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96 reviews

Shawn

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Shawn’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (29)
currently-reading‎ (3)

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Shawn is Currently Reading

Shawn is currently reading

Carrier Wave

by Robert Brockway (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: favorites, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in February 2023

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Shawn said: " Man, I love this book. I don’t have much time for re-reads these days but I know that I’m going to want to read it again once the details fade from my memory.

Not exactly a novel, Carrier Wave is a series of zombie stories – even if the monsters aren Man, I love this book. I don’t have much time for re-reads these days but I know that I’m going to want to read it again once the details fade from my memory.

Not exactly a novel, Carrier Wave is a series of zombie stories – even if the monsters aren’t technically “zombies.” Each story is set in the same world and they eventually weave themselves together into a larger narrative.

It’s a terrifically creepy concept: A sound, an audio track, that makes people go crazy. Not just crazy but almost like they’re tools of an otherworldly, extra-dimensional force. They become “zombies”, although they’re closer to the infected from Garth Ennis’s Crossed, Vol. 1 than traditional undead – only without all of the ~~sexual assault~~ edginess. It’s a concept that I’ve seen done before – Cell, Pontypool and The Signal all come to mind – but I feel like I’ve never seen it executed this well. If you’re at all a fan of the genre, Carrier Wave might feel like familiar ground - at first. But if you’re a looking for a well-written collection of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories, I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy here.

The writing starts out a bit rough around the edges for the first chapter or two but it gets better in a hurry. By the time I got to “War Bastard”, I was completely hooked. Brockway probably won’t win many literary awards but I love his style of writing. It’s so descriptive and brutal.

Each story being mostly self-contained made me feel like I was bingeing a comic series more than reading a standalone novel but I absolutely flew through the 843 pages of the Kindle edition. It’s just so easy to finish one story and start the next. I was surprised by the sheer variety and depth to the stories: I cared about each group of characters and their individual plights. I kept expecting Brockway to run out of steam, for the next story to be some generic filler, but it never happened. Every story was fresh and intriguing, pushing the overall narrative forward.

If I have one complaint, it’s the exposition. Explanations are given and, while they are fascinating, I preferred the mystery of not knowing. The carrier wave and subsequent madness are so much scarier when the cause is unknowable and ineffable. But even though the explanations do diminish the horror, they craft a more engaging narrative: Mindless killings without purpose would have gotten old after a while.

I don’t know if this will be my book of the year but it’s one that I’m very glad I added to my collection. Robert Brockway is now on my list of instant-buy authors. ...more "

Sep 23, 2025 06:24AM · see review

Shawn is currently reading

This Virtual Night (Alien Shores #2)

by C.S. Friedman

bookshelves: currently-reading

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— Jul 02, 2025 06:30PM

Jul 02, 2025 06:30PM

Shawn is currently reading

Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia (Zoey Ashe, #3)

by Jason Pargin (Goodreads Author)

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Apr 02, 2024 06:52AM

Shawn’s Quotes

“Cats are assholes. I get it. But do you know why people like cats, despite their asshole-ness? It’s because they don’t fucking talk. If they did, and they were all like you, they’d all be extinct because we’d have killed you all by now.”
― Matt Dinniman, Dungeon Crawler Carl

80 likes

“You’re not a child,” said Will, gently. “I won’t treat you like one. You’re asking me if this was your fault because you want to know what emotion you’re supposed to be feeling right now. Are you supposed to be beating yourself up? Well, that’s the wrong question. The world doesn’t care about your emotions.” “So what question should I be asking?” “Whether or not you would do it differently next time. Everything that happens matters only in terms of what you can learn from it going forward.”
― David Wong, Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick

3 likes

“My necromancer and I always liked you...and hey, what’s like except a love that hasn’t been invited indoors?”
― Tamsyn Muir, Nona the Ninth

72 likes

“He felt a weight roll off him, the exquisite relief of canceled plans that extroverts will never know.”
― Jason Pargin, I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom

6 likes

“Knowing how you’re dumb is one of the most valuable kinds of smart there is.”
― Jason Pargin, I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom

1 likes

More of Shawn’s quotes…