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thecrimsoncorsair's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
As much as I loved both Wayward and Wanderers as a whole, Chuck Wendig has never run across a simile or metaphor that he did not want to use. All of the flowery, descriptive, and unnecessary language really bogged both books down. Also the repeated use of the same word like canoodle and others drove me absolutely nuts.
The man equally needs to open and close a thesaurus.
But despite my criticisms, I really did love these books. I absolutely loved the characters, except the bad ones, lol. And the plot was weird and strange in a way which made it hard to put down. Despite the length, I was invested in these stories. I needed to know how it was going to all end. So, for me at least, I consider that a sign of a damn good book.
The man equally needs to open and close a thesaurus.
But despite my criticisms, I really did love these books. I absolutely loved the characters, except the bad ones, lol. And the plot was weird and strange in a way which made it hard to put down. Despite the length, I was invested in these stories. I needed to know how it was going to all end. So, for me at least, I consider that a sign of a damn good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
sdsmith80's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
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
5.0
Chuck Wendig is one of the few authors that can get me to read solid bricks in the form of books. Once again he has crafted a beautiful world in the post-White Mask not-so-United States of America. The story was engrossing and I was swept up with the ongoing saga of the shepherds and Flock.
As always, Pete MFing Corley is my favorite character, making me smile and laugh whenever he appears. He is such a great, and much needed bit of comic relief. I cheered when Benji and Shana found him in New Mexico, and laughed at his antics at the CDC building. <Spoiler> When his big finale came, I cried. It was such a fitting end though. Fully befitting a rock god.
There is one major complaint I have with this novel though. The character of Claudia/Eva is said to have found special use of her illness in her job as a contract killer, and that if she hadn’t had that outlet, she would be a serial killer instead. My problem is that it says that her illness is Borderline Personality Disorder. Something I’ve lived with for over 20 years. Over and over she is described as cold and calculating, Her tone is robotic and monotone at times. None of this is true of people with BPD, unless they’ve swung over to the disassociated side.
We’re known as the emotional burn victims. Generally, this disorder develops as a combination of a genetic predisposition, and some trigger, usually abuse or abandonment during adolescence. For me, my adoptive mom died when I was 13, and when I went to live with my biological mother, she abused me physically, and mentally. Due to those triggers, people with BPD are extremely sensitive and tend to feel everything at a much deeper level than those without it. Everything feels like life or death. We don’t have control over our emotions. We swing from extreme to extreme, and can disassociate as well. We aren’t sociopaths. We aren’t serial killers anymore than any other demographic. There is also hope, through Dialectic Behavioral Therapy, which teaches us to tolerate distress and control our emotions. If anyone did kill due to their BPD, it would be out of an overabundance of emotion, not a lack of it.
Honestly, even with my BPD being well under control for many years now, reading the portrayal of it hurt. I really admire this author and for him to not only not do the homework on something that is used in the plot like this, but to further the stigma of people like me, broke my heart. I teared up and even woke up my husband to talk through it. That’s the other thing, we can’t trust our own minds. One of the biggest tools in my kit is talking to others to see if I’m perceiving things correctly, and reacting appropriately. Everything feels personal, so I often need reassurance that I’m loved and that I’m not going crazy. So yeah, this really upset me. </Spoiler>
Overall though, this is a wonderful read, it even mentioned a scientific advance that a friend of mine worked on with prosthetic limbs! This is my last book of the year (unless I can read my next one super quickly) and I feel like it was a great one to end on. I can’t wait to read whatever he comes out with next!
As always, Pete MFing Corley is my favorite character, making me smile and laugh whenever he appears. He is such a great, and much needed bit of comic relief. I cheered when Benji and Shana found him in New Mexico, and laughed at his antics at the CDC building. <Spoiler> When his big finale came, I cried. It was such a fitting end though. Fully befitting a rock god.
There is one major complaint I have with this novel though. The character of Claudia/Eva is said to have found special use of her illness in her job as a contract killer, and that if she hadn’t had that outlet, she would be a serial killer instead. My problem is that it says that her illness is Borderline Personality Disorder. Something I’ve lived with for over 20 years. Over and over she is described as cold and calculating, Her tone is robotic and monotone at times. None of this is true of people with BPD, unless they’ve swung over to the disassociated side.
We’re known as the emotional burn victims. Generally, this disorder develops as a combination of a genetic predisposition, and some trigger, usually abuse or abandonment during adolescence. For me, my adoptive mom died when I was 13, and when I went to live with my biological mother, she abused me physically, and mentally. Due to those triggers, people with BPD are extremely sensitive and tend to feel everything at a much deeper level than those without it. Everything feels like life or death. We don’t have control over our emotions. We swing from extreme to extreme, and can disassociate as well. We aren’t sociopaths. We aren’t serial killers anymore than any other demographic. There is also hope, through Dialectic Behavioral Therapy, which teaches us to tolerate distress and control our emotions. If anyone did kill due to their BPD, it would be out of an overabundance of emotion, not a lack of it.
Honestly, even with my BPD being well under control for many years now, reading the portrayal of it hurt. I really admire this author and for him to not only not do the homework on something that is used in the plot like this, but to further the stigma of people like me, broke my heart. I teared up and even woke up my husband to talk through it. That’s the other thing, we can’t trust our own minds. One of the biggest tools in my kit is talking to others to see if I’m perceiving things correctly, and reacting appropriately. Everything feels personal, so I often need reassurance that I’m loved and that I’m not going crazy. So yeah, this really upset me. </Spoiler>
Overall though, this is a wonderful read, it even mentioned a scientific advance that a friend of mine worked on with prosthetic limbs! This is my last book of the year (unless I can read my next one super quickly) and I feel like it was a great one to end on. I can’t wait to read whatever he comes out with next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury