Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Book Review | Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Wanderers is an apocalyptic novel by Chuck Wendig.



A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

My experience with Wanderers was an interesting one. I was absolutely hooked when I started reading it. Chuck Wendig is a great writer!

Wanderers has everything: a large cast, an apocalyptic disease, a broad setting, artificial intelligence... I was here for it! The only problem is it was so epic for so long that I never really connected with anyone. I hit a wall when I got to 80%. Normally this would be something I could overcome, but Wanderers weighs in at 800 pages. I started making excuses: it's summer, I'm reading it on the Kindle, etc. By the time I got to 95%, though, I knew it wasn't me. As epic as Wanderers was, it didn't matter to me the ultimate fate of anyone. I would have felt the exact same way no matter what the outcome was.

I feel like most people won't have the problem that I did. Wanderers is really great on a lot of levels, I just personally never connected with it.

⭐⭐⭐★★

Review copy provided by publisher

10 comments:

  1. I'm thinking of saving this one for a holiday break, like Thanksgiving or something. I feel it's something I need to focus on rather than reading it while reading other things. I also still need to read The Stand and have heard they are similar. Wonder which one I should pick up first?

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    1. I liked The Stand more. I don't know! I think devoting time to it is a good idea, though.

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  2. I just had this experience with another popular book, where everyone loves it but me. So I totally understand!

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    1. It's funny isn't it? How we all connect to different books in different ways?

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  3. I'm a little worried about this one now.

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    1. SORRY! It's long. But most people are really loving it! You could always give it a try and see how it goes. :)

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  4. I'm kind of nervous to start this. I've read some things in reviews that make me think I will struggle with some of it. And it's such a huge book, I'm definitely trying to muster up the motivation to start it!

    ~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

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    1. It's definitely worth giving a try. I think most people are loving it.

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  5. I love the sound of this one...except for the whole 800 pages long thing.

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