Blood Riders, start your engines!

So there I was, happily reading along about the end of the world—or the end of Long Island, at least. Well, “happily” might be stretching it when you’re talking about beaches littered with suicidal dolphins, old-time sailing ships dripping with blood, and the (now familiar) attack of mass blindness.

I’m talking, of course, about Genesis (The White Dragon Book 1), by Stefan Bolz,  the latest offering from the Apocalypse Weird universe.

I’m familiar with the geography of the area around Islip, Long Island, so I got a kick out of mentally driving the familiar roads with the visually-impaired Kasey Byrne as she set off to find her boyfriend, Jack.

Like I said, “happily” reading about the end of Long Island, minding my own business.

Then it happened: The Blood Riders.

Every once in awhile, I come across an original idea in a story that just bends the genre for me. That’s what the Blood Riders did for me. I won’t explain the details because it would spoil the surprise, but that was the moment that Bolz had me. The concept was so cool that it made me look at the story in a whole new way.

From there, Genesis races on to a cliffhanger ending that sets him up perfectly for the next book, but also didn’t leave me feeling cheated as a reader.

Bolz writes with an easy style that makes the pages fly by and his use of the “required elements” of the Apocalypse Weird universe are well done. I especially liked his take on teenage angst in the midst of world-ending events. Too often, YA adopts a snarky, whiny tone that grates on the senses, but Bolz manages to create a young character that struggles in a believable way with the enormity of the task that is thrust upon her.

Until The White Dragon Book 2, I have one phrase for you to remember: Blood Riders.

David Bruns is the creator of the sci-fi series The Dream Guild Chronicles, and one half of the Two Navy Guys and a Novel blog series about co-writing the military thriller, Weapons of Mass Deception, coming in May 2015.