Apocalypse Five
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By Stacey Rourke (2019)
The end of the world is coming. How or when, scientists can't agree upon. For decades, Earth's best line of defense has been a team of young soldiers known as the Apocalypse Five, forced into virtual reality simulations to train for Doom's Day. But, this is no game. Death on the grid is brutally final and calls up the next in a long line of cadets. Stationed aboard the AT-1-NS Starship, the A5 are celebrities thrust into the limelight by a calling they didn't choose. All it takes is one unscheduled mission, showing seventeen-year-old team leader Detroit a harsh and unfathomable reality, to shake the A5's belief in all they thought they knew. After questioning people with the power to destroy them, the team is framed for a crime they didn't commit and marked for death. Now, the hunt is on. Can the Apocalypse Five expose the truth the starship would kill to keep hidden? Or, will their bravery end in a public execution?
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Apocalypse Five is the first installment in a new young adult science fiction series that follows a team of space cadets forced to participate in simulations in preparation for saving the Earth in the event of an impending apocalypse. If you fail to survive these simulations, you die in the real world. If you die, you are replaced with another candidate. The team of superstars representing the most promising candidates is known as the A-5 team. The story is told from the point of view of Detroit, a strong willed, independent, kick ass young lady who leads the latest version of the elite A-5 team. This team consists of ginger twins Juneau and Reno, the love interest Houston, and the party boy riddled with teenage angst, Augusta. The simulations the team participates in provide a platform for describing the conditions of the Earth, which is essentially portrayed as a riddled wasteland populated with humanoids. Little does the team know how much the truth has been stretched. Detroit goes on a solo simulation and is given a glimpse of reality. In response, she gathers her team and heads for Earth. The trip to Earth just opened up a whole can of worms for the A-5 team. Questions are answered, conspiracies are uncovered, and new questions arise.
This was Ms. Rourke's first foray into the science fiction genre and I think she absolutely nailed it. There was the classic elements of science fiction with the advanced technology (androids, laser weapons, holograms) and evil sci fi villain. The concepts behind the technology weren't too over the top as can be found in some other books in this genre. Parts of it made think of the show The 100. Aside from the great homage to science fiction Ms. Rourke provided, I was also impressed with how she treated her characters. This wasn't one of those typical sci fi books with factions trying to blow each other up with space weapons chasing each other across the galaxy. There are layers to this story. Each A-5 team member brings their own unique personality traits and skillsets. While this book focused predominantly on Detroit, Ms. Rourke took the time to provide glimpses for the types of characters the other team members are intended to be. This should lay the groundwork for future installments in the series, which I am very much looking forward to.