John Gilstrap, with his effective storytelling techniques weaves a compelling story of what would become of us in the aftermath of a nuclear war? With infrastructure and power blown back to the dawn of man, survival is the only daily goal.
The plot of Blue Fire is like a pendulum, swinging back and forth between intense bouts of physical danger and the gut wrenching choices that must be made. The tension is constantly increasing, bubbling just below the surface, until it boils over and explodes into kinetic action.
This dystopian story takes place in and around Ortho, West Virginia where former congressional representative Victoria Emerson has become the new leader of a small community. Struggling to provide basic needs, like food and shelter, she must navigate the complex political waters that come with a never ending stream of desperate refugees. When a gang of National Guardsmen comes to pilfer what they can, the residents of Ortho teach them the new meaning of hospitality.
Blue Fire is full of action sequences and moral twisting decisions. It seems no matter what they choose, everything eventually goes up in flames. When every day activities are literally a matter of life and death; do you try to reshape the world as it was recently or do you devolve back into the means and methods of our ancient ancestors?
Gilstrap takes readers directly into the minds of his characters as he explores ‘the line’ each person draws for themselves and is unwilling to cross to ensure their own survival. That the line continues to move as each day takes them further and further from the world they used to know propels the story from page one. It is a thought provoking exercise that will have readers continuously asking themselves…”would I be willing to do that?”
I had not read Crimson Phoenix before I dove into Blue Fire, but I quickly added it to my list. While knowledge and understanding of the origin of ‘Hell Day’ is helpful, it’s not essential to enjoying the second installment. With the series being so young, this is a great time to double up and read both back to back.
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Purchase Blue Fire
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Barrington Books
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