YES! POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD WITH ZOMBIES/CREATURES!!!!!! It has been SO long since I’ve read anything about zombies and I guess you can tell by now that I have really been missing it. Receiving this novel from NetGalley at this time is almost like getting a Christmas present so I was very eager to read this story.
In the aftermath of a world long dead, humanity struggles to band together and survive. Kyle, Sara, and Tim are scavengers, looking for food and other tools while hiding from the hungry things that destroyed human civilization. When their little group finds Kaylee, a little girl who claims there is a safe haven in Tennessee, they are desperate to find it. They will have to put all of their faith in the memory of a little girl if they hope to survive the harsh conditions – as well as the monsters that lurk around them. And they had better get to safety fast, for something terrible with an intelligence far greater than their own has emerged …
The plot for this story was really interesting. It had a lot of potential and the story itself is very compelling. However, I didn’t enjoy the writing style. Maybe it’s just the version I read but I found it really difficult to tell when the characters were experiencing a dream or a flashback versus reality. It gave me a headache trying to keep everything together, and that is really such a shame because it could have been done so well! I also didn’t like the male protagonists because they both just seemed to be stubborn, hot-headed, and full of ego. They didn’t seem to have anything else that gave them any depth, so I found them boring and hard to connect with. The bones of this story are good but the incorporation of all of the different elements, especially the “scanning” ability and the memories, was not executed well. If those things were addressed, and the characters were given a little more substance, I feel like this novel could really do well. For now, I’m giving it 2/5 stars.
I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.