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Under the Breaking Sky #5
Blind Hope
When the sky breaks, so will mankind.
Scattered and fighting for their lives, the survivors face whatever pain and darkness they hold in their heart, as the strange forces at work make their demons appear in flesh and blood.
John, now blind, is fleeing through the sewers, hoping against all odds to find the person who started everything and maybe reverse things.
Gina finds her way back to her boys, trying to figure out just what happened to her, as she seems, at least for now, to have won the struggle against her past pains.
Mark and Camilla are still apart, with both of them struggling against their personal ghosts who are intent on killing them. Will any of them win the battle?
And all the while, a great war is brewing between the two sides. Soon, the fighting will begin, and there will be nothing anyone can do to stop it.
After all, there's no cure. No prevention. Not even an explanation.
Only blind hope.
Scattered and fighting for their lives, the survivors face whatever pain and darkness they hold in their heart, as the strange forces at work make their demons appear in flesh and blood.
John, now blind, is fleeing through the sewers, hoping against all odds to find the person who started everything and maybe reverse things.
Gina finds her way back to her boys, trying to figure out just what happened to her, as she seems, at least for now, to have won the struggle against her past pains.
Mark and Camilla are still apart, with both of them struggling against their personal ghosts who are intent on killing them. Will any of them win the battle?
And all the while, a great war is brewing between the two sides. Soon, the fighting will begin, and there will be nothing anyone can do to stop it.
After all, there's no cure. No prevention. Not even an explanation.
Only blind hope.
- GenresHorror
180 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2023
194 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Nick Clausen
72 books375 followersI write stories about the apocalypse so that I don't need to work a real job. I grew up reading Stephen King and still haven't fully recovered. I'm currently ending the world in my new series Under the Breaking Sky.
Join my reader club to be kept in the loop -> nick-clausen.com
Join my reader club to be kept in the loop -> nick-clausen.com
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 20, 2025
This series is so bingeable, on to book 6.
January 31, 2023
Interesting
This whole series is very interesting. I usually don’t read supernatural books quite like these but I’ve really been sucked into this series. I usually read zombie apocalypse books but this book series is semi similar in many ways. Plus it has a whole other mystery to it. Give the first book or two a try!
This whole series is very interesting. I usually don’t read supernatural books quite like these but I’ve really been sucked into this series. I usually read zombie apocalypse books but this book series is semi similar in many ways. Plus it has a whole other mystery to it. Give the first book or two a try!
June 22, 2025
blind hope more like no hope 😭
November 12, 2025
Okay... Here we go again. I feel like this is all just getting worse and worse. Now we've added an alien cult and an alien pregnancy in the mix... What? Where is this even going? Why do these characters keep listening to their ghosts? Why are they all just so easy to convince to kill people? And Alicia? I really don't understand that one. She seemed like such a smart kid and then you just have her jump out a window? Sigh.
And again... The rape... So help me if he brings up one more rape in any of the remaining books. Seriously. The scene between Thorne and the middle eastern woman was awful. And dear lord... If they make Camila's ghost another rapist, I'm going back and changing all my reviews of this series down to 1 stars. This author seems to have a weird obsession with rape and it's honestly getting to be incredibly disturbing.
The one thing I AM glad about in this book is that Thorne finally got killed. That guy was a psychopath and I was starting to wonder if he had is own portal powers with how quick he seemed to get everywhere. I hate reading about this guy, so I'm glad he's finally done.
Okay, there was a scene that slightly bothered me, because this is supposed to be set in Denmark, right? But when John grabs Franz, he goes "What's your name and social security number?". Denmark doesn't have social security numbers.. They have CPR numbers... So why would John ask him that? The only thing I can think of is that this is a weird translation if these books were originally in Danish in order to make it more understandable by its English readers.
The cult... This, to me, is an incredibly weird thing to introduce halfway through the series. Suddenly Fritz is teleporting people from all over the globe to his weird cult that forces you to give up everything including your name? Wasn't his original mission to kill all the immune people, but now he's what, collecting them? And suddenly the people there who aren't immune can't he affected by the crack? And Melissa - I understand that she's not mentally stable, but she also doesn't seem like the kind of person who would marry someone she literally just met who's only half her age... This whole plot seems to be unraveling very quickly and just starting to get weird.
The whole series just doesn't seem cohesive so far. Plot points keep getting randomly introduced. Characters are hard to follow or hard to care about because their personalities flip flop so much that you don't know if you like or hate them. Seriously, it feels like the characters have no overarching dependable personalities. One minute they're loyal to their families and their group - the next, they're willing to abandon them to save the world and don't care about their families at all. One minute they're super courageous and willing to fight anything in front of them - the next, they're cowering in a corner and giving up. I think that the author just introduced too many characters and now he can't keep track of them all enough to keep them within their own personality guidelines. We're sometimes going whole books without discussing some characters, which honestly, seems like a big red flag that you can't keep track of everyone.
Also, the problem with binging a book series, you really pick up on weird nuances... Does no one in this book's universe ever know where they're waking up? It feels like an overly used transition by this author to have the character groggily wake up expecting to be back home and taking their kids to school, only to remember they're in apocalypse. Or to wake up and not know where they are for the first couple minutes after waking up. Is this a normal thing? Because I have never once woken up and forgotten where I am, especially if it's somewhere traumatic. Just a weird transition that I think the author uses to either explain backstory or explain the room that the character is in, but it's used A LOT in this series.
Okay... I'm just ranting at this point, so I guess on to the next one.
And again... The rape... So help me if he brings up one more rape in any of the remaining books. Seriously. The scene between Thorne and the middle eastern woman was awful. And dear lord... If they make Camila's ghost another rapist, I'm going back and changing all my reviews of this series down to 1 stars. This author seems to have a weird obsession with rape and it's honestly getting to be incredibly disturbing.
The one thing I AM glad about in this book is that Thorne finally got killed. That guy was a psychopath and I was starting to wonder if he had is own portal powers with how quick he seemed to get everywhere. I hate reading about this guy, so I'm glad he's finally done.
Okay, there was a scene that slightly bothered me, because this is supposed to be set in Denmark, right? But when John grabs Franz, he goes "What's your name and social security number?". Denmark doesn't have social security numbers.. They have CPR numbers... So why would John ask him that? The only thing I can think of is that this is a weird translation if these books were originally in Danish in order to make it more understandable by its English readers.
The cult... This, to me, is an incredibly weird thing to introduce halfway through the series. Suddenly Fritz is teleporting people from all over the globe to his weird cult that forces you to give up everything including your name? Wasn't his original mission to kill all the immune people, but now he's what, collecting them? And suddenly the people there who aren't immune can't he affected by the crack? And Melissa - I understand that she's not mentally stable, but she also doesn't seem like the kind of person who would marry someone she literally just met who's only half her age... This whole plot seems to be unraveling very quickly and just starting to get weird.
The whole series just doesn't seem cohesive so far. Plot points keep getting randomly introduced. Characters are hard to follow or hard to care about because their personalities flip flop so much that you don't know if you like or hate them. Seriously, it feels like the characters have no overarching dependable personalities. One minute they're loyal to their families and their group - the next, they're willing to abandon them to save the world and don't care about their families at all. One minute they're super courageous and willing to fight anything in front of them - the next, they're cowering in a corner and giving up. I think that the author just introduced too many characters and now he can't keep track of them all enough to keep them within their own personality guidelines. We're sometimes going whole books without discussing some characters, which honestly, seems like a big red flag that you can't keep track of everyone.
Also, the problem with binging a book series, you really pick up on weird nuances... Does no one in this book's universe ever know where they're waking up? It feels like an overly used transition by this author to have the character groggily wake up expecting to be back home and taking their kids to school, only to remember they're in apocalypse. Or to wake up and not know where they are for the first couple minutes after waking up. Is this a normal thing? Because I have never once woken up and forgotten where I am, especially if it's somewhere traumatic. Just a weird transition that I think the author uses to either explain backstory or explain the room that the character is in, but it's used A LOT in this series.
Okay... I'm just ranting at this point, so I guess on to the next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2023
Title: Blind Hope
Author: Nick Clausen
Pages: 170
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Survival Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
The sky has broken, breaking man kind with it. The survivors continue to fight for their lives, facing their past demons head on as they appear in flesh and blood. John, now blind, is still determined to find a way to reverse everything, Gina finds her way back to her boys as for now she has won the battle with her demon… for now. Mark and Camilla are still battling with their ghosts, will they be killed in this battle? An amongst all this, a great war is brewing, fighting is imminent and there is nothing that can stop this. We know there is no cure, no prevention and no explanation, just blind hope.
Review:
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy to read and review.
This is book 5 in the Under the Breaking Sky series, and you couldn’t read this as a standalone, but honestly this series packs a punch so I couldn’t recommend the other books enough!
All the previous books in the series have been 4 and 5 star reads for me, so I was exciting to dig back into these books. I was left with an impending sense of doom at the end of the last book, therefore, I was hoping that this instalment would be a bit more hopeful… after all the title suggested it!
Nick is a very talented and imaginative author, I look forward to everything he throws my way and this instalment didn’t disappoint at all! The first chapter set the tone of the book by giving me the creeps, I was excited for what would follow!
Despite there being some time between me reading the books, Nick always does a brilliant job at making things flow, I was able to pick the story right back up and settle back into the rhythm of things.
Nick does a fantastic job once more at building suspense, leaving you hanging at the end of each chapter so you couldn’t not read on. The best thing is, these books aren’t overly huge so as a result you find yourself flying through the story!
It didn’t take long for my sense of hope to dwindle, I really wasn’t expecting some of the events, especially the ending. That left me hanging so I can’t wait to pick the next instalment up! I enjoyed the fact that there seemed to be less action in this book, but it got me on a more psychological level but I was still kept in suspense throughout.
Full of twists and turns, this was another page turner, Nick knows how to reel you in and I can’t wait for him to do this again with book 6!
Author: Nick Clausen
Pages: 170
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Survival Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
The sky has broken, breaking man kind with it. The survivors continue to fight for their lives, facing their past demons head on as they appear in flesh and blood. John, now blind, is still determined to find a way to reverse everything, Gina finds her way back to her boys as for now she has won the battle with her demon… for now. Mark and Camilla are still battling with their ghosts, will they be killed in this battle? An amongst all this, a great war is brewing, fighting is imminent and there is nothing that can stop this. We know there is no cure, no prevention and no explanation, just blind hope.
Review:
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy to read and review.
This is book 5 in the Under the Breaking Sky series, and you couldn’t read this as a standalone, but honestly this series packs a punch so I couldn’t recommend the other books enough!
All the previous books in the series have been 4 and 5 star reads for me, so I was exciting to dig back into these books. I was left with an impending sense of doom at the end of the last book, therefore, I was hoping that this instalment would be a bit more hopeful… after all the title suggested it!
Nick is a very talented and imaginative author, I look forward to everything he throws my way and this instalment didn’t disappoint at all! The first chapter set the tone of the book by giving me the creeps, I was excited for what would follow!
Despite there being some time between me reading the books, Nick always does a brilliant job at making things flow, I was able to pick the story right back up and settle back into the rhythm of things.
Nick does a fantastic job once more at building suspense, leaving you hanging at the end of each chapter so you couldn’t not read on. The best thing is, these books aren’t overly huge so as a result you find yourself flying through the story!
It didn’t take long for my sense of hope to dwindle, I really wasn’t expecting some of the events, especially the ending. That left me hanging so I can’t wait to pick the next instalment up! I enjoyed the fact that there seemed to be less action in this book, but it got me on a more psychological level but I was still kept in suspense throughout.
Full of twists and turns, this was another page turner, Nick knows how to reel you in and I can’t wait for him to do this again with book 6!
December 28, 2023
What’s behind the ghosts and the crack in the sky?
This series just keeps getting better, Boks three and four took me on ana emotional rollercoaster ride, and Blind Hope: (Under the Breaking Sky Book 5) not only increased the speed of the rollercoaster. Throughout this episode I found myself vacillating between elation, despair, and being anxious. Blind Hope also began to reveal reasons behind the crack in the sky as well as further information on the ghosts. Furthermore, Fritz’s purpose in collecting the people became obvious after a few surprising revelations. I’ve become thoroughly addicted to listening to Spencer Dillehay narrate this series, his ability to deliver this story in such a compelling manner and bring each character to life makes for an awesome entertainment experience.
This series just keeps getting better, Boks three and four took me on ana emotional rollercoaster ride, and Blind Hope: (Under the Breaking Sky Book 5) not only increased the speed of the rollercoaster. Throughout this episode I found myself vacillating between elation, despair, and being anxious. Blind Hope also began to reveal reasons behind the crack in the sky as well as further information on the ghosts. Furthermore, Fritz’s purpose in collecting the people became obvious after a few surprising revelations. I’ve become thoroughly addicted to listening to Spencer Dillehay narrate this series, his ability to deliver this story in such a compelling manner and bring each character to life makes for an awesome entertainment experience.
January 19, 2024
Audiobook: I was entertained by book five of the "Under The Breaking Sky" series as much as the rest of the books. This story concentrated on what was happening with John, with Camilla and Mark, and with Gina and her sons. There were so many twists and turns, and some surprising outcomes. The beginnings of more events were indicated. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Spencer Dillehay's narration was spellbinding, and his performance really captured my imagination. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.
August 25, 2023
I'm sufficiently interested in the characters to want to follow their journeys to the end, and curious enough about events to keep reading, which means that the author has done something very right. But this is going on for too long now. The Fritz-Melissa story is becoming too much like one of the story strands in Stephen King's "The Stand," and the ghosts seem like a not-so-interesting afterthought to the blinders.
October 22, 2024
Blind Hope felt repetitive and I’m ready for the series to end. By this point the plotlines are blurring together and while there’s still action and tension, it’s lost some of its original punch. The characters are stuck in the same cycles, dealing with the same struggles without much meaningful development or progression. It feels samey like a lot of the drama is recycled and I’m eager to see the conclusion hoping it will bring something fresh or satisfying.
April 20, 2024
Blind Hope
Wow. The books just keep getting better as we go. Again this series is a lot like Stephen King's "The Stand". An apocalyptic event happens that causes many to fight for their lives. Each new book in the series tells how they keep fighting and try to stay alive. Many twists and turns in this part (book) of the series and a few shockers. Now onto book 6 of 8.
Wow. The books just keep getting better as we go. Again this series is a lot like Stephen King's "The Stand". An apocalyptic event happens that causes many to fight for their lives. Each new book in the series tells how they keep fighting and try to stay alive. Many twists and turns in this part (book) of the series and a few shockers. Now onto book 6 of 8.
May 28, 2025
The cliffhangers will get you…
…luckily, all the books in the series are out. I’m giving it five stars because I am enjoying the series so much. This book had a few errors and the timing seems a little off when following so many characters, but I will still keep reading because I absolutely have to know how it all ends.
…luckily, all the books in the series are out. I’m giving it five stars because I am enjoying the series so much. This book had a few errors and the timing seems a little off when following so many characters, but I will still keep reading because I absolutely have to know how it all ends.
April 27, 2023
Omg!
This series is gonna give me a heart attack! Somehow, in the midst of utter and complete chaos, things appear to become even more precarious for mankind! Exciting from beginning to the end. Gotta hurry and read book 6!
This series is gonna give me a heart attack! Somehow, in the midst of utter and complete chaos, things appear to become even more precarious for mankind! Exciting from beginning to the end. Gotta hurry and read book 6!
September 4, 2023
interesting!!
This book series is getting a little freaky!! Definitely interesting! A little crazy with the ghosts and now portals! I like all of the characters!! Things are coming together!!
This book series is getting a little freaky!! Definitely interesting! A little crazy with the ghosts and now portals! I like all of the characters!! Things are coming together!!
November 4, 2025
These books just keep getting better and better. I can't help but continue reading to find out whether my initial mental prediction is correct.
Are the blind gods aliens, or are they something demonic? Is this an alien invasion, or a play on "The Rapture" in Christian religion?
Onwards!
Are the blind gods aliens, or are they something demonic? Is this an alien invasion, or a play on "The Rapture" in Christian religion?
Onwards!
February 14, 2024
whoaw - what an ending!!!
Nick Clausen continues to thrill, amaze and entertain in this, his 5th book of the “Blind” Series.
It is superb!
Nick Clausen continues to thrill, amaze and entertain in this, his 5th book of the “Blind” Series.
It is superb!
July 31, 2024
Weakest book so far! Can't put my finger on why thought. It felt like a very quick read. Still enjoyed though!
August 14, 2024
Love this series, ended with the most uncomfortable sex scene I've ever listened to
October 14, 2024
the ghosts. Ugh. They're sooooo annoying.
October 27, 2024
This book was much smaller than the others. Finally, the story picks up again. The ghosts are still around, but they are starting to make more sense.
October 27, 2024
Back on board…hallucinations…manifestations of a persons deepest fears and secrets..powerful stuff.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2025
By far one of the best apocalyptic type series I’ve ever read. There’s 8 books in the series and I sped through them because I couldn’t get enough! Nicholas is an incredible story teller. His novels are full of substance and no fluff. I can’t think of one instance during this series or any of his others that I found myself skipping paragraphs because there was no purpose in them. No unnecessary details.
The character development in this series is surprising but makes sense. I love that no character is “safe” in his series. It makes the story unpredictable.
The character development in this series is surprising but makes sense. I love that no character is “safe” in his series. It makes the story unpredictable.
August 10, 2025
Just ok.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews