Outage

Powerless Nation, Book 1

By: Ellisa Barr

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

When fifteen-year-old Dee is left at her grandpa's farm in rural Washington, she thinks her life is over. She may be right.

An electromagnetic-pulse attack has destroyed the country's power grid, sending the United States back to the Dark Ages. Now Dee and Grandpa must face a world without electricity and clean water - let alone cell phones and the Internet - as well as the chaos brought on by this sudden catastrophe. Soon their town begins to collapse as disease and lawlessness run rampant. With handsome, troubled Mason and friendly boy-next-door Hyrum at her side, Dee fights to survive and deals with a new, undeniable attraction at the same time.

Meanwhile, a corrupt, power-crazed sheriff is administering a terrifying brutality and preying on the sick and the well supplied. When he sets his sights on Grandpa's farm, can Dee put her feelings aside to save her home - and take back the power she'd feared was forever lost?

©2015 Ellisa Barr (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Good story and characters

Overall, I enjoyed this story. Dee acts like a typical sullen teenager, who recently lost her younger brother. Her depressed parents leave her on her grandpa's farm while they take a cruise, then disaster strikes. I enjoyed Dee's development into a solid, likeable heroine who stepped up to responsibility. All the characters are believable and the story is well done. I loved all the survival tips and while there are Christian references throughout the story, it is never preachy. The narrator also did a wonderful job.

great prepping info nestled in good story

great prepping info nestled in good story. nice subliminal nuggets of wisdom intertwined within each chapter.

An enjoyable, if not tense listen

I really liked this book. The characters were memorable and the plot was both easy to follow and alarming with how stressed out I got listening to it. It's written in such a way that you totally believe this event could happen and because of that it makes you think more about where you are at with preparedness than you would think. She did an excellent job of tying all of it together and making even the smallest details work into the narrative. I can't wait to get the next one.

Survival tips

I was hooked from the very beginning. I love a book that teaches us some basic skills. The story was good, a bit gentler than I feel it would be if that scenerial ever happened.

prepare

Are you ready for the end of today? It shows how unready my family is.

Great read

Romance, fear, depression, encouragement, drama are just a few things you will experience throughout the book.

This is a real well written book!!!

Lost interest half-way through

Would you try another book from Ellisa Barr and/or Kate Rudd?

I skipped to the next book that told the story of her parents. I found it much more interesting, but still not extraordinary.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting is probably the neighbors bartering farm goods with farm work. The least interesting is sadly enough, Dee, the main character.

What aspect of Kate Rudd’s performance would you have changed?

The grandfather is portrayed in the performance as old and frail. When reading the same thing it doesn't come across that way.

Did Outage inspire you to do anything?

.... no?

Not for me

The book was written from the perspective of a teenage girl. I suspect I was not the target audience

Utopian version of distopia

Yuk
Non-distopia is not as good as this weird version of survivorship of major disaster. It is also a thinly veiled Christian indoctrination. Very bizarre. Poor story line and completely unbelievable characters. Couldn’t make it past the halfway point. Wish the description actually matched the story.