The Survivors (Volume I)

By: Amanda Havard
Publisher: Chafie Press
Publication Date: March 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9833190-0-9
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor 
Review Date: April 2011 

In 1692 - in what became a very well-known location called Salem, Massachusetts - a massacre happened that the world is still unable to understand. In the small, rural community of Salem, a man by the name of Reverend Parris lorded over the deaths of nineteen people as they were hung from the gallows, five who perished in jail, and still others who were waiting to be accused of practicing witchcraft.

As our story begins, Reverend Parris is standing with the Governor, Sir William Phips, watching the ‘riders‘ mount up to take the twenty-six accused children of Salem on a midnight ride. The Governor was no longer happy about the accusations of witchcraft, and wanted these children to be out of Salem as quickly as possible. So the seven horsemen, in the bitter freezing cold, traveled far and wide to ‘dump’ the children in the middle of nowhere, so that all of Massachusetts could forget about them. No horsemen made it back to Salem alive but, oddly enough, the young people who certainly didn’t believe they would survive all by themselves did just that. In fact, there were fourteen survivors of that ride who soon found themselves to be not only hearty and under the protection of the Lord - but they also claimed powers that would put a witch to shame.

Hannah, Lizzie, and a boy named Andrew never seemed to get older. Hannah, who was the youngest of the group, spoke endlessly about the happenings in a fantastical ‘unseen’ world. Lizzie, who was the oldest survivor, never aged another day; she also never slept a wink. Andrew, although one of the older boys, soon realized he'd stopped aging as well, and also noticed the fact that he could create fire with the simple flick of his hand.

The Survivor’s colony grew as they joined forces and brought children into the world, but they did their best to stay away from the humans. Sadie, however, was a part of the latest generation who just couldn’t take it anymore.

The reader watches as Sadie - after one hundred and forty one years - decides to join the humans and leave her “Survivor-group” far behind. She wants nothing more than to live in the outside world as a human. However, in the outside world she comes across a man by the name of Mark Winter, who shares some of her supernatural abilities.

As Sadie gets embroiled even further, she is introduced to the entire Winters’ clan. Falling in love with Mark’s brother, Everett, Sadie must now deal with her obsession; find out if the Winters’ clan is harmless; attempt to make her own ‘family’ accept her for who she is; while searching all countries and supernatural beings in order to find out about her own mortality.

This author does a fantastic job laying the groundwork for the next book in the series. Readers will find themselves very interested in Sadie and The Survivor’s, and they’ll slowly accept the Winter family as if they were the next group of ‘Cullen’s’ to join the literary world.

Quill Says: A very imaginative start to what should be a very entertaining series of books.