Autumn by David Moody

From Goodreads:
 Autumn chronicles the struggle of a small group of survivors forced to contend with a world torn apart by a deadly disease. After 99% of the population of the planet is killed in less than 24 hours, for the very few who have managed to stay alive, things are about to get much worse.  Animated by "phase two" of some unknown contagion, the dead begin to rise. At first slow, blind, dumb and lumbering, quickly the bodies regain their most basic senses and abilities... sight, hearing, locomotion...  As well as the instinct toward aggression and violence.  Held back only by the restraints of their rapidly decomposing flesh, the dead seem to have only one single goal - to lumber forth and destroy the sole remaining attraction in the silent, lifeless world:  those who have survived the plague, who now find themselves outnumbered 1,000,000 to 1...

Autumn is one of those rare books that works well both as a standalone novel and part of a series (this one being book one of a five-book series, the first three following these characters, the last two being "spin-offs" for lack of a better word). It keeps you wanting more, but you also don't necessarily need to know what happens next.

David Moody does not take his time in the set-up - that is, the contagion that wipes out 99% of the population and leaving handfuls of people, some of whom join together (including those that make up our group of heroes for most of the novel). While the disease took up maybe 20-30 pages at the beginning, this book takes its time setting up the zombie aspect of the novel, and as it edges on and on, the creep factor edges up and up until you are waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is a survival novel, not a contagion novel. David Moody does tension well, almost fooling you into a false sense of security. I went into this book expecting something along the lines of World War Z or something along those lines, but I got something more akin to the movie Contagion with zombies. Instead of being a straight-up horror with bloodthirsty (or brainthirsty, I guess), with blood and guts, it was a psychological thriller that relished in upping the stakes.

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, this is a survival novel. Most of the book is the main three, Emma, Michael and Carl trying to survive on their own, and trying to evade the bodies that have become re-animated. This is basically how I hoped I Am Legend (the book, not the movie) would end. While it is slow, it isn't ever boring, quite the opposite, actually. There is always tension and suspense and kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved how David Moody set up the atmosphere. If a zombie apocalypse ever occurred, I feel like this is a realistic portrayal of how it could happen. I really like that this book doesn't rely on shock and gore horror, as media tends to do with zombies (looking at you, The Walking Dead!) - suspense and character-driven.

Speaking of which, that's one thing that this book does well - character development. None of these people are heroes, they are normal everyday people faced with the direst of circumstances. I found myself connecting to each of them, and found myself asking "If I was in this situation, would I do things similarly to them or would I do something else?" They each have personalities and their motivations are both clear enough to be relateable and also shrouded enough that they are still mysterious.

Autumn is a unique novel about dystopia and zombies, but more so, it is about the people that survive the contagion that caused the dystopian setting, which is a nice change over seeing more zombie-focal pieces of media in the past. David Moody creates a tense, suspenseful and atmospheric world in Autumn. The build-up is slow but the payoff is well-done. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it is a vast improvement upon the last book I read. I think I will continue reading the series at some point, and will give this 4.5/5. If you like character-driven, psychological thrillers with slow, suspenseful buildups leaving you wondering when the other shoe is going to drop, you will like this book.

The Ship by Antonia Honeywell (Rant)

From Goodreads:
London burned for three weeks. And then it got worse...

Lalla has grown up sheltered from the chaos amid the ruins of civilization. But things are getting more dangerous outside. People are killing each other for husks of bread, and the police are detaining anyone without an identification card. On her sixteenth birthday, Lalla's father decides it's time to use their escape route--a ship he's built that is only big enough to save five hundred people.

But the utopia her father has created isn't everything it appears. There's more food than anyone can eat, but nothing grows; more clothes than anyone can wear, but no way to mend them; and no-one can tell her where they are going.

I did it. I found the worst book I have ever read in my entire life. 

This is not so much a review as it is a rant. I need to get off my chest just how bad this book is. 

I found this book via a booklist of new dystopian novels. I like dystopia, I like Exodus-esque stories. I like stories about dying Earth and trying to find salvage. What I got was a mish-mash of non-events, annoying, stupid characters and boredom.

The number of times I tried to DNF this thing was too high to count. I literally had to force myself to finish this book. But I am a literary completionist, and I paid money for this book. At least with a book like Nostalgia, there was at least the redeeming quality of the concept and set-up of the plot. But not even a neat, Exodus-meets-Noah's-Arc plot couldn't save this book. The only page that excited me was the last page. I HATED THIS BOOK. It surprised me just how much I found this book to be boring, contrived and just all-around bad.

Not one character was likeable. The main character, Lalla was so dumb, so annoying, so unlikeable. Nothing about her endeared me. She is by far the most unlikeable character I have ever come across. She complained about everything, even when people were doing things to help her. Oh, the pains of being a pampered rich girl, who the ship was made for (legit), even in dystopian futures when the world is LITERALLY DECAYING around her. And the fact that people still tried to make her "love" them? Please. Everyone else on the ship was really annoying as hell. Especially Tom and Michael. I hated those characters so much, too. There was no one that I liked or tolerated. Everyone was so stupid. (Was blind stupidity a requirement for securing a spot on the boat?) I kept hoping that at least one character would do or say something that would make me have a facial expression that was anything but this. 

For a book that was supposed to be filled with excitement and tension, NOTHING HAPPENED. Well, no. It just felt like nothing happened. Literally, big things would be happening, and it was treated as if it was a weather report. Just so mundane and I don't know if it has to do with the narration being Lalla's incessant whining point-of-view. Like, if it had been from anyone else's point of view, or even from a third person point of view, it probably would have been a bit better than it was. But even still, one thing happens near the end of the book with Lalla and Tom, and then mere pages later, Lalla goes and does something COMPLETELY out of left field compared to what just happened, and it's like, why would you even do the first thing? The catalyst that makes Lalla make her decision would have happened with or without the Macguffin, and it would have happened regardless of whether or not the narrative had been anyone else's, which ultimately adds another huge strike against the novel. 

This book was so dull, and so boring, and so unlikeably bad, it took me almost two weeks to finish it. And this is coming from someone that read two books in one day not too recently. It was so alienatingly bad that it took all that I had to get through it. I am not a slow reader, but this book took everything I had to finish. Mostly because I just bought it not too long ago and I didn't want to waste my money. 

Guys, do not read this book. It's the worst book I've ever read. Attempts at philosophical questions fail miserably. It's boring. The characters are the worst I have ever encountered. If I could give this book a negative rating I would, but that wouldn't make mathematical sense, so I'm going to give this book 0.5/5. Avoid it like the plague.  

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

From Goodreads:
An eleven-year-old girl stops eating, but remains miraculously alive and well. A nurse, sent to investigate whether she is a fraud, meets a journalist hungry for a story.

Set in the Irish Midlands in the 1850s, The Wonder—inspired by numerous European and North American cases of “fasting girls” between the sixteenth century and the twentieth—is a psychological thriller about a child’s murder threatening to happen in slow motion before our eyes. Pitting all the seductions of fundamentalism against sense and love, it is a searing examination of what nourishes us, body and soul.

That's more like it!

While I did enjoy elements of Room, I didn't love it completely. At first, I thought this book would be the same, but as I read, I became more and more engrossed and needed to know what the end result would be. 

Emma Donoghue once again proves her good writing skill and style, this time writing the story in the third person. I especially liked her writing style in this book. She weaves her story well, basing the fiction on fact, which I always like. I'm huge on Irish history, so the fact that this takes place in Ireland in the 1850s is an added bonus. In this book, unlike Room, which moved very quickly, the plot moves slowly, which makes it understandable why this book won't be for everyone. But Donoghue's storytelling skills are so captivating and this book can pull you in for hours on end to see how it all works out in the end. 

Donoghue meshes different genres together - mystery, culturalism, religiosity, isolation, and a bit of romance - very well, and makes you ask, "What is happening to the little girl? Is it because of her strong Catholic faith or is someone doing this to her? Will Lib find out and eventually be accepted?" It's wonderfully done and is done in such a seamless, effortless way. The characters are all very well-developed and, like Lib, you end up feeling for the little girl who is doing this fast. While there are some characters that I would have liked to shake for being so pigheaded and obstinate, overall, the characters were all very well-rounded and flawed in one way or another, which makes them be more realistic. 

The Wonder asks some very important and intriguing questions as it makes its way along, dialing up the tension as the novel reaches its climax, asking questions of ethics and morals. What adds to the book as well is the atmosphere. As soon as I started, I really felt like I was in the middle of nowhere Ireland, which really added to the tone of the novel. Donoghue is Irish, but I feel I still have to say this, she did her research on 19th-century Ireland and the religious fastings of young girls and women really well, and it's an added bonus that gives the book a little extra oomph.

I was initially going to give this book 4/5, but after thinking about it once I finished it last night, I find I can't stop thinking about it. It was really well-written and well-done, with a slowly building tension and mystery surrounding the little girl. As the book makes its way along, you end up sympathizing and relating to the characters. The added tension and isolation really gives the book an extra something. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so I'm going to give it 5/5 and highly recommend it to fans of historical fiction, mystery or fans of good storytelling.