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valreadssometimes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book stuck with me to the point where I had to reread it. That doesn't happen to me often.
I think this book is so worth it because of its complex and very real characters, which are set in this bleak and dangerous world but do their best to stick to their own values and priorities.
The real magic of this book is that, despite the many wrongdoings by each person, none of them are truly the villain in this story. They are just each doing their best with what they have.
I think this book is so worth it because of its complex and very real characters, which are set in this bleak and dangerous world but do their best to stick to their own values and priorities.
The real magic of this book is that, despite the many wrongdoings by each person, none of them are truly the villain in this story. They are just each doing their best with what they have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Death and Gore
Minor: Body horror
simmonsj's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a zombie book, but unlike one I've read before. We follow mostly through Melanie's point of view, a kid who goes to school like most other kids except she's not like most other kids. And this isn't a school like other schools.
This is not an action packed book. It is more thoughtful and more literary than any other zombie book I've read. Lots of questions of humanity and science and how they intersect. Lots of pondering what the right thing to do is when confronted with humanity-altering scenarios. The plot starts off amazingly, giving us glimpses of this world mostly through Melanie's POV. We do also get POVs from a few other main/side characters to round out the world building and scope of the plot. Things start to slow down pretty quickly after a major event, and then the plot seems to wander without saying much. Hence the deduction of a star - I felt like not a lot happened in a long time. But again, this book wants to do something more than dole out action scenes. I really couldn't see how this could have a satisfying ending for 90% of the story, but at the very end we get a few scientific revelations that gave the ending a chance to make sense.
The writing feels more like literary fiction than a fantasy novel. Lots of poignant descriptions, metaphors, more flowery language for a dystopian novel than I would expect. Things are told in 3rd person throughout all POVs which took me out of an immersed experience and more like I was floating above watching it all happen. It worked well for this particular story. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Finty Williams, had a nice English tone that fit the story rather well.
Overall, a very interesting take on the zombie and dystopian genres. Very literary and introspective. Few action scenes, little bit of science, and an ending that made sense even if it took a while to get there. But if you want a lot of action with your survival and zombies, this may not be the book you are looking for.
This is not an action packed book. It is more thoughtful and more literary than any other zombie book I've read. Lots of questions of humanity and science and how they intersect. Lots of pondering what the right thing to do is when confronted with humanity-altering scenarios. The plot starts off amazingly, giving us glimpses of this world mostly through Melanie's POV. We do also get POVs from a few other main/side characters to round out the world building and scope of the plot. Things start to slow down pretty quickly after a major event, and then the plot seems to wander without saying much. Hence the deduction of a star - I felt like not a lot happened in a long time. But again, this book wants to do something more than dole out action scenes. I really couldn't see how this could have a satisfying ending for 90% of the story, but at the very end we get a few scientific revelations that gave the ending a chance to make sense.
The writing feels more like literary fiction than a fantasy novel. Lots of poignant descriptions, metaphors, more flowery language for a dystopian novel than I would expect. Things are told in 3rd person throughout all POVs which took me out of an immersed experience and more like I was floating above watching it all happen. It worked well for this particular story. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Finty Williams, had a nice English tone that fit the story rather well.
Overall, a very interesting take on the zombie and dystopian genres. Very literary and introspective. Few action scenes, little bit of science, and an ending that made sense even if it took a while to get there. But if you want a lot of action with your survival and zombies, this may not be the book you are looking for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Child death, Violence, and Gore
bigteo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well I mean, it was okay I guess.
After the strong start of the novel, it kinda slows down and becomes a fairly straightforward “characters go from A to B” zombie thriller. I thought that the medical themes were actually very well researched and interesting and definitely some of the strongest parts of the book for me.
None of the characters were really likeable for me. I kinda liked the soldier characters, they were okay and their actions were on the whole reasonable. The teacher character, Justineau, was actually incredibly fustrating to me. A good example is when she decides to set off the flare gun after Melanie is only gone for one night. Why didn’t she wait until they fixed the armoured lab/truck thing? Setting off the flare didn’t even get Melanie to come back faster, she came back the next morning as if nothing happened. And it had barely any consequence to the plot, but it just had me so angry that she acted so irrationally. Same goes for how violent she was with the doctor character. I didn’t care for the doctor but her motives at least kinda made sense. The characters are allowed to hate eachother that’s fine, but for example near the end (spoilers ahead) when the doctor is being chased by the pack of hungry kids, she could’ve explained that’s what had happened and it was self defence, plus she got a good intact brain to test on which could potentially save all of their lives. I don’t know. Just unlikeable characters that all, in turn, don’t like eachother. So therefore I didn’t like them all that much either.
As for the ending (spoiler warning obviously but I’ll try to be brief), it ended super abruptly. The wall of fungus was something introduced in the last couple of chapters. And the military guy Parks decides to burn it. I thought for sure they’d at least try and drive through it maybe? The silver lining to the ending that Melanie proposes seems more of an afterthought. Like, “burning it screwed up the whole world, oh well maybe good can come of it” and not something that the characters would have had to wrestle with beforehand. Maybe that conflict could have been more central, I don’t know. The world ending part kind of just happens in the last few pages without any buildup or conflict to the decision to burn the fungus wall.
I know this review seems very negative but on the whole it’s a very straightforward, interesting zombie apocalypse book. I guess if you’re a fan of the genre then this book isn’t exactly groundbreaking but it’s a fun enough read that I got through pretty quickly.
After the strong start of the novel, it kinda slows down and becomes a fairly straightforward “characters go from A to B” zombie thriller. I thought that the medical themes were actually very well researched and interesting and definitely some of the strongest parts of the book for me.
None of the characters were really likeable for me. I kinda liked the soldier characters, they were okay and their actions were on the whole reasonable. The teacher character, Justineau, was actually incredibly fustrating to me. A good example is when she decides to set off the flare gun after Melanie is only gone for one night. Why didn’t she wait until they fixed the armoured lab/truck thing? Setting off the flare didn’t even get Melanie to come back faster, she came back the next morning as if nothing happened. And it had barely any consequence to the plot, but it just had me so angry that she acted so irrationally. Same goes for how violent she was with the doctor character. I didn’t care for the doctor but her motives at least kinda made sense. The characters are allowed to hate eachother that’s fine, but for example near the end (spoilers ahead) when the doctor is being chased by the pack of hungry kids, she could’ve explained that’s what had happened and it was self defence, plus she got a good intact brain to test on which could potentially save all of their lives. I don’t know. Just unlikeable characters that all, in turn, don’t like eachother. So therefore I didn’t like them all that much either.
As for the ending (spoiler warning obviously but I’ll try to be brief), it ended super abruptly. The wall of fungus was something introduced in the last couple of chapters. And the military guy Parks decides to burn it. I thought for sure they’d at least try and drive through it maybe? The silver lining to the ending that Melanie proposes seems more of an afterthought. Like, “burning it screwed up the whole world, oh well maybe good can come of it” and not something that the characters would have had to wrestle with beforehand. Maybe that conflict could have been more central, I don’t know. The world ending part kind of just happens in the last few pages without any buildup or conflict to the decision to burn the fungus wall.
I know this review seems very negative but on the whole it’s a very straightforward, interesting zombie apocalypse book. I guess if you’re a fan of the genre then this book isn’t exactly groundbreaking but it’s a fun enough read that I got through pretty quickly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Medical content, Violence, Medical trauma, Body horror, Child abuse, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol
codetrasher's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, and Cannibalism
nil033's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Child death, and Cannibalism
czoltak's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Gore
leligavi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I've tried for so long (since middle school, I think) to read this book and for some reason, I kept putting it down. However, I am SO glad I finally took the time to finish it. I really, really liked this book and I think that their makeshift team was brilliant. I love their character development as they get to know Melanie. I CANT BELIEVE MY MAN GALLAGHER WENT OUT LIKE THAT. I was SCREAMING when he was getting chomped on and saying he didn't want to hurt them. LIKE MY MAN HAD TO GO OUT LIKE THAT? BUT MELANIE WAS SO CLOSE TO FINDING HIM! AND PARKS TOO MAN! HE WAS SO CLOSE, MELANIE ALMOST SAVED HIM BUT HE DIED TOO????? AND LIKE IN A REALLY FREAKING SAD WAY????? LIKE REALLY? I'M HEARTBROKEN. Honestly, a little underwhelmed by Helen surviving and being a teacher but like...the rest of the book just makes up for it. But, all in all, I think we can all agree that Dr. Caldwell sucks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Confinement, Cannibalism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Gore
magpie6's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
rafacolog's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Child abuse, and Gore
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this book was so good!!! i absolutely fell into this world and became so invested. i love spore-horror or anything related to mushrooms in books so this was perfect! i even almost cried at the end because i became so invested and the book ended so well!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Body horror, and Child abuse