Out of the Dark

Light & Dark, Book 1

By: Claire C. Riley, Amy Jackson

Narrated by: Hollie Jackson

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

We are temporary. Finite. The choices we've made, the people we have loved. Who we used to be no longer matters. Because now it is all about the ending. And the ending always comes too soon. There's fear in the dark. And behind every drop of light, the shadows creep and the darkness comes in the form of clawing, red-eyed monsters. They hunt us - stalk us...they are desperate to destroy us. But I have a reason to fight the darkness and everything in it. A small glimpse of light that lives within my golden-haired daughter, Lilly. She is my strength. She is my everything. Every life is an untold story, each scene unfolding until the final act. But our ending has yet to be written, and I will continue to protect us, until I cannot.

©2016 Claire C Riley (P)2017 Claire C Riley

Reducing life to that which you love

Out of the dark is moving and hard and hopeless and hopeful. This gem unfolds with excellent narration and a story line uncluttered with the how and the why of the situation in which the main characters find themselves and as a result the real focus is on the emotions in the moment, the thoughts that claim a person in charge of another's life, and really what the meaning of survival actually is. Riley names the very young child in the story, Lily, but we only know the woman who seeks to deliver her to safety or to ensure that she dies without becoming a monster, as 'mama.' For me the meaning in the story comes from Riley's understanding of the deep soulful need of a mother to protect her child literally until she cannot inhale another breath. This story pulled me along and I could not help but drink in every word as I became 'mama.' Thank you, Riley, for this wonderful piece of writing.

A heart-wrenching post-apocalyptic read

This isn't my usual pick for an audio book as I generally stick to romance. I'm so glad I took a chance on this one, though, as it was a melancholic story that was equally sad and beautiful, encapturing the love a mother has for her child. In a post-apocalyptic world, children are few and far between, food is scarce and everywhere smells of death. A breed of undead are viciously destroying the human race by ripping them to pieces. Those that survive are subjected to the slow and painful death of tuning into an undead through infection. The author has put her own interesting twist on the zombie trope and it really works. There's great attention to detail and world building as a mother and daughter struggle to survive. Literally nothing goes smoothly and happily making this quite a depressing read but the love between the two main characters is heart-shatteringly beautiful and well-worth the time. The book has a different feel to it that's hard to explain but I'm glad I picked it up.