Emma Sloley

Disaster’s Children is a doomsday story revolving around Marlo, a Chinese American woman, whom after being adopted as a toddler has lived her entire life in an insulated community. Now 25, Marlo feels torn between accepting the role of successor to her parents community they have built, and accepting an active role in the ravaged world outside her gates. A world decimated by climate change, it is known simply as the Disaster. Deeply conflicted, Marlo feels obligated to honor the legacy her family started, but also to give of herself to humanities suffering. Having come to a conclusion that she will leave and join her friends in service to the disaster, a wrench is thrown in her plans when a mysterious stranger shows up. Consumed by unexpected feelings for this new arrival, Marlo wonders if making a life inside the protected community makes more sense than risking life and limb in a forsaken wasteland. This is an eerie tale all the creepier because this could be the path we may walk down if we don’t change our ways. Perhaps the only downside to this story was that I was kinda waiting for the pickup, an oh wow moment, and that never really happened. The pace of the story was steady and consistent, but lacking major, dramatic plot twists. This is a debut novel, and is a competent start. Not sure if this is an ongoing storyline, or if this is a solo effort. It could actually benefit from being a first novel in a series. Thank you to Netgalley for the early copy.… (mer)

The draw of this book was the apocalyptic theme, doomsday preppers and how a society could function outside the traditional norm. You are drawn into the small society and gradually realize they just aren’t likable.

The group is made up of professionals such as doctors, journalists and architects – also those with farming knowledge and apparently many of those from a wealthy station in life. The isolated life these people lead could be described as a gated community (think very large scale) where you must apply for membership. They drink wine and eat Brie as they meet on various subjects.

There is a journalist who reports news to them as he goes on the Internet; all others aren’t restricted from web surfing but they just don’t indulge. Marlo is a central character – a 25 year-old who has been sheltered from life. You just can’t warm to anyone in the story and honestly, I almost bailed on the book. Once a new character was brought in (he applied, was turned down and then showed up) it gets a tad more interesting. Overall, this didn’t engage me enough to seek out more of the author’s work.

More on the author Emma Sloley Here.

This book is my sixth book for the Aussie Author Challenge.

This book was published November 5, 2019.
Much thanks to Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book.… (mer)

Disaster's Children by Emma Sloley is a so-so wealthy survivalists story incorporating a dystopian setting with a romance and mystery.

Marlo has been raised by her wealthy adoptive parents and a group of other wealthy like-minded survivalists in a secluded community in Oregon. She has lived in the isolated community for 20 years, since she was five. The community was started by doomsday preppers based on the approaching climate change. The residents call the outside world "the Disaster" and although Marlo has made a few trips to the outside world, she has spent most of her time secluded with members of their group. When Marlo finds a dead eagle, which after a search turns into five dead eagles, members are sure it is due to the Disaster outside their ranch.

The synopsis makes this novel sound much more interesting dystopian than it is in reality. The technical quality of the writing is good, richly detailed and descriptive, but Sloley loses track of how to take advantage early on of creating mystery, tension, and intrigue in her story. While the writing is important, ultimately I'm reading novels for the story, the plot. There were several chances to increase the apprehension for the reader when Marlo encounters mysteries and then.... she just moves on. The action didn't really start until I was already bored with and tired of Marlo. (The whole buying a designer dress when she visits NYC with her father on a mission to recruit new members to their enclave made no sense, especially when contrasted with her wanting to leave her sheltered home to work for a eco-group.) She is a very young, sheltered 25 year-old. After powering through the novel, the unanswered questions and cliff hanger at the end clinched the lower rating for me.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Amazon Publishing.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/10/disasters-children.html… (mer)

A leisurely, meandering story of a wealthy 25-year old living on her parents' communal ranch, where they and their equally rich neighbors plan for a self-sustaining future during the coming ecological crises. They call the outside "The Disaster" and barely acknowledge their own complicity in the state of the world. The ranch requires a steep financial investment and hard physical work from all, but because of the group's wealth they lack for nothing and buy what they need if they can't produce it themselves. Most of them stay off the Internet, relying on news synopses prepared by one volunteer. There are lovely picnics near one of their private lakes and long evenings drinking expensive wine in the clubhouse (they call it the Commons). Every now and then someone goes off to try to recruit more people of their status to join the ranch.

Marlo lives in her own home on the ranch, which she loves (they moved here when she was 5), but she wonders about staying for a while in the outside world and if she should follow her two best friends there to try to fix the world from within it. Before she can actually leave, a stranger shows up, she falls for him, and they decide to plan a future at the ranch. A surprise revelation makes her doubt her choice, and the book ends with her betraying those closest to her in the most unforgivable manner.

Marlo is not particularly likable and operates more like a teenager than a well-educated and sexually-mature woman. For most of the book I tended to dislike the ranchers, who have all they want materially but feel that somehow they're helping ensure the survival of civilization. But what Marlo does at the end of the book is so awful it makes the ranchers into victims, and her actions make little sense for a character who tends to think things through ad nauseam. The author, however, ends the book in a celebratory mood, with Marlo triumphant and her parents and other ranchers, including a close friend of hers, with a crushing surprise ahead of them.

All in all, the book is distasteful in its tone deafness and left a sour aftertaste.… (mer)