A fantastic book (first of a trilogy) that has a great deal in common with other epics like King's The Stand, and McCammon's Swan Song. The story is relentless, and feels exhausting at times in how there never feels like there's time to take a breath before the streak of bad luck throws something else into the mix, but that's certainly not a bad thing. The story excels at creating memorable and interesting characters, but there's enough sort of "evil" cliche going on that it still falls short of Swan Song, which I consider one of my favorite horror novels. However, with two more books to go, there's plenty of wiggle room to turn this story into something much greater. Can't wait to read the next one!