Reviews

I have no doubt that some of the story went over my head, what stood out most to me (besides the ending, ofc) was that Leila would rather believe in an apocalypse than that she killed her family

Content Warnings

juniperspolyphony's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Interesting little book. I liked the shifting narratives, and unreliable narrator aspect that comes with therapy.

I still struggled to understand what was happening a few times, but I might give it a re-read at some point to try again.

vengefuldime's review against another edition

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4.0

What a great premise. I loved reading this. I was surprised when I checked and was halfway through, but I was thoroughly entertained in the description of the worldbuilding and the musing. I especially enjoyed the ending, and felt it stopped very effectively.

gabrielleint's review against another edition

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5.0

I’m rating this on a novella scale, so please understand this is not the same five stars I give to more full length books. But I found this to be pretty much the perfect psychological thriller novella. There was such a full and embodied world pretty much right from the beginning of the book, a full and embodied world that relies on our knowledge of the very “comfort stories” and “narratives” the infected use to fuel their delusions in the book. The way you constantly can’t know if you should trust who is currently narrating and the person currently narrating is telling you that is so fun and really makes you think about how we conceptualize sincerity and reality. This book feels like getting punched but in a good way. It’s like a battering of your consciousness. And, yes, it is good in that kind of annoying existentialist way, but that’s why it gets the novella five stars because I’m partially rewarding this author for knowing that trying to make this a full length book or god forbid a series would cheapen the message of the book and would make it dumb and bad.

headinthebooks's review against another edition

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3.0

3 stars

The idea? amazing!
The execution? not great.

Would have loved for the twist of the story to be at the end then in the start/middle :D

mehsi's review against another edition

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5.0

WOW! This was such a good book! A book that flips the zombie genre around and makes it something different, something original, something even more haunting. And something that fits with the current time as well, with fake news, propaganda and more. I loved that we followed Spence, read his story, saw his life at Ironside, see him talk in group therapy.. but also see him help out a friend (though I am still not sure if it was helping). Sometimes the book got a tad confusing on things, maybe it would have helped if we saw a non-infected POV as well.
Recommended!

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