I have read Chuck Wendig's Miriam Black series but none of his other work. I could not put this down even though I wanted to. I needed to know what happened. I had a few qualms- Shana one of the main protagonists is 17 going on 18 and is romantically involved with a 25 year old. While the age difference is discussed and there is an acknowledgement of how this should not be encouraged I found did it slightly annoying, but not a deal breaker. I know that she needed to be young and he was a "young" 25 so I can set that aside. I wanted to put this book down because I needed an escape from our current political and social problems- but this was very much a book of "now." I would recommend it.

Pretty solid apocolyptic novel. Overall, it was good, though some parts lagged, but the ending was great! Worth reading just for the ending!

Chuck Wendig takes elements from The Stand and The Long Walk and blends them with a brain-eating fungus, a sentient predictive AI, a little nanotechnology, a weak-willed preacher, and some militia jerks who want to shoot people because it’s America after all, and writes one hell of an apocalyptic novel. This was a fast read that I had a hard time putting down.

One of the best books I've read in the last few years! It does an great job of being both sci-fi/dystopian and staying remarkably grounded in the real world with a lot of things seemingly in the lens of current American political events.. I personally loved the story, which gets pretty complicated and contains quite a few twists and turns along the way. The dialog is also a real highlight, as the book switches between multiple points of view and each character is given a well defined and unique voice.

Without spoiling anything, the plot of the book revolves around people who are sleepwalking, and cannot be stopped or awoken along with their families and friends who accompany them on their journey as "shepherds" and the CDC personnel trying to figure out what is causing this phenomenon as well as how to cure / contain it.. Things escalate from there.

It is a relatively long book, but it was very easy to get into with short chapters and a lot going on to keep you interested. I plowed through the 800ish pages in about a week including a few late nights of "just one more chapter" before bed (always the sign of a good book in my opinion).

This was the first Chuck Wendig book I read, but it's not going to be the last.

Completely unlike his previous books, this epic is a first purchase for general fiction collections and high school collections serving readers who aren't afraid of long books.

A comet sears the sky. Sleepwalkers begin an unstoppable journey across the country. An artificial intelligence seeks out a disgraced CDC doctor. And in Texas, a colony of startled bats sets off a chain of events that will threaten civilization as we know it.

One morning, Shana Stewart goes to wake her younger sister Nessie, only to find that she’s walking barefoot through the town, unwavering and unresponsive. Before they reach the highway, Nessie is joined by others, shuffling west with the same empty determination. A police officer attempts to detain one of the walkers, with gruesome results.

So the flock grows, gathering more sleepwalkers and more “shepherds” who walk with them—and more attention every day. The embattled president doesn’t know what to do, and her populist challenger’s solution is a decisive application of violence. Meanwhile, podcasts and news stations and conspiracy theorists run wild with ideas of what the walkers are: demons, zombies, angels, the result of a terrorist attack or terrorists themselves. Some are ready to take matters into their own hands.

Meanwhile, an epidemic is growing. A long-incubating disease has been discovered—but too late. Its spread may well be unstoppable, but Doctor Benjamin Ray, with the help of an artificial intelligence called Black Swan, isn’t prepared to give up on humanity just yet.

With a huge cast and a post-apocalyptic cross-country journey, Wanderers owes an obvious debt to The Stand—and revels in it. This is The Stand in a world rife with social media, populism, and radicalization, and each of those things changes the way that the world falls apart. The day-after-tomorrow nearness of the setting makes readers look askance at the current headlines, wondering just how close the world really is to a disaster like this.

And Wendig keeps up the tension for a full 800 pages. Even after the story’s climactic moment, there are questions left unanswered all the way to the last page, leading readers to wonder—after the world ends, what comes next?

Highly recommended for fans of horror, suspense, and apocalyptic fiction.

Wow. Chuck Wendig manages to wend a tale of climate disaster, AI, and radical white supremacy into a beautiful story of love, survival, and hope.

A fascinating, unique journey through a near future scenario that chilled me to the bone. I stayed up WAY past my bedtime to finish this one. Will enjoy passing the story along to library patrons.

The Wanderers Review

I read The Wonderers, a new novel by the multitalented Chuck Wendig courtesy of Net Galley. They sent me the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Given the author's reputation and my previous encounters with Wendig's books, I had high hopes. I continued to be excited by the book through the first two chapters. A young girl wakes up to discover her sister is missing. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. Where is she walking to, no one knows but soon others join her. Many others. They walk and walk, not stopping whatever the obstacle. Intriguing, mysterious and compelling. To a point. The group's journey drags on for some 400 pages, and I do mean 'drag.' There are some interesting moments with white supremacists, politicians and others, but as the novel slowly works its way to an environmental armageddon, it gets caught up in computer gobblygook, mysticism and just way too many plotlines and characters to keep track of . Unless you are a diehard 'end of the world as we know it' fan, you may find yourself getting bored by the first 100 pages.

Shana believes her sister Nessie has run away when she sees her marching from their farm to the road in a comatose state. Nessie can’t communicate, only stares straight ahead and when Shana attempts to physically stop her, Nessie’s temperature rises to a boiling point and she starts shaking. As soon as Shana lets go, Nessie continues to march. Along the road other “sleepwalkers” join Nessie until they’ve become quite a flock, and family members who walk beside to protect them are their shepards. In the meantime cave bats are disturbed because of illegal construction and as they fly out they bite those nearest to them. Within two months the bitten become very ill, with dementia, and develop strange fungus growing on them. The disease is highly contagious and leads to a world wide pandemic that can’t be stopped.
There is so much going on in this novel, so many sub plots, such as right wing and left wing politicians, and the type of people who support the right wing, as well as the many back stories of the main characters. Most of the plot could happen today and is believable, and some portions of the story are truly sci-fi.
An enjoyable read that goes on for too long and I think the plot could be tightened , and its a little too graphic for me at times.