Gene Doucette blew my mind with Unfiction some time ago. Difficult to go from there, once the bar is set that high. With this, now my third read by him, he definitely doesn’t disappoint, it’s no Unfiction, but it’s quite good. I’d read more of Doucette’s, but he’s got this penchant for series and I prefer standalones. This one seems to be a standalone, at least for now, but it can easily be serialized too.
So anyway…that’s obviously why I selected to read it, the other reason being…hey, it’s apocalypse, perfectly appropriate for the worst election on US record ever. So…did Doucette’s tale of whateverpocalypse as the seven survivors of it come to call it distract enough from the ever disappointing and depressing news? Well, yeah, it kind of did. Doucette’s a very good writer, he does great descriptions, dynamic pacing and dialogues and likeable engaging characters, but his greatest asset is his wild originality and imagination.
And so his stories go places other works in the genre just don’t get to. Although…this one for me was very reminiscent of Wayward Pines, but it was still very much a beast of its own. Apocalypse comes quietly in this story, people just wake up to it, wake up to a barely recognizable world grown wild in flora and fauna and strangely peopleless. Seven survivors of Beneton ad different races (this is not a mere PC nod, it’s logical to the plot as you’ll understand in the end) and of varied ages come to find themselves at the end of the world and must band together to survive it and find out the truth about how it all came to be. The truth takes quite a while to uncover, so for a long time you’re stumbling around as cluelessly as the seven, but in the end the scientist among them gets there. But even armed with the truth, the fight still isn’t quite fair or balanced, because whatever’s after them may not be a force that’s well meaning or even terrestrial. So it’s a survival story and a mystery with a pretty crazy plot twist in the end.
And it works, on every level. Despite the abundance of young characters, it never gets dumbed down to YA levels, in fact the youth acquire themselves nicely and maturely in this brave new world they find and work well with the older of the seven, the scientist and the pastor.
The depiction of the apocalyptic world they inhabit is vivid and stark, made me think of the World Without Us, which is a high compliment since that’s one of my all time favorite nonfiction (and apocalyptic) reads. The funny thing is that Doucette set the story right around where he lives, which just makes you appreciate how different the writer’s brains are wired, to jauntily and brutally fictionally annihilate their surroundings just for fun.
And fun it is, oodles of fun. I really enjoyed this story, it was exciting, compelling, original, infused with just enough humorous aspects and wtf*ckery to prevent it from being opressingly bleak, this is the end of the world you don’t want to sleep through…unlike the titular apocalypse seven. Very good read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Enjoyed this book overall- it was an interesting take on the apocalypse. It wasn't immediately obvious why the apocalypse happened, and I enjoyed figuring it out over the course of the book.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was fast-paced. The story was almost like reading a mystery novel, set after the world ends. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys apocalypse fiction.

Wanderers meets Stand and Revolution series vibes. It’s not too close definition of this quiet mind spiraling, grey cell fryer, thought balloons popper, teeth gritting, nerve bending novel but at least it is a start!

Seven strangers wake up in different places, finding out the earth they were living is deserted, overgrown with wild life. Pigs, wolves chase them at the night. The electricity failure seems like permanent malfunctioning.

A college student Robbie finds himself at another person’s dorm room ( the room number is right but he finds other person’s clothes at the drawers) and only thing he cares is not getting late to his class! What kind of drinks he had at party? But he wakes up to a different world! The dorms look different! The vegetation, the buildings, even the air he breathes is different and only person he finds a young Chinese blind woman who is agitated because her guidance dog is missing! Her name is Carol and she has no idea what the hell is happening to them! Why the streets are isolated? Why there are more animals touring around?

A geek boy on his bike stops at the last minute not to hit Robin and he congratulated them for missing the apocalypse just like he did last night. His name is Toure and last thing he remembers he passed out in front of his computer when he was coding.

And the rest of gang includes Bethany, 14 years old girl who is really good at opening the locks, Paul: a convicted man who becomes preacher in his early 50’s, Ananda: a smart, middle aged, scientist and Win: a badass farmer girl who is better arrowing skills than Oliver Queen!

You keep asking yourself: what the hell happened to them? Are they denying their situation and they are like Bruce Willis acting like curing a young boy till they understand they are on the ghosts the boy can see? Did somebody kidnap them? Or are they living in parallel universe? Are they aliens? Is this really end of the world?

And you keep thinking why they are chosen ones! Instead of badass Win and some street smart knowledge of Paul, none of them have surviving skills. But that must be something they are in common, what makes them so special!

My brain is on fire! Too many conspiracy theories exhausted the hell of me. I partially find some answers but the conclusion was unexpected! Did I like it? Yes! The ending was well-served and played!

And at least three characters became my favorites! Geek boy Toure was my number one because he was the only one having so much fun about the idea of apocalypse and without him: this book couldn’t be one of my favorite sci-fi novel without his existence!

And badass, intestine carver, horse rider Win carries her big girl pants so stylishly!
Let’s not forget Bethany is quite genius girl is another badass teenager who can break into the places, find resources to survive, fire guns like she’s related with Dirty Harry but she is still lost, emotional kid who still tries to understand what they are dealing with and interestingly she’s closer to find answers!

This is well written, riveting, entertaining and surprising survival, sci-fi, apocalyptic story with remarkable characterization which deserves my full five stars ( and the stars of the universe where those 7 last standing survivors live! )

Special thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/John Joseph Adams/ Mariner Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Well, this was fun.

Ever read a book and just know that the author would be a blast to talk to in real life? This is that book. The author has a wonderful sense of humor and humanity that just shines through on almost every page.

The book definitely kept me guessing. Each time I thought I knew what was going on, I was quite wrong.

No spoilers here. I’ll just say that I wasn’t quite all in on a later character to the book. Just didn’t love that one. But I still thought the author handled everything well.

As for the reason behind everything, I’ll just say that it had a surprising gravitas – surprising because, for a book about the apocalypse, most of the book is pretty lighthearted.

I liked it. I’d definitely read the author again!

*ARC via Net Galley

This book took me by complete surprise, in the best possible way.

For the first thirty or so pages, I wasn't really feeling it. But I'm so glad I kept going because I haven't been so entertained by a novel in a good few months. The thing I love about 'The Apocalypse Seven' is that it reminds me strikingly of Birdbox with a dash of Station Eleven, but it laughs at both of those comparisons and goes and does its own thing. Specifically, all seven characters in the story are... good people. Sure, they argue sometimes, but all of them are cooperative and kind. It's like an anti-Lord of the Flies. I didn't realise how refreshing I was going to find this spin on the post-apocalyptic, de-populated setting until I was reading it. Although technically, the book should be called 'The Apocalypse Eight' because the horse is his own special character.

The second thing I loved about the book was that I snort-laughed more times than I can count. The humour was never try-hard and it was sufficiently spaced out that it was always a delightful surprise. Most of it came from the interactions between the characters - adorable and kind they may be, but they're not above poking fun at each other's perceived flaws.

There are also moments in the book that I found genuinely unnerving, something I very rarely experience while reading. The mystery surrounding the characters' predicaments was compelling rather than annoying, and my fascination was just another reason to keep reading. The explanation wasn't fully satisfying on some levels, but on other levels, it was pretty damn smart. I appreciated the way the author struck a balance between scientific realism and science fiction in creating both the setting and the reason for the characters' predicament, and there's a certain irony in the explanation that anyone who cares about climate change will appreciate.

All in all, I had a huge amount of fun reading 'The Apocalypse Seven' and having to put it down to do other stuff like work or sleep was really inconvenient.

(With thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review)

I wanted to read this book because of its synopsis. 7 people wake up one morning in Boston to discover they’re the only people still alive. They don’t remember going to sleep the night before or know what happened to the rest of civilization. The landscape has re taken over the city and there are strange dangerous creatures they must avoid. Sounds great, but I found it slow reading and couldn’t really make myself care about any of the characters. Nor did I care about the ending. Sorry, this book was just not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and John Joseph Adams/Mariner Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Seven strangers wake up in New England alone and confused. Wild animals are everywhere, no signs of people anywhere, and things just don’t add up.

Can you say an end of the world book was fun to read? I thoroughly enjoyed The Apocalypse Seven. Interesting take on the end of the world. Elton alone is worth the time. One thing I really appreciated with this book was that all the survivors worked together instead of trying to kill each other.

Every now and then you get to the end of a book and sit there and think: “What did I just read?”.

This book has everything. A post apocalyptic mystery, psychological drama, wolf attacks, power cuts, weird weather events, unusual alien style technology.... it doesn’t know quite what sort of book it wants to be and I honestly loved it.

Might not necessarily recommend to students as it does get a little bit silly - but some of the scenes are perfect examples for showing how to write about weather to create a specific atmosphere or invoke weather related changes to characters moods.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher, who provided me an ecopy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book hits my recent doomscrolling sweet spot, post apocalyptic, survivors banding together, with a larger mystery driving the narrative. I particularly enjoyed getting to know the characters and their day to day battles for survival. In that way, this book may have been even better as serialized fiction like a tv show or a comic book, Walking Dead style, as I found the world building to be engaging. The plot however, as it unveiled itself to the characters and the readers, showed that there were not that many people in the world, and they fortuitously were able to find one another. When the mechanism of this was explained I thought, ok, but some of the characters were placed far from the others. There is a time paradox involved in the explanation, which I do not want to spoil by going into details but that did not bother me here. There are surprised in the book, which keeps it fresh, and because the characters are as naive to the world as the readers, the pacing of discovery worked very well. Additionally, there is enough humor scattered to lighten the mood from time to time. So, all in all, this was a good read. Anyone who likes Walking Dead, Station Eleven, The Road or any post apocalyptic fiction at all will like this, though it isn't gory at all. The ending was a little bit trite in my opinion but the overall experience of the book is very good.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Apocalypse Seven.

I love apocalypse books (especially if zombies are involved) and this title is great so I was excited when my request was approved.

The Apocalypse Seven was different (in a good way) from what I was expecting.

I was expecting survivors being chased by zombies, having to fend off predators of all kinds, and making their way to each other amid a new world.

There are no zombies, but there are predators and the world is a strange and frightening place. Especially when you wake up and it's not your world anymore.

Without giving anything away, I enjoyed The Apocalypse Seven. The concept was original, and all the characters are likable and relatable in their own way.

There's plenty of exposition on each character, world building for each individual as they acclimate and adapt to their new surroundings and make sense of the new world.

I sort of figured out how the seven ended up where they were, but the author kept me guessing, dropping frightening clues and hints which made my mind whirl at every turn.

I'm a big fan of The X-Files so the explanation at the end had me nodding my head in understanding and awe.

I eagerly look forward to the author's next book.

I'm a simple person, I see something about the apocalypse, I want to consume.
I was excited to read this book but ended with a lot of mixed feelings on it. I can't really give much away without spoiling anything, though. I really liked the concept of the story, and the whole post-apocalyptic setting was really cool (and easy to go along with the characters and how lost they're all feeling), but once the plot started to resolve itself and we learn what happened, I was left underwhelmed. Not because it's a bad plot, mind, I'm sure there are a lot of people who vibe with this type of story, but it just isn't my kind of thing and it ended up feeling kinda unoriginal and dry.
Really liked how the friendships started forming between the seven of them, especially the friendship between Robbie and Carol.

Content warning for some gore, blood, ableism and animal death.

3.5 / 5 stars. I loved the premise and the mystery/tension of the first two thirds. Each of the individual characters felt unique and like a complete idea. My two favorite characters, Win and Ananda, could have featured more in the story I felt like the ending was majorly rushed and because of it, left me slightly unsatisfied. This is a fun post-apocalyptic story. Don't go into it if you're looking for hard science. It's a little woo/woo fringey. I enjoyed the read!

This book was a joy.
The hook of trying to figure out what happened pulled me along, and I found myself unable to stop turning pages. I stayed up late for this book.
Each character has a unique viewpoint and set of advantages and disadvantages, and while occasionally this made things a little convenient at times, it also dropped me deep into the story. There is one scene that was so exciting and freaky that I made a little scream noise and got chills, and then I had to go find my husband and narrate the whole thing to him in a shouty voice. Seriously. So. Much. Fun.

Thank you to Netgalley and HMH for an advanced reader ecopy.

i really enjoyed reading this, it had great characters and a great storyline. I enjoyed the storyline with horror elements, the fact that seven people are without other people but not totally alone. It's a scary premise.

This was <i>good</i>.

Seven people wake up in different places to find that the world is now deserted of people and overgrown with wildlife. There's not much after that I can tell you, because the plot is a) survival and b) figuring out what happened to the world. I did NOT predict the outcome at all.

I think the most notable artistry the author shows in this book is a masterful navigation of tone. Waking up to find your former life - family, goals, identity - all completely gone, is a horrible trauma. Surviving in an urban wasteland overrun by predators and threatened by the more prosaic problems of starvation, sickness, injury, and the elements, is also horrible. However, this is NOT a story of death and dismemberment.

The tone of the story is irreverent, pragmatic, and hilarious. The author's narrative voice is unique and entertaining; I laughed out loud at least four times, and I am not usually an easy touch for humor. The characters all have their own quirks and skills, and overall remain reasonable and cooperative and funny. There wasn't a single character I disliked. But this book isn't a total wacky genre parody, either. Instead, it's a work of finesse that keeps an upbeat, ironic tone but doesn't lose sight of the fear and real emotion of the situation, either.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole experience. This book is interesting, fun, and an all-around good ride. I hope it's a hit when it comes out.

After a few sentences, I had the impression of reading a very odd book—odd in a positive, intriguing way that made it a real page-turner (I finished it in only two evenings’ time). Robbie, freshman at Harvard, wakes up on his first day at university and realizes he’s all alone in his dorm. The power is out, his alarm clock doesn’t work anymore, his closet is full of clothes that aren’t his, and there’s no car traffic, no sound coming from outside. That’s when he hears at last someone shouting. Two floors below his, he discovers Carol, a blind student, who has lost her dog. Together, they finally venture outside—and the surroundings look strange. It’s still Harvard, all right, but it looks as if during the night everyone had been evacuated, buildings had started to crumble, the local fauna had multiplied, and the vegetation overgrown the remaining infrastructure, pot-holed roads and streets included. After a while, they stumble upon a third survivor, a young computer geek named Touré, who cheerfully announces they’ve apparently slept throught the “whateverpocalypse”. After a dangerous night where enourmously huge wolves are roaming the streets they find a fourth person, Bethany, a moody thirteen-year-old girl. No one has a clue what has happened; the most vital thing is to find a way to survive in these conditions, anyway.

Four other persons are still alive: Pastor Paul, who wakes up in his remote New Hampshire chapel; Ananda, an MIT-scientist; and Win, a young woman who has come to her mother’s farm for a visit. All three wake up under the same circumstances: no one’s around, the infrastructure seems to have broken down quite a while ago, and there’s no sign of any living person around. The fourth person is a young boy the reader only glimpses fleetingly, for a reason he will find out towards the end of the book.

This excellently written and breathtakingly thrilling novel tells the story of how this seven survivors—the apocalypse seven—find each other in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after many life-threatening twists and turns, form a close-knit community despite their glaring differences, and learn how to cope with the bizarre reality. Of course, right from the start, I had more questions than answers (the same was true for the main characters), and had to do with the scarce clues the author was willing to throw my (and their) way. Why is the weather behaving so weirdly? Where are all the people (or, if they’ve all died in a catalcysm, where are their bodies)? Why are there so many dangerous, huge wild animals all of a sudden? What should one make of the odd light phenomenon the main characters have dubbed “The Shimmer”? Why do the stars look so unfamiliar when one looks too closely? What? Has? Happened?

Well, I got the answer at the very end; an answer all those who prefer their reads to be science-based and down-to-earth will probably hate but that I found brilliant. It’s simple: as soon as I started reading the book, I put my trust in the author and was willing to go wherever he wanted me to go, be it in a direction that, frankly, wouldn’t make any sense. Suffice it to say: it did. But not in the way I expected. Still, the unexpected, when offered by an accomplished writer who knows how to pace his story and construct his plot, who knows how to draw in his readers and knows how to write, too (very important!), can be very rewarding. For me, it was, anyway.

The characters were all quite different one from the other, ranging from the everyday-hero-despite-himself Robbie to the more cerebral Carol, from moody but interesting Bethany to God-trusting and yet doubtful Paul, from no-nonsense horse-whisperer Win to Touré the jerk and Ananda, who lives in her scientific bubble. The world-building was excellently done and very believable; the chapters were cut into neat little pieces with just the right amount of cliffhangers to keep me goind with bated breath. If you like dystopian literature and books about the apocalypse with an interesting twist, this book should absolutely be on your To-Read-List.

The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette is a superb read! An engrossing read well worth the time spent.

If this book doesn't win at least a dozen awards, I will be shocked.

This book is so good. It kept me guessing till the very end. I LOVED IT! I loved that every single character brought something different and unique to the story. The author did a great job of bringing every single one of them together and yet keeping them separate enough for the readers to have favorites.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, however, what would you do if you woke up and everyone else was gone. What would you do if you woke up and a 100 years had passed? How would you survive?

The book is so good, I read it in two days. I had a hard time putting it down to work, sleep, eat.

READ THIS BOOK you won't be disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this awesome book and give an honest review.