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2.69 AVERAGE
2.69 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I already hate climate horror so I really shouldn't have even tried, but the blurb doesn't mention it's climate based. The writing flips back and forth between annoying YA and then like research paper speak, no girl
I gave The Deading 2/5 stars.
This book seemed very unpolished to me. The disease / entity that attacks the townspeople was very confusing to me and didn’t see any resolution at the end of the book. The story was told in alternating first and third person perspectives with no initial indicator of whose view you were reading from, which I found tough to follow. There was a lot of unnecessary commentary on birds, and other creatures that did not offer much to advance the plot. At about 60% through, this book suddenly picks up and gets really interesting before rapidly dropping back off. It just felt like this book had a number of potentially good plot lines and ideas, but failed to follow through on any of them in a significant way. The ending of the book didn’t really serve to complete the story line or offer any resolution either.
Overall, I’m thankful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this arc, but will not be picking up a copy for my personal collection.
This book seemed very unpolished to me. The disease / entity that attacks the townspeople was very confusing to me and didn’t see any resolution at the end of the book. The story was told in alternating first and third person perspectives with no initial indicator of whose view you were reading from, which I found tough to follow. There was a lot of unnecessary commentary on birds, and other creatures that did not offer much to advance the plot. At about 60% through, this book suddenly picks up and gets really interesting before rapidly dropping back off. It just felt like this book had a number of potentially good plot lines and ideas, but failed to follow through on any of them in a significant way. The ending of the book didn’t really serve to complete the story line or offer any resolution either.
Overall, I’m thankful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this arc, but will not be picking up a copy for my personal collection.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Strange and dark, this horror exploration of identity and pollution takes you on a journey through time and space and down a well of doubt and decay. I think you’ll love the creepy atmosphere, the unearthly menace, and the flawed characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.
DNF @ 46%
I feel like I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in this book. It’s all over the place.
There is an excess of descriptions and pretty much no horror. I’m almost halfway through the book and it’s mostly been internal monologue by characters they keep getting thrown in.
None of these characters felt memorable, the plot kept disappearing, and setting would have been incredible if it was given some more attention that wasn’t about the bird population.
This was a strange book. Unsettling and kind of like a fever dream, but the writing was solid enough to not make it confusing, even if I did not quite know what was going on half the time.
I can see that novel won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I can also see why some people would really love this. I really liked how unsettling it is and how quickly the community unravels. I liked spending time with the various characters and really feeling like I was in some of their heads, whilst others kept me at a distance. I found it compelling and it kept my attention.
I do think the vagueness did not work across the board and I felt like I did want a bit more explanation, especially at the end. The last 50 pages were just a bit all over the place.
I have to admit this is not quite my type of book, but it did not push things too far for me and overall it kept me reading. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, it is definitely worth reading.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unfortunately I just could not get on with this one and had to DNF at around 25%
I thought the premise of this sounded so interesting and the cover really pulled me in but I found the writing abit too disjointed for me personally and there was alot of talk about birds (I know there has to be to a certain extent) but I just found it abit boring which is a shame.
I thought the premise of this sounded so interesting and the cover really pulled me in but I found the writing abit too disjointed for me personally and there was alot of talk about birds (I know there has to be to a certain extent) but I just found it abit boring which is a shame.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
dark
informative
mysterious
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:
Complicated
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Something strange is washing up on the shore of Baywood, a small beach town in Southern California. First, the snails, then the wildlife, then people are infected with a strange illness. What started as a viral trend by the students, “deading,” becomes an epidemic among the population, one that demands assimilation. The Deading follows the story of several survivors of Baywood as they try to navigate what is quickly becoming a terrifying ordeal.
In many ways, The Deading is a dense novel that involves the point of view of several, sometimes groups of characters, many of whom have their own writing style (some are in third person limited, one is first person, and some seem to be something between third person omniscient and limited). The constant switching made it hard for me to truly comprehend what was going on. There were several themes I only knew to pick out because they were specifically mentioned in the Author’s Note before the novel. Ultimately, I feel like The Deading was trying to do too many things at once, which muddled what Belardes was trying to say.
However, what does shine through is Belardes’ genuine love of nature and his concerns about climate change. Every POV character has their own well-developed motivations and despite the over-arching confusion on my end, I enjoyed the perspective from each character greatly.
Overall, while in my opinion, The Deading is somewhat of a challenging read, I still think it’s worth the time. If you enjoy Into the Drowning Deep, creature features, climate horror, or Hot Topic, this is a novel you may want to pick up.