unki's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
slow-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
5.0
A post apocalyptic world, definitely for anyone interested in adventure, and a main character who is constantly going against the norm.
soitently's review
3.0
The first half of this book is AMAZING. It was so fascinating to read an apocalypse story from such a unique perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half. That being said… the second half became more and more religious, and eventually it almost felt like a “how Agnes made a better cult” story. I’m a spiritual person, but the God stuff felt like too much. Honestly, I think this book could have ended halfway through and been great.
erykahjoy's review
4.0
This is a book where they threw the everything and the kitchen sink of dystopian fiction. It is a fun read.
stevienotnicks's review
3.0
I struggled with this review. Firstly, it wasn’t a poorly written book or conceptually bad, but a lot of the religious stuff just wasn’t something I could get into as an atheist.
If you have experienced religious trauma, this could be triggering. Other triggering themes I noticed include racism, sexism, culty stuff, child death, insinuation of domestic violence, and child marriage. Probably a lot of other triggers too, so if you’re a sensitive reader, check for TWs.
At first I thought this was kind of going to be Hunger Games-esque, but actually it’s more like if The Walking Dead met The Handmaid’s Tale. I will say it was surreal to read about a pandemic while living through one, though this had more horror like elements to it. However I wouldn’t call it scary.
I enjoyed the characters immensely. I also really appreciated the perspective switches between two contrasting characters, Agnes and Beth.
What I enjoyed less was the religious/God stuff. It’s definitely more of a “me” thing than an issue with the author. I personally cannot relate to someone with religious faith and I thought the one atheist character that was introduced was barely discussed.
Overall I thought the virus was extremely unique and interesting. I do wish the “end of the world” would have played a more dramatic role and I wish the magic system hadn’t really been attributed just to the Christian idea of god. But hey. Not every book will be for everyone!
If you have experienced religious trauma, this could be triggering. Other triggering themes I noticed include racism, sexism, culty stuff, child death, insinuation of domestic violence, and child marriage. Probably a lot of other triggers too, so if you’re a sensitive reader, check for TWs.
At first I thought this was kind of going to be Hunger Games-esque, but actually it’s more like if The Walking Dead met The Handmaid’s Tale. I will say it was surreal to read about a pandemic while living through one, though this had more horror like elements to it. However I wouldn’t call it scary.
I enjoyed the characters immensely. I also really appreciated the perspective switches between two contrasting characters, Agnes and Beth.
What I enjoyed less was the religious/God stuff. It’s definitely more of a “me” thing than an issue with the author. I personally cannot relate to someone with religious faith and I thought the one atheist character that was introduced was barely discussed.
Overall I thought the virus was extremely unique and interesting. I do wish the “end of the world” would have played a more dramatic role and I wish the magic system hadn’t really been attributed just to the Christian idea of god. But hey. Not every book will be for everyone!
garytay23's review
2.0
TL;DR The book has a promising start with themes of pandemic, escaping a cult and finding yourself outside of rigid societal and religious structures, but doesn’t follow through and has a hollow ending where most of the characters are unchanged or end up exactly where they started.
First 100 pages were a solid read. I enjoyed the exploration of Agnes and Beth’s life in the cult, alongside the stress of the Outside, Ezekiel and the growing sense that something (the pandemic) is going wrong. However, after part one and especially part two, I feel like the plot was trying to do too many things, and I didn’t really like the direction they took with Agnes. I was happy that Agnes got out and enjoyed the character exploration of her and Ezekiel facing the real world and really having to confront their faith head on, but the plot of her becoming a prophet destined to end the pandemic felt kind of out of nowhere to me. (Also, I had a hard time picturing the virus and its effects. I feel like a bog standard zombie virus or even just deadly cold virus would have been more interesting and effective.)
Especially towards the latter half of the book, a lot of things felt contrived. They have to leave the library cuz people like burning down towns? Okay, fair enough. Wait Agnes is being called to some sort of mental trial that breaks her hand again? Okay, kind of out of nowhere but I’m with it for now. They walked all the way to the hospital only for it to be burned down? Hmm. Well that one is a bummer but-However don’t worry somehow she became friends with the leader of the bad burning people and he’s actually good and will give her insulin if she takes them to a safe place which ends up being her old cult home and she actually was SUPPOSED to go there the whole time on her mission to save the world! Okay wait hold on-And now suddenly this mission is a suicide mission and she’s going to die healing the world by touching the frozen cult members for some reason but fortunately her doctor atheist boyfriend manages to save her and now she’s running the religion and forgives the bad prophet who burns himself to death and all the bad adults died when she did her magic but fortunately all the good little kids were alive and okay and then for some reason she meets the great granddaughter of her ancestor who married the first bad prophet with powers and so somehow this ten year old has the powers too and she’s gonna run the church when Agnes dies cuz Agnes lost her powers saving the world but is still a great prophet of this totally-not-a-cult now OKAY I am officially very lost.
It was just way too much to throw at us in the last part of the book and I’m not even sure what the conclusion of everything was supposed to be. Agnes saves the world, but also kind of doesn’t because there’s still plague in the world. Agnes and Beth want to escape the cult and experience the real world, but end up back home by the end, Beth is just barely deciding to leave during the epilogue and Agnes decides to start her own religion for some reason run in the same place where she was abused for years. All the bad people die but without really any comeuppance (except for Beth hitting the prophet with her car, that was awesome. But even then he lives and gets to be forgiven by God/Agnes and chooses to kill himself. I think a forgettable, accidental death where he is left alone on the side of the road after abandoning his cult and being abandoned in return would have been way more fitting for an abusive, narcissistic man that thinks the world of himself.) and honestly the status quo kind of continues with Agnes ~but without the BAD religion stuff~ (which is questionable given that the diaries of previous leaders supposedly implied that most of the men started out righteous but went mad with power when they lost their special abilities, WHICH AGNES HAS ALSO LOST).
Ultimately it was a book with an interesting beginning and intriguing characters that however failed to deliver on any promises it made at the beginning. The conclusion left me unsatisfied and not sure what to walk away with.
First 100 pages were a solid read. I enjoyed the exploration of Agnes and Beth’s life in the cult, alongside the stress of the Outside, Ezekiel and the growing sense that something (the pandemic) is going wrong. However, after part one and especially part two, I feel like the plot was trying to do too many things, and I didn’t really like the direction they took with Agnes. I was happy that Agnes got out and enjoyed the character exploration of her and Ezekiel facing the real world and really having to confront their faith head on, but the plot of her becoming a prophet destined to end the pandemic felt kind of out of nowhere to me. (Also, I had a hard time picturing the virus and its effects. I feel like a bog standard zombie virus or even just deadly cold virus would have been more interesting and effective.)
Especially towards the latter half of the book, a lot of things felt contrived. They have to leave the library cuz people like burning down towns? Okay, fair enough. Wait Agnes is being called to some sort of mental trial that breaks her hand again? Okay, kind of out of nowhere but I’m with it for now. They walked all the way to the hospital only for it to be burned down? Hmm. Well that one is a bummer but-However don’t worry somehow she became friends with the leader of the bad burning people and he’s actually good and will give her insulin if she takes them to a safe place which ends up being her old cult home and she actually was SUPPOSED to go there the whole time on her mission to save the world! Okay wait hold on-And now suddenly this mission is a suicide mission and she’s going to die healing the world by touching the frozen cult members for some reason but fortunately her doctor atheist boyfriend manages to save her and now she’s running the religion and forgives the bad prophet who burns himself to death and all the bad adults died when she did her magic but fortunately all the good little kids were alive and okay and then for some reason she meets the great granddaughter of her ancestor who married the first bad prophet with powers and so somehow this ten year old has the powers too and she’s gonna run the church when Agnes dies cuz Agnes lost her powers saving the world but is still a great prophet of this totally-not-a-cult now OKAY I am officially very lost.
It was just way too much to throw at us in the last part of the book and I’m not even sure what the conclusion of everything was supposed to be. Agnes saves the world, but also kind of doesn’t because there’s still plague in the world. Agnes and Beth want to escape the cult and experience the real world, but end up back home by the end, Beth is just barely deciding to leave during the epilogue and Agnes decides to start her own religion for some reason run in the same place where she was abused for years. All the bad people die but without really any comeuppance (except for Beth hitting the prophet with her car, that was awesome. But even then he lives and gets to be forgiven by God/Agnes and chooses to kill himself. I think a forgettable, accidental death where he is left alone on the side of the road after abandoning his cult and being abandoned in return would have been way more fitting for an abusive, narcissistic man that thinks the world of himself.) and honestly the status quo kind of continues with Agnes ~but without the BAD religion stuff~ (which is questionable given that the diaries of previous leaders supposedly implied that most of the men started out righteous but went mad with power when they lost their special abilities, WHICH AGNES HAS ALSO LOST).
Ultimately it was a book with an interesting beginning and intriguing characters that however failed to deliver on any promises it made at the beginning. The conclusion left me unsatisfied and not sure what to walk away with.
minniequinnie's review
5.0
This story starts out as any other cult survivor story. Heavily influenced by the FLDS this cult poses as a religious groups living on a secluded plot of land.
Agnes has been raised in Red Creek her entire life. Following all the rules and trying to be perfectly obedient so her faith with be perfect. She spends her days caring for her family in a motherly role knowing one day she will be married off to a patriarch and start a family of her own. But her love for her siblings has made her willing to anything. This love has given her a secret that if anyone found out would end her world as she knows it. She goes monthly to receive medicine that helps save her brothers life. Medicine that according to her prophet isn’t needed because illness can be prayed away.
Beth has also been raised in Red Creek. But where her sister Agnes truly believes in the world she has been told to be true, Beth has the willingness to question it. She kisses boys and does little things to rebel against the long list of rules she has been forced to follow.
The two sisters have no idea what lies outside of Red Creek. A terrible virus has been spreading. Affecting first the animals and then the people in the world outside there tiny piece of land. Their skin turns hard like crystal, bright red with sharp points to pass along the infection. When a young boy named Danny comes to bring the medicine her brother needs to Agnes he tells her about the world outside her secluded life. He keeps a phone and the world of the outsiders is revealed to her. She realizes she might be able to have a different life, a better life. But her family and her faith keep might keep her where she is.
Agnes has been raised in Red Creek her entire life. Following all the rules and trying to be perfectly obedient so her faith with be perfect. She spends her days caring for her family in a motherly role knowing one day she will be married off to a patriarch and start a family of her own. But her love for her siblings has made her willing to anything. This love has given her a secret that if anyone found out would end her world as she knows it. She goes monthly to receive medicine that helps save her brothers life. Medicine that according to her prophet isn’t needed because illness can be prayed away.
Beth has also been raised in Red Creek. But where her sister Agnes truly believes in the world she has been told to be true, Beth has the willingness to question it. She kisses boys and does little things to rebel against the long list of rules she has been forced to follow.
The two sisters have no idea what lies outside of Red Creek. A terrible virus has been spreading. Affecting first the animals and then the people in the world outside there tiny piece of land. Their skin turns hard like crystal, bright red with sharp points to pass along the infection. When a young boy named Danny comes to bring the medicine her brother needs to Agnes he tells her about the world outside her secluded life. He keeps a phone and the world of the outsiders is revealed to her. She realizes she might be able to have a different life, a better life. But her family and her faith keep might keep her where she is.
mel_j's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Minor: Confinement and Cursing
c_mariewrites's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0