I bought this book in 2016 but hadn’t got around to reading it until it popped up as a kindle daily deal recently and the premise intrigued me. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel set in a near (and distant) future in a world decimated by a virus (!) Lol. It’s actually a good one to read in these covid times as it makes you count your blessings since the virus in this trilogy of novels outright kills 90% of victims and turns the rest into immortal vampire/zombie type creatures.
I’m already reading the second book in the trilogy, since I loved the first one so much! It’s quite a long book, but I was never once bored. The book follows different characters and jumps about in time a bit (over 1000 years actually!) which some reviewers didn’t like, or found confusing, but I did like. Jumping through times and points of view (if done well) is a good way of keeping the narrative fresh and since all the threads were important to the whole story and contributed then they were all worth telling. I had that good feeling of anticipation to get back to a previous thread and find out how that character is doing, while still being totally gripped and invested in what’s happening in the current thread.
I thought to myself while reading this that there is nothing about this that I don’t like. The fairly large cast of characters are all well fleshed out and interesting and the plot is intelligent and makes sense. The writer manages to make the tone ultimately uplifting and optimistic without being unrealistic or sickly sweet. The book reminds me of one of my favourite films: I Am Legend (staring the gorgeous Will Smith), as the viral creatures are similar to the vampires in that movie, and in both stories the virus is brought about by man tampering with nature ( In I Am Legend, with the lofty intent of curing cancer, but in this book with the more sinister motive of using a modified existing virus to create ultimate strong self-healing soldiers).
I’m finding it hard to sleep at the moment, since I’m furloughed from work and don’t have the tiredness brought on by an honest day’s work, but reading this book into the wee small hours is actually a big compensation!
Sarah Wray Writer 