“‘Swing us back around!’ Herb yelled.”

From Eric Walter’s Rule of Three: Fight for Power.

After the electricity went out, the neighborhoods of America (especially Eden Mills) have turned into fortified, walled-off communities that must fight together to avoid being wiped out by raiders, thieves, and starvation.  Young Michael (main character and ultralight pilot), his mother (a former police chief), and neighbor Herb (elderly ex-military man and fountain of survival wisdom) are the leaders of the small community. Each person is a pivotal part of leading the neighborhood towards survival, against both enemies and elements.  While Herb pushes for things that will definitely protect the community, Michael seems to be the only one that pushes for options that will protect the community and their humanity. What will happen though if Michael places too much trust in the wrong person? Will he be able to see any threat before it is too late, or will his actions bring an end to the safety of the Eden Mills Community?

The action in this book is almost non-stop.  Walters creates a book that is eerily possible as a natural disaster and a social breakdown, but he does not write as if it is hopeless.  Dangers to the community are tense, even for the reader, but this just makes the solution that much more rewarding. There are victories and defeats carried out through the storyline, just as there are in life; this alternate reality is presented in a manner that is as realistic as possible.  The ending provides enough closure to satisfy the book, but there is a cliff-hanger that can only be concluded by reading the next book.  The Fight for Power allows the reader to take a look not only at Michael’s attempts of civility, but also the cost of making decisions that involve others.  This book will captivate the reader from start to finish.