Oh, this was so much fun. I planned to leave apocalypse stories in 2020, but the Massachusetts setting enticed me, my home state. Super engaging, really well thought out. Would make a killer HBO miniseries.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Dystopian books are my favorites and this was an enjoyable read that I will recommend to others who enjoy a good post-apocalyptic read. This was my first book by this author, but it won't be my last.

When I started reading The Apocalypse Seven I wasn’t sure what to think. I was just as confused as the characters of this story so I started on a journey with them to discover where everyone went and why. Sooooo not what I expected. I had ideas, theories about what could have happened to people. Those ideas went from the end of the world to something supernatural.

So yes, I enjoyed this book because it kept me guessing until the end. I liked the characters, they are colorful, with their own area of expertise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.

I enjoyed the idea of this book! It was just confusing at the beginning trying to sort out the characters.

This book is mind boggling, so if you like that kind of stuff, it'll be up your alley. Very interesting dystopian future type business with alienishness thrown in. I truly don't know how to describe it, but it's worth a read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was a different look at a post-apocalyptic world, with the emphasis more on surviving and how the characters went about doing so, rather than answering the questions of what happened and how they ended up there.
I especially enjoyed reading Carol's perspective; I thought the writing was done very well and made it believable that she was blind. That being said, all the characters were well-written and still feel like real people, even two weeks after finishing the book - perhaps with the exception of Paul who felt a little flat and unexplained.
I enjoyed the plot, though given how realistic the rest of the book was, the twist towards the end was a bit of a jolt for me - but then I suppose it depends on how much you believe in that sort of thing (without giving spoilers!) as to how realistic the twist would seem.
Altogether, a worthwhile read and one that I will probably be adding to my hardcopy collection when it is published.

A solid addition to the apocalyptic/dystopian genre. Recommended purchase for collections where similar titles are popular.

I loved this story. I left stars at Goodreads and will on Amazon, and will leave a longer review later.

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I am a big fan of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, so this one was right up my alley. The mix of characters keeps things interesting, giving differing points of view on their experiences and approaches to the end of the world as they knew it. Robbie the reluctant leader, Win the adventurous realist, Ananda the scientist, Toure the dreamer, Bethany the mischievous teen, Carol the 'blind' guidance, and Paul the contrarian. Each plays their own part in getting through their trials and tribulations to survive the end of the world as the last of the human race.

The book took on many different moods and seemed to have different ways of storytelling. At the beginning of the book, there was a definite humor undertone for the characters and the plot. This was carried on and off throughout the book. Personally, I would have liked to have had a bit more of the humor mixed in to keep it funny but daunting at the same time. Other times the book took on a serious and sometimes scary feel that left me scared for the characters and what would happen to them.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book, and I would definitely read a sequel if one were ever released. I enjoyed the way that the author writes and will be seeking out more of his work.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette.

When Robbie wakes up on a regular morning, nothing is the same. The most notable difference is that nobody is around. It looks like the apocalypse came when he was sleeping, because...it has.

Through the survivors of this mysterious apocalypse, we discover how it came about, what caused it, and how the survivors are going to continue surviving.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I need to preface that while I love stories based on relationships, survival, and basically anything resembling real life, I am not super into supernatural stuff. That's kind of when the book lost me. The first half, I really enjoyed. I liked seeing the different personalities and skills coming together, and I felt like the story was really building to a strong climax, but then it fizzled, a lot. I was pretty disappointed, and toward the very end, mostly lost interest.

The Apocalypse Seven could be renamed An Inferior Version of The Stand.

The story starts with NerdDudeBro Robbie waking up in his Harvard dorm room the morning after a rager to discover - oops! - he must have drunkenly stumbled into the wrong room. After trying to figure out where he is and question what his next move is, he comes to realize things in general are... quieter. More overgrown. Harvard, and yet, not Harvard. The Apocalypse Seven expands out and starts to follow other characters in the Boston area who all slowly come to the same conclusion: they've survived a whatpocalypse (a term coined by one of the characters).

Doucette did a decent job of coming up with an interesting premise and setting the scene to accommodate said premise. The was a lot of build up of each of the characters figuring out what happened, coming to terms with it, and pondering their next steps. As a reader, we are slowly given bits of additional information as the story progressed to more fully comprehend the situation our protagonists are facing. But. There are a lot of buts. My biggest gripe with this book is how stupidly the characters act - especially since we're talking about multiple Harvard educated people here. Without giving away spoilers, there are times when it makes no sense for the characters not to have more in depth conversations with each other in order to gain a better collective understanding of the situation at hand. Gripe #2 is how predictable and easy to guess the progression of the story was. The reason for the whatpocalypse is pretty obvious. Although I do have to admit - I didn't see the ending coming. Gripe #3 is how flat all of the characters felt. Everyone fit into a generic stereotype. I liked Win - the Katniss Everdeen of the group - but all of the other characters were rather meh.

It was an interesting premise and a fun read, but the overall execution was rather flawed.

There is nothing more satisfying than a book with answers. This sci-fi book has all the trappings of a great adventure tale - end of the world survival, believable characters, new technology, but most importantly - an incredibly satisfying ending.

The beginning of the book is slow. We wake up with Robbie, a Harvard freshman who went a little too hard during his first college party and doesn't know why everyone is gone in the morning. Really everyone. Pedestrians, dorm mates, mailmen, gone. But! Robbie manages to find two other survivors, Carol and Toure, and the novel builds up steam as they explore a post-apocalyptic Boston.

The survivors add Bethany, a teenage, Paul, a New Hampshire preacher, Win, a corporate HR leader turned archery queen, and Ananda, an MIT scientist to their ranks and begin to pivot from survival to exploration. In the process Ananda stars piecing together what year they might have woken up in, and why there are so many apex predators cruising around downtown.

There's thoughtful humor and occasional disagreements, but the joy of the novel was the burgeoning theories around where everyone went, and how the seven of them got left behind. But most satisfying, we find out WHY everyone is gone, how it happened and what they can do next. Getting those answers in an original way made the book so much stronger.

I was really excited to read this book because it was compared to Chuck Wendig's "The Wanderers." I loved that book, but unfortunately this book fell a little flat for me. The characters were kind of one-dimensional, and it took too long to draw out the plot that seemed rushed at the end. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Seven people living in the Boston area wake up to discover they are the only people left alive on the planet. Not only that but seemingly over night, the bodies of the dead have turned to dust inside their rusted out cars, some buildings have completely disappeared and wild life, including wolf packs, has taken over the empty streets.

I really enjoyed the first approximately 80% of The Apocalypse Seven by author Gene Doucette. The premise was interesting, the characters were mostly likeable, and there was plenty of twists and turns to keep my attention. Unfortunately, the last 20% seemed rushed. If this was the first book in a series, it would have been a way to pique interest for the next entry. For a standalone novel, it seemed unsatisfying. As a result, the first part of the book was an easy four stars but I’m deleting one star because of the ending.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review<i>

This is an apocalypse story that is written in its own comedic and human way. The writing reminds me of The Martian by Andy Weir, because the author illustrates every thought process the characters have. I really enjoyed this book because the characters were human and not infallible gods like in most stories.
Sure, the quips did get annoying at times, but it would have been weird to not have them there and change the tone of the story. I think that they were also there to show that the characters were getting annoyed with each other (as I’m sure they were with seven people on the planet) and to make the reader feel as if they were a part of the group. My only other complaint is that the book was too short.

The story did not work for me.

A combination of story pacing and structure caused this book to fall flat. In a traditional three-act story there's the setup, then confrontation, then resolution. The first act of this book consumed 80% of the pages. It's as if Doucette really liked the beginning of disaster movies, where they're forming the team, but didn't come through in the end. The confrontation shouldn't have been focused on the nature battles (which for smart people attending Havard, should not have been so dumb). I would like to have seen more with the true advisory.

The characters ... not sure what to say about them other than they were what they were. Again, looked like a Hollywood cast of types and personalities. Any changes or growth they accomplish in the epilogue, like a cutaway scene. We don't see them change. Also, the characters are written the same, and all think of things in numerical order. This was a pet peeve of mine. The author uses 1) ... 2) ... 3) ... categorization for when a character is thinking of options or possible outcomes or whatever. But each character does this! It's as if they all have the same mind.

I'm sure there's an audience for this book, but it isn't me.

What a fantastic book!! Well written and well paced and a complete joy to read.

I feel very lucky to have been able to access an advanced readers copy, especially when the story is awesome.

The story keeps you engaged till the end with a great location well described and a good set of characters which have a rough old time trying to survive in this wasteland.

This book was really interesting. At first I thought it was going to be dull, but the writing is very good and compelling. Then 30% in there was the first twist, which I didn't see coming. More twists and turns happened throughout the book. But there are several things that made this a 5 star read for me. At first I was annoyed that each person appeared to have just the right skill when it was needed, but that gets explained later. It then made an interesting commentary on the idea of diversity. How diverse does a book have to be to be acceptable to the currently reading public. That aside, this book is essentially a long example of my favorite trope. That is, I love it when the characters in a story suddenly wake up/ arrive/come into existence and have no idea what is going but have to figure out the recent past based on clues; like a book version of the movie The Hangover. I am not sure if I liked the ending but I suppose it made sense for the story. But when you are finished reading it ask yourself this: Why didn't they let them out?

Definitely a great read but be prepared to suspend your disbelief.

Perfect apocalypse set up - only a few survivors, located in or near a major city - provides shelter, food, etc. The author does a fantastic job with the world-building and the mystery surrounding the apocalyptic event. The characters are moderately developed - I didn't have strong feelings about any of them; the plot was more interesting to me. This was a fast, enjoyable read until the last 10% of the book when everything is explained. The explanation for the apocalypse seemed too random - it didn't feel plausible based on the other 90% of the plot, as if the author couldn't figure out how he wanted to end the story.

The Apocalypse Seven! Wow, I love a good book about the Apocalypse, and this was a fun one. I wasn't expecting to be this entertained by a book about this subject. I honestly anticipated it to be a gloom and doom book. But it isn't.

I really don't want to give too much away, especially since the book doesn't come out till the spring of 2021.
I will say it was a hoot reading this with all that is going on in the world!