Reviews

Human-made AI called Black Swan was created to save the world. It selected a group of people, killed everyone else, and led this group to a small town called Ouray, Colorado. Now, it won't leave them alone.
The people who settled in Ouray aren't the only survivors and there are threats all around. Between each other, Black Swan, and the self-appointed president Ed Creel and his cronies, does the group have what it takes to survive and rebuild this new world?
This book was very long, but it never dragged or felt super long. The world-building was extremely well done and even though I didn't read the first book, I was able to understand what was going on. I do want to read the first one now.

monty_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’m no writer, but it seems to me that there’s no shortage of pitfalls in structuring a massive novel like Chuck Wendig’s Wayward. There’s all the usual considerations you have to deal with in most novels – creating vivid characters, believable dialogue, a compelling conflict, and so on – but the sheer scope of something like Wayward seems uniquely challenging, where you’re juggling a large cast of characters while also saying something about the world we live in and doing all those other authory things readers expect.

And I imagine it’s dealing with all the characters and plot threads that would be the most difficult.

Because here’s the thing:

We’ve probably all read books where certain storylines are more interesting than others. Whether it’s The Stand or Swan Song (name-checked a couple times in Wayward) or one of George R.R. Martin’s epics, there are few things more unsatisfying as a reader than to be fully invested in one set of characters before being rudely pulled away from that story to one you don’t really care about (or at least care less about than the other).

The trick is in writing storylines that are complementary, not competitive.

I’m starting my review of Wayward in this way because this issue – balancing the tension and release of the novel’s various storylines in satisfying ways – is what’s most at stake in Wayward. Like its predecessor, Wanderers, the sequel cuts back and forth between several sets of characters in a post-pandemic, post-apocalyptic America, and during the course of the novel, those sets splinter and fracture into a further variety of subsets.

It would be easy – so, so easy – for Wendig to fumble any of these. To create, in effect, one or more storylines that we patiently wade through to get to the good stuff.

But I’m here to tell you that not only does Wendig not fumble any of his various threads, Wayward – like Wanderers – is a masterclass in how to do this kind of thing. The storylines are all handled so deftly that when he’d cut away from one set of characters to catch up with another, my reaction wasn’t disappointment but excitement.

It’s a brutal, violent world Wendig has created, but the cast of characters is so engaging that it’s a world I didn’t want to leave.

And who exactly are these characters? That’s tricky. I’m struggling with how much character / plot stuff to explain, mainly because if you haven’t read Wanderers, there’s no way to talk about this book without spoiling that book. So maybe here’s where I’ll say this:

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ WANDERERS, STOP READING THIS REVIEW AND GO DO THAT INSTEAD. IT’S A WONDERFUL BOOK THAT IMMEDIATELY JUMPED INTO MY ALL-TIME TOP 10 LIST. THE REST OF THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN WANDERERS SPOILERS.

Okay. Are we alone now? It’s just Wayward folks, right? Cool.

Briefly, then, here’s some of the various storylines you’re going to encounter:

Catching up with the remnants of the Flock and the Shepherds in Ouray, CO, including Nessie, Marcy, and Benji.
The birth of Shana’s son.
The return of motherfucking rock god Pete Corley.
Matthew Bird’s continuing quest for redemption.
Ed Creel and his Trumpish desire for power.
A cross-country journey to try and bring an end to Black Swan, whose evolving Artificial Intelligence has dire consequences for the residents of Ouray.

Wayward is, simply, one of the most delectable reading experiences I’ve had in recent memory. It not only continues the Wanderers saga in compelling ways, it exists as a satisfying story on its own merits. If Wanderers explored how the world ends, Wayward tells us what comes next. It’s thrilling, it’s funny, it’s heartbreaking, and if I had read it in 2022, it would have been my favorite book of the year.

Is a third book in this series possible? I don’t know. But if Wendig decides to try it, I’ll be first in line to catch up with these characters I love so much.

(Oh, and if all the above isn’t enough to convince you to embark on this journey, allow me to also mention that reading Wayward gives you the opportunity to meet a golden retriever named Gumball who is, make no mistake, a Very Good Dog.)

kfalter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

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