Keith Rosson has masterfully woven together all of the threads from Fever House and some fantastic new ones in The Devil by Name. This is an incredible sequel to Fever House taking place 5 years after The Message induces an apocalyptic event via telephone call turning a large portion of the world's population into fevered (zombies). Fever House and The Devil by Name are some of my absolute favorite horror novels. These stories have stuck with me and are absolutely some of the most gruesome novels I've ever read and I will keep coming back for more of his writing.

The careful world building makes everything feel tangible and Rosson's use of multiple narratives results in a well-rounded view of the entire catastrophe. We see the world through everyone from a ragman, an itinerant salesman, to the co-founder of the megacorporation that is attempting to bring civilization back to America. We of course also revisit our main characters from Fever House, Katherine Moriarty and John Bonner. In one particularly memorable scene, John is dropped into a giant mess of fevered in Portland in a bag, and I won't go into more detail but my palms were sweating all the way through that.

I highly recommend this book to any horror lover and could not have dreamed of a better follow up to Fever House. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

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adventurous funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An isekai-inspired novel where our heroine/villainess is also processing the grief associated with being chronically ill? Yes, I'm 100% in.

Long Live Evil starts off in a way that feels almost like the Princess Bride. Rae has been hospital-bound with a terminal illness, she and her sister Alice read their favorite novel, Time of Iron, a sprawling fantasy full of intrigue, dastardly villains, beautiful love interests, and a god of an emperor. After a particularly rough period with illness, Rae meets a mysterious old woman and finds herself waking up in the world of Time of Iron as one of the villains and has to work to survive in the fictional world and her own.

We get heists, we get love stories, we get the inside scoop into how the "side characters" actually feel about all of the momentous events that they end up being swept up in. I want to avoid spoilers, but this book is a great romp through an incredible fantasy realm, while also expertly dealing with the emotional trauma that is having a chronic/terminal illness. I really appreciated how Sarah Rees Brennan was able to balance so much humor and fantastical elements while grounding Rae in reality and allowing her to process what is happening to her in the real world.

I will say that at times the pacing felt off with the events occurring and how some of the later parts of the book come together. However, I had a great time nonetheless and recommend this novel . Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the advanced copy of this book.

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

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adventurous funny 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

3.5

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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

4.0

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

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adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Experiencing a very midwest apocalypse through our main character, Rainy, was...delightful, which feels weird to say about a post-apocalyptic novel, but the point stands.

I Cheerfully Refuse starts off with us meeting Rainy and his wife, Lark, and following them through their lives as we learn about how the world has changed after a pandemic and other atrocities, including the villainization of reading. Lark has partnered up with a bread baker and sells books to the people of Icebridge, a small town right next to Lake Superior. Things take a turn when Lark brings in a skellite, Kellen, who disappears during her 36th birthday. The adventure that ensues does an incredible job of exploring grief, found family, and some of the most irritating bureaucratic nonsense (the bridge scene made me INCREDIBLY irritated) you could ever hope to find in an apocalyptic story.

Inanimate objects have a way of becoming characters of their own in this story. I really appreciated the centering around Lake Superior and how mercurial the lake is - and if this piques your interest, I highly recommend checking out Geo Rutherford's many stories on Lake Superior. In the same vein, Flower becomes a character in its own right, and I became so attached to the vessel as the novel continued. Rainy is a wonderful narrator and guide through this world that Leif Enger has so artfully created.

I highly recommend this book. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Recorded Books for the copy.

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beckykphillips's reviews 270 reviews

beckykphillips's reviews
270 reviews