Why Does 'East Of West: The Apocalypse, Year One' Have Mixed Reviews?

An apocalypse driven by natural disasters. Survival of the fittest. Typhoons, floods, deadly cold, scorching heat, earthquakes, tsunamis, insect plagues, acid rain… After struggling through three years of the apocalypse, Nicole Floyd met a brutal death. Miraculously, she woke up and found herself three days before it all began. Nicole seized the advantage to reclaim her storage space, flipping the switch on full-on stockpiling mode. She shopped until she ran out of money, and her storage was packed tight. She also looked for the dog that had saved her life once before. She sharpened her knives, stacked her supplies, and took care of unfinished business. She paid back every debt, whether owed in blood or in kindness. And then, disaster struck. Her right hand gripping a knife and her left stroking the dog, Nicole pressed on through the ruins of a world without order or morals.

In the final days before the world collapsed, Ivy Brooks died… betrayed by the very people she trusted most. She had fought, struggled, and sacrificed everything just to survive the apocalypse only to be pushed into death along with her three daughters at the very end by her own husband. With her last breath, Ivy made a vow. If she could turn back time…she would never be weak again and of course protect her daughters. This time, she would stand at the top. When Ivy opened her eyes, she found herself back in time with her still rounded belly of her third baby.... Twenty days before the apocalypse. Armed with memories of the future and a mysterious system in her mind, Ivy moved without hesitation. She hoarded supplies, secured weapons, and took control of every resource she could get her hands on. While others laughed, doubted, and wasted time… Ivy was building her empire along with her daughters. In this life, she would not be prey but will be an hunter. With danger closing in and only twenty days to prepare, Ivy must outplay enemies both old and new, uncover the truth behind the system, and carve out her own kingdom in a collapsing world. Because this time...she wasn’t just going to survive the apocalypse. She was going to rule it along with a man, a love interest from the past before her marriage collapse. He provided everything Ivy needed. Money especially in change of a marriage with her and when the apocalypse started too....he ruled it with her as well as her daughters.

When the apocalypse struck, Ray Morley was brutally murdered and eaten by his wife's family. Only in his dying moments did he learn the cruel truth—his beloved son wasn't his own flesh and blood. He had been nothing more than a pathetic stand-in, a fool used and discarded. But fate gave him another chance. Reborn three months before the end of the world, Ray awakened to find himself in possession of an enormous, otherworldly storage space. This time, he wasted no time—he divorced his venomous wife, won a massive lottery prize, stormed into the stock market, and earned billions. He built fortified shelters and hoarded mountains of supplies. In this new life, he would make his ex-wife and her family pay—every last one of them. No more groveling. No more weakness. This time, Ray would rise above it all.

Natasha Reese believed love could survive the end of the world. She gave up everything for Josh — her dangerous past as a special forces operative, her freedom, and her deepest secrets — to build a safe home with the man she loved. But when his childhood friend Evelyn stepped into their lives, Natasha watched her marriage slowly crumble. Her husband grew distant. Her mother-in-law turned against her. And when her hidden truth was exposed, the man she adored cast her out into the dead world to die. She should have died. Instead, Natasha rose stronger than ever, leading an elite strike team and carrying a power that could save what remains of humanity. The infected won’t touch her. The survivors look to her with hope. But when Josh returns, haunted by regret and desperate to win back the heart he broke, he finds Natasha in the arms of another man. Aaron Ross — powerful, dangerous, and willing to burn the world down for her. The only man who offers Natasha the kind of love and devotion Josh never could. Now torn between the husband who betrayed her and the man who wants to claim her completely, Natasha must make a choice that will decide not only her heart… but the future of humanity itself.

In a world fractured by the "Gray Death," the end didn't come with a whimper, but with the rise of the Beastkin predatory survivors with the strength of monsters and the hearts of kings. Rhea, a trauma intern turned scavenger, has learned the hard way that mercy is a luxury the ruins cannot afford. When she is betrayed by those she loved most and left for dead in a crumbling bakery, her only companion is a soot-covered stranger she pulled from the rubble of Sector 4. She thinks she’s saving a nameless survivor. She has no idea she is nursing the Ghost King back to health. Dominic is the Alpha of the Northern Citadel, an untouchable god of war hunted by his own kind. Broken and hiding behind a mask of amnesia, he watches the woman who saved him with a growing, predatory hunger. She is the "Diamond in the Ash," the same girl who held his hand in a dark pharmacy three years ago when the world first burned. As the heat between them ignites into a passion that threatens to consume the ruins, the shadows are closing in. While Rhea drowns her sorrows in vintage wine and dreams of a touch she thinks she’ll never have, Dominic’s "Men in Black" are quietly securing her borders. He came to find a traitor, but he found a Queen. Now, the Alpha will stop at nothing to reclaim his throne and build a new kingdom, one where the woman who showed him mercy finally gets the crown she deserves. He’s a King in hiding. She’s a healer with a broken heart. Together, they are the apocalypse’s last hope.

Bai Yanlong reset her life to three days before apocalypse. She would have liked to rip a new one to novel gods for giving her such a short time, but she hasn't got the time. Not that she can do much if there was more time. After all, she's but a poor college student from a middle class family. Now if only she could catch all the super powers in the world... What is this? she got the super powers? ... This doesn't sound right.. she has never been this lucky.. oh.. Wait a minute why did that door handle vanish? she was sure it was there in middle of that door. It was only when she looked up that she understood. No good things ever comes with out a price...