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pecosedie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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? No
3.75
What I thought was going to be a medical thriller turned out to be a zombie thriller--my very first! And thrilling it was! Exciting characters and enough realism to make me wonder, "Could this ever happen?" Not likely, but it will get you wondering. World War Z is next for me. It's time I learned about real zombies!
saadiyya_reads786's review against another edition
5.0
Survivor Song was intense. Love the strong female friendship.
kaelaceleste's review against another edition
5.0
okayyyyyyy I really absolutely loved this. it's a straightforward pandemic/zombie story and you pretty much know what's gonna happen from the start, but the road to get there is so harrowing and creepy that I couldn't stop reading.
The action gets started right away which I love in horror novels (I am not a slow burn type of girly) with a pregnant woman and her best friend trying to stay alive and protect her baby from the deadly and dangerous form of rabies that's taking out huge numbers of the population. They really hit the ground running from the start and never really slow down after that.
I LOVED the atmosphere of this, Paul Tremblay builds tension so well and in such a short time I really empathized with these characters and was invested in their story. Like I said...you kind of guess what's going to happen at the very beginning of the book - but that in no way took away from the story. The whole thing felt so real and emotional. I absolutely loved that it was a story of two female best friends, it made the whole thing feel so much more personal and relatable. The characters felt very lived in and well developed, even the ones we didn't spend a ton of time with. He even wrote in some nasty conspiracy theorists to make it super realistic!
The action gets started right away which I love in horror novels (I am not a slow burn type of girly) with a pregnant woman and her best friend trying to stay alive and protect her baby from the deadly and dangerous form of rabies that's taking out huge numbers of the population. They really hit the ground running from the start and never really slow down after that.
I LOVED the atmosphere of this, Paul Tremblay builds tension so well and in such a short time I really empathized with these characters and was invested in their story. Like I said...you kind of guess what's going to happen at the very beginning of the book - but that in no way took away from the story. The whole thing felt so real and emotional. I absolutely loved that it was a story of two female best friends, it made the whole thing feel so much more personal and relatable. The characters felt very lived in and well developed, even the ones we didn't spend a ton of time with. He even wrote in some nasty conspiracy theorists to make it super realistic!
steph_vander_veen's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
ecandrews0's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
badseedgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Nominated 2021 Locus Nominated Best Horror Novel
This is a wonderful story about the worlds worst road trip.
I enjoyed the characters of Ramola and Natalie, although both their attitudes and decision making skills leave much to be desired. I did not understand Natalie and Paul's clear lack of awareness that lead to the start of this story. Why in the holly hell would anyone leave their gate wide open when they know there are super rabies infected animals around.
And I know that Ramola has that whole "do no harm" thing, but she forgot about it when if conveniently moved the story line along. The rest of the time she was all "don't kill the Super Rabies infected people." even though we are told several times that once the infection reaches the brains there is no cure. We also know that the individuals infected are in pain and can have moments of lucidity. Killing the infected would have been the least amount of harm that could be done to the people infected. That is why this book only gets 4 stars.
I just wanted to say that after living with COVID since February 2020, I found the scenes at the hospital to be very well written and accurate, as were the scenes with the conspiracy theorists.
This is a wonderful story about the worlds worst road trip.
I enjoyed the characters of Ramola and Natalie, although both their attitudes and decision making skills leave much to be desired. I did not understand Natalie and Paul's clear lack of awareness that lead to the start of this story. Why in the holly hell would anyone leave their gate wide open when they know there are super rabies infected animals around.
And I know that Ramola has that whole "do no harm" thing, but she forgot about it when if conveniently moved the story line along. The rest of the time she was all "don't kill the Super Rabies infected people." even though we are told several times that once the infection reaches the brains there is no cure. We also know that the individuals infected are in pain and can have moments of lucidity. Killing the infected would have been the least amount of harm that could be done to the people infected. That is why this book only gets 4 stars.
I just wanted to say that after living with COVID since February 2020, I found the scenes at the hospital to be very well written and accurate, as were the scenes with the conspiracy theorists.
jessicataylor71's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
mehsi's review
5.0
Welcome to a world where getting rabies means you are very screwed. Follow Ramola and Natalie as they try to find safety for Natalie and her unborn child.
I wasn’t sure if I was up for this book with all the pandemic and this one being about an outbreak of rabies only more extreme. AKA, if you got bit? Well you are screwed. Unless you got bit in your toe and got to a hospital fast enough. Otherwise bye bye. There is a reason why I have no zombie horror books on my lists as I just cannot stomach that at this time. My mental health is already messed up as it is no need to add some more plagues to it.
In this book we have Natalie (the pregnant mom who gets bit) and Ramola (her best friend and a doctor). We see them try to get Natalie to safety… and later try to at least get her baby to safety. But the way isn’t one of ease. The landscape is drastically changed and danger lurks everywhere.
I loved both characters though I have to say that Natalie was my favourite out of the two. She was just so sassy and despite all that happened she tried to stay herself. Ramola was also a good character and I loved how dedicated she was to her friend. I loved reading about both characters and get more information on how they met, how long they have been friends, and what they have been doing in life.
There are many scary moments in this book, from how Natalie’s husband got bitten to the parts in the hospital to later parts. The people with rabies were just freaking scary. They not only were totally gone and rabid, but at times they were reciting random things, like in this part:” A woman shouts from above, “She had great power and was dreaded by all the world.” The door slams shut and then swings open without pause. “Surrounded by a high wall,” she says singsong, lilting at “high” and separating “wall” into two syllables. Her voice is the same tone and pitch as the alarm and it sounds like there are two of her. The woman continues shouting between the pistonlike opening and closing of the door. Let it cost what it will cost.”
Yep, these peeps with rabies are just a bit fat NOPE and need to be avoided at all times. They will eat and rip and tear.
I am glad that it didn’t went the way with zombies, here if you died you just died. Done.
My heart just broke when Natalie started making voice records for her unborn child. Seeing her talk to her baby so that at least it would have her voice to listen was just so sad. I felt for her. She knew she probably never would meet her baby. The things she told her unborn child were honest, hilarious, and sweet. I loved that she gave the child all sorts of tidbits about her and Paul so that the kid would at least know a bit about mom and dad.
As the story continues we see Natalie be less and less herself, and it was just frightening me. I felt for Natalie, but also Ramola, who both tried to stay happy, to stay positive, despite all the signs clearly pointing to something else. The author did a great job on showing how things progressed with Natalie. It was so well written!
I have to say I was pretty pissed at how the people on the bus treated her. Yes, she is changing, yes she may become dangerous, but she still carries an unborn HEALTHY child in her belly. Be a bit more kinder.
I loved the ending and I loved that we got to see how it went with the world or I should say the US as the rabies stuff was only there, someone special, and two other characters. My heart broke though for what Ramola had to choose and what she had to do. I can only imagine how hard that was for her. How it completely broke her, I wonder if she can ever come over what happened.
The writing style is just absolutely lovely. Lyrical and fun and scary, with plenty of memorable quotes. Sometimes when the writing style is the way it is it feels pretentious, but in this one it just fit perfectly and made it all the more scary and exciting. You could feel all the hopelessness, but at times also the hope that maybe things would still be all right.
Plus, I learned some new words! Yay!
I could probably talk for hours about this book, but I will keep at what I said here so it doesn’t get too long. This book just grab me, this book was amazing. I would highly recommend this haunting tale.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I wasn’t sure if I was up for this book with all the pandemic and this one being about an outbreak of rabies only more extreme. AKA, if you got bit? Well you are screwed. Unless you got bit in your toe and got to a hospital fast enough. Otherwise bye bye. There is a reason why I have no zombie horror books on my lists as I just cannot stomach that at this time. My mental health is already messed up as it is no need to add some more plagues to it.
In this book we have Natalie (the pregnant mom who gets bit) and Ramola (her best friend and a doctor). We see them try to get Natalie to safety… and later try to at least get her baby to safety. But the way isn’t one of ease. The landscape is drastically changed and danger lurks everywhere.
I loved both characters though I have to say that Natalie was my favourite out of the two. She was just so sassy and despite all that happened she tried to stay herself. Ramola was also a good character and I loved how dedicated she was to her friend. I loved reading about both characters and get more information on how they met, how long they have been friends, and what they have been doing in life.
There are many scary moments in this book, from how Natalie’s husband got bitten to the parts in the hospital to later parts. The people with rabies were just freaking scary. They not only were totally gone and rabid, but at times they were reciting random things, like in this part:” A woman shouts from above, “She had great power and was dreaded by all the world.” The door slams shut and then swings open without pause. “Surrounded by a high wall,” she says singsong, lilting at “high” and separating “wall” into two syllables. Her voice is the same tone and pitch as the alarm and it sounds like there are two of her. The woman continues shouting between the pistonlike opening and closing of the door. Let it cost what it will cost.”
Yep, these peeps with rabies are just a bit fat NOPE and need to be avoided at all times. They will eat and rip and tear.
I am glad that it didn’t went the way with zombies, here if you died you just died. Done.
My heart just broke when Natalie started making voice records for her unborn child. Seeing her talk to her baby so that at least it would have her voice to listen was just so sad. I felt for her. She knew she probably never would meet her baby. The things she told her unborn child were honest, hilarious, and sweet. I loved that she gave the child all sorts of tidbits about her and Paul so that the kid would at least know a bit about mom and dad.
As the story continues we see Natalie be less and less herself, and it was just frightening me. I felt for Natalie, but also Ramola, who both tried to stay happy, to stay positive, despite all the signs clearly pointing to something else. The author did a great job on showing how things progressed with Natalie. It was so well written!
I have to say I was pretty pissed at how the people on the bus treated her. Yes, she is changing, yes she may become dangerous, but she still carries an unborn HEALTHY child in her belly. Be a bit more kinder.
I loved the ending and I loved that we got to see how it went with the world or I should say the US as the rabies stuff was only there, someone special, and two other characters. My heart broke though for what Ramola had to choose and what she had to do. I can only imagine how hard that was for her. How it completely broke her, I wonder if she can ever come over what happened.
The writing style is just absolutely lovely. Lyrical and fun and scary, with plenty of memorable quotes. Sometimes when the writing style is the way it is it feels pretentious, but in this one it just fit perfectly and made it all the more scary and exciting. You could feel all the hopelessness, but at times also the hope that maybe things would still be all right.
Plus, I learned some new words! Yay!
I could probably talk for hours about this book, but I will keep at what I said here so it doesn’t get too long. This book just grab me, this book was amazing. I would highly recommend this haunting tale.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
ashesmf's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
freezing_moon's review against another edition
4.0
I have never sped through a book so quickly — devouring every sentence in search of an answer to the age old question “what happens next?”. The book may be a relatively quick read, but that doesn’t lessen the impact. I’m wouldn’t label this novel horror, it is more along the lines of a brutal suspense novel.