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thomas_edmund 's review for:
The Deading
by Nicholas Belardes
(this is an advance review through NetGalley)
The Deading had a lot attracting me to it, a strange premise, links to King's Under the Dome and an intense title. And as I dove into the book it only got stranger still. The book has many 'parts' - part virus horror, part cosmic, part societal critique, part cult, with a dash of satire snuck in there.
The plot follows Baywood, or rather the mysterious hivemind/blob/infection that spreads into the small isolated town, leading to an enforced quarantine. A violent quarantine which is somehow less concerning than the bizarre process of 'deading' where people and animals infected have a tendency to 'die' for short periods.
Perhaps my favourite thing about this story is the quirky and unique juxtaposition of normal everyday life alongside the unusual and disturbing infection. It's not a zombie thriller, nor is it a typical pandemic thriller - The Deading obviously has a major impact on the population but at the same time people are sort of going about their lives, either trying to understand/resist/lean into the infection process.
My only real concerns about the book is there is a LOT. A raft of characters, plot points, and themes all while maintaining an air of mystery about the events of the story. For the first few chapters I actually genuinely thought this was going to be one of those winding narratives where each chapter was a brand new perspective as for about the first 5 or so was always a new POV. In a similar vein there were moments were I found the narrative a little too speedy, there were some really intense grounded scenes, but often some really significant moments seemed almost rushed, and reviewed in a sort of narrative summary. I honestly thought this book could have been twice as long and spent more time exploring the events of the story and been the better for it.
Overall The Deading though is really good, I could imagine this being a really good movie or TV series as the premise is so different, while there are nods to tropey or genre elements the tale feels like itself and itself only. Some might be disappointed to read this that the story isn't heavy on answers, perhaps leaving more questions afterwards - also I feel this book acts as a kind of 'multiphor' the blob/infection/Deading kind of representing many different themes (racism, classism, ageism, nature striking back, at least) so in some respects it avoid preaching because the story touches on many different issues, but some might prefer a more direct message.
An exciting and original work, recommended!
The Deading had a lot attracting me to it, a strange premise, links to King's Under the Dome and an intense title. And as I dove into the book it only got stranger still. The book has many 'parts' - part virus horror, part cosmic, part societal critique, part cult, with a dash of satire snuck in there.
The plot follows Baywood, or rather the mysterious hivemind/blob/infection that spreads into the small isolated town, leading to an enforced quarantine. A violent quarantine which is somehow less concerning than the bizarre process of 'deading' where people and animals infected have a tendency to 'die' for short periods.
Perhaps my favourite thing about this story is the quirky and unique juxtaposition of normal everyday life alongside the unusual and disturbing infection. It's not a zombie thriller, nor is it a typical pandemic thriller - The Deading obviously has a major impact on the population but at the same time people are sort of going about their lives, either trying to understand/resist/lean into the infection process.
My only real concerns about the book is there is a LOT. A raft of characters, plot points, and themes all while maintaining an air of mystery about the events of the story. For the first few chapters I actually genuinely thought this was going to be one of those winding narratives where each chapter was a brand new perspective as for about the first 5 or so was always a new POV. In a similar vein there were moments were I found the narrative a little too speedy, there were some really intense grounded scenes, but often some really significant moments seemed almost rushed, and reviewed in a sort of narrative summary. I honestly thought this book could have been twice as long and spent more time exploring the events of the story and been the better for it.
Overall The Deading though is really good, I could imagine this being a really good movie or TV series as the premise is so different, while there are nods to tropey or genre elements the tale feels like itself and itself only. Some might be disappointed to read this that the story isn't heavy on answers, perhaps leaving more questions afterwards - also I feel this book acts as a kind of 'multiphor' the blob/infection/Deading kind of representing many different themes (racism, classism, ageism, nature striking back, at least) so in some respects it avoid preaching because the story touches on many different issues, but some might prefer a more direct message.
An exciting and original work, recommended!