A review by rainbowofcrazy
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book! I haven't really jumped into dystopian reads till now so this was a great way to slide into the genre. It was impossible not to compare this dystopian world to our COVID one. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this book was released in 2014, well before COVID. There were a few lines in this book that eerily vibed with the start of the COVID pandemic and that hit deep. It did have a different flavour though, and it was rather reassuring knowing that the COVID pandemic never reached the levels of extreme in this book, because whew.

I REALLY enjoyed the writing. The story felt a little disjointed at times because of the time skips that went back and forth. But as the story went on, I grew to enjoy the way it switched up the storytelling and I liked the pacing and set-up of it all. Once the story really started to come together, I absolutely LOVED it and could not stop reading. My heart was wrenched a few times. I loved the Traveling Symphony. I loved the characters and how they each faced different aspects of the pandemic. I loved that I enjoyed the writing so much, I didn't have time to make any predictions. Which meant that every little reveal was a satisfying surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.