Interesting sequel to "Sky so Heavy" in that Fin and Lucy and Max find themselves reaching the Preppers' compound that their teacher told them existed right at the start of the book. Greeted by balaclava wearing, machine gun toting men when they arrive, some of the Camp members are anything but welcoming and the three are accepted on trial to see if they can stay. Lucy soon discovers that the camp is controlled by Jaxon - a man who knows a lot about survival and seems to have a sinister control over many of the camp's members. The way he controls Esther, the teacher's daughter particularly irks Lucy as he refuses to let her leave the camp unsupervised and won't train her (on any of the other women) in the use of a gun. Meanwhile Fin is being trained as a guard and Max (who was in shock after seeing the deaths of two people in the previous book) is slowly coming out of his shell with the help of the camp's hunting dog. Lucy becomes more and more restless and agitated with Jaxon's control over everyone and it all comes to a head. What is he hiding?
I found it very intriguing that this book is more about coercive control than about survival in a dystopian world. It looks at how the upheaval of life as we know it lends itself to manipulating people like Jaxon being able to yield power over others. It also looks at how certain women like Esther can be their own worst enemies when it comes to freeing themselves from the clutches of controlling men.
I also liked how this book has a resolution to the dystopia ( sorry SPOILER ALERT) which most of these types of novels do not have.
For mature readers due to Fin and Lucy's sexual relationship. ( )