Any Sign of Life

by Rae Carson

New York Times–bestselling author Rae Carson delivers a harrowing and pulse-pounding survival story set in the near-future Midwest—with a cosmic twist. When a teenage girl thinks she may be the only person left alive in her town—maybe in the whole world—she must rely on hope, trust, and her own resilience. A must-have for readers of Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave and Neal Shusterman’s Dry.

Paige Miller is determined to take her basketball team to the state championship, maybe even beyond. But as March Madness heats up, Paige falls deathly ill. Days later, she wakes up attached to an IV and learns that the whole world has perished. Everyone she loves, and all of her dreams for the future—they’re gone.

But Paige is a warrior, so she pushes through her fear and her grief. And as she gets through each day—scrounging for food, for shelter, for safety—Paige encounters a few more young survivors. Together, they might stand a chance. But as they struggle to endure their new reality, they learn that the apocalypse did not happen by accident. And that there are worse things than being alone.

New York Times–bestselling author Rae Carson tells a contemporary and all-too-realistic story about surviving against the odds. The award-winning author brings the vivid world-building, memorable characters, and extraordinary writing she is known for to this near-future thriller. With page-turning suspense, a light sci-fi twist, and an emotional focus on the resolute qualities of the human spirit, Any Sign of Life will electrify fans of Rory Power’s Wilder Girls and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic, Survival, Aliens, Apocalyptic

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2021

About the author

Rae Carson was born in 1973 in California and now lives in Arizona. She developed an enthusiasm for storytelling in her earliest childhood. She studied social sciences and worked in various industries after graduating from university before she realized her dream and became a writer. The Girl of Fire and Thorns is her debut novel.

In her own words, she "write[s] books about teens who must do brave things. [Her] books tend to contain lots of adventure, a little magic and romance, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. [She] especially love[s] to write about questions [she doesn't] know the answers to."

Has also published as Rae Carson Finlay.

Reviews

[Chelsea Humphrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul."

-Horatio Spafford, It Is Well with My Soul

Well wasn't this a pleasant little surprise of post apocalyptic fiction! Reader, please be aware that this book does hinge on a worldwide pandemic, and while it is Covid-19 this time, the aforementioned is briefly discussed in passing. I'm wholly aware that it's too early for many to be reading this type of story, and I'm shocked I was able to engage with it so well, but I'll chalk it up to some gripping writing from Rae Carson.

What begins as a flu epidemic turns into a mass extinction of humans in less than one week's time. Paige wakes up disoriented, thinking she is late for basketball practice, and discovers in the most gruesome way possible that she is the only person left alive in her town. After rescuing her elderly neighbor's dog (the dog lives, hooray!), Paige and Emmaline embark on a journey to find others who may also be alive. Along the way, a group of survivors form and we discover just how this virus was released and what happens next.

There are other reviews here that give a little more information into what's going on, but I chose to go into this book without reading any of them and was pleased to have the bare bones experience and discover things as I read them. I highly recommend you do the same, if you like the mystery aspect of books. My only caveats were some awkward discussions around race that felt forced and included as a checklist item, and also the fact that this could have been a standalone, but has clearly been set up for the option of a sequel. Lots of questions still needed to be answered! Aside from those issues, this was a well-written, grief oriented story that I'm glad I read.

"Did everyone just lie down and die? Was everyone so accepting of their fate? I can't imagine it. If I knew the end was inevitable, I would want to live, raging and wild and free, until my very last moment. But I would also want to be with the people I loved. Maybe that's the trade-off. Maybe dying gently means soaking up every last bit of love."

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.

[hillary]

Dnf 69%

I’m putting this down because I really don’t want to give it a low rating. I don’t like that the explanation behind everything is so wishy-washy and unrealistic. It irritates me to no end. As I was kind of enjoying the first half, I don’t want to taint that memory even further. Plus, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything by stopping because this doesn’t add anything new to the table when it comes to apocalyptic books.

[Booktastically Amazing · Rating 4 out of 5]

~Special thanks to Netgalley and Greenwillow Books for the ARC in exchange for an
honest review!~

Someone, somewhere, is probably getting fired over how crappy they've been controlling my decision-making panel of bad choices (yes, there is only one kind of panel). Why? Maybe, perhaps, most likely, because I've been meaning to write this review since the 1800s and still, I have not come across the 'want' to actually do so.

Rating: 💀💀💀💀 4.0

Yes, that was a semi apology from me to me. I needed it. Pfft.
(If you're wondering which you probably aren't. I forced myself to write this. Oh, the joys of not writing a review after finishing a book)

Okay, okay, it's not because I didn't find the book 'good' or 'great'. It's that upon further investigation, the strong feelings that this produced, were severely and utterly based on the fact that I adored one of the author's other series (I bet it's serieses, dang it) and basically, had a blindfold on, obscuring any sense of wrong-ship and all of the things I would disagree on, if I had my sight uncovered. (gosh, I really exceeded every vocabulary word I had in my arsenal, dang) So, this is my new rendition of an attempt at actually seeming like I'm doing this because I want to. Because I do. Yep. (there was a review before this one, that I hadn't published and it sounded something like this)

I loved this, I loved the characters. Everything.
Love, love, looooveeeee. LoVE iTTTTTTTTT. LuuuRRRRvvEEEE.

(so maybe this is a better employment of my time than watching TikToks I find hilarious, even though they actually aren't)

I would've adored the plot if it had stayed in its original course. Something that resembles what was currently sent from Hades to infect humanity. Sound familiar? Yeah, I don't recognize it either. I found it
maybe a little unnecessary and frankly, even though I enjoyed the crap out of the last plot... drama, I would've adored it to bits if it had stayed virus like. Still, I can't deny the absolute appeal of what further happened, because let's be honest, I was plenty addicted to trash on it. Trash on it? That doesn't even make sense- Okay, forget that phrase, I'm trying to seem smarter than I am, and I'm obviously failing. Can you tell I'm slowly unraveling? Nahhh.
I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, I found some details wonderful, whilst others were just the tiniest bit cumbersome. (cuuuu-cumber. Bahahahaha, cumbercumber. I need to stop). I liked the fact that it didn't drag, yet sometimes, noticed the really REALLY jumped over moments. Like, grief, for example.

Right! The thing I disliked. What was the thing I disliked... GRIEF! (emphasis makes the dramatics work, I guess) Everyone moved on too darn quickly. I'm sorry, but okay. Everyone has different ways to handle loss, pain, and suffering. However, if my whole family were to die, I would literally be in a comatose-heartbroken state. Make sense? I wouldn't be thinking quite as clearly as I would love to say and maybe, just maybe, I would sob my soul out every time I moved and remembered that my family wasn't there. I clearly am talking about my bookshelf, of course. How a virus would affect it, I have no idea. I think the characters were amazingly strong, which I'll forever fangirl over, but come on. A little more emotion would convince me the robot era didn't infiltrate their brains. That's all I asked for.

The writing was gorgeous, and I appreciated it to heaven and back, because if I were to visit Heaven. I would, sadly, be back. (yo, every time I try to seem like I know what I'm doing, it backfires on me) I enjoyed every detail said and the familiarity of the words and phrases. Something like coming to terms with a long-lost memory of a previous book from the same author. Beautiful and a warm, perhaps a burning hug from your subconscious. I still have the red-hot tracks surrounding my heart, by the way. I slurped on every paragraph, though I got a little annoyed to continue when my mental space was too... bored's not the word I'm looking for. Info-dumped. Yes, there we go, Booksy! Using your words. Nice. (I can honestly tell you that I attack myself more than I love myself and perhaps that's an indicator of how coo coo I may be going. Pfff, too much. Too much) I would give the writing a 6 or 7 out of ten. Good, maybe more than good. Not exceeding Donut-Like level though.

Simple, yet entertaining.

Now, unto the characters. Beings that have viciously attacked me in terms of when the heck I would write about them and how I would do it. Because every day, I feel like my vocabulary keeps shortening. And I don't like the feel of it.

The MC was one of the strongest, smartest, not-going-to-kill-me-because-of-how-stupid-their-decisions-are- beings I've ever read about and that ignited this feeling of pure love for her that was used against me in the following chapters as my amazement slowly melted off to a sort of 'okay, this is good enough to finish, maybe good enough to binge, but good enough to love? Not exactly'. Her thought process wowed me when placed in the situation of your whole entire family being dead.

Again, why was she so calm? Nevermind- I need to see the positivity in lifeth.
I adored how she didn't let anything stop her, how amazing at remaining sane she appeared to be. And frankly, she was one of the best female characters I've ever read about- albeit I would've wished that her personality would've been explored further, apart from how she used to play basketball and that she was apparently humongous (compared to me, everyone is the size of skyscrapers). So yeah, the teeniest bit away from IWOULDIEFORYOUANDIWOULDKILLFORYOU territory, that I so crave to hold close to my soul.

Then we have the background characters. See, that's all they were. I could've found them on almost every rom com out there, and I still somewhat enjoyed the predictability included within their personas.

We have the goth with daddy-family-people issues who wants everyone to die. Or doesn't care enough to mourn their deaths.
Then we can appreciate the beauty of the jock turned semi idiot guy with shining hair and a smart complex.
The beautiful Latino man that stole the smallest part of me because I so felt represented.
And then the love interest.

There.
That's basically it.

I didn't really feel for anyone, I was like 'oh. how sad. aw' every single time they shared stories and I know that I could've tried harder. But like, is that my job? I wanted to love them so deeply, their connected tides would rush through me and pull me into the waves for a warm embrace. I craved to be swept apart by microorganisms chasing a wholly carving of my existence. I did not cry for their pain. I did not feel for their heartache. It just was.

My heart was beating really quickly in some parts.
Other parts it felt slow enough to burn me alive.
So yeah, a decade later, and I'm trying to make up for the half that I completely forgot because why not do what needs to be done now, later on? It will still be accomplished.
*make education smart again*

All that was to explain that I was let down. Dear author, you who holds a single cell of my being. If this turns out to be a series, maybe make the characters feel like characters? That's all I can really say.

That, and leave the pandemic/other theme still attacking the world (fictional) please. No conflict gets resolved in 300 pages.
I think.

On a closing note, this review has been killing me for a while now. Netgalley keeps kindly reminding me of my imminent demise if I do not complete my duty as a dutiful book fangirler (see noun in the Book of Great Bookish Terms in the following 67 years). The plot was vivid and close enough to actually come through as something more than mildly satisfying. The characters needed the slightest bit of more depth, romance was rushed through and basically out of nowhere, but the pace was really pleasant.

See? I can be nice. Now, if an alien comes knocking on my door, it better be because the end of the world is coming, I need food- Netgalley, we did it!

I.
I did it. You just threatened me with the weekly newsletters.

Well, me with the help of powerful substance- Doritos.

.......................

Hours after finishing this, I realized one very important detail. This doesn't mention that it has a sequel. AHHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

YOU'VE FINALLY DONE IT
I WILL CRACK SOMEONE'S SKULL
AHAHAHAHAHHA

Is. There. A. Second. Book?
............................
Mother of flying chickens, this was so good.

.............................
S C R E A M I N G

Hi yes, I'm totally fine.

[Lauren (thebookscript) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started off as really enjoying this book. I've really liked Rae's book in the past and find end of the world sci fi books very entertaining.

UNFORTUNATELY

This book was not for me. I loved how it started. I was immediately hooked and wanted more. I wanted to know what would happen and how it would play out. It was strangely grotesque and macabre (I repeat this is not for the weak of stomach). I wanted the main character to feel more deeply about how losing your entire family would feel. I wanted more heart and intent that I've found in this authors other books.

But as the book drew on...and more things get introduced it started to become hard to believe and get in to....I had a hard time comprehending why certain choices and dialogues kept getting pushed into the readers faces. The world building and arcs because fuzzy. Overall I was sad because it just ended up not being my cup of tea. I will still try more of Carson's books though.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big thanks to Edelweiss for the e-arc

This book checks all the boxes for me:

1. alien invasion
2. humans wiped off the face of the earth
3. normal people trying to survive
4. a cute ass dog

Star basketball player, Paige Miller wakes up after becoming deathly to find her family dead and the world as she knew it, gone. She trudges on, finding food, shelter, and eventually a neighbors dog and a boy named Trey. Together they figure out a way to live amongst the strange aliens hunting them at every turn.

There's no way to tell you more without giving away all the twists and turns so I'll just shut up there and dive into what I loved.

The characters: each unique with their own voices. I could easily differentiate them and predict what their reactions would be based on who they are as people. Paige is a fierce and intelligent warrior-woman with a GO TO attitude any business exec would praise at their board meetings. When I say fierce, I mean she presses on despite her grief and her fear and I adore that in book characters.

The plot is something I am total trash for. Girl wakes up to find the world has ended and finds a way to survive despite thinking she's all alone. I ALWAYS put myself in the person's shoes and I'm always like, man, I would raid so many houses for all their books and dogs and live in a commune of nothing but pooches and good reads. I'm like that guy in that old Twilight Zone episode who doesn't really care that he's all alone after the world has ended because he has books to get him through.

I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with me, but let's push on.

Things I disliked:

The alien part of the book didn't grab me as much as I hoped. I'm still a bit confused about what the drones were compared to the other things, but I don't want to give too much away. The virus aspect made sense, but I really wanted to know more about it. But maybe we'll get some answers in book two (please be a book two), But honestly, I'm more about the survival of the people left behind instead of the why everyone died because sometimes when you get an explanation it can feel convoluted or bog down the story. A little passage explaining SOMETHING would have been nice.

The lack of emotion when emotion was gravely needed to empathize with the characters. I feel like they moved on way too quickly from traumatic situations. Even Paige's reaction to seeing what happened to her family felt a little cold-hearted. I get that she needed to act quickly, but just a moment of quiet grief would have sufficed.

Anywho, none of that really irked me enough to change my rating. I still loved reading this book.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first third of this book, but when they met Wyatt it all became very stilted, with unnatural dialogue, weird character interactions, and the explanation behind everything was just … a miss for me. The characters were all very flat, and the racism and social commentary very presentational. I’m sadly disappointed in this book - it tried too hard.

[Ally (AllyEmReads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh?

It was okay, though not usually what I gravitate towards. There wasn't a whole lot of explanation about the aliens, which okay I guess makes sense since the characters didn't know much, but I still like a little more solid world-building in my sci-fi, typically. Also, a lot of the descriptions grossed me out and that's not really a feeling I like to have when reading, so.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar in vibes to The Last 8, but I enjoyed this one a whole lot more.

Better chemistry between characters, better characterization of characters who felt real, higher tension, and believable abilities and coping methods. I devoured this all in one go, and now I don't want to venture outside at night with the sky all lit up weird (light pollution, but still).

Full RTC.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rae Carson is a favorite author of mine ever since I read The Girl of Fire and Thorns series. I think the only books by her I haven't read are her Star Wars books just due to the genre. But I want to say I really like her as an author and look forward to reading more books by her. Any Sign of Life was not my favorite book by her, but Carson is a strong writer and I enjoy her books but I had a few issues with this one for things I didn't think needed to be there.

The Good Of It

Paige wakes up and has chained bags of IVs all strung together in her house drained. She is parched, weak and have no idea how long she has been sick. As we discover with Paige something terrible has happened, everyone seems to be dead and she has no idea why. She sets out with the neighbors dog to see if she can find anyone else in the city, it can't just be her right? Paige and a few other survivors form an unlikely found family as they search for answers to what happened to all of humanity, they are on a mission to find some of the other survivors they know are out there.

I did like the slow tease out of what happened to humanity and what is now happening to the earth. Paige and the two other survivors she found are wandering around discovering a few things here and there about the reasons behind it. Although that is never really fleshed out to my satisfaction it made sense because the characters themselves only knew so much.

“My smidge of hope is a fragile thing, a tiny waving flame in a vast landscape of reeking darkness. I will shelter it, treasure it, coax it, because the alternative is despair, and I don't do despair.”

What Didn't Work For Me

I have this same complaint with a lot of YA and some other favorite book authors of mine right now. It is like authors are given a list and they have to incorporate 3-5 woke or sjw items from the list into their book. So it never feels natural to the characters or situation and it generally takes me out of the story being told.

For example Paige tells the boy she likes (in the middle of the apocalypses) that she promised her best friend (now dead with the rest of humanity) she wouldn't date a black man because white women fetishize black men. Seriously, all of humanity is dead except a few stragglers and we are worried about skin color or race or checking priveledge? There were multiple times something like this happened in the story that were just cringe worthy to me. None of it felt like it mattered or belonged.

There is also the fact that there are so many dead people just rotting, in cars on the streets in houses etc. It was a bit gross and could turn people off. I don't know if it was the overwhelmingness of it all that the characters barely acknowledged the grief of losing all of their families due to the struggle to survive but it was also glossed over.

Overall

This is for readers who love a good post apocalyptic world and the fight for survival. Lovers of the Walking Dead, 5th Wave, Rot and Ruin etc. Not my favorite Rae Carson novel but still an interesting read.

[h o l l i s · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I'll admit this was only on my radar because I'm a fan of the author and I went into this knowing not even the bare bones of the summary. Which, for anyone who wants to avoid plague/pandemic/world ending events..? I would not recommend doing. Take this as your warning.

While this is not COVID (though it is mentioned that the main character did live through it during her childhood) there is another reason why she wakes up after an almost week-long coma to discover everyone around her has died. It definitely unfolds in a pandemic-life way but quickly becomes something else. Mostly.

This clearly wasn't a favourite but I was loving the beginning. It's gruesome, eerie, and strange, and I was really digging it. Later, as things are explained, it was still somewhat interesting but this definitely isn't a unique premise, even if the details aren't an exact copy from anything that I can think of.

Be warned, though, that I'm really not overusing the word gruesome.

Sadly this didn't seem to have any of the author's particular brand of excellence but it's also not something I've seen from her before, either, as she generally sticks to fantasy, not contemporary. There were definitely some really good bits, though, and it definitely didn't stand out as a flop by any means. But it won't be one I can recommend, either, purely because I'm not sure everyone is ready to dive into this kind of content yet -- or ever again.

---

This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.

[Lisa Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any Sign of Life opens to a scenario that hits a little too close to home in 2021, when we still can’t say that the coronavirus pandemic is behind us. In this YA sci-fi novel, our current pandemic is a memory from the past for the characters. As the book begins, we meet main character Paige Miller as she awakens from a coma to confront a world wholly different from the one she thought she knew.

Paige wakes up to discover an IV in her arm and her family’s dead bodies in her house. As she ventures out away from the horror, she encounters nothing but more horror. Every home in her neighborhood contains dead people — she appears to be the only one left alive. After liberating a neighbor’s dog from their locked house, Paige and Emmaline set out to scrounge for supplies and figure out if anyone else has survived.

What seems from the beginning to be a story about a horrific virus that’s wiped out nearly all of humanity takes a turn as Paige starts to realize that this virus couldn’t have been naturally occuring. As far as she can tell, it killed people worldwide in only a week, and that just doesn’t make sense. When Paige meets Trey, another teen survivor, they start to put the pieces together, and realize that humankind didn’t just die out — it was exterminated.

Figuring out how this happened, and desperately fighting for a slim chance at survival, Paige and Trey’s journey leads them to a handful of other survivors and a small chance at making a difference in what seems to be a losing battle to hang onto a world that might still be fit for human life.

Any Sign of Life is both a story of the end of the world as we know it and a tale of a fight for survival. There are exciting action sequences as well as plenty of strategizing about how to survive — and whether there’s a reason to survive. The author gives the characters individuality and personality, as well as giving them each a backstory and inner depth.

Paige, as the POV character, is strong-willed and capable, but also carries the pain of her lost family with her always. Trey is also a great character, and all of the characters we meet are mourning someone they loved.

While the action sequence toward the end of the book is a little confusing, it’s still gripping to read, and I couldn’t help holding my breath while rooting for the good guys to succeed. The book ends on a positive note, but the future still looks grim — and I couldn’t help wondering whether a sequel will be coming along at some point. The ending works, but there’s plenty of room for more of the story to be told.

Any Sign of Life is an engaging read, once I got past the fact that what I thought would be a story about surviving a worldwide plague ended up being about a different sort of threat completely. Not giving too much away, the revelations about the cause of the virus and what the future might hold didn’t wow me, because I feel like I’ve read plenty of stories along these lines already,

Still, I liked the characters and the particular episodes involved in their survival, and have no problem recommending this book to anyone who enjoys post-apocalyptic YA fiction.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.

[pampampampampam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dog lives!

[Misha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paige wakes up and discovers she is the only person left alive in her vicinity. Her drive for the first one-hundred or so pages to find other life sucked me right in. I was not bored at all as she roamed Ohio in search of food and other Human comforts.

I instantly loved the Humans she met. Trey was incredibly smart and giving. The others they met along the way just added to their happy little family so much.

I applaud the author for addressing both privilege and racism even with dealing with the end of the world.

I don't care for loose endings, so I wasn't completely satisfied closing this book. However, I read this book in mostly one day.

Thank you to GreenWillow books for sending me a free copy in exhange for my honest review!

[Shannon Miz · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

So I loved this book. Because of course I did, it's the end of the world, for goodness sake! And the opening of the story is wild. We jump right in as Paige finds herself sick and emaciated, with nothing but an IV bag keeping her alive. Everyone in her house, everyone in her world is dead, and she hasn't a clue what is happening because she's been unconscious for the apocalypse thus far.

I think what I loved the most about this book is that it does such a great job of portraying the way people would feel at the end of the world. Like sure, Paige is running for her life, trying to not get zapped by aliens (who are a little salty about the few people that escaped their deadly disease). But it's more than that. It's trying to navigate the guilt of living when almost no one else did. It's trying to figure out what makes her new life worth living, when all the things she'd had are gone. Her family, basketball, the promise of college and beyond, her friends... wiped out. Luckily, she finds a few fellow survivors along the way, namely Trey and Tanq, the former of whom I absolutely loved, and the latter who generally was untrustworthy of humans (for good reason) and I also adored.

They have to then set out to find others, with a promise from a radio broadcast their only lead. I loved that Paige takes humanity in general so seriously. Every deceased person whose supplies or wisdom help her along the way, she acknowledges. When she can, she takes their identification as a way to remember them. She retains her humanity, even when it would be easier not to. And she finds new family in her friends, while never forgetting those who came before.

There are lighthearted moments too, which is crucial in a book like this. Otherwise, it would have been perhaps too dark. There is a lot of action, but not overwhelmingly so, and I thought the pacing was done quite well. A great balance of character and world development and excitement. I will say, I really feel like the ending sets up a sequel, and I will probably cry if there is not one, just saying.

Bottom Line: I fell in love with this book and its characters. Just the "end of days" fare I was looking for, frankly.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

**I received a free ARC in exchange for $25 at my local bookstore** (that was my joke lol BUT it really is an ARC, so I guess keep that in mind with my review in case they changed anything before publishing)

EDIT 7/23 im editing this a bit now that i have my thoughts together more
EDIT 10/4 changing this to 2 stars because will grayson will grayson was infinitely worse

urgh like. MAYBE a 2??? 1.5? I feel bad rating it so low but like I really didn't like it that much..

The premise was interesting, not typically what I go for in terms of main characters but I can't exactly complain! However, I feel like it didn't pack enough punch. There's no real emotion felt in regards to the death of all humanity, and even with her own family who she clearly cares deeply about, I didn't really feel much in terms of grief. It's this way with injuries as well, the main character has an infected arm, a foot bitten by a dog, and is incredibly dehydrated/starved/without exercise and yet she just kind of can walk around like it's nothing? Next to no mentions of like "My arm really hurt from the IV" or "I limped to the house" aside from when she faints and then is basically fine afterwards. It just didn't feel like there was too much at stake, even as she gathered more injuries she seemed to continue basically at the same pace.

Additionally, the fact that this was very clearly a book inspired by/written because of COVID kind of cheapened it for me. Not sure if I'm in the minority here, but I really don't care for media that tries to mold itself to fit the current day, especially in this way with covid stuff LOL. Even the fact that this plot started on march 13(ish) was just like... Really? Did we really REALLY have to write a covid book. Also, for a book written about teenagers in 202X, there are next to no mentions of phones. I get that it's an annoying stereotype that like "ohhh teens are always so obsessed with their phones" but like it would have been a useful tool to show grief ("I looked down at the picture of my family and realized that this was the only thing I had left of them") so I'm disappointed that the author didn't go that route. She tries to make the characters seem modern in literally every other way, you're telling me that none of the characters miss TV or music or Instagram? Not even the emo one?? It also feels like the characters don't really miss their lives before The Event or whatever they called it? I don't know, there's a lot of telling and not a lot of showing in terms of this. They'll SAY that they miss their family, but they never actually show any consequences as a result of missing family. I'd have liked Paige to maybe have needed to sacrifice the one family memento she has left in order to escape or something (This did happen but there was no choice involved, it was out of her control). I just mostly didn't love how nothing seemed to come as a result of missing family or being sad or anything.

I do kind of hate to say this next stuff because it's pretty clear that the author tried to be as inclusive as possible, but like. Idk here's my complaint list I guess
-In terms of racial diversity she did try, but idk it just kind of doesn't sit right with me that the only black characters are named Shawntelle and Trey like?? It feels stereotypical.. maybe I'm wrong but idk... Also the discussion about fetishizing black people made me want to throw the book across the room sorry.. Basically, Paige's Black best friend previously made her swear off Black guys because it was fetishizing. So, when she starts to try to kiss her Black friend, she backs up and is like Omg no I can't fetishize you. And as a response he says like "I am ok with you fetishizing me any time you like lol" which like. It COMES OFF as like maybe meaning well but oh boy it felt really weird to read. Especially when it wasn't a black person who wrote it AGAIN MAYBE IM WRONG AND THIS IS FINE but like it felt weird to me. It also just didn't feel like real dialogue that would really happen and it was overall kind of stupid T_T I'm white so like obviously I'm not the spokesperson for any of this it just felt kind of ?????? There were a couple other bits about racism which were like ok I guess? It wasn't really inherently bad it just also felt a bit stilted. I think a lot of the dialogue in this book comes off as a bit stilted if I'm being honest LOL

-In terms of DISABILITY representation oh boy this one got me mad. Because like the author makes a point about how in a situation like this, eugenics would be really easy to fall into and so therefore, people who orchestrated this world saving business made sure to avoid it. Nice, cool, a little bit forced how the idea was introduced but whatever. So you'd think the author is pretty aware of disability issues and how to sort of act about disabled people? BUT THEN the main character calls the only disabled (asthma) character stupid for not informing everyone about his asthma? The line is "What an idiot. Wyatt could have so easily trusted us with this." LIKE IM SORRY maybe im out of line for this but its sooo stereotyped for a disabled person to have to have like a coming out scene basically because theyre sooo ashamed of their disability and then abled people have to gather round and praise the disabled person for being sooo brave and strong and offering help whenever they need it.. And the fact that she thought he was stupid for not mentioning this when he HAD like legitimately valid reasons (he was worried about being left behind or being made fun of for having asthma)... I don't know maybe I'm overreacting but I had to put the book down here too because it made me frustrated. If we're going for disabled representation I would have loved for the author to have gone the full mile and written someone with a wheelchair or a cane or something.

I feel like it's this sort of two steps forward one step back movement in all the representation (another example is that an asexual character comes out and is met with support and kindness, only to be sort of vaguely made fun of later on for worrying that if she meets up with other survivors she will be made to have sex in order to continue the human race..) which is really annoying but whatever. The author's clearly tried so she gets brownie points for that I guess, maybe a couple sensitivity readers next time though?

SLIGHT SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT I don't feel like using a spoiler tag sorry


The actual plot just kind of felt like a bootleg More Than This I'm not even going to lie. Also we never really got any info on the aliens which was annoying because either this is going to be a series or it's just like the author didn't feel like expanding the alien lore any more than she needed to. There was also like I said before a lot of telling and not much showing. This can be fine, it's not a hard and fast rule, but in this particular book it did not work in the slightest.

I WILL SAY the part about Paige collecting drivers licenses to remember people by was really nice, and that scene did make me a bit sad. But that was really the only part where I felt genuinely impacted by the story, so it's kind of bittersweet.

I'm kind of tired now so I am going to bed but hioooogh this was hard to not dnf LOL. I don't WANT to give this one stars and I may end up flipping it to 2, but right now I'm still kind of mad about it

[Roomies' Digest · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars baby!!

What a knock-out! This apocalyptic YA is everything I could have wanted and more!! I truly had zero expectations other than my one bias that I love Zombieland (the movie), so I thought I would love this book.... boy was I right. WAS I FREAKING RIGHT!!

buzzwords and pop-culture reminders:
-Zombieland, The Walking Dead, The Fifth Wave (these are vibes, not necessarily what is causing the apocalypse in this book)
- survivalist, last one standing

I had such a good time with this from start to finish. Everything about it from the characters (loved the tall girl rep- like over 6 ft. tall), to the original plot, the ROMANCE!! UGH I SQUEALED. Also there is a pet companion that of course I loved and stressed over throughout (cat mom over here). Our MC is smart, talented, and so freaking relatable. Even the one character we hate... we end up loving in the end.

I cannot wait to continue this series! As soon as this book comes out, it's an auto-buy for me. Really enjoyed it, and highly recommend if you're into apocalypse books, but not super far from the current world we live in today.

xx
-Christine

[Maggot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4 stars bc I liked it but I didn’t love it. Tanq was probably was one the of the most annoying characters in the book: she was pretty much useless, like she didn’t want to help at all bc she was scared and she would judge the MaIn character for growing up wealthy and then victimized herself like gorl stfu. Imma start a Tanq hate clib at this point. The book was fine other than that one character:(.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this survival story. Paige sleeps in after catching the flu... then realises it's been six days and everybody else is dead. And so begins her quest of trying to find more humans.
There's a lot of action and adventure happening in here, an adopted dog, and grand plans for saving the world a little bit. Not the whole way.
A lot of thought has gone into this: what will work, what won't, how a teen would navigate the world on their own.
There is some gore and pretty general gross stuff in this book (seeing as how everyone else in the world died rapidly and all), and for reasons unknown to me reminded me of an Operation Ouch episode where they dehydrate an egg through osmosis. Vivid descriptions all round. I was all for it, but others might want a heads up, because the apocalypse is not a gentle event.
It's not as sad as I was expecting either as the MC tends not to dwell and compartmentalises emotion. It was a bit detached at times when I would have expected a reaction, but Paige is just surviving however she can.
I can see this being turned into a series, and I would be completely onboard with that.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It was a pretty typical post-apocalypse story. I wanted something I could listen to and turn my brain off and the book kinda did that.

The racism and classism seemed a little (very) forced to me at certain points and also kind of questionable 😬 kinda just felt like the author stuck it in there for the sake of putting it in there. Like what was up with that random fetishization conversation that was brought up twice and never explored or represented properly lol. Like basically race was never brought up other than to describe someone's physical features or to remind the audience that interpersonal racism exists.

[Carla A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I already read the 5th Wave. And while I can give Rae Carson a nod for trying, the woke stuff came off as a little cheesy though it definitely seemed sincere but as a white person I feel like you could tell it was formulated by a white person.

[Dayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that while this wasn't a wholly original concept, it was a lot of fun and creeped me out in various parts. Also, the darkness of this surprised me--especially when the author started describing the dead bodies.

I do wish we had gotten more than just the MC's perspective. I think it would have given some dimension to the story because it sort of felt limited. I also think this book could benefit from a sequel.

I'd recommend this for fans of The 5th Wave and spooky books where the MC is left in a world full of dead and rotting bodies.

Happy reading!

[Hailey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don’t know what to write. I think the author was trying to make a woke post-apocalyptic story. The story was extremely tone deaf at many parts in the story. Racism, classism, abuse, fetishization you name there’s at least one sentences in the book that will cover it, most likely in a very insensitive matter. The first quarter/third and premise of the book had so much possibility but then the author made this.

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Post-apocalyptic stories are my jam! The characters have to fight for survival, there are unknown enemies to fight, and everything just seems one moment away from falling apart. Paige waking up to find her loved ones dead and the world gone to hell is reminiscent of The Walking Dead and I loved it. The story jumped right into the action and let us figure out what was going on as we went. This is a great technique to pull the reader in from the beginning and I was hooked pretty quickly.

My favorite part of this was Paige finding her neighbor's dog Emmaline. She's such a good girl and I was happy that she went along for the adventure (and lives!) If I were in the situation Paige was, I'd definitely be bringing my dog. Trey is also a good companion to have, he's smart and kind and Paige wouldn't have made it without him.

I did think a couple parts were slow and the reason for the outbreak wasn't what I expected. I was hoping the story would go in a different direction, I'm not the biggest fan of alien invasions but it was still an entertaining read.

[Patty (IheartYA311) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gave me 5th Wave vibes. It started off very slow but became more interesting and complex once more characters were introduced. The character development, world building and writing were pretty good but the pacing was stagnant. I read this book as part of LiterALLy BOOKiSh's Genre Challenge.

[E.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was an interesting read with dynamic, memorable characters, I struggled with the believability of the ending.

Like, yes, wrapping up an apocalyptic story with a kiss is totally going to make everything work out. Somehow.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you seen the first episode of "The Walking Dead"? The one where Rick wakes up in the hospital bed and literally the entire world has disappeared, and he has to try to figure out what to do? Well this book is exactly like that, but instead of waking up to a world of zombies, Paige wakes up to a world of aliens.

Paige is a high school senior looking forward to a promising college basketball career. After practice one day, she falls ill and spends what turns out to be six days unconscious with this sickness. When she wakes up, she's attached to an empty IV bag, a house filled with her dead family members, and seemingly not a soul around. As she explores the remains of a destroyed society, she meets a few survivors -- Trey, another promising young athlete; Tanq, a grungy artistic girl; and most importantly, Emmaline, her neighbor's pup. As the team attempt to reunite with a small group of survivors nearby, they must face the terrifying reality of an early alien invasion.

(Have you seen "The Quiet Place"? The aliens are like those...things... in that movie. They are attracted to sound, unable to see.)

The most interesting part about this book for me, without spoiling anything, was learning about the motivation behind the antagonists and the human reactions to it. It made me wish that this book was at least turned into a duology because much of the book's progression getting there felt slow, and then it felt too quick at the end. The first half of the book is spent bopping around to places avoiding the aliens and figuring out what to do next when the future seems pointless. With little conflict besides the major conflict and small character conflict, it felt tough to keep reading at times.

What really didn't work for me was the surface level discussion of social and racial status that lingers from before everyone died. It felt too cursory and explanatory to be effective, and since it wasn't really the point of the book for me, I felt it was unnecessary. And I'm sure this is just my personal issue, but for some reason, whenever there is a protagonist whose main identity is athlete, I just find them two-dimensional and....annoying? I do appreciate that it was a convenient way for Paige to be able to do some non-teenager like physical stunts, but relying solely on this for her character development didn't engage me as an older reader. There were also some world building issues for me that didn't seem plausible. For example, at the beginning of the book, Paige meets a feral dog in the street after maybe a week of total destruction. It seems like it would take more than a few days for a domesticated dog to become completely feral, enough to risk her safety. There were other small details like this throughout that made it a little less immersive for me.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the read. It feels wrong to call this book a "light" read since there is a TON of gore, but it was a nice piece of escapism. Some readers may feel this is too similar or realistic to the world they live in now dealing with the pandemic, but for me this story fit into the tropes of the genre enough for me to have a predictable, interesting world that felt relatable but removed enough to be unrealistic still. I recommend reading this if you love a dystopian novel with some light romance, but not if you're feeling a bit concerned about our current global public health crisis.

[Krissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

SOME SPOILERS
I generally enjoyed this book and think the scenes with tension and danger were well done. I liked the descriptions of gore that I don't think were over done, but still enough to make me feel unsettled.
I was not a fan of the main white girl having a dead, black friend that she referenced like a minority sidekick that kept her in check.
The ace representation didn't work for me either b/c it was a very flippant "I don't like sex" comment which seemed a bit lazy.
I want to point out that the social and racial discussions did not bother me b/c I think(as others have said) "they have bigger things to worry about." I think those things would easily still come up a month into the apocalypse. They bothered me b/c they were surface level and seemed to be utilized to further the main white girl's moral character.
I would have given this book 4 stars if it wasn't for the very pointed comments about race over and over while still having the lead be a white, blond girl who's biggest conflict prior to the apocalypse was being tall

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so awesome! I finished it in less then 24 hours. I would have finished sooner but life…
I was at the edge of my seat for the whole thing. The characters are AMAZING and the atmosphere and setting are so realistic, I felt like I was experiencing this book.

[Brea Lanae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major spoilers in the very first paragraph, so don’t even start reading this review or think you’ll just take a glimpse if you aren’t prepared for that.


But hmm, I was kind of wishing the book stayed on course for a naturally occurring virus that killed off all human life on earth, not aliens with a hive mind and weird vaccination stuff that made you ultra visible to the aliens. It wasn’t bad and I AM glad it didn’t go the zombie route. .

I loved the strength of all of the characters, but they also felt a bit robotic in the sense that, your entire family just died like a week ago, so I need some deep grieving. More tears. More emotions. More anger. Give me something. I don’t expect them to just crumple up and die, but I dunno, I felt as if they moved on from that super quick. I mean, I understand that they HAD to in order to survive, but still, these events were traumatic and it just seemed like nobody truly showed any emotion to these events.

The pacing is kind of weird. Some chapters are like 5 pages, while others are 30-40+. I understand these were kind of diary entries, so more happened on some days while others had nothing much going on, but yeah.

I do wish the alien lore was explored more, but the book ended on a semi happy, but grim note, so there’s room for a sequel, so perhaps that’s why. Maybe the author wanted to leave room for the aliens background and world and whatever for another book.

There were some pretty cringey topics on race and whatnot in here, but pushing through that you will find an okay book.

There’s nothing in here that’s adding some brand new element for an apocalyptic book, like it was pretty standard, but it was a pretty decent read nonetheless. It was pretty enjoyable overall. I’d say about a 3.5/5.

[Laura Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paige Miller wakes up crusty, confused, and hungry. When she fell asleep six days ago, she had the flu. She also had a family, a basketball scholarship to UConn, and a promising future. In the intervening days everyone has died and crows are feasting on the dead. Paige is weak and terrified, but bravely sets about finding food, protection, and eventually other survivors. Soon she, her neighbor’s dog Emmaline, a Black former football star named Trey, and an asexual artist named Tanq are a team on their way to becoming a found family. There’s a twist, though: the apocalypse was engineered and aliens are hunting our teen survivors. Together the teens set out for a radio station where other survivors give a nightly live broadcast that promises answers if the survivors can get there safely.

I could not put this book down! The survival aspect combined with the sci-fi angle made for a very fun read. The alien revelation occurs fairly early in the book and the bulk of the action is dedicated to figuring out how to escape and fight back against the invasion. I also fell for all the characters: Paige and Trey start to fall for each other very early on in the book, but as a white girl Paige is concerned about whether she is fetishizing Trey by falling for him (she had a Black best friend who educated her on privilege and race). Her first person narration is revealing and realistic. Tanq’s fears about being forced to repopulate the world as a survivor who happens to be ace are an interesting angle, as well. Overall, this is a very entertaining book that will fly off the shelves!