Reviews with content warning for Pandemic/Epidemic - Die Berufene

Not sure how to feel about this book.

It had an extremely strong start, and the first half of the book was, in my opinion, an incredible show of craftsmanship. Each character voice was distinct, the prose was full of connecting strings and metaphors and callbacks, the imagery was fresh and solid, and the constant relations to mythology had me very excited for what came next. Carey is very good at writing children and it really added to Melanie's pov, and being in her head really drove the horror of what was happening home.

The second half was... disappointing. Not bad, but it felt like it was from another book entirely. There were a lot less Melanie POVS, which in my opinion was a huge loss for the book, as it completely changed the vibes of the story and took away the strongest thing about the narrative.
I'm far from a prude, but I also really really think the book could have benefited from less sexual content. There wasn't a lot of it, but going from the first half of the book being from a child's POV or focusing on a child to the second half of the book full of people constantly thinking about sex or masturbation or nudity was a big change in vibes and personally I was not for it. In addition, it got tiring very fast to jump from the POVs of the women characters, who were having genuine thoughts and worries and actions, to the POVs of the men who were both constantly thinking about how hot their coworker was and how much they wanted to have sex with her in detail. Why was it written like that? And from both of them? It got tiring very quickly. I can't believe we got less Melanie for that.

The ending felt... abrupt, and a little rushed. I definitely think that would have benefited from more Melanie chapters, too, so we could see her evolution and thought progress.

I was not a fan of the way the feral children were handled, and felt it undermined the themes of the book thus far a bit. Also, was not huge on the fact that apparently they just... left behind like 20 kids locked in an underground bunker, even though both Melanie and Helen allegedly cared about them. Not even one mention of them at the end? Come on.

Overall, despite the fact it's hard not to feel a little disappointed at the way it fell off in the second half, I enjoyed the book. If it had kept up like the first half the entire way through, it could have been my favorite book of all time. Alas, it'll have to settle for 'book I quite enjoyed.'

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unlivinh's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Dr. Caldwell and Ms. Justineau could’ve had earth-shattering toxic yuri romance but M.R. Carey is a coward

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juliawren's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Unique writing style - equally beautiful and childlike at times. It's so interesting to see a post apocalyptic world from the perspective of a child, even one like Melanie, and the author did a great job of showing that there's always a kind of hope to be found even in the darkest of times.

The plot slowed down significantly in the middle and required a bit of powering through, and parts of the ending felt a bit abrupt because of the difference in pacing, but I didn't mind that it wrapped up quickly, and it was satisfying both to have the mystery revealed and to have it fit so cleanly into the characters' arcs.

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simmonsj's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a zombie book, but unlike one I've read before. We follow mostly through Melanie's point of view, a kid who goes to school like most other kids except she's not like most other kids. And this isn't a school like other schools.

This is not an action packed book. It is more thoughtful and more literary than any other zombie book I've read. Lots of questions of humanity and science and how they intersect. Lots of pondering what the right thing to do is when confronted with humanity-altering scenarios. The plot starts off amazingly, giving us glimpses of this world mostly through Melanie's POV. We do also get POVs from a few other main/side characters to round out the world building and scope of the plot. Things start to slow down pretty quickly after a major event, and then the plot seems to wander without saying much. Hence the deduction of a star - I felt like not a lot happened in a long time. But again, this book wants to do something more than dole out action scenes. I really couldn't see how this could have a satisfying ending for 90% of the story, but at the very end we get a few scientific revelations that gave the ending a chance to make sense.

The writing feels more like literary fiction than a fantasy novel. Lots of poignant descriptions, metaphors, more flowery language for a dystopian novel than I would expect. Things are told in 3rd person throughout all POVs which took me out of an immersed experience and more like I was floating above watching it all happen. It worked well for this particular story. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Finty Williams, had a nice English tone that fit the story rather well.

Overall, a very interesting take on the zombie and dystopian genres. Very literary and introspective. Few action scenes, little bit of science, and an ending that made sense even if it took a while to get there. But if you want a lot of action with your survival and zombies, this may not be the book you are looking for.

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chriswaldron15's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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leligavi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I've tried for so long (since middle school, I think) to read this book and for some reason, I kept putting it down. However, I am SO glad I finally took the time to finish it. I really, really liked this book and I think that their makeshift team was brilliant. I love their character development as they get to know Melanie.

I CANT BELIEVE MY MAN GALLAGHER WENT OUT LIKE THAT. I was SCREAMING when he was getting chomped on and saying he didn't want to hurt them. LIKE MY MAN HAD TO GO OUT LIKE THAT? BUT MELANIE WAS SO CLOSE TO FINDING HIM! AND PARKS TOO MAN! HE WAS SO CLOSE, MELANIE ALMOST SAVED HIM BUT HE DIED TOO????? AND LIKE IN A REALLY FREAKING SAD WAY????? LIKE REALLY? I'M HEARTBROKEN. Honestly, a little underwhelmed by Helen surviving and being a teacher but like...the rest of the book just makes up for it.

But, all in all, I think we can all agree that Dr. Caldwell sucks.

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corin_134340's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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