Year One: Chronicles of The One, Book 1

Debra G. Hatfield

Futuristic fall of civilization urban fantasy

"This book is the first of a three-book series grouped under 'The Chronicles of the One'. When an innocent hunter accidentally lets a drop of blood fall within an old sacred space it unleashes a plague on mankind and also unleashes magic for the first time in centuries. This book is the first book detailing what happens with the plague and also the start of magic in our world after so long a time. It is the first in a series about a chosen one, actually in this case even a made one who was seen as needed centuries before the events occurred. However, this book does not deal with her so much as it deals with the people who came before her and what happened to them because of the plague and the magic. The chosen one is born right at the end of the book. Released in 2017, some of it is so realistic with what happened when COVID-19 hit it is almost like a preview of that. The plague in the book is a worse disease than COVID was and kills more people more quickly. With the return of magic there are people who become magical people instead of dying and there are other normal people who hate, fear, and hunt these people down to kill them. An excellent first book in the series, it deals a lot with the people and the people issues. A great read. Good plot, solid characters, and an interesting story. ["

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December 19, 2022 Verified Purchase

Voracious Reader

With Year One, Nora Roberts conquers a new genre!

"Before I get into my review, I would like to thank St. Martins Press and Goodreads for the advance readers edition which allowed me to read this book before it was in the store. This was my first experience of being able to do this with the works of an author as well known as Nora Roberts. I felt very honored for this opportunity. I had already pre-ordered the Kindle edition before winning it. I would also like to thank Ms. Roberts for another wonderful story. From the moment I learned of the upcoming release of Year One by Nora Roberts I had been looking forward to reading it, Year One was every bit as good as I had thought it would be. During the first bit of the story I was thinking it might possibly replace Stephen King's The Stand as my favorite post apocalyptic story. While it did not quite accomplish that, it did come in a very close second and is now my favorite Nora Roberts book. This book will not suit all of Nora's readers. It is not a romance but there are couples who love each other and relationships developing. I've read a lot of reviews where the reader was disappointed with the book, but based on their comments I take it that they were either more into romance or harder core apocalyptic stories. This story blends more fantasy than is usually incorporated into these novels by adding some magical components which is often in them just not quite like this. As I like this element in books it suited me very well. For the record according to an author acquaintance, my reading tastes are unusually eclectic in that I like different genres that most people do not read together. I enjoy romance, romantic suspense, mysteries, thrillers, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. I have enjoyed books Ms. Roberts writes in all the genres she writes in. In my opinion Ms. Roberts has successfully added another genre to her credentials with Year One and I am very much looking forward to the remaining two books in the trilogy. ["

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December 7, 2017 Verified Purchase

Danielle

a dark, magickal mix of Zombieland and Heroes

"MAJOR SPOILERS (Edit: In case that first line, which was there from the start, isn't enough of a warning, let me be clear-- I DISCUSS MAJOR SPOILERS. SPOILER ALERT HEY, GUYS, THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.) I was thoroughly impressed with the ingenuity and world-building in this novel. It’s probably been done before, but I’ve never seen the end of the world caused by dark magic. A deadly virus spread with crazy ease and speed, killing billions of people—but also unlocking supernatural abilities in others. And there were also ordinary humans who just seemed to be immune to the virus. No zombies, thank god; I’m so sick of zombies. We didn’t get a whole lot of explanation for the magickal side of the story yet, about what happened ages ago to have begun all this. But that’ll come. I had a hard time wrapping my head around romance queen Nora Roberts writing an end-of-the-world book, and I didn’t have faith in the quality of the work, since her stand-alone last spring crashed and burned, so I didn’t take Year One seriously—and decided to peek at the ending. Now I can’t decide if I’m glad I knew up front that Max dies or if I wish I’d been ignorant so I could have enjoyed my time with him without wondering if he would die on the next page, or the next. I can’t imagine I’d have been surprised by his death—I mean, Lana having dreams of wandering alone and heartbroken wasn’t exactly subtle—but I did read the book with a sense of dread, knowing it was coming. But it’s done. Max, who was easily my favorite character, died, and I was insulted on his behalf by the lack of significance Roberts gave the moment of his death. I don’t now if she underestimated how much readers would care about him, or if she was trying not to ruin the momentum of the scene, wanting it to happen as quickly for us as it was for Lana, but she presented the death of a major character rather apathetically, in my opinion. As I think on it, I wonder if I just don’t have closure. We left his lifeless body bleeding in the middle of a cornfield, never saw the reactions of the others, never saw him laid to rest, never saw his friends grieve for him. Lana grieved for him, but it was kind of a glossed over, off-camera thing. Speaking of, I wish Roberts had included at least one more chapter that described Lana’s emotional transition, her grief for Max and her growing feelings for Simon. I liked Simon, he was a solid guy, but I did not get to know him well enough to accept him as Lana’s new love. The development of their relationship was MIA; Fallon was born, then BAM—time jump, and they’re declaring their love for one another. It wasn’t fair to us, after spending 370 pages falling in love with Max, to have Simon shoved in our faces in less than 50. Also, I understand the symbolism of Lana moving on from Max on New Year’s Eve, closing out the year along with that chapter of her life, but I can’t get behind it. I don’t believe you can just decide to be done grieving; just decide to be done with any emotion. If she wasn’t ready to move on, then she wasn’t ready, and there was no reason she couldn’t have taken her time. Again, I’m insulted on Max’s behalf that her New Year’s resolution was to put away her emotions for him. It just feels wrong to me, a little callous. But Roberts wanted it wrapped up so the plot could progress. Whatever. I’m not entirely clear on what the focus is here, storytelling-wise. Obviously the over-arching plot is Fallon saving the world, aka the “Chronicles of The One,” but the goal of this book was a little ambiguous to me. If Roberts wanted to tell us about the purge and how/why The One was called into action, then we didn’t need anything from Arlys and Jonah’s points of view. Because if they’re not included in the next book, if we never see them again, they were a massive waste of time in this one. Similarly, why did we meet Starr, then, if we were only going to know her for two seconds? Why did we need to go behind-the-scenes of the founding of New Hope, when all that was pertinent to Max and Lana—and therefore The One—was that they showed up there? I really believe we’ll see Arlys and the others again; I can’t imagine Roberts wrote them for the sake of writing them. …Actually, yeah, I can believe it. I personally think the first book should have ended after chapter sixteen, after their first harrowing escape, and the second book could have started with New Hope, given Lana and Simon’s relationship time to breathe, and gone from there. But Roberts contorted the story to fit the “year one” theme for some reason; the next book, scheduled to release next November, is titled Of Blood and Bone, not Year Two, and I highly doubt it will continue a by-year theme, so why she was so set on doing it for this one, I don’t know. But other than those things—Max’s death, Lana and the rushed ending, and the possible irrelevance of the mass of secondary characters—I really, really liked this book. Roberts’ delivery was smooth and skilled; her wonderful talent was apparent here, and, having disliked her last release, I reveled in it. I lost my favorite character, but the others are equally likable. Overall, this is not what I would have expected from Roberts, but I look forward to seeing what comes next in the chronicles of The One. My money’s on a thirteen-year time jump and Fallon goes off to train with the weird guy from the epilogue. noapologybookreviews.com ["

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December 14, 2017 Verified Purchase

H. Grove (errantdreams)

Fantastic end days tale--with magic!

"Unlike most other tales of the end of the world, this one has magic. Fairies, witches, sorcerers, good magic, bad magic, small magics, huge magics… it’s all there. Some people appreciate these people’s newly-hatched abilities (especially when we’re talking healing, or encouraging food plants to grow!) while others blame the magical folks, who are all immune to the disease, for its ravages. Many people believe the “Uncannys” caused the plague, even though most of them had no idea they were anything unusual until the plague came along and triggered their skills or physical alterations. The magic is what makes the story of Year One different from so many otherwise similar stories of the end times coming upon us. As usual for Roberts, she paints wonderful characters. Whether it’s a fairy scavenging junk food for her friends, a reporter who went from nobody to somebody as everyone between her and the main desk died, a paramedic who sees people’s injuries or deaths in their faces, or a Wiccan who suddenly finds she can light candles with her mind and throw force from her hands in times of need, everyone feels like a potential main character. I did feel like the savage raiders were a bit cliche until we finally find out more about what’s behind them. I’m happy that not all of the good guys are Uncannys and vice versa–there are plenty of good ‘normal’ humans and plenty of evil Uncannys. The one problem I had is that since we have an Uncanny named Jonah who can see people’s deaths coming (even if they’re not going to suffer a natural death), we should have had warning of a major attack on the community. He should have seen upcoming injuries and deaths in people’s faces. I’m having trouble waiting for book two–this is why I prefer to wait to read a book until the whole series is out! ["

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January 8, 2018 Verified Purchase

Amazon Customer

Preparing for The One

"This book was different than the other Nora Roberts books I read, because it was less about romance and more about survival, community, and hope. In some ways, Year One reminded me of Stephen King's The Stand as well as many books and movies about a chosen one. Yet, Year One had something special and magical that Nora Roberts always brings to her books, and it reminded me of the first Nora Roberts book I read, Dance Upon the Air. There is a huge cast of characters in Year One. Most of the time I found it easy to follow along, except when large chunks of time were skipped. Then I got a little confused, but the story managed to get me on track again. I really enjoyed Year One and look forward to reading the next in the Chronicles of The One series. If you're a fan of Nora Roberts, like dystopian stories, or live for books about a chosen one, be sure to read Year One. ["

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January 8, 2025 Verified Purchase