Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

In D.I. Telbat's Eve of Chaos, book one in The ELM Series, after the Meridia Virus leaves San Diego broken, nineteen-year-old Levi Caspertein lives with his father, Titus, inside a fortified high-rise. Titus turns the building into ELM, a Christian refuge named for the belief that Every Life Matters, then sends Levi into the city to find survivors whose need for help begins with food and shelter before it reaches burial and rescue. Levi’s missions draw him toward Carla Criswell, a reporter trapped inside a crashed presidential aircraft, while General Galt Brogdon builds a Pacific States force from Coronado Island. As armed factions press hungry civilians into a fight for power, Levi must decide how far mercy can go when enemies need rescuing too, and ELM’s promise begins to matter beyond one building in a fallen city

D.I. Telbat’s Eve of Chaos is post-virus Christian speculative fiction about San Diego survivors whose rescue work becomes open evangelism. The world-building centers directly on the Every Life Matters movement, and its Christian refuge, where a balcony guard protects the building, residents grow food above the ruined streets, burial work gives the unnamed dead a record before God, and rescue trips bring the hidden into a community built on the belief that every life belongs to Him. I like Levi, who is remarkably brave at nineteen. In the hotel district, he saves starving families from red-coated killers, which is an exciting scene. Something I did find interesting is that Titus draws him forward as a leader, the same way the antagonist pulls his own son Kip forward. It would have been nice for that similarity to be scrutinized a little. The landscaping is amazing, the standout being a militia ranch where a valley corral sits below armed hills, while Levi enters alone, praying for God’s words. Readers who love apocalyptic fiction with evangelism themes will adore this book.