Reviews

The Dust of Dawn by Eloise J. Knapp

lilliolani's review

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5.0

I adored this book! The world-building and character development were amazing. The individual story-focused chapters were cleverly done and left me eagerly anticipating what would happen next.

timewalker's review

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4.0

***I was given a copy of this audiobook for free in return for an honest review***

A comet is heading to destroy earth, but when it lands, the earth remains. Instead, yellow dust escapes from it, causing death to anyone who comes in contact with it. Jack, Colleen, Craig, Lara, and Dan must escape the infected zone while figuring out what caused the dust, as well as finding a cure.

The plot was interesting. While there were some predictable sections, mainly with character interactions, the story threw a couple of curveballs. I was right about what the dust was (kind of? still a bit confused on that), but the last chapter definitely didn't go in a direction I thought it would.

Out of the five main characters, I only liked one of them at first. However, I feel that is the point. It's an end-of-the-world situation. People aren't going to be at their best, which is a topic that is introduced a lot in the book. By the end, I liked three of the characters, with a fourth being ok. The fifth I still didn't like, but once again, that was the point of his character. I also didn't like a certain part of his past that was mentioned, it seemed like it was only mentioned to tie up a loose end.

I was impressed with the authors use of scientific and medical terminology. I actually asked the narrator to get in contact with the author to ask her about it for me. I wasn't sure if she had a scientific background, knew someone with said background, or just did a lot of research. Turns out, it was just a lot of research. She spoke to some doctors for the medical aspects of it, and some bioengineers for the science. She wouldn't elaborate anymore for fear of spoiling books 2 and 3, which has me even more interested in where the series is going.

The narrator was good. In the first chapter, there were times he spoke a bit fast, but it is understandable given what happens. I feel he was trying to convey what was happening in the moment. That was really my only issue from his reading. I will definitely look into more things he's narrated. By the way, props to him for being able to pronounce some of the terminology in the book! I only know them from sound, as I didn't read the actual book, but good for him.

I was initially unsure about this book. I decided to send a request for it out of shear curiosity, but I'm actually glad I did. It was a better book than the description seemed. All in all, the story and narrator both rate 4 stars, given a total score of 4/5 stars. I look forward to book 2.
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