, Colo. Two years prior, alien species nicknamed the Gorgons and the Cyphers brought their own war to Earth's atmosphere, killing many humans and turning others into mutant cannibals. As revelations about Ethan become increasingly poignant, McCammon expertly turns up the tension, and the group embarks on a riveting journey toward a destination they have little chance of reaching. This story blends the gripping horror and action of McCammon's earliest novels with the empathy of his more recent work, making it one of his finest. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Two alien cultures, the Gorgons and the Cyphers, are fighting a vicious war over a border dispute and it's humanity's bad luck to be caught in the crossfire. Fourteen-year-old Ethan regains consciousness as the story opens but doesn't remember who he is or even his name (he took "Ethan" from a local high school he passes by). He makes his way through a war-torn landscape to a housing complex where a group of survivors are holed up, fighting off incursions of horribly mutated humans known as Grey Men. Ethan seems to have unusual powers and awareness of the aliens that he can't explain. He feels he is being called to a remote mountaintop and convinces the ragtag survivors to help him get there. VERDICT This title marks a return to the sf/horror blend that -McCammon did so well in his opus Swan Song; the story's action and momentum will also remind readers of Stephen King's The Stand and television's The Walking Dead. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
