Review: The Consequences

THE CONSEQUENCES by Avis Adams

Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, YA

5*****

Blurb: Olivia Jensen survived the Novel Hepatitis A Virus that devastated her community but is grief-stricken when she learns that her entire family has died. She ventures into the post-apocalyptic world left by storms and disease, searching for solitude to grieve and come to terms with her emotions. Unfortunately, Brian, the boy who has had a crush on her since the second grade, offers his help out of concern for her health. Is he hoping a relationship will blossom? Fat chance. Olivia, still weak from her recovery, must accept Brian’s help to get to the stables and check on her horse. When she is given a chance to help a little girl who will die without medicine, she joins forces with Brian. Together they travel on horseback through snowstorms to a mountain town in search of a doctor who has developed medicine. In a world with no existing infrastructure, Olivia’s community relies on her success. Can they find the doctor and bring her back with them before they freeze in the blizzards?

Thoughts: As several states deal with the aftereffects of Hurricane Helene and the COVID outbreak over the last few years, this book rang a little too true. In this one, the storms called Elprimo have devastated the US, as has a virulent disease that no one expected. Thousands dead, no electricity, no running water, towns devastated by both and cut off from everything because of storm damage.

Olivia and her friend, Brian, go to check on her horse, Shadow, at a nearby farm, but when they get there, Olivia discovers that Shadow has died. Given no chance to grieve, the elderly farmer sends them to a nearby farm to get hay for the remaining horses. Along the way, they find an abandoned 4-year-old girl, and thieves who steal their bikes, then accost them for the horses they’re riding. At the hay farm, they’re tasked with going to a nearby town for medicine for the family. They have to make their way through treacherous roads, a blizzard, and more, then get back home before more people die. I loved the dog with the rips. And how much they depend on the horse not just for transportation, but heart as well.

The two of them learn what it is to depend on each other for their lives and what desperate people are capable of. And that they are stronger than they thought. This is a story about friendship, survival, and strength of character.

Recommended.

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own and are not influenced or solicited by anyone.