Sep
27
Book Review: Lights Out
Sep 27, 2008
Lights Out is a fiction book written by a guy that calls himself halffast on the net. He can be regularly seen over on the www.ar15.com forums.
While this book is fiction, it’s the one that really got me concerned about getting my family prepared now instead of later. I was looking up EMP blast for some reason or another and came across this book which, at the time seemed forever long at 611 pages long. I started reading it, even though I rarely read anything back then, and after the first two chapters I was hooked.
For his first book halffast did an excellent job shaping his characters and really pulling the reader into the story. Some have said that while Mark (the main character) doesn’t have any real faults that perhaps he is to perfect and to lucky during the story. Halffast has answered this by saying something along the lines of he knows that luck played into the story to much and he will edit the story somewhat before getting it published later.
Mark is a normal guy with a normal life and a normal job. He isn’t some ex-marine/fed/prepper that has thousands of dollars wrapped up in survival gear and was looking forward to the end of the world. While some of his associates are people that are just good to know (or lucky to know) most of the people in the story are just like him. No one has extra special skills that allows them to be the stand out person that everyone turns to so a wide cast of players are required to get things done. Mark brings his community together and leads them during the worst crisis in American history.
During the course of the story many aspects of survival after a major disaster are covered and you can actually get a lot of good beginner information. This book gives you a reason to want to bug in during a crisis instead of bugging out to the middle of nowhere. Family and friends can really make the difference in a crisis so be sure and pay attention to the people relation skills in this book.
Stars: 5 or 5
Conclusion: Click the link and read the book. Don’t let the size of the book put you off, it really is good and it really is worth the time you will spend.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Solid review of a solid work. Definitely among the best in the genre (far and away better than Patriots) and free to boot. A must-read.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Definitely a must read. Is it better than Patriots? In my opinion yes because it isn’t trying to be both a good fiction book and survival manual at the same time. It tries to be a good fiction book and while doing that also manages to get in some good survival info. To me that is the best combination and balance.
Personally I think Mr. Rawles went to far with the gear list in Patriots but then again many people loved it so it’s just a matter of opinion. To be totally honest I loved it just not while I was reading it for entertainment :)
Both books are good but Lights Out to me is the clear entertainment winner.
August 25th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
[...] it picks a subject that I love and that’s the EMP. My initial preps started after reading Lights Out and ever since I just love a good EMP [...]