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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
I just reread this in prep for the sequel, and its even better on the reread! It's great - action packed but with great characters and stories, and even the evil is interesting and actually kinda touching.
What. Just. Happened. I was so down with the plot and then he threw it out the window. I wasted 36 hours waiting to see where he was going, and, ugh, I should have quit after the first few. So sad.
Reminded me of John Irving, Cormac McCarthy, & Stephen King all at once. The writing is lyrical & evocative, yet the plot completely original and utterly absorbing. Some parts & characters I found to be extraneous and could have done without. For the most part though, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
Holy fucking shit!!!! I know I’m late to the game on this one but I’m oh ever so glad I found it! I was completely mesmerized by this book from page one to page 800 and whatever...(it was a brick). Not one dull moment. I just feel astonished that after all I read, all I’ve ever read, that I can still get so excited over finding a new book that I fell in love with. It’s a great feeling.
So for the first third of this book, I was sure this was going to be a 5* read. Did some parts in the first third drag on a little - they did but it was bearable as there were less characters, more storyline etc.
Oh my god when they got to the colony my desire to whiz through this book completely dismantled - it was so boring! Also the repeated use of the word ‘flyers’ really grated on me. I was really disappointed with Brad’s death even though I know he would have been dead already by the middle part as it’s 100 years later.
I couldn’t even resume my motivation for the final third of the book as everything just dragged on, so so many words. I nearly DNF at 80%, then I thought I’ll power through the last 20%, then I realised the next 20% was 200 pages, this book needs cutting in half.
I’ll rate it 3.5* just for the beginning part.
Oh my god when they got to the colony my desire to whiz through this book completely dismantled - it was so boring! Also the repeated use of the word ‘flyers’ really grated on me. I was really disappointed with Brad’s death even though I know he would have been dead already by the middle part as it’s 100 years later.
I couldn’t even resume my motivation for the final third of the book as everything just dragged on, so so many words. I nearly DNF at 80%, then I thought I’ll power through the last 20%, then I realised the next 20% was 200 pages, this book needs cutting in half.
I’ll rate it 3.5* just for the beginning part.
adventurous
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
This was one of those post-apocalyptic, science-goes-terribly-wrong books that makes me want to move to a mountain and learn to grow things and shoot guns. I really enjoyed it, though I also loved [b:The Stand|149267|The Stand|Stephen King|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305s/149267.jpg|1742269] and [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266449195s/6288.jpg|3355573]. This is very much along those same veins. It was fairly predictable, but well-written enough for me to not care, and a couple of reasonably surprising turns. It becomes clear toward the end of the book that there is going to be a second book, and I will definitely pick that up as well.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
I had no idea what to expect from this and was delighted to find it was basically The Stand with better character writing. King's book is leagues ahead at capturing the sheer horror of a planet falling apart, relating the carnage with a detached, almost ironic flatness that enhances the dread, but the characters were all peeled out of laughable types and were prone to cringe-inducing soliloquies. Cronin may not have King's gift for suspense or overarching nihilism, but his character work is so lovely, defining a huge cast, most of whom are fleshed out just in time to become flesh for the hordes of vampires that stalk the plains. Only toward the end does it get difficult to keep track of the splintering survivors, but even then the sturdy plotting and clear cross-cutting make for an engaging read. Just a pleasant surprise all around, I'm looking forward to the other books.