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A review by literarylover37
Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun
4.0
I received this book from Crown Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for a review.
Compared to The Dog Stars and The Age of Miracles, this book is for people who like their dystopian futures to be thoughtful yet terrifying. I've always felt that the scariest things are the ones that could be real or are closest to reality. Thus, when an unexplained epidemic of sleeplessness begins, the horror is unimaginable. We as a society do not appreciate the importance of sleep like we should and take for granted the ability to sleep. When the characters in Calhoun's terrifying book lose this ability they lose their ability to distinguish fiction from reality, perform advanced tasks (such as running things which is why the infrastructure goes to pot), and stabilize emotions, all of which actually happens to people in real life when they are sleep deprived. Those who are not impacted by this disease live in fear that they will be killed by the sleepless who will do anything to try and get some rest. As someone who thoroughly enjoys a nap, and will attest to the power of a good night's sleep I can't even imagine being in this scenario!
I thought this book was scary without being overly or unnecessarily gruesome. I also appreciated the various characters and their viewpoints. It was more interesting to see this epidemic from those who did not have it versus those who did and were in varying stages of decline. I liked that the book also dealt with issues such as impotence, moving to a new place, PTSD, miscarriage, break-ups, etc. Each of the main characters suffers a loss that must be dealt with while they also struggle to survive in this new world without sleep. My only complaint was I wish the end had been handled better with less loose ends.
I will read more by Calhoun in the future and recommend this book to those who like unique, thoughtful, creepy and well-executed ideas.
Compared to The Dog Stars and The Age of Miracles, this book is for people who like their dystopian futures to be thoughtful yet terrifying. I've always felt that the scariest things are the ones that could be real or are closest to reality. Thus, when an unexplained epidemic of sleeplessness begins, the horror is unimaginable. We as a society do not appreciate the importance of sleep like we should and take for granted the ability to sleep. When the characters in Calhoun's terrifying book lose this ability they lose their ability to distinguish fiction from reality, perform advanced tasks (such as running things which is why the infrastructure goes to pot), and stabilize emotions, all of which actually happens to people in real life when they are sleep deprived. Those who are not impacted by this disease live in fear that they will be killed by the sleepless who will do anything to try and get some rest. As someone who thoroughly enjoys a nap, and will attest to the power of a good night's sleep I can't even imagine being in this scenario!
I thought this book was scary without being overly or unnecessarily gruesome. I also appreciated the various characters and their viewpoints. It was more interesting to see this epidemic from those who did not have it versus those who did and were in varying stages of decline. I liked that the book also dealt with issues such as impotence, moving to a new place, PTSD, miscarriage, break-ups, etc. Each of the main characters suffers a loss that must be dealt with while they also struggle to survive in this new world without sleep. My only complaint was I wish the end had been handled better with less loose ends.
I will read more by Calhoun in the future and recommend this book to those who like unique, thoughtful, creepy and well-executed ideas.