I love good sci-fi and post-apocalyptic survival thrillers and Manna City delivers on all fronts. There is action in the story, there are fantastic beasts, nightmarish bad guys, but it’s the suspense that draws you along. Geoffrey Pierce builds Nista’s story gradually, viscerally, until you wind up right there with her, going through what she does. As a reader I’m fascinated by survivalism and find that some post-apocalyptic stories ignore the interesting techniques people use to survive. Nista and Dane and the soldier who comes to help them encounter one obstacle after another. Water is a constant problem. Travel is a struggle – it’s a world that has moved on, a few junky cars left around. And sand and sun are omnipresent. The trio have their little tricks and methods to survive the wastelands, hunt for food, and evade the predators hunting them in turn, which was great. The author’s storytelling style is straightforward yet poetic at the same time, just right for this kind of tale. And I don’t want to spoil the ending but suffice it to say there was good closure to Nista’s story and yet the strong hint of another possible book. I hope there is one – I’ll be first in line to buy it.