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sea_caummisar's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not ashamed to admit that I had to use the dictionary feature on my Kindle for this book. I suppose some people like that, and I'm not saying that I don't, but at one point I felt like the author was trying to be fancy with their vocabulary. I read often, and it's rare for me to use the dictionary. Usually, it's internationally slang that gets me. Anyways... moving forward.
This is a post apoc story. I always wonder where the author will start us (as the reader) in the apoc world. This is well after the apoc and we get the story of a woman who has made herself a new home atop a mountain. I use the term home loosely. It's more like a camp with several vantage points.
A bad man stumbles upon her camp. She's more afraid of him than the lizard people.
I agree that the end of world will bring out the worst evil in people. Zombies (or in this book; lizard people) wouldn't be our worst enemies after the collapse of civilizations
This is a post apoc story. I always wonder where the author will start us (as the reader) in the apoc world. This is well after the apoc and we get the story of a woman who has made herself a new home atop a mountain. I use the term home loosely. It's more like a camp with several vantage points.
A bad man stumbles upon her camp. She's more afraid of him than the lizard people.
I agree that the end of world will bring out the worst evil in people. Zombies (or in this book; lizard people) wouldn't be our worst enemies after the collapse of civilizations
blatdriver's review against another edition
5.0
I love a good creature feature book, and I loved the ‘Sole Survivor’ series (a duo of action packed books featuring killer Koalas) but this isn’t your typical creature feature, sure there is Lizard-men that try and kill you at every opportunity, but there is a psychological element that comes with the new antagonist that really elevates the character and the suspense.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves creature features, or psychological thrillers, as this book has found a way to merge these two into one seamless story.
*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves creature features, or psychological thrillers, as this book has found a way to merge these two into one seamless story.
*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*
the_coycaterpillar_reads's review
5.0
The world as we know it has ended, what’s left in its wake is destruction. Ever heard of the commandment of Love Thy Neighbour? Well forget it, it no longer exists. Trust is now only a five-letter word, it means nothing. When the Cicadas Stop Singing is an in-depth examination of motherhood and grief. The hook came in the very first chapter and I was in awe with the obvious pain and suffering of Cora. Only a few pages in and I was living my worst nightmare. Zachary Ashford managed to get my heart pumping but also threatened to stop it with each impending threat.
When the Cicadas Stop Singing, is a mash-up between post-Apocalyptic horror and the home invasion genre. Cora’s world has been ravaged by walking lizards; they do not hesitate to kill on sight. She has found some semblance of normality on a very remote mountain range. She’s experienced traumatic events since it all began but she’s a survivor. She doesn’t want her son’s passing to have been in vain. The arrival of two people should give her a few extra hands to fight the Lizards, shouldn’t it?
What an awesome story full of connective threads, grief having a rippling effect that only gets stronger the more you read. The arrival of this new couple highlights that often the real danger is what is facing you in plain sight. The humanoid lizard hybrid is resolute in its attentions, but humans like to hide their intentions in cold light of day. We get hints throughout that shit is going to hit the proverbial fan. Finally, the links are just too hard to ignore. The book takes on a visceral tone and it becomes a fight for survival. I could feel a cold sweat building, the action is written with the tenacity of a viper.
When the Cicadas Stop Singing is really about the frailty of humankind. There is no effort required to get engrossed in this story. It flows with ease but manages to instantly reside in your heart and tear it open from the inside out. You become flooded with the pain and suffering of Cora’s monumental loss. Alongside her, you can feel that loss taking root in your marrow, you know who she’s fighting for, fighting to keep her son’s memory alive and when that is threatened, she allows her pent-up rage to have an outlet.
A terrifying dystopian landscape.
When the Cicadas Stop Singing, is a mash-up between post-Apocalyptic horror and the home invasion genre. Cora’s world has been ravaged by walking lizards; they do not hesitate to kill on sight. She has found some semblance of normality on a very remote mountain range. She’s experienced traumatic events since it all began but she’s a survivor. She doesn’t want her son’s passing to have been in vain. The arrival of two people should give her a few extra hands to fight the Lizards, shouldn’t it?
What an awesome story full of connective threads, grief having a rippling effect that only gets stronger the more you read. The arrival of this new couple highlights that often the real danger is what is facing you in plain sight. The humanoid lizard hybrid is resolute in its attentions, but humans like to hide their intentions in cold light of day. We get hints throughout that shit is going to hit the proverbial fan. Finally, the links are just too hard to ignore. The book takes on a visceral tone and it becomes a fight for survival. I could feel a cold sweat building, the action is written with the tenacity of a viper.
When the Cicadas Stop Singing is really about the frailty of humankind. There is no effort required to get engrossed in this story. It flows with ease but manages to instantly reside in your heart and tear it open from the inside out. You become flooded with the pain and suffering of Cora’s monumental loss. Alongside her, you can feel that loss taking root in your marrow, you know who she’s fighting for, fighting to keep her son’s memory alive and when that is threatened, she allows her pent-up rage to have an outlet.
A terrifying dystopian landscape.
blatdriver's review
5.0
I love a good creature feature book, and I loved the ‘Sole Survivor’ series (a duo of action packed books featuring killer Koalas) but this isn’t your typical creature feature, sure there is Lizard-men that try and kill you at every opportunity, but there is a psychological element that comes with the new antagonist that really elevates the character and the suspense.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves creature features, or psychological thrillers, as this book has found a way to merge these two into one seamless story.
*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves creature features, or psychological thrillers, as this book has found a way to merge these two into one seamless story.
*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*
catsluvcoffee's review
5.0
Ashford wastes no time dunking the reader right into the fray and with one sentence commences initiating the tension that will ensue throughout the story.
Such a simple sentence and one that could be completely innocuous, but we know there's more at stake here. That sentence begins the contrast of the beauty of nature with the terrible monstrousness of the creatures and the ensuing battle for survival. There's no doubt of the ephemerality of everything human in this new world after the "ruin" as it's christened.
I like that the story starts without really telling us how we got here. What are the lizard people? Where did they come from? Other than telling us that poisonous gas came first encircling the cities and then these saurian creatures came next, we don't really know much about them. They are pitiless killers, but you can't condemn them for surviving. They aren't the ones to hate here any more than we'd hate crocodiles or say any big cat in the African Safari. They were made to consume and in order to survive and thrive, they have to eat. It's not their fault that one of the easier things on the menu is human.
We only really have three characters, which makes the novella easier to follow versus Sole Survivor. Gone is the big cast with names you don't care about—fodder for the feast if you will. No, here Ashford gets intimate. There's Cora, who has carved out a space in the Australian bush, away from the cities and towns and then there are interlopers, Darren and Sarah. Well, we can't forget about the lizards, but as the methodical hunters and killers that they are, strangely they aren't the biggest threat here.
Ashford has perfected his main character Cora. She could be me or you. She wasn't built to do this. She doesn't have years of military training or survivalist knowledge. She was, like the rest of the world, thrust into this miasma and it was either adapt or falter. This world has changed her. She's endured but she's not without fault. She's made mistakes that cost her the life of her son. In spite of that, Cora has managed to keep herself alive being resourceful with little bits of material appropriation and newfound awareness along the way. She's carving out an existence alone in the mountains and she likes it just fine that way. When Darren and Sarah show up, she offers them whatever she has just so they will move on and leave her little corner of the forest in relative peace.
Darren is the kind of villain you love to hate. Ruthless and smart but still stupid somehow. There's a wrongness about him that goes much further than the pure meanness that people can have within their hearts. It's clear from the start that he has a sickness both in body and soul. He's despicable, a stain on humanity, and I want to see him get everything that karma has coming for him. Sarah, on the other hand, is a bit of an enigma. Is she with Darren simply for survival—riding his coattails for protection? Does she truly care for him, in which case was he a better person before the shit hit the proverbial fan? It's hard to know exactly where she stands and Cora waffles on that one as well throughout.
This isn't your typical end-of-the-world survivor slog. Ashford chose a completely weird post-apocalyptic lizard creature stance, sure, but by narrowing the viewfinder to these three characters, he's created something inherently more intimate and ultimately more unsettling. He put the horror genre in the spin cycle. What begins as a creature feature evolves into the "human is the real evil" trope and morphs yet again in the last pages. Thrilling and poignant, When The Cicadas Stop Singing is a completely different beast than Ashford's other works. It's unexpected, completely out there, and heartrending.
Website | Twitter | Pinterest
"The cicadas had fallen silent."
Such a simple sentence and one that could be completely innocuous, but we know there's more at stake here. That sentence begins the contrast of the beauty of nature with the terrible monstrousness of the creatures and the ensuing battle for survival. There's no doubt of the ephemerality of everything human in this new world after the "ruin" as it's christened.
I like that the story starts without really telling us how we got here. What are the lizard people? Where did they come from? Other than telling us that poisonous gas came first encircling the cities and then these saurian creatures came next, we don't really know much about them. They are pitiless killers, but you can't condemn them for surviving. They aren't the ones to hate here any more than we'd hate crocodiles or say any big cat in the African Safari. They were made to consume and in order to survive and thrive, they have to eat. It's not their fault that one of the easier things on the menu is human.
We only really have three characters, which makes the novella easier to follow versus Sole Survivor. Gone is the big cast with names you don't care about—fodder for the feast if you will. No, here Ashford gets intimate. There's Cora, who has carved out a space in the Australian bush, away from the cities and towns and then there are interlopers, Darren and Sarah. Well, we can't forget about the lizards, but as the methodical hunters and killers that they are, strangely they aren't the biggest threat here.
Ashford has perfected his main character Cora. She could be me or you. She wasn't built to do this. She doesn't have years of military training or survivalist knowledge. She was, like the rest of the world, thrust into this miasma and it was either adapt or falter. This world has changed her. She's endured but she's not without fault. She's made mistakes that cost her the life of her son. In spite of that, Cora has managed to keep herself alive being resourceful with little bits of material appropriation and newfound awareness along the way. She's carving out an existence alone in the mountains and she likes it just fine that way. When Darren and Sarah show up, she offers them whatever she has just so they will move on and leave her little corner of the forest in relative peace.
Darren is the kind of villain you love to hate. Ruthless and smart but still stupid somehow. There's a wrongness about him that goes much further than the pure meanness that people can have within their hearts. It's clear from the start that he has a sickness both in body and soul. He's despicable, a stain on humanity, and I want to see him get everything that karma has coming for him. Sarah, on the other hand, is a bit of an enigma. Is she with Darren simply for survival—riding his coattails for protection? Does she truly care for him, in which case was he a better person before the shit hit the proverbial fan? It's hard to know exactly where she stands and Cora waffles on that one as well throughout.
This isn't your typical end-of-the-world survivor slog. Ashford chose a completely weird post-apocalyptic lizard creature stance, sure, but by narrowing the viewfinder to these three characters, he's created something inherently more intimate and ultimately more unsettling. He put the horror genre in the spin cycle. What begins as a creature feature evolves into the "human is the real evil" trope and morphs yet again in the last pages. Thrilling and poignant, When The Cicadas Stop Singing is a completely different beast than Ashford's other works. It's unexpected, completely out there, and heartrending.
Website | Twitter | Pinterest
ghostthereader's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bookivore's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
A fast paced creature feature with a distinct (but certainly not overpowering) Australian flavour. Best described as a novella, this lacks most of the backstory for the characters and situation that you would find in a longer book, but it absolutely works. You only know what you need to, to push the story along, but it's enough to connect with the characters and understand the situation without slowing the momentum. All killer, no filler, in other words.
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