Lightning Strikes (Angels of Ember Book 1)

The dystopian field is packed and something really special is needed to forge to the front. A tough ask. For me this is an 'also ran'.'Lightning Strikes' is generally sound of wind and limb; there are a few flaws such as: “didn't smashed it”; questions “spurn” questions rather than spawn them; and the common, “rise to a crescendo”; but in general the mechanics are good.The daily drama and events, as Ember struggles on, are itemized in detail and do seem somewhat repetitive in style and could be edited more closely but what brings the tale down mostly is the whole background world and setting.A worldwide virus is a common wipe-out plot technique but the detail needs to be solid. (It rarely is in novels like this). No one would believe any government would be so helpless when the speed of disease dispersion isn't virtually instantaneous. In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are at the cutting edge of tracking and fighting such threats and the 'bad men' of this first book in the Ember series would never have had it so easy. A solid basis IS important for overall suspension of disbelief.I have only visited ten states in the US but never seemed to be more than an a drive away from a hypermarket, supermarket, store or outlet of some kind. Even a verging-on-seventeen year-old in a hick town would have the sense to stock up on necessities in a shop rather than thinly scavenge among dead bodies in private houses. (She is able to drive a car and ride a motorbike.) Not that Ember actually has the tone of voice of a seventeen year-old, she is years older much of the time.I have read much, much worse than Joni Mayhan's first third of Ember, but I won't be reading books two and three.