Friday, October 14, 2011

The Pulse Experience



Welcome to The Pulse Experience!
I have for you today a review of The Dark Age (Survivors of The Pulse) by Jeff W. Horton.

This great book is a follow-up to The Great Collapse, which is totally going on my list to be read after having read The Dark Age.

Suppose you learned that an ancient prophecy about an artifact, said to be powerful enough to dramatically change the world, was true. Would you risk everything to find it?


It has been five-hundred years since the Pulse caused the Great Collapse, ending the Golden Age, and civilization on planet Earth. Humanity has waited ever since for a long-anticipated sign from God, which has finally appeared in the night sky. The time has come for Ferrell Young, the Warrior Clan, and the Church to risk everything in an effort to restore civilization, and bring hope to a world full of despair.


Alex Montgomery is an archaeologist who has spent many years looking for a mysterious book on behalf of the Holy Christian Church. The book is said to contain the location of the Great Oracle which, according to legend, can endow the one who finds it with great power and wealth. Of much greater importance to the Clan and the Church however, is the fact that it may also enable the world to emerge from five centuries of darkness and suffering.


When a powerful, intelligent, but sadistic barbarian leader named Kraken learns of the Oracle, he plans to destroy the Warrior Clan and the Church, take the Oracle for himself, and enslave the rest of humanity.


Join Ferrell and his companions as they set out on a desperate journey to find the Great Oracle, and rescue humanity from The Dark Age.

(Summary and cover via Goodreads)

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After "The Pulse," an EMP disaster has destroyed all technology on the planet, mankind has sunk into a new Dark Age. Without technology people struggled to survive, and the great cities of old were largely abandoned except by roaming packs of "urbas," wild people who will kill anything in their path. There is one united Christian church and a mysterious warrior clan. There is also an evil tyrant named Kraken, who is bent on taking over the world by any means necessary. The church and the warriors have united to find an ancient artifact called the Oracle, that it is said will bring the world into another Golden Age. It will take a combination of brains and cunning for a group of brave men to find the Oracle and bring great hope to humanity.

I found this book fascinating. It really draws you in from the beginning. The world is scarily believable. I know people have discussed what an massive EMP could do to the world, and this book takes that to an extreme. The world is in a Dark Age, and people are just struggling to survive. They wish for a better world though. Through hints and riddles, a group of people are able to go out and find a vital relic of sorts that survived The Pulse. With this, they are hoping to not have to fight for survival but instead thrive. This book covers the search for this artifact and deals with the battle with Kraken. Kraken is a despot who is determined to have everyone and everything under his rule. His cruel methods make him a formidable enemy for sure. Our heroes face much peril, and you can't help but cheer for them as they journey.

The characters were interesting. I particularly liked Alex, an archaeologist of sorts and Farrell, a great warrior with an interesting past. This book also had a really good pace. Things moved along at a fairly fast clip, but it was never too fast. Another interesting aspect to this book was the talk of religion. It seemed to have a fairly Christian viewpoint, and characters were often discussing the role of religion in their world. There is some action and some romance. I really enjoyed this book. It seemed like a frightening yet believable possibly reality. It was a really great read.

Book provided for review.


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