First off, this book is a bit of a departure from Roberts normal fare of writing. In a way, this is her version of The Stand with magical abilities thrown in for spice. A prophecy predicted the events that were to unfold. An American couple holidaying in Scotland with family kill a pheasant spilling blood on the sacred ground. He gets sick and passes it on to the family and everyone he comes into contact with at the airport. Within seventy-two hours he is dead in the hospital. Pretty soon a pandemic in underway and within three weeks two billion people are dead from what they are calling the Doom.
Some are naturally immune and some develop magical abilities such as being faeries, elves, or witches, or the ability to see into the future, telekinesis, or know whether someone is going to live or die. Like people, though, those with magical abilities come in light and dark. Lana and Max were witches with a small bit of power before the big event but now their powers are greatly heightened. Max is a writer and Lana is a top-notch chef. Things in New York City are getting dangerous with the band of Raiders on motorcycles attacking and killing those they call Uncanny who have magical powers so they decide to head to the Pennsylvania mountains to where his brother Eric is holed up. On the way, they pick up a young man named Eddie and his dog Joe. When they arrive they discover a summer cabin with Eric's girlfriend Allegra, a girl named Kim, a guy named Poe, and the owner of the house, Shaun. All of them are people from Eric's college. But life is not all sunshine and roses at the cabin. Eric has abilities he does not know how to control and he and Allegra are not doing their share around the cabin causing some resentments. Also, they know they can't stay there forever. They must move on and find a community to join that has a farm and animals, where there is safety in numbers.
Aryls Reed has moved up in the media world to anchor chair in New York City since everyone else has either died or fled. She has a secret source, Chuck, a hacker who gives her the real scoop but she keeps most of it to herself because to do otherwise would cause a panic and the government to come and shut them down. They have a plan to meet in Hoboken, New Jersey whenever she decides to reveal everything and hightail it out of the city. When she does, including that the government is rounding up people who are immune, magical and nonmagical alike to experiment on them, her and the young cheery woman Fred, a faerie, head out and meet Chuck.
At the hospital in New York City, Jonah knows when people are going to die so he's been feeling pretty depressed as he's a paramedic and everyone he brings in is a goner. But the woman he has a crush on, Dr. Rachel Hobson remains a beacon of hope for him. But when she gives up he decides to end his life. Before he can, he runs into Katie, the daughter of the original carrier of the Doom who is pregnant with twins and is in labor. The only OBGYN doctor is busy doing a C-section on another woman and he is trying to reach Rachel, but the babies are coming now, so he ends up delivering them himself. Jonah and Katie talk Rachael into going with them out of New York and taking the now dead woman's baby girl. They stock up and head out and wind up in Hoboken where they meet Aryls and her gang.
Lana and Max and their group will meet up with the other group too eventually. Like The Stand this book is also about a battle of good versus evil, only in this case, the evil side proclaims to have God on its side. You get a sense of what the United States and the world are like at the very end of the book. The ending will leave you half content to wait and half desperate for answers that can't wait. I really tore through this book. It is easily the best book she has written to date. Hopefully, the next one will be coming out soon.
Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Year-One-Chronicles-Book/dp/1250122953/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521634104&sr=8-1&keywords=year+one+nora+roberts&dpID=51BHJceirlL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
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