Reviews

This book is about a memorable cast of characters surviving a deadly pandemic, while trying to navigate a strange and dangerous world. The place is referred to a Sick City and has been cordoned off from the rest of the world. It has many parallels to the shifting world we find ourselves in now. This is a slow burn mystery, with paranormal and sci-fi elements. I enjoyed the very weird, including ponytail jackers, therapy bars where you can beat up characters of your choice, and sin eaters who eat the sins of the dead so they can pass on without them. But the plot ultimately started and finished way too late in this book. The weird elements were fine, but it just didn't work together well to make a compelling book. Glad I listed to this on audio because it went by much faster, and prevented me from DNFing the book.

scarlett24's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

4.5

jhstutzman's review against another edition

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4.0

I tried to read this on the release date and just couldn’t do it. Starting over a while later made it work. Reading a book about a pandemic, during a pandemic, was just a bit on the nose, yeah? A lot of the book is more about feeling than plot, like typical magical realism, but with some additional magical to it, alongside the disturbingly familiar realism. There’s some world building that seems to have either gone missing or been left to the reader to sort of invent into the book. But since it’s about that feeling or atmosphere as much as the plot, and this IS that atmosphere, it worked. I’m almost afraid to see what comes next from this author given how familiar this book ended up seeming.