Blurb; A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival.
Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.
For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.
My Review; Where do I start? Now usually books over 400 pages scare me. So this being 800 pages long terrified me and not to mention hurt my hands to hold. However, I split it up over three days and some late nights (270 pages roughly a day) and it was absolutely brilliant. Not something that I would usually read or pick up but glad that I did.
I haven’t read anything similar to this before so I found it very interesting and intriguing which kept me turning those pages. Don’t expect to race through this book cause you can’t, it’s too long! I would love to see this turned into a film or tv series. I did find I had to concentrate more while reading this book to understand some of the science and abbreviations within.
However, I’m not complaining. It was a pleasure to read this book, something different, thought proving and eye opening. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am very impressed. It also has a beautiful cover. You can tell the author has put a lot of time and research into producing this book for us readers.
I don’t have much to say about the actual plot of the story as there is a lot going on throughout so it would be impossible to highlight it all. However, Shana deserves a mention for sticking by her sister, loved her character. A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. If you have the time please give this one a read.
Between The Pages Book Club 