Daybreak Zero (Daybreak Series #2)

by John Barnes

Overview

A year has passed since the catastrophic event known as "Daybreak" began. Seven billion people have died. Washington, D.C., has been vaporized. The United States barely avoided a second civil war between two rival governments that rose from Washington's ashes. And "Daybreak" isn't over...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101475898
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Series:	Daybreak Series , #2
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	197,869
File size:	548 KB

About the Author

John A. Barnes has been a journalist, writer, speaker, and television commentator whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Reader's Digest, and America's Civil War. He is currently a corporate communications manager with Pfizer Inc. Mr. Barnes lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

A post-apocalyptic story like this often demands that a narrator evoke its dark and gritty reality in her performance. In this audiobook, Susan Ericksen’s attempts to capture atmosphere do not quite work. The story focuses on a small research center that is working to reunite a fractured United States in the aftermath of the biological and chemical destruction of modern technology. Telling the story through the eyes of facility’s leader, Heather O'Grainne, Ericksen makes sense of the narrative but delivers it with a brittle intensity—even during the more personal and intimate moments. Her vocalizing of male characters proves equally problematic, with an overemphasis on projecting a deep voice. L.E. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

JULY 2011 - AudioFile

Near-future apocalypse, the second entry in Barnes' projected trilogy, followingDirective 51(2010).

The entity known as Daybreak, apparently dedicated to wiping out humanity, has released biological weapons that destroy oil and oil-based products such as gasoline and plastics; fusion bombs have killed millions in America and billions worldwide; meanwhile, a machine on the moon continues to fire EMP bombs that destroy electronic devices and components. What remains of the U.S. government has split into two disparate and mutually hostile factions, one based in Washington State, the other in Georgia. Others have built fortified compounds known as Castles where, perhaps instructed and encouraged by Daybreak, they rule as petty tyrants. Other than a few scattered communities of researchers, the remaining survivors have formed weird, anti-technology tribes eager to mount appalling human-wave assaults against fortified positions. But what is Daybreak exactly? A terrorist conspiracy? A hostile artificial intelligence? Or an emergent property, a meme, that attained critical mass, vastly intelligent but without consciousness? Daybreak has no leaders, so cannot be confronted or attacked directly; its agents have infiltrated each of the groups dedicated to defeating it; worse, those that study the phenomenon risk being subverted. The story leaps between these and numerous other scenes, employing a cast of thousands. Add in the sheer density of the narrative and the seeming inability of the good guys to mount any meaningful response. It all makes for a tough slog.

A stunning premise that would have benefited from a lighter approach, less baggage and more focus.

Kirkus Reviews