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2.69 AVERAGE
2.69 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Thanks to NetGalley and Recorded Books for the ALC of this audiobook!
In a small fishing town, snails wash up on shore and start infecting and transforming everything. At first, it’s just wildlife, but soon even the humans are affected. Once infected, people collapse and die, only to come back to life, changed in many ways. When the town is quarantined and cut off from the world, birding enthuiast Blas and his brother Chango, among other survivors must find a way out, or become subjected to weird, cult rituals.
This book. Is so weird. I 80% chose it on the title. I enjoy adding “ening” on the end of things (ex. The Bloodening or in this case the deadening), but then the synopsis got me even more. I will say it took me a bit to get into the book. It shifts povs between seemingly random people in the beginning, but once I got the characters straight and got into the plot, it was pretty enjoyable.
Review of “The Deading”
Available Now
Disclaimer: Please note that I received an Audible ARC from NetGalley and RBmedia, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
“The Deading” by Nicholas Belardes offers an intriguing premise with its eerie, dystopian setting and mysterious ocean-borne contagion. The story unfolds in a small fishing town where an infection causes residents to start “deading,” leading to societal collapse and the emergence of death-worshiping Risers. While the plot is captivating, the use of terms like “deading” and “risers” felt awkward and detracts from the overall experience.
The book’s multiple points of view add depth to the narrative, although some readers might find the story disjointed. I found the audio version to help differentiate perspectives, which kept me engaged despite the shifting viewpoints. Some chapters were more interesting than others, resulting in an uneven reading experience. While I enjoyed certain aspects of the book, it’s not something I would rush to revisit. “The Deading” is an interesting read for those who enjoy dystopian tales, but it may not resonate with everyone.
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dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Confusing. That's the best way to describe this book. I'm not a fan of when the different PoV change from 1st to 3rd. The real main characters, the brothers, weren't even the 1st person. This random person did. I didn't get this book at all. Just felt like unfinished ideas.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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:
Complicated
The Deading is a horror dystopian following a handful of characters living in Baywood; a small fishing town in California. Baywood has a passionate bird watching community and a successful oyster farm. The story starts when a horrific epidemic emerges through snails. This epidemic causes people to ‘dead’, in which they collapse and essentially show all symptoms of death, but then rise again almost like before. The small fishing town is then cut off from the rest of civilization by the government and the community has to figure out how to live in this ground zero. Things play out very similarly to what everyone, myself included, experienced during the real life pandemic of Covid-19. Hysteria, paranoia, isolation, rituals, beliefs, and people changing overnight, as well as lots of confusion on what to do and where to go to get information. Our main character Blas navigates the world as a high schooler the only way he knows, through birds. His mom and brother are infected and become ‘risers’, leaving him alone, and afraid. Blas eventually has to plan how to escape this infected town with other immune folks like him.
I liked this audiobook, the body horror starts off instantly in the beginning of the book. Snails are described in a way that I’m not sure if I will ever find them cute again. The beginning part of the story follows the overtaking and infection of the owner of the local oyster farm. I do wish there was more from this perspective, and more of the up close part of body/eco horror in the book. However, the horror feeling follows through the book.
The main person that the story follows is Blas, who has to grapple with the epidemic in his town and in his brother Chango, and mother Miriam. Blas has a huge passion as a bird watcher; this personality trait of Blas isn’t very beloved by his brother Chango and many other residents of this small fishing town.
The other character we follow is a friend of Blas, Kumi. Kumi is a fellow bird watcher and is more mature and thoughtful of her perspective. She also has to experience the horrors of the rituals of the ‘risers’, as she infiltrates their grotesque ceremony.
I do think that The Deading does talk about birds a little too much for my own taste of a horror book (especially when birds are not the source of horror). It was understandable as the characters the story most closely follows are bird watchers. Their escapism is birds, and who wouldn’t need an escapism in an epidemic. The story can be a bit confusing, but it did not bother me too much. I thought it was an apt portrayal considering the characters are cut off from all means of communication other than face to face. It would be very confusing to be isolated from the outside world by the government with absolutely 0 answers.
The audio part of the book was fantastic and had a pretty large cast with spot on voices for the characters. I really enjoyed it and it was quite immersive. My only critique would be that the enunciation of names was a little unclear, making it a little harder to follow along the POV’s.
I enjoyed this book, I thought it was a fantastic commentary on pollution, isolation, and how quickly a cult can form. The horror was skin crawling, with an unearthly and creepy atmosphere and a diversely flawed character cast. 4.25 stars.
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!
The quiet coastal town of Baywood has something sinister wash upon its shores, and soon after some of its population exhibits strange symptoms. The quarantined locals quickly become divided between those infected and those who are not, as social hierarchies crumble and a new death obsessed cult takes over.
The premise and so many elements of this book should have made a great eco-cosmic-horror story, but ultimately fell flat. The characters are not really distinct or memorable. Three of the main characters are bird watchers, which leads to too much time spent on talking about birds. The perspective changes become disorienting at times, making it hard to fully immerse in the story. At times I almost forgot that this was supposed to be a horror story.
Ultimately, I feel like this book tried to do/say too much in a short amount of time, causing its message to become garbled in the chaos.
The quiet coastal town of Baywood has something sinister wash upon its shores, and soon after some of its population exhibits strange symptoms. The quarantined locals quickly become divided between those infected and those who are not, as social hierarchies crumble and a new death obsessed cult takes over.
The premise and so many elements of this book should have made a great eco-cosmic-horror story, but ultimately fell flat. The characters are not really distinct or memorable. Three of the main characters are bird watchers, which leads to too much time spent on talking about birds. The perspective changes become disorienting at times, making it hard to fully immerse in the story. At times I almost forgot that this was supposed to be a horror story.
Ultimately, I feel like this book tried to do/say too much in a short amount of time, causing its message to become garbled in the chaos.
I felt like this could have been better if it was trimmed and made into a creepy body horror short story. I listened to the audiobook and had a hard time knowing who's pov I was listening to. There were some really good creepy scenes but overall I felt the book was really dragging.
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
When a small fishing town called Baywood is assailed by an inexplicable infection originating from a being within the ocean that causes people and animals to experience “deading,”: the act of abruptly dying and then returning to life mentally and physically changed, a bird-loving teenager named Blas Enriquez and other uninflected residents must adjust to a new existence.
Cut off from the outside world by the government, they contend with the changes to the environent around them and the rising paranoia and unhinged death-worshipping rituals concocted by the Risers, who fixate upon their inability to dead as they do.
The Deading is a novel with an intriguing premise and is a blend of isolation, environmental, body and cosmic horror. Told from multiple perspectives and with a switch between first person and third person point of view, the disturbing disintegration of a community is interspersed with contemplations regarding existence and a great deal of detail pertaining to various birds and the subject of bird-watching.
Blas is an interesting character: a teenager who loves his hobby of watching and documenting birds despite some desparaging remarks from his older brother Chango and other wealthier residents, who then must deal with his mother and brother in the grips of “deading” while his friends slowly dwindle and his community is reshaped into something malevolent.
His older friend and fellow birder Kumi Sato also provides a thoughtful examination of her own experiences, as well as the extent of the fervor and indoctrination of the Risers when she infiltrates their nightmarish ceremonies.
Certain scenes are absolutely engrossing, such as the changes experienced by a character in the beginning of the novel, scenes involving the garish rituals created by the Risers and a final confrontation that edges into the surreal and yet remains unsettling.
Some of the writing resembles a rambling stream of consciousness and there are moments in the middle where the plot becomes slow and seems to drag. There are also characters who survived separately from Blas and who seem to reinvigorate the story, but they aren’t introduced until close to the conclusion of the novel, which is also slightly abrupt as well.
Nevertheless, The Deading displays an admirable passion for its subject matter. Thank you very much to NetGalley, Kensington Books and Erewhon Books for providing access to this ebook.
Cut off from the outside world by the government, they contend with the changes to the environent around them and the rising paranoia and unhinged death-worshipping rituals concocted by the Risers, who fixate upon their inability to dead as they do.
The Deading is a novel with an intriguing premise and is a blend of isolation, environmental, body and cosmic horror. Told from multiple perspectives and with a switch between first person and third person point of view, the disturbing disintegration of a community is interspersed with contemplations regarding existence and a great deal of detail pertaining to various birds and the subject of bird-watching.
Blas is an interesting character: a teenager who loves his hobby of watching and documenting birds despite some desparaging remarks from his older brother Chango and other wealthier residents, who then must deal with his mother and brother in the grips of “deading” while his friends slowly dwindle and his community is reshaped into something malevolent.
His older friend and fellow birder Kumi Sato also provides a thoughtful examination of her own experiences, as well as the extent of the fervor and indoctrination of the Risers when she infiltrates their nightmarish ceremonies.
Certain scenes are absolutely engrossing, such as the changes experienced by a character in the beginning of the novel, scenes involving the garish rituals created by the Risers and a final confrontation that edges into the surreal and yet remains unsettling.
Some of the writing resembles a rambling stream of consciousness and there are moments in the middle where the plot becomes slow and seems to drag. There are also characters who survived separately from Blas and who seem to reinvigorate the story, but they aren’t introduced until close to the conclusion of the novel, which is also slightly abrupt as well.
Nevertheless, The Deading displays an admirable passion for its subject matter. Thank you very much to NetGalley, Kensington Books and Erewhon Books for providing access to this ebook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide