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2.69 AVERAGE
2.69 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.
In a small seaside fishing town an evil has emerged deep from the oceans trenchs. A mysterious and strange infection is spreading, seeping its way into the local wildlife and the towns people. The newly infected being coined as “deading” for as soon as they perish they then rise again forever changed. The towns remaining residents must adapt and survive in this new environment filled with fear, isolation, and paranoia.
I was immediately intrigued just by seeing the cover of this book which is both haunting and beautiful at the same time. The premise of The Deading is a suspenseful creature feature with dystopian elements. The atmosphere, horror elements, and overall creepy factors kept me reading till the end however it was a struggle to get there. This for me is mainly due to the creative writing choices that are done. The POV constantly shifted from third person, to first person, and to multiple characters. This was done so frequently that it was even in the same chapter without any warning of this happening. This made the writing feel disjointed and ultimately harder to comprehend. While reading it is clearly apparent that the author has a wealth of knowledge about the wildlife that is used in this book and I do appreciate an author who takes the time to do their homework. However, it did become at times too wordy for me and ventured into info dumping territory. Overall while this book did take me longer to get thru then normal due to stylistic writing choices it did still manage to keep me interested and up at night thinking about the plots impending dread of quarantine and the unknowns of who you can trust and not in your community.
The Deading comes out July 23rd, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
In a small seaside fishing town an evil has emerged deep from the oceans trenchs. A mysterious and strange infection is spreading, seeping its way into the local wildlife and the towns people. The newly infected being coined as “deading” for as soon as they perish they then rise again forever changed. The towns remaining residents must adapt and survive in this new environment filled with fear, isolation, and paranoia.
I was immediately intrigued just by seeing the cover of this book which is both haunting and beautiful at the same time. The premise of The Deading is a suspenseful creature feature with dystopian elements. The atmosphere, horror elements, and overall creepy factors kept me reading till the end however it was a struggle to get there. This for me is mainly due to the creative writing choices that are done. The POV constantly shifted from third person, to first person, and to multiple characters. This was done so frequently that it was even in the same chapter without any warning of this happening. This made the writing feel disjointed and ultimately harder to comprehend. While reading it is clearly apparent that the author has a wealth of knowledge about the wildlife that is used in this book and I do appreciate an author who takes the time to do their homework. However, it did become at times too wordy for me and ventured into info dumping territory. Overall while this book did take me longer to get thru then normal due to stylistic writing choices it did still manage to keep me interested and up at night thinking about the plots impending dread of quarantine and the unknowns of who you can trust and not in your community.
The Deading comes out July 23rd, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Without giving too much away, a small coastal town gets quaratined after an infestation plagues the inhabitants. It is my first time dipping my toes into the eco-horror genre and I am still undecided if it is really my thing. I did not feel captivated by any of the characters and found many parts hard to follow and keep me engaged. However I love a dystopian book and this definitely had that edge to it. There were some pretty grim scenes and some emotional parts too. The ending did not really surprise me but I think it was fitting for the story. Some of it felt a bit unrealistic (like how quickly people turned to cult like behaviour) and sparse on some of the details (about the drones/ government) but it was interesting to read something different to my usual tastes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
challenging
dark
informative
fast-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
I received an e-ARC of the Deading from NetGalley and Kensington books in exchange for a fair review.
An unusual snail discovered at an oyster farm causes a whole town to be quarantined by the US government as a weird behavior strikes the majority of the population. A young man who is very interested in birding stands strong against "the deading" that many others in the town succumb to and fights to save his family and friends.
I really wanted to like this story a lot. The premise is really good, but I think the execution was rather rough. The book starts off with a collective third person, a Greek Chorus as described by the author, which I think made for an eerie start and if it had just stuck to the prologue and epilogue I think would have worked better, rather than including the random chapters in the middle using this pov. Unfortunately, the point of view switches nearly every chapter with some in first, some in collective third, some in limited third, one in second, and some switching within the chapter. This style was very hard to follow and made for a confusing lens to view the events. I could see this working if the flow was better but they felt a little disjointed and getting pov chapters from six characters was a bit much. I still don't understand why Kumi's chapters were in first person.
The second issue with the execution was the sheer number of science info dumps. The first chapter focused heavily on climate change and warming waters and a lot of, what felt like, unnecessary detail for something that isn't really relied on in the narrative later. Very shortly after that we started with the intricate details of identifying birds to species and the names of parts of their anatomy, I'll be honest I started skimming those. It really slowed the story down in those places, changed the tone and made it feel like Belardes just wanted to flex his bird knowledge muscles. I understand this is a passion of his, but it felt really forced just for the sake of being there.
In terms of the horror elements, honestly the snails and their role felt really played down and I wanted more of it. I didn't understand how Bernhard continued to play a role even though we went back to him a couple of times. It felt like nothing was really explained. Some of the best scenes for the horror element were with the Risers, which I still don't understand, in the church. I got really invested and then it fell away again. Everything felt like disjointed ideas and I wanted them to connect and I couldn't find the connection.
I enjoy horror with weird vibey elements, I don't always need it explained, Our Wives Under the Sea is a great example where the reason, the why, is never explained but we get an explanation of the events is happening. We are shown in clear fashion the events that unfold and it is very tense and atmospheric but light on the gore. This could have been a very atmospheric horror with a fair amount of gore that would have worked really well for me, but I think Belardes tried to do too much all at once.
I will still likely pick up a final copy on release and see how things have changed and am very appreciative of the chance to read something early that I really thought would be for me. It is unfortunate that it wasn't.
An unusual snail discovered at an oyster farm causes a whole town to be quarantined by the US government as a weird behavior strikes the majority of the population. A young man who is very interested in birding stands strong against "the deading" that many others in the town succumb to and fights to save his family and friends.
I really wanted to like this story a lot. The premise is really good, but I think the execution was rather rough. The book starts off with a collective third person, a Greek Chorus as described by the author, which I think made for an eerie start and if it had just stuck to the prologue and epilogue I think would have worked better, rather than including the random chapters in the middle using this pov. Unfortunately, the point of view switches nearly every chapter with some in first, some in collective third, some in limited third, one in second, and some switching within the chapter. This style was very hard to follow and made for a confusing lens to view the events. I could see this working if the flow was better but they felt a little disjointed and getting pov chapters from six characters was a bit much. I still don't understand why Kumi's chapters were in first person.
The second issue with the execution was the sheer number of science info dumps. The first chapter focused heavily on climate change and warming waters and a lot of, what felt like, unnecessary detail for something that isn't really relied on in the narrative later. Very shortly after that we started with the intricate details of identifying birds to species and the names of parts of their anatomy, I'll be honest I started skimming those. It really slowed the story down in those places, changed the tone and made it feel like Belardes just wanted to flex his bird knowledge muscles. I understand this is a passion of his, but it felt really forced just for the sake of being there.
In terms of the horror elements, honestly the snails and their role felt really played down and I wanted more of it. I didn't understand how Bernhard continued to play a role even though we went back to him a couple of times. It felt like nothing was really explained. Some of the best scenes for the horror element were with the Risers, which I still don't understand, in the church. I got really invested and then it fell away again. Everything felt like disjointed ideas and I wanted them to connect and I couldn't find the connection.
I enjoy horror with weird vibey elements, I don't always need it explained, Our Wives Under the Sea is a great example where the reason, the why, is never explained but we get an explanation of the events is happening. We are shown in clear fashion the events that unfold and it is very tense and atmospheric but light on the gore. This could have been a very atmospheric horror with a fair amount of gore that would have worked really well for me, but I think Belardes tried to do too much all at once.
I will still likely pick up a final copy on release and see how things have changed and am very appreciative of the chance to read something early that I really thought would be for me. It is unfortunate that it wasn't.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Murder
I got a review copy of this book from NetGalley. I thought that the premise was good enough for a read. I unfortunately couldn't finish reading it due to the following reasons:
1. Too much time spent explaining about the different bird species, felt like an ornithology book.
2. The time it took for the actual story to begin was too long.
It just got too boring and I was just dragging myself far too long to finish it. Time is short, so I'll focus on more interesting books.
1. Too much time spent explaining about the different bird species, felt like an ornithology book.
2. The time it took for the actual story to begin was too long.
It just got too boring and I was just dragging myself far too long to finish it. Time is short, so I'll focus on more interesting books.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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:
No
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wouldn’t recommend eating any seafood while reading this!
An alien pandemic causes widespread environmental horror, leaving two brothers to face the ugliness of humanity in times of distress.
This book freaked me out. It made my skin crawl. The graphic descriptions of body horror and frequent triggers of our deep primal fear of rotting disease ridden creatures come together to paint a nightmare straight from our human psyche. Death is far from the end, and our list of trusted companions are few and far between. I lost sleep over this.
Leaving Belardes’ brilliant atmospheric horror aside, this story holds up a mirror to our society, forcing us to reflect on our own worldwide tragedies. Themes like activism, bullying, and cult-like communities bring light to the realities we face, adding dark complexity to our tribulations. Simply put, I straddle between hope and fear in our humanity. I fear our reactions, more than a pandemic itself, yet I have hope in community and selfless acts of kindness. History holds examples of both. Let’s hope we learn our lessons soon.
Brilliant story. A bit too heavy on the science at times, but it adds a layer of realism Sci-Fi fans will enjoy. I expect this book to be very popular upon release.
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.
An alien pandemic causes widespread environmental horror, leaving two brothers to face the ugliness of humanity in times of distress.
This book freaked me out. It made my skin crawl. The graphic descriptions of body horror and frequent triggers of our deep primal fear of rotting disease ridden creatures come together to paint a nightmare straight from our human psyche. Death is far from the end, and our list of trusted companions are few and far between. I lost sleep over this.
Leaving Belardes’ brilliant atmospheric horror aside, this story holds up a mirror to our society, forcing us to reflect on our own worldwide tragedies. Themes like activism, bullying, and cult-like communities bring light to the realities we face, adding dark complexity to our tribulations. Simply put, I straddle between hope and fear in our humanity. I fear our reactions, more than a pandemic itself, yet I have hope in community and selfless acts of kindness. History holds examples of both. Let’s hope we learn our lessons soon.
Brilliant story. A bit too heavy on the science at times, but it adds a layer of realism Sci-Fi fans will enjoy. I expect this book to be very popular upon release.
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.