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ritchtea2's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and War
keen's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit
rain02's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Torture
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Animal death
lostboylio's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
overall a very much horrifying read, a good story but the ending felt wrong and very rushed which i didn’t like
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Death of parent
holyteeth's review against another edition
4.25
Not sure how to feel about this book.
It had an extremely strong start, and the first half of the book was, in my opinion, an incredible show of craftsmanship. Each character voice was distinct, the prose was full of connecting strings and metaphors and callbacks, the imagery was fresh and solid, and the constant relations to mythology had me very excited for what came next. Carey is very good at writing children and it really added to Melanie's pov, and being in her head really drove the horror of what was happening home.
The second half was... disappointing. Not bad, but it felt like it was from another book entirely. There were a lot less Melanie POVS, which in my opinion was a huge loss for the book, as it completely changed the vibes of the story and took away the strongest thing about the narrative.
I'm far from a prude, but I also really really think the book could have benefited from less sexual content. There wasn't a lot of it, but going from the first half of the book being from a child's POV or focusing on a child to the second half of the book full of people constantly thinking about sex or masturbation or nudity was a big change in vibes and personally I was not for it. In addition, it got tiring very fast to jump from the POVs of the women characters, who were having genuine thoughts and worries and actions, to the POVs of the men who were both constantly thinking about how hot their coworker was and how much they wanted to have sex with her in detail. Why was it written like that? And from both of them? It got tiring very quickly. I can't believe we got less Melanie for that.
The ending felt... abrupt, and a little rushed. I definitely think that would have benefited from more Melanie chapters, too, so we could see her evolution and thought progress.I was not a fan of the way the feral children were handled, and felt it undermined the themes of the book thus far a bit. Also, was not huge on the fact that apparently they just... left behind like 20 kids locked in an underground bunker, even though both Melanie and Helen allegedly cared about them. Not even one mention of them at the end? Come on.
Overall, despite the fact it's hard not to feel a little disappointed at the way it fell off in the second half, I enjoyed the book. If it had kept up like the first half the entire way through, it could have been my favorite book of all time. Alas, it'll have to settle for 'book I quite enjoyed.'
It had an extremely strong start, and the first half of the book was, in my opinion, an incredible show of craftsmanship. Each character voice was distinct, the prose was full of connecting strings and metaphors and callbacks, the imagery was fresh and solid, and the constant relations to mythology had me very excited for what came next. Carey is very good at writing children and it really added to Melanie's pov, and being in her head really drove the horror of what was happening home.
The second half was... disappointing. Not bad, but it felt like it was from another book entirely. There were a lot less Melanie POVS, which in my opinion was a huge loss for the book, as it completely changed the vibes of the story and took away the strongest thing about the narrative.
I'm far from a prude, but I also really really think the book could have benefited from less sexual content. There wasn't a lot of it, but going from the first half of the book being from a child's POV or focusing on a child to the second half of the book full of people constantly thinking about sex or masturbation or nudity was a big change in vibes and personally I was not for it. In addition, it got tiring very fast to jump from the POVs of the women characters, who were having genuine thoughts and worries and actions, to the POVs of the men who were both constantly thinking about how hot their coworker was and how much they wanted to have sex with her in detail. Why was it written like that? And from both of them? It got tiring very quickly. I can't believe we got less Melanie for that.
The ending felt... abrupt, and a little rushed. I definitely think that would have benefited from more Melanie chapters, too, so we could see her evolution and thought progress.
Overall, despite the fact it's hard not to feel a little disappointed at the way it fell off in the second half, I enjoyed the book. If it had kept up like the first half the entire way through, it could have been my favorite book of all time. Alas, it'll have to settle for 'book I quite enjoyed.'
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Sexual content and Torture
cheye13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I picked this up because I'd heard raving reviews about it, but I have to admit, I don't understand. I'd seen many say this was "more than a regular zombie book," but while I found it a decent "regular zombie book," I didn't find much more within it. I read Warm Bodies earlier this year, and these stories have much in common.
Every zombie book that's caught my interest always has a unique angle on the fictional science as well as social commentary. This one executes the tropes well, but not in a particularly new or fascinating way. The novel also spends the first chunk setting readers up to despise a number of the main characters, so I was lacking a concern or connection to make action scenes impactful. That lack of emotion probably also affected the pacing - I prefer there to be action or suspense to push such a story forward, and this story failed to create that for me.
In general, an entertaining but not very impactful read for me.
Every zombie book that's caught my interest always has a unique angle on the fictional science as well as social commentary. This one executes the tropes well, but not in a particularly new or fascinating way. The novel also spends the first chunk setting readers up to despise a number of the main characters, so I was lacking a concern or connection to make action scenes impactful. That lack of emotion probably also affected the pacing - I prefer there to be action or suspense to push such a story forward, and this story failed to create that for me.
In general, an entertaining but not very impactful read for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse and Gun violence
Minor: Alcoholism and Animal death
unlivinh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury
leahroyelle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal death
bigteo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well I mean, it was okay I guess.
After the strong start of the novel, it kinda slows down and becomes a fairly straightforward “characters go from A to B” zombie thriller. I thought that the medical themes were actually very well researched and interesting and definitely some of the strongest parts of the book for me.
None of the characters were really likeable for me. I kinda liked the soldier characters, they were okay and their actions were on the whole reasonable. The teacher character, Justineau, was actually incredibly fustrating to me. A good example is when she decides to set off the flare gun after Melanie is only gone for one night. Why didn’t she wait until they fixed the armoured lab/truck thing? Setting off the flare didn’t even get Melanie to come back faster, she came back the next morning as if nothing happened. And it had barely any consequence to the plot, but it just had me so angry that she acted so irrationally. Same goes for how violent she was with the doctor character. I didn’t care for the doctor but her motives at least kinda made sense. The characters are allowed to hate eachother that’s fine, but for example near the end (spoilers ahead) when the doctor is being chased by the pack of hungry kids, she could’ve explained that’s what had happened and it was self defence, plus she got a good intact brain to test on which could potentially save all of their lives. I don’t know. Just unlikeable characters that all, in turn, don’t like eachother. So therefore I didn’t like them all that much either.
As for the ending (spoiler warning obviously but I’ll try to be brief), it ended super abruptly. The wall of fungus was something introduced in the last couple of chapters. And the military guy Parks decides to burn it. I thought for sure they’d at least try and drive through it maybe? The silver lining to the ending that Melanie proposes seems more of an afterthought. Like, “burning it screwed up the whole world, oh well maybe good can come of it” and not something that the characters would have had to wrestle with beforehand. Maybe that conflict could have been more central, I don’t know. The world ending part kind of just happens in the last few pages without any buildup or conflict to the decision to burn the fungus wall.
I know this review seems very negative but on the whole it’s a very straightforward, interesting zombie apocalypse book. I guess if you’re a fan of the genre then this book isn’t exactly groundbreaking but it’s a fun enough read that I got through pretty quickly.
After the strong start of the novel, it kinda slows down and becomes a fairly straightforward “characters go from A to B” zombie thriller. I thought that the medical themes were actually very well researched and interesting and definitely some of the strongest parts of the book for me.
None of the characters were really likeable for me. I kinda liked the soldier characters, they were okay and their actions were on the whole reasonable. The teacher character, Justineau, was actually incredibly fustrating to me. A good example is when she decides to set off the flare gun after Melanie is only gone for one night. Why didn’t she wait until they fixed the armoured lab/truck thing? Setting off the flare didn’t even get Melanie to come back faster, she came back the next morning as if nothing happened. And it had barely any consequence to the plot, but it just had me so angry that she acted so irrationally. Same goes for how violent she was with the doctor character. I didn’t care for the doctor but her motives at least kinda made sense. The characters are allowed to hate eachother that’s fine, but for example near the end (spoilers ahead) when the doctor is being chased by the pack of hungry kids, she could’ve explained that’s what had happened and it was self defence, plus she got a good intact brain to test on which could potentially save all of their lives. I don’t know. Just unlikeable characters that all, in turn, don’t like eachother. So therefore I didn’t like them all that much either.
As for the ending (spoiler warning obviously but I’ll try to be brief), it ended super abruptly. The wall of fungus was something introduced in the last couple of chapters. And the military guy Parks decides to burn it. I thought for sure they’d at least try and drive through it maybe? The silver lining to the ending that Melanie proposes seems more of an afterthought. Like, “burning it screwed up the whole world, oh well maybe good can come of it” and not something that the characters would have had to wrestle with beforehand. Maybe that conflict could have been more central, I don’t know. The world ending part kind of just happens in the last few pages without any buildup or conflict to the decision to burn the fungus wall.
I know this review seems very negative but on the whole it’s a very straightforward, interesting zombie apocalypse book. I guess if you’re a fan of the genre then this book isn’t exactly groundbreaking but it’s a fun enough read that I got through pretty quickly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
nil033's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder