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Planetary Tarantella #2
A Word and A Bullet
Colt, Janie, and Damien were planning a weekend at Zed Games when the real apocalypse canceled their trip. Now the planet is trying to kill them. Evacuation by plane is less than successful. The Piper goes down. They survive, stranded somewhere up the East Coast with all the gear they could ask for but no idea where to go, and natural disasters erupting in every direction.
Colt never saw himself as a leader. Now his friends are turning to him to make decisions, but he can't be sure of his answers. He's used to having one foot in two worlds—a Cherokee living in Asheville, three-quarters nerd and one-sixteenth responsible adult—but never in charge. Now he feels the pressure to keep his friends alive while the planet is dying. Janie, a librarian, and Damien, jack of all trades, have some skills between them, but it may not be enough.
Scraping from one disaster to the next, Colt and his friends encounter Mab, a punky survivor on her way back to a safe haven in the Canadian wilderness. She invites them to tag along. Recruiting some horses from an abandoned farm, Colt, Janie, and Damien charge into the post-civilized unknown.
Colt never saw himself as a leader. Now his friends are turning to him to make decisions, but he can't be sure of his answers. He's used to having one foot in two worlds—a Cherokee living in Asheville, three-quarters nerd and one-sixteenth responsible adult—but never in charge. Now he feels the pressure to keep his friends alive while the planet is dying. Janie, a librarian, and Damien, jack of all trades, have some skills between them, but it may not be enough.
Scraping from one disaster to the next, Colt and his friends encounter Mab, a punky survivor on her way back to a safe haven in the Canadian wilderness. She invites them to tag along. Recruiting some horses from an abandoned farm, Colt, Janie, and Damien charge into the post-civilized unknown.
250 pages, ebook
Published March 31, 2016
3 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Kestrel Casey
12 books60 followersKestrel Casey is an author, activist, and defective manic pixie dream girl.
They are the author of the Phaethon and Planetary Tarantella trilogies, and have published short stories in anthologies from Tyche Books, Art Over Chaos Publishing, and more. They are a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.
They also live with chronic illness, play ukulele, and try to save the planet.
They are the author of the Phaethon and Planetary Tarantella trilogies, and have published short stories in anthologies from Tyche Books, Art Over Chaos Publishing, and more. They are a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.
They also live with chronic illness, play ukulele, and try to save the planet.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 28, 2017
"Without my embarrassment, my sadness, my fear, what did I have left? I closed my eyes. What if the things I was trying to let go of were things I was supposed to carry? What if they were all I had?"
* * *
I read this for Ace Book Club a long while back, and it was a book of many firsts for me. First book by Rachel Sharp (but not last! Phaethon review coming!), first ABC book, first post-apocalyptic survival story in a long time, and first book with a canonically stated (with the actual word!) asexual, aromantic, and touch-averse major character. The fact that Chrome right now is saying "aromantic" is not a word is a small proof of a large fact: we need more.
I'm not going to hit much on the survivalist/genre/plot-progression, because I don't think I'm familiar enough with wilderness survival stories to have much of an opinion. But the characters themselves, and their journeys of transformation and self-discovery... Those I grok'd most heartily.
Colt's apprehension and precarious sense of direction (in a literal and metaphorical sense) is palpable. As is Damien's rising panic and edge-inching, culminating in a wonderfully raw and cathartic moment - the kind of breakdown you need before you can even think about healing. Janie's contrasting conviction and sense of self - the world might be ending but she is a survivor, she is determined, and she is asexual, dammit. Becca's trauma, reluctance to trust, and fragile-at-first, stronger-by-steps healing and self-realization.
(Also, Mab is a badass, unbroken and charmingly rough-by-necessity delight. If I knew nothing about the rest of the series, I'd read for her. I might have a small crush. Just a little.)
Everyone might have started at different places and learn at different rates/methods, but all the main characters are on the same 'road,' as they travel, and discover themselves.
A Word and A Bullet isn't just a book about holding on. To survival, to a hard-won place in a hostile, topsy-turvy world, to one another, to one's sense of self and belonging.
It's about letting go. Releasing one life and moving into the next like the first step down a dark and unfamiliar road. It's about taking stock of your life and yourself, realizing what memories, self-concepts, scars, are weighing you down, on a journey where you can only keep what you hold, and any extra baggage can make the difference between life and death. It's about holding onto the essentials, what you simply cannot live without. And in a harsh world like this, you learn that you can live without much more than you thought.
It's about persevering even when the world is ending. Sometimes a world, a chapter in your life has to end, for you to find who you really are. The old world is gone. The old you. Remember the past, learn from it, you need not repeat it - but you need not relive it either.
Know you will survive letting go, and you are not alone. There are other survivors on the same journey. Nothing is too heavy if you share the load.
Find what no longer serves you. What weighs you down. What keeps you from embracing yourself and your new life.
Then find what you cannot live without. Or who. If you find you have nothing left, it just means you have less to carry. It means you step into the world of change unbound. It means you write the next word on a clean slate. Take the next step into a transformed-but-not-destroyed life. It's different now. So are you.
Throw the rest into the fire, and let it keep you warm.
* * *
I read this for Ace Book Club a long while back, and it was a book of many firsts for me. First book by Rachel Sharp (but not last! Phaethon review coming!), first ABC book, first post-apocalyptic survival story in a long time, and first book with a canonically stated (with the actual word!) asexual, aromantic, and touch-averse major character. The fact that Chrome right now is saying "aromantic" is not a word is a small proof of a large fact: we need more.
I'm not going to hit much on the survivalist/genre/plot-progression, because I don't think I'm familiar enough with wilderness survival stories to have much of an opinion. But the characters themselves, and their journeys of transformation and self-discovery... Those I grok'd most heartily.
Colt's apprehension and precarious sense of direction (in a literal and metaphorical sense) is palpable. As is Damien's rising panic and edge-inching, culminating in a wonderfully raw and cathartic moment - the kind of breakdown you need before you can even think about healing. Janie's contrasting conviction and sense of self - the world might be ending but she is a survivor, she is determined, and she is asexual, dammit. Becca's trauma, reluctance to trust, and fragile-at-first, stronger-by-steps healing and self-realization.
(Also, Mab is a badass, unbroken and charmingly rough-by-necessity delight. If I knew nothing about the rest of the series, I'd read for her. I might have a small crush. Just a little.)
Everyone might have started at different places and learn at different rates/methods, but all the main characters are on the same 'road,' as they travel, and discover themselves.
A Word and A Bullet isn't just a book about holding on. To survival, to a hard-won place in a hostile, topsy-turvy world, to one another, to one's sense of self and belonging.
It's about letting go. Releasing one life and moving into the next like the first step down a dark and unfamiliar road. It's about taking stock of your life and yourself, realizing what memories, self-concepts, scars, are weighing you down, on a journey where you can only keep what you hold, and any extra baggage can make the difference between life and death. It's about holding onto the essentials, what you simply cannot live without. And in a harsh world like this, you learn that you can live without much more than you thought.
It's about persevering even when the world is ending. Sometimes a world, a chapter in your life has to end, for you to find who you really are. The old world is gone. The old you. Remember the past, learn from it, you need not repeat it - but you need not relive it either.
Know you will survive letting go, and you are not alone. There are other survivors on the same journey. Nothing is too heavy if you share the load.
Find what no longer serves you. What weighs you down. What keeps you from embracing yourself and your new life.
Then find what you cannot live without. Or who. If you find you have nothing left, it just means you have less to carry. It means you step into the world of change unbound. It means you write the next word on a clean slate. Take the next step into a transformed-but-not-destroyed life. It's different now. So are you.
Throw the rest into the fire, and let it keep you warm.
April 9, 2016
I gave the first book four stars, so I'm sorry to give this one only three. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Unfortunately, The new characters just didn't grab me the way Mab did.
Colt, Janie, and Damien were interesting, and Colt was a good viewpoint character. I liked him, and he got a pretty nice character arc. I just didn't see the growth in Colt that I saw in Mab. I also didn't find their journey to (relative) safety as compelling. I didn't feel the same intensity, or suspense.
I still highly recommend this book, especially if you liked the first one. The themes of friendship, and surviving together may be more appealing to some than Mab's journey all on her own.
And Mab does show up in this book too. Still my favorite character in this series.
Colt, Janie, and Damien were interesting, and Colt was a good viewpoint character. I liked him, and he got a pretty nice character arc. I just didn't see the growth in Colt that I saw in Mab. I also didn't find their journey to (relative) safety as compelling. I didn't feel the same intensity, or suspense.
I still highly recommend this book, especially if you liked the first one. The themes of friendship, and surviving together may be more appealing to some than Mab's journey all on her own.
And Mab does show up in this book too. Still my favorite character in this series.
January 18, 2021
A Word and A Bullet by Rachel Sharp
This is the second book set in the same universe as The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun, which I have to admit was one of my absolute favorite books of 2020, IT WAS SO FUN, the bar was pretty high. I must admit that I didn't like A Word and A Bullet quite as much.
It should be possible to read this as a stand-alone, but it's probably best if you read both books.
The story is the same apocalyptic event from The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun, but told this time out of a different perspective, of that of Colt, who, along with his two friends Damien and Janie gets lucky enough to survive, and now they are making their way through the post-apocalyptic landscape.
What I liked about this book is that it expands on the world presented in The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun. Colt, Damien and Janie interact with a lot more people than Mab did, so you get to see much more of the effect the apocalypse had on humans, while Mab existed a bit in an empty vacuum. What I didn't like was that it had a lot less creative problem-solving and bullshitting your way through a post-apocalyptic landscape, and let's face it, that was the big strength of The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun. Much as I love Mab, and happy as I was to see her again, I think I would have actually preferred if she hadn't been there and the three friends would have had the opportunity to learn and solve more problems themselves. She kind of took away the spotlight.
That said, this book was still very fun, and I can recommend it to anyone who wants some nice, light reading.
This is the second book set in the same universe as The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun, which I have to admit was one of my absolute favorite books of 2020, IT WAS SO FUN, the bar was pretty high. I must admit that I didn't like A Word and A Bullet quite as much.
It should be possible to read this as a stand-alone, but it's probably best if you read both books.
The story is the same apocalyptic event from The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun, but told this time out of a different perspective, of that of Colt, who, along with his two friends Damien and Janie gets lucky enough to survive, and now they are making their way through the post-apocalyptic landscape.
What I liked about this book is that it expands on the world presented in The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun. Colt, Damien and Janie interact with a lot more people than Mab did, so you get to see much more of the effect the apocalypse had on humans, while Mab existed a bit in an empty vacuum. What I didn't like was that it had a lot less creative problem-solving and bullshitting your way through a post-apocalyptic landscape, and let's face it, that was the big strength of The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun. Much as I love Mab, and happy as I was to see her again, I think I would have actually preferred if she hadn't been there and the three friends would have had the opportunity to learn and solve more problems themselves. She kind of took away the spotlight.
That said, this book was still very fun, and I can recommend it to anyone who wants some nice, light reading.
December 22, 2016
I really love this series. Great characters, satisfying post-apocalyptic action, and snarky dialogue. The author also is one of the few dystopian writers who stays away from instalove and triangles (I mean, really? The entire world around you has changed and your only thought is how "He had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen"??). She also doesn't feel that the apocalypse means everyone has turned into killers and cannibals except the MC.
Finally, because I'm a writer by trade (technical writing; it still counts!), I appreciate the lack of typos, grammatical errors, and other editing woes that have spoiled many a self-published book for me.
Rachel Sharp, I'm glad I found you. Hopefully others do too. Can't wait for the third book in the series.
Finally, because I'm a writer by trade (technical writing; it still counts!), I appreciate the lack of typos, grammatical errors, and other editing woes that have spoiled many a self-published book for me.
Rachel Sharp, I'm glad I found you. Hopefully others do too. Can't wait for the third book in the series.
April 2, 2016
Caveat: I started the series with this book first. Additionally, I am friends with the author on Twitter. That said, I won't be holding back my criticisms.
A Word and A Bullet by Rachel Sharp is a world crackingly good read, with funny characters, snappy dialogue, and an interesting take on life after everything goes to pot. The tagline for the book should read "LARPer GEEKS VS The WORLD." And I don't want to spoil it for you, but I will say this; for a post-apocalypse tale, I had more fun tagging along with the merry band of bumblers than I expected to, and the really fun character for me is one series readers might be familiar with already. That might be because Sharp holds back on the gore porn other series are known for ( Hi The Walking Dead) and generally things turn out alright.
There are a few moments here and there I found myself wondering about in terms of the main character, but there was nothing that made me flinch or throw out the book in disgust over. Speaking as a Cote First Nations enrolled tribal member there are some things I thought were maybe illogical for the MC, but the representation treated him like a living breathing person, and not a stereotype, which is important for Native/Indigenous readers.
The inclusion of an ace character was nicely done, not too heavy handed. I wish the book gave us a bit more of a wider picture, in terms of what was happening in the world, but then again this won't be a problem for the readers of the first book.
I highly recommend this world-cracking adventure with well written characters, and cannot wait for the next book!
A Word and A Bullet by Rachel Sharp is a world crackingly good read, with funny characters, snappy dialogue, and an interesting take on life after everything goes to pot. The tagline for the book should read "LARPer GEEKS VS The WORLD." And I don't want to spoil it for you, but I will say this; for a post-apocalypse tale, I had more fun tagging along with the merry band of bumblers than I expected to, and the really fun character for me is one series readers might be familiar with already. That might be because Sharp holds back on the gore porn other series are known for ( Hi The Walking Dead) and generally things turn out alright.
There are a few moments here and there I found myself wondering about in terms of the main character, but there was nothing that made me flinch or throw out the book in disgust over. Speaking as a Cote First Nations enrolled tribal member there are some things I thought were maybe illogical for the MC, but the representation treated him like a living breathing person, and not a stereotype, which is important for Native/Indigenous readers.
The inclusion of an ace character was nicely done, not too heavy handed. I wish the book gave us a bit more of a wider picture, in terms of what was happening in the world, but then again this won't be a problem for the readers of the first book.
I highly recommend this world-cracking adventure with well written characters, and cannot wait for the next book!
October 17, 2016
I had a hard time getting through this book. There’s no plot other than “survive while traveling through the post-apocalyptic world”, but that got repetitive and boring pretty quickly, because the characters basically just encounter a checklist of problems/dangers that they always manage to get through relatively easily. There’s no real conflict between any of the characters, or any sort of relationship tension/growth, and there really isn’t much driving them either—at first they don’t have a destination in mind, but then they end up tagging along with someone else who’s headed back to her camp in Saskatchewan. But without a more personal motivation driving them, and without the sense that there were actual stakes (no one’s life ever seemed to be in danger, and even serious injuries weren’t much of a problem), the story just wasn’t compelling.
Besides that, I didn’t love the style, and there were lots of inaccuracies (novice riders able to hop on a horse’s back and ride all day with no instruction?) and things that didn’t really make sense. There were a few funny moments, though, and I liked Mab as a character (maybe I should have read the first book instead), and I appreciated that Janie is canonically asexual.
Besides that, I didn’t love the style, and there were lots of inaccuracies (novice riders able to hop on a horse’s back and ride all day with no instruction?) and things that didn’t really make sense. There were a few funny moments, though, and I liked Mab as a character (maybe I should have read the first book instead), and I appreciated that Janie is canonically asexual.
April 10, 2016
I loved this book!! This is the second book in a planned trilogy about a massive planetary disaster. The First book [which I also loved] The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun is the story of Mab and her lonely and scary trip from Portland, OR to Canada.
This book concentrated on three friends; Colt, Janie, and Damien whose plans for a North Carolina Zombie con weekend are thwarted by TEOTWAWKI. Unliie Mab they are evacuated, albeit in a small plane, have some survival equipment and aren't complete Newbies. but they are still modern 20 somethings who prefer a weekend on the couch with a bowl of mac and cheese to roughing it frontier style.
Since they are a team they are less desperate to get to people and when they meet up with Mab, from the first book, they band together.
In the first book we are seeing the utter and total breakdown of society, culture and maps. In this book people are beginning to band together and face the problems of rebuilding and adapting to a world without fast food burgers and 24 hour pharmacies.
This book concentrated on three friends; Colt, Janie, and Damien whose plans for a North Carolina Zombie con weekend are thwarted by TEOTWAWKI. Unliie Mab they are evacuated, albeit in a small plane, have some survival equipment and aren't complete Newbies. but they are still modern 20 somethings who prefer a weekend on the couch with a bowl of mac and cheese to roughing it frontier style.
Since they are a team they are less desperate to get to people and when they meet up with Mab, from the first book, they band together.
In the first book we are seeing the utter and total breakdown of society, culture and maps. In this book people are beginning to band together and face the problems of rebuilding and adapting to a world without fast food burgers and 24 hour pharmacies.
May 19, 2016
This book did not entice me as much as the first one did, I still really, really liked it though.
It's amazing, it has a bit of everything and I think it's done very well. But I didn't fall in love with Colt, Janie and Damien the way I did with Mab in the first book and it just kept bothering me throughout the whole book. I kept reading and I was definitely interested but I just didn't feel like I got to know the characters that well or could see their growth as much as I would have liked to and did expect after having had that intense journey with Mab right before.
As I said it's still a really good book that I would definitely recommend. And yeah, I guess it's possible to read as a stand alone but I would read The big book of post-collapse fun first because it will give you a bigger picture of what's going on in the world and you do want to know that because it's a truly fascinating take on the apocalypse. At least I think it is, I actually love it, because what would we do if our planet decided to turn up-side-down and there's no safe place to evacuate to?
It's amazing, it has a bit of everything and I think it's done very well. But I didn't fall in love with Colt, Janie and Damien the way I did with Mab in the first book and it just kept bothering me throughout the whole book. I kept reading and I was definitely interested but I just didn't feel like I got to know the characters that well or could see their growth as much as I would have liked to and did expect after having had that intense journey with Mab right before.
As I said it's still a really good book that I would definitely recommend. And yeah, I guess it's possible to read as a stand alone but I would read The big book of post-collapse fun first because it will give you a bigger picture of what's going on in the world and you do want to know that because it's a truly fascinating take on the apocalypse. At least I think it is, I actually love it, because what would we do if our planet decided to turn up-side-down and there's no safe place to evacuate to?
June 4, 2016
I'm done!
I am glad I took the time to read this one. It's a -fun- book. Which, yeah, you wouldn't expect from post-apocalypse settings, right? But A WORD AND A BULLET is essentially the series of adventures three friends experience when the Earth goes to shit, and they have to survive the apocalypse. It's fairly straightforward, and at times the pacing gets redundant, but you get attached to the group (and MAB!) fairly fast so it's easy to drift from one adventure to the other, as they do. I wish I'd had more character development throughout the book, because what we get at the end is *really nice*, and I think it'd have enhanced the story as a whole.
Overall, though, I had lots of fun, AND THIS BOOK GOES TO QUÉBEC. Some details were a little off, but the global Québec Feel (TM) was def there, and that makes this reviewer very happy. ^^
I am glad I took the time to read this one. It's a -fun- book. Which, yeah, you wouldn't expect from post-apocalypse settings, right? But A WORD AND A BULLET is essentially the series of adventures three friends experience when the Earth goes to shit, and they have to survive the apocalypse. It's fairly straightforward, and at times the pacing gets redundant, but you get attached to the group (and MAB!) fairly fast so it's easy to drift from one adventure to the other, as they do. I wish I'd had more character development throughout the book, because what we get at the end is *really nice*, and I think it'd have enhanced the story as a whole.
Overall, though, I had lots of fun, AND THIS BOOK GOES TO QUÉBEC. Some details were a little off, but the global Québec Feel (TM) was def there, and that makes this reviewer very happy. ^^
June 18, 2016
A troop of friends travels to Canada after the apocalypse, meeting unlikely new recruits on the way. Despite their struggles, the journey makes them stronger for it.
This is basically just your average adventure novel, although it did go rather slowly in my opinion. The action was interesting, but I feel as though Sharp needed to emphasize it more; it seemed like it happened and was just never mentioned again.
However, Sharp built these characters much better. It appealed to me much more than the first one (considering that the first one only had one character). I can see how her writing grew between the first and second, and I'm proud of her.
It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a great one. A solid three stars.
This is basically just your average adventure novel, although it did go rather slowly in my opinion. The action was interesting, but I feel as though Sharp needed to emphasize it more; it seemed like it happened and was just never mentioned again.
However, Sharp built these characters much better. It appealed to me much more than the first one (considering that the first one only had one character). I can see how her writing grew between the first and second, and I'm proud of her.
It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a great one. A solid three stars.
April 4, 2016
I wouldn't say Rachel writes the most realistic characters in the sense that you view them the same as you would your living friends, more so like an artist who makes such a realistic painting that the only word that captures both the true to life and work of art qualities is "masterpiece". I'd definitely buy this book and maybe a survival guide
June 22, 2016
A short but good apocalypse novel that focuses on survival without getting into survival of the fittest territory. Manages to stay hopeful in tone despite the subject. The characters feel like real people and make realistic decisions. Made me think too much about how few apocalypse survival skills I actually have.
June 21, 2016
This is a fun little read. You won't find a huge deep plot or intricate character arcs, but A WORD AND A BULLET is a quick bubble-gum adventure. Loads of fun with some deeper moments between likable and understandable characters. It's book 2 of a series but you don't need to read the first to enjoy it--I didn't. It's short so it's perfect for a quick afternoon escape.
May 21, 2016
I liked the first book more, but this was still super great. Young adults facing the apocalypse, having no idea what they're doing but being strong and resourceful anyways? Count me in!
July 13, 2016
DNF at 30%
I was reading this with the Ace Book Club but just didn't like it enough to force myself to finish it.
I was reading this with the Ace Book Club but just didn't like it enough to force myself to finish it.
May 21, 2016
2,5 stars
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