REVIEW: A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer

Summary: On Day 56 of the pandemic called BluStar, sixteen-year-old Nadia's mother dies, leaving her responsible for her younger brother Rabbit. They secretly received antivirus vaccines from their uncle, but most people weren't as lucky. Their deceased father taught them to adapt and survive whatever comes their way. That's their plan as they trek from Seattle to their grandfather's survivalist compound in West Virginia. Using practical survival techniques, they make their way through a world of death and destruction until they encounter an injured dog; Zack, a street kid from Los Angeles; and other survivors who are seldom what they seem. Illness, infections, fatigue, and meager supplies have become a way of life. Still, it will be worth it once they arrive at the designated place on the map they have memorized. But what if no one is there to meet them?

Rating: 5 out of 10

Overview: A good read. Not the best, but if you’re looking for an apocalyptic book with a virus that isn’t about zombies or aliens, this is a good one. Simple in style, it’s an easy read.

Thoughts: I picked this book up a few months ago, got about two chapters in, and put it back down. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the beginning, it was just one of those reads. To be honest, I kind of forgot it existed until I randomly decided to scroll through my iBooks. I liked Kizer’s Fenestra series well enough, so I decided to give this another shot.

A Matter of Days is an apocalyptic tale told from sixteen year old Nadia’s POV and begins 56 days after the initial outbreak of a virus that took out roughly 98% of the worlds population. And let me tell you, they run into a lot of people in their travels. Two percent of seven billion is roughy a population of 140 million world wide and they’re running into people in every other town. Does the rest of the world not exist?

Nadia and her little brother, Rabbit, are working their way cross country in the hopes of reaching their Pappi’s mine. Along the way, they meet Zack who ultimately joins them. Zack was probably my favorite character out of everyone who shows up. An LA street kid, he has survival skills that save the trio’s lives several times and is the more practical one. I liked Nadia and everything, she had a couple of great moments, but Zack was just kick ass all the way around.

The story itself was on the slow side and nothing very exciting happened until about the middle of the book, when they found the little girl in the mall. That was Nadia’s first moment that had me liking her a little more. She didn’t hesitate to kill one of the bastards who caught little Patty and were planning on selling her for ammo, and then she carried her ten miles back to where they’d decided to meet after they were separated.

The ending was a little abrupt. They found Pappi and Uncle Bean, and that was kind of it. Personally I would have liked an epilogue or something about their lives later on and how the world was trying to rebuild. But the book’s goal was met and was pretty good, if predictable.