What? A dystopia that actually is about more than a love triangle? Could this be true. YES! There is conflict! There is action. And more importantly, it actually made me think about humanity! 
 This book takes a realistic, and horrifying possibility (huge volcano eruption in the States, causing everything to go out of whack,) and explores how humanity would react to this. And the sad thing is, a lot of what Mullin found wasn't good. I mean, you do have those good people (The Mrs. Edmunds of the world,) but so quickly things escalate into a blood bath with desperate people trying to make it out on top. 
 This book was almost painful to read because of the gore, and the harshness of it. Bad things happened. People died in both horrifying ways. Perhaps the most peaceful was the man who'd put on a suit, gotten into bed, and shot himself through the mouth. Or maybe those who died in the eruption in the beginning. Or maybe it's pointless to think about who might have suffered less when everyone went through things far too terrifying. 
 But the thing is, awful, natural disasters do happen. And how prepared is the average Joe for them? Not very, from what I can tell. (I mean, my mom is, what with her seven years worth of rice, grain, canned goods, and wood stove. But she's a conspiracy theorist- of course she's prepared.) 
 That's the true power of this book. To make you think about humanity, and how you'd react in a situation that pitted your selfishness, plain sense,desire to survive, and compassion against each other. In that respect, this book was brilliant. 
 There things I didn't like, of course. The main character was a sixteen year old boy who practically thought about making out or having sex with the main girl about three quarters of the time after she made her appearance. Alex had his good points, but that doesn't make his hormonal teen issues any less annoying to read about. And I always lose a bit of respect for characters who are so young and having sex with people they've known for about three weeks- if that. Even when all hell has broken loose. 
 But, still, the main themes of this book were good. Plus, it was exciting, full of action, and almost impossible to put down.