The Landing by Talia R Blackwood
3 1/2 - 4 Hearts
Apocalypse 02
Review written for MM Good Book Reviews
This book is part of a series and can be read in any order. Adrian has just received the worst news of his life but he forges on only to discover that what had happened before was just a blip compared to what he now faces. Forced to make an emergency landing Adrian lands in what only can be hell, the world is no longer the same but Adrian's responsibilities to his passengers means he has to make a sacrifice... of himself. Paul Mendoza is a convict who finds himself following an evil child serial killer when the prison they are held in crumbles around them, but taking the pilot as his slave has him rethinking his position. Despite the life Mendoza has led Adrian is convinced that there is some good in the man, but getting him away from Ghost, the leader of the criminals, proves to be much more dangerous than either of them thought.
So for those of you who read The Event this book runs parallel and ends just before the two groups meet up. We see the full circumstances that we only heard a bit about and meet the people who survived the plane crash landing and the vile criminals who haunt their area. Adrian is the man who we follow from the beginning, he receives bad news and sees his hopes and dreams being shattered, but finding himself in a emergency situation he proves to himself that he can be the man that is needed in an emergency. Being taken prisoner has him still believing in his dreams and for what he will face he has to cling to his dreams to survive. Mendoza believes firmly that he doesn't deserve redemption but fighting Adrian's dreams and trying to shatter them doesn't work and Mendoza is soon beginning to believe himself.
We discover the horrors that still exist from the human world, the vileness that managed to survive and is determined to rule the world with darkness, trying to gather together the dark ones who also revel in pain and destruction. Adrian and Mendoza aren't the only characters that we want to meet, we discover Black Rose and Serpent who aren't as bad as they seem and Ian a doctor who was on his way to meet other survivors. And then we have some characters who we want to wash ourselves clean after we meet them like Ghost who is vile and a mysterious young man (who we also met in The Event) who seems to thrive on lost hope.
This is one of those stories that you can't easily peg, because the criminal element changes the basic survival needs, it also adds a darker element to the sexual aspects of the story as there are some scenes of reluctant sexual contact. The scenes between Adrian and Mendoza are darkly hot and they really work together, with Adrian making Mendoza face the future and not the past. There are some scenes of violence and at times even knowing the final outcome (if you read The Event that is) you wonder if they will get away alive. The setting that we are given lets us know of the bleakness that surrounds the characters and it lets us know the fear they are going through, the story is perfectly written and I can't wait to see whose story is next.
I recommend this to those who love surviving the Apocalypse, finding love in dangerous situations, working towards redemption and an ending that is happy for now with hope for the future.
1
