No wonder Moronic Pylons Flying Kirkus thought this was darkly clever - it's as dumb as they are! "A border known as the salt line separates what’s left of humanity from a deadly, tick-infested wasteland" Yeah, but ticks need blood, and deprived of it they died, so how is it tick infested? It gets worse: "...but one expedition of survivors is determined to venture beyond it, no matter the consequences." Because they're fucking morons - either that or they believe the ticks have all died out too. But guess what? If you wear thick clothing and seal it up, the ticks are not a problems, so no matter how may different ways you look at this dumb-ass story, it's a dumb-ass story. That's doubtlessly why Kirkus loved it.