Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Survivor Song

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

29 reviews

turnoverthepage's review against another edition

2.5

5/10

I found this very readable and although the topic isn't necessarily new, Tremblay still made it interesting and different from other 'Zombie' stories I've read. I really liked the idea of the two main characters - I think following a pregnant woman and her best friend who will do anything and everything to try and save her added a lot of emotion and urgency to their every move. Unfortunately for the two main characters, I found them both very annoying.

Natalie felt too sarcastic and unemotional that any scene of her talking to her unborn child didn't fully connect with me. She almost felt like two different characters one that was standoffish and confident and another that was emotional and quite poetic. Characters can be both, but it didn't work for me this time.

My complaints about Rams are probably linked to my listening to the audiobook and being biased considering I'm from the North East. The first couple of chapters with Rams felt like 'Hey I'm from the UK. I used to live in the UK but I'm in America now. Ello govner did you know I'm from the UK?' Considering it was mentioned so often, I thought being from South Shields would have more relevance to the story but she really could have been from anywhere. After finishing the book, I looked it up and noticed that the author visited South Shields before the book was published (his Grandmother being from South Shields) so I guess this could have been a nod to that, but sometimes it felt disconnected. There's a particular scene where a feature in Newcastle is explained in great detail including a local story surrounding that feature that I didn't feel needed to be in the book. It's a cool story and a cool thing in Newcastle but it just didn't have much relevance in the novel other than to say 'look I know things in the North East'. My final rant would be at English swear words thrown in. Yes, people do say bollocks and tosser but only having the British character using British swear words makes them sound like a caricature.

However, I did love the addition of the two teenagers in the story. I found them to be a comic relief and I loved how they interacted with our main characters. Hints at their backstory makes me want a story from them both and I'm really glad that we got to hear where they end up rather than them just leaving when the main characters are moving on. Their story really pulled at my heart - nothing wrong with being the two randos rather than the heroes.

I'm glad that I listened to this one and I can tick another of Tremblay's books off my list. I've accidentally been on a journey of listening to all of his titles so can confidently say that I will listen to more as I enjoy his writing style - this one unfortunately just wasn't my favourite.

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drsa's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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erinnnn's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

From the few Tremblay works I’ve read so far, one thing is clear: this evil, evil man loves nothing more than to write the most intimate, dreamlike depictions of loss imaginable. Survivor Song’s characters feel so real you could touch them, making it all the more easy to cry and hope against hope for them. Pair that with some of the most visceral gore I’ve ever read? I will never be the same.

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charmarie's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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reggiethebird's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

While I don't personally enjoy zombie fiction that much, I do enjoy Paul Tremblay, and he does very well here. This story rushes along to its final two sentences before the epilogue and, to be honest, I sortof wish it had stopped there. Either way, a delightful read, if you enjoy seeing people's lives fall apart in a way that bears absolutely no resemblance at all to Covid.

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