Reviews

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman

Only show reviews with written explanations

ghostsymposium's review

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Now THAT’s how you write an apocalypse story - no skimping on the details!!! You want colorful carnage and unarousing sexuality? At points it almost tops over to “too on the nose”, but I think it keeps its footing and doesn’t wimp out on the ending. Avoids the trap it seems to be headed into of typifying right vs. left and nails the landing. Thanks clay!

Content Warnings

darkdahlia9's review

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I was made aware of the explicit dog death and I do not wish to finish at this time

Content Warnings

zekereadseverything's review

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dark tense medium-paced

3.0

constantreader_nic's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“So…like, how do you give an exorcism to the whole country?”

A conservative, Republican Zombie apocalypse?! This barely felt like satire this week. Gross, disturbing and timely.

xograyce's review

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

I enjoyed it. I liked the swap back and forth between the narrative and the events going on around the world via social media post. I listened to the audiobook so it might have been different if I actually read it.

I thought the ending fell a little flat. It feels like it just ended in the last 10 mins of the book. It didn’t feel like it wrapped everything up. I found myself thinking “wait, that’s it?” When I was finished. For that, I gave it a 3.75.

Unless I missed it, I wasn’t clear about what happened with the nephew. They brought up the whole “transfer the demon to the pig” thing within the last few chapters and then it seemed like it was going to happen… did the boy just become part of the pigs? I didn’t really feel closure on that part. And then Noah just appears at home… the book just felt like it was headed to a crescendo finish, but instead petered out. Kind of disappointed with how it ended based on how great the rest of the book was.