WAYWARD - Chuck Wendig

Book Two?! This is the second book in a duology?!  I'm such a Chuck Wendig fan ... how did I miss the first book? Fortunately, I never felt like I was missing anything as relationships and circumstances felt well explained through the course of the book.

The story: Five years ago, many ordinary Americans fell victim to a strange affliction that caused them walk, zombie-like, to a destination that only they seemed to know. Others followed them, to protect them. They became known as 'shepherds.'

The secret destination was Ouray, Colorado and this town in the middle of the mountains would become one of the last bastions of civilization as the sleepwalking epidemic was only the first incident in what would be the end of the familiar world and the start of something new and very different.

Those gathered in Ouray - sleepwalkers, shepherds, and survivors alike - struggle to understand their new situation and form new relationships with the strangers around them. Trust in one another is something to be earned, but there may not be time for this as Ouray is not the only civilization oasis. Other locations and other individuals are gathering, including some with nothing but the acquisition of power in mind.

There may be an answer to what has happened, but it will mean a dangerous journey and there are no guarantees they'll find what they're looking for.

This is an absolute epic.  Stephen King did it with The Stand, and Justin Cronin did it with The Passage. Now Chuck Wendig has done it with The Wanderers (and this, the follow-up, Wayward) ... an apocalyptic, man-made (sort of) epidemic that vastly changes the landscape of the civilized world. And, just as I enjoyed King's and Cronin's works, I really liked Wendig's bleak future.

For me, one of the hallmarks of Wendig's writing is his absolute viciousness. He pulls no punches and aims for the jugular.  And that's his heroes. And by that standard, this book was just slightly subdued, with only his villain, the self-proclaimed new President of the United States, Ed Creel, striking out cruelly and viscously. 

The book offers a really nice balance of character and story. I believe you need to be invested in what happens and that usually starts with the characters and there's a core group here, although even among this small group a few rise up and the ultimate confrontation will center around them.

This is a powerful book and I'm really eager now to read the first book in the duology.

Looking for a good book? Wayward, by Chuck Wendig, is an apocalyptic epic by one of the best, raw, sci-fi authors out there today.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

 4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Wayward

author: Chuck Wendig

series: Wanderers #2

publisher: Del Rey Books

ISBN: 9780593158777

hardcover, 816 pages

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