Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Severance

I normally never read dystopian (if this book can be called that after we all have experienced COVID), but since it was for a book club, I was rather excited. The Beginning until maybe the 17/18 chapter were strong, but then it turned into the typical dystopian story of someone trying to escape their group mixed with cult-esque leadership.
The ending was such a letdown and the themes the book tried to tackle weren't fleshed out enough. How did the Fever transmit? It can't only be fungal, or at least it seemed to have to do with routine, nostalgia and remembering. But I can only say those keywords, because the story lacked fulfillment/tying up the loose ends and like I already said delving deeper into the social criticism it started.

The Author has sometimes beautiful prose with a minimalist but hard hitting tendency and some of the scenes (especially the gruesome ones) felt all too real. So it's sad that that wasn't utilized more to really make strong points regarding the mentioned themes.

Content Warnings

booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The fact that this was published in 2018 just speaks to the way that, as a society, we experience things like mass pandemic and it’s easy to make the leap from that to something resembling a post-apocalyptic story.

This book follows our protagonist Candace, who was the child of two Chinese immigrants and later went to work in New York sourcing production companies for Bibles that her company made and distributed, all of which was done in China. The Shen Fever breaks out, spreads worldwide, and people become zombies of their former selves, doomed to repeat what they know.

It’s a portrait of so many aspects of the human experience and I read it in one day because I could not put it down.

Content Warnings

onyxkat's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

coffeespooncait's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

jazhandz's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

libby13's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

lilabachere's review against another edition

Go to review page

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

lenkusia's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

severance had me invested in the story from the first page. its a really interesting idea with a good execution. there were some small flaws – weird writing sometimes and an underwhelming ending. the world also was a little underdeveloped but i understand how it made the story more focused on the main character, which seemed to be the point.

ps. candace, the first anti–masker

Content Warnings

More...