The Stand is probably my very favorite Stephen King book so I grabbed Wanderers when the jacket plot sounded familiar. This is not The Stand rewritten. It is a very good story of it's own merit. Any type of story that spends the time to build each character and bring them together in an epic community to accomplish a goal...even though they did not know that's what they were doing in the first part...will give you an explosive ending that makes it worth the time you invest in their story. Chuck Wendig may have borrowed the popularity of the The Stand to catch a reader's interest, but he keeps it by writing one heck of a book.

I live my life by the phrase, “Mama didn’t raise a quitter, but she did raise a fool and that’s a terrible combination.” (It used to just be “Mama didn’t raise a quitter,” but then my dad used it against me when I was discussing quitting my job and now I have to use the long version.)

Anyways.

I tend to hang on to things long after they start being unhealthy for me. Let me point to my restaurant job, to my high school friendships, and other various habits as proof. And this never shows its head more than when I’m reading a book. I tend to force myself to finish a book, even if I don’t care for it, because I hate the idea of leaving something unfinished. It’s only recently that I realized that maybe it’s better for me – and everyone, really – if let myself put things down that I don’t want to finish.

I mean, yeah I have this site and a podcast, but no one’s holding a gun to my head. I’m not getting graded (except by that person that gave me one star on iTunes but I decided to just accept it and move on). My life doesn’t depend on finishing a book that I don’t want to finish.

So it was this thinking that lead me put down WANDERERS by Chuck Wendig, and label it DNF.


WANDERERS is a multi-POV novel about an epidemic of sleepwalkers, the shepherds that guard and protect them, and the charged political climate that surrounds them all. Very much inspired by THE STAND by Stephen King (and, in my opinion THE FIREMAN by Joe Hill), the sleepwalkers spark mystery and controversy by the fact that they don’t need to eat or drink, their skin can’t be pierced, and if they’re stopped they explode.

Yeah. Wholeass. They explode.

So I know what you’re wondering: why didn’t I finish it? I can tell you what happens in the first half of this behemoth of a book, but why would I stop there?

Well. It’s a bit of a story.

Y’all know that I’m nonbinary and hella queer. It’s all over my Twitter, I have a pronoun sticker I’m gonna stick to my Podcast Movement badge, any Picrew images I make heavily feature the nonbinary pride colors. I don’t make it a secret online. But in real life?

I can count one occasion that people used my pronouns, and that was Worldcon San Jose. Even in my mall job when I brought it up, no one used my pronouns. And it’s okay. It’s not the kick in the chest that it could be, and with living in a red state, I’m always a little on edge to share that anyways.

But now I run(ish) the Twitter account for work. And we follow a lot of right-wing conservative people. People who, if they met me in real life, would want to do me harm. And because I represent my company on this account, I can’t do anything. Can’t unfollow them, can’t block them, can’t even really take a stance on anything. Which is, y’know. How things just be, I suppose.

But it just means that for a good chunk of my day, I’m surrounded by this immense sense of discomfort and fear. And the last thing I want to see when I sit down for some me-time is more of the same shit.

This book features POVs and characters that take us deep, deep into the world of extreme conservatism. It’s always framed as bad, the narrative condemns it every single time it comes up, but it’s scary and exhausting to be confronted by my real life problems when I’m trying to escape them in fiction. And as we get deeper to the white supremacy – the gun hoarding, the swastikas, the shooting, the overdose scene, the rape scene – there was nothing in the narrative to energize me to move forward. Even the scenes that didn’t feature these elements were heavy. Its mimicry of our real life politics, of our real life situation, makes it a poignant and relatable read. But it’s just too much for me, guys.

I know that the world isn’t going to bend to my whims and treat me 100% perfectly, 100% of the time. I know this, I’m acutely aware of this at every moment of every day. I have to live with and deal with a world that constantly sees me as Other, that wants to pick apart my identity and find some faulty bit they can use as a “gotcha” and tell me I’m lying, or doing this for attention, or just trying to make people upset. But it’s one thing to be confronted with that in real life, and another thing to be confronted with that in fiction.

Listen. Listen. I’m not saying Chuck Wendig is a bad writer. Far from it – if anything, Chuck is one of the few people that I trust to write this. He’s a very outspoken dude on Twitter about hating the way our country currently works, and I’m not like, saying he’s secretly a white supremacist. He’s got a masterful sense of prose, he doesn’t shy away from the darker shit, and he writes with a passion that outshines the goddamn sun. I admire him as a writer, and hope that one day I can write with even a fraction of that passion, an atom of that fearlessness.

But he wrote a book that’s just . . . too real for me to deal with right now.

Maybe one day I can come back and finish this book. One day, when I’m in my own home and not shoved in a closet, when I’ve got a support system, when I’ve got real life people who use my pronouns and don’t question it, my own existence will energize me enough to read the ending of this story. But for now, when I am exhausted and holding myself together with packing tape and spite? I have to step back. I have to, and I won’t apologize for it despite every ounce of trauma in my body demanding that I should.

I enjoyed the invocation of Stephen King, and I love that it stands as a new contender with THE STAND and THE FIREMAN in the spec fiction camp of pandemic fiction. (I’ve mentioned before that THE STAND is one of my favorite summer books to read, so I’m always down for pandemic fiction.) I enjoyed the resident AI, Black Swan, and at some point I’d love to sit down and analyze the fuck out of it as I’m known to do with AI characters. But for now?

You gotta know when to fold ’em, gang. And it’s time for me to fold.

You may not have the same problems as me, and if you’re down with it I’d really suggest that you read this book. Like I said, it’s a good snapshot of today’s worldstate, and I have hope that things get better in the novel at some point. Just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it’s not for you.

And if you can trust anyone with these topics, with handling this the way it needs to be handled, it’s Chuck Wendig.
-
Check out the podcast episode GOTTA KNOW WHEN TO FOLD 'EM, out now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

I had to write my review, and I am only half way through Wanderers!! Chuck Wendig has written an incredible book, along the Stephen King genre, (in fact, Stephen King, would, I think, love this book!). I’m so in awe of it, I couldn’t wait to review it. It is awesome, incredible, and I am unable to put it down. Mr. Wendig has an eye for the most interesting smallest detail. It’s a long book, even better, because this is a story that I’m reading on the edge of my seat, and I don’t want it to end! But, I’ll read ceaselessly to see how he resolves this fascinating and indelible book. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing. I AM A FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Side note... Mr Wendig has everything in this book, from fungi to rockstars...it’s a great thrilling ride💥💥💥💥 Well, I finally finished it! WHEW! I must say it was exhausting, but really really good. This novel is so closely connected to our political times in the US right now, that some of the story (when it comes to Stover and the hateful, mean and corrupt ARM), could actually happen. Frightening and furious, the violence and evil could be real. But, I'm glad to report that there is somewhat of a good ending, well, an ending, nevertheless...that makes you think, OH NO!
So, Mr. Wendig, is there a sequel to this, so we find out what happened to Shana and her baby?

I was unaware that this book was going to be 270,000 words long when I requested, and I think I finally need to admit there's no way I'm going to be able to finish it any time soon. But as many others have noted the setup does have a lot in common with The Stand, so if that's your kind of thing and you're looking for a long beach read to help you pass the hours this summer, give this one a try!

It seems as if you’ll either love it or be disappointed in it. I really enjoyed my time reading The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. It’s a part road trip, part mystery, part sci-fi, part apocalyptic novel and although there are a few places that lag, I enjoyed my journey. It’s comparable to my beloved The Stand, but stands (haha) on its own.

While Wanderers has and will continue to garner comparisons to Stephen King's The Stand, it is almost unfair to do so. Yes, they both involve a mysterious illness, and they both have a group of people traveling across the country. One might even be able to argue that both have a battle between good and evil. However, one is more metaphysical, and the other is a bit more couched in reality. Both are excellent novels in their own right.

Wanderers is an exciting and frightening story that involves everything from religious extremism, racial hatred, computer sentience, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, climate change, and overpopulation. Its character arcs are fantastic, allowing for the natural growth that comes with maturity and a greater understanding of the immediate situation and of the larger picture. Even with its religious elements, it never feels preachy. Plus, even though it clocks in at over 800 pages, it doesn't feel as long as that as it engages all of your senses. Wanderers is simply a great but chilling warning about your current decisions and their lasting impact.

A unique perspective on what can happen when a deadly illness crosses species. What would happen? Where will family devotion end and how will the outside world cope? Add in a super computer that has been taught to think and you have the wanderes

My experience with Wanderers was an interesting one. I was absolutely hooked when I started reading it. Chuck Wendig is a great writer!

Wanderers has everything: a large cast, an apocalyptic disease, a broad setting, artificial intelligence... I was here for it! The only problem is it was so epic for so long that I never really connected with anyone. I hit a wall when I got to 80%. Normally this would be something I could overcome, but Wanderers weighs in at 800 pages. I started making excuses: it's summer, I'm reading it on the Kindle, etc. By the time I got to 95%, though, I knew it wasn't me. As epic as Wanderers was, it didn't matter to me the ultimate fate of anyone. I would have felt the exact same way no matter what the outcome was.

I feel like most people won't have the problem that I did. Wanderers is really great on a lot of levels, I just personally never connected with it.

This book sounded so interesting and the genre is right up my alley so of course I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, it was a DNF. I read about halfway through before I finally gave up. It was slow and just kept going and going.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
It all starts one morning when Shana discovers her younger sister, Nessie, is missing. She finds her wandering in a trance like state, unresponsive to anything she does. Nessie is soon joined by more and more "sleepwalkers". If anyone tries to stop them, they literally explode. Shana and the family members of the other walkers decide to follow them to keep them safe and become known as "shepherds". Meanwhile, a new disease starts sweeping the country. Nicknamed "white face" for the advanced stage where the victims face is coated with the white fungus, there appears to be no cure. The only ones safe from this disease are the sleepwalkers. As fear and tensions rise, the walkers and shepherds are blamed for causing the disease and, as government and civilization start to deteriorate, new powers rise up determined to destroy the walkers.
This is a long book with most of the action in the last third of the story. I feel like it could have been a little shorter, but the building of the background story of Benji and the CDC and the creation of the AI program Black Swan was important. I think it's terrifying that this computer took over in making decisions that so dramatically impacted the whole human race.

I’m generally rooting for the end of humanity most days anymore, but if the apocalypse is gonna involve this much walking then I’ll be pretty angry about it because I’d much rather sit on my ass while the asteroid hits or the nukes fly or the zombies start gnawing on me.

A small group of people in rural Pennsylvania start walking in a trance like state one day. They can’t be snapped out of it, needles for sedatives won’t penetrate their skin, and if you try to physically stop one of them things get awfully messy. They don’t need food or water, and they absolutely will not stop. As they move across the country more and more people start joining them.

The public gets increasingly freaked out by these walkers, and a variety of people get pulled into the situation. A tough teenager frantically tries to take care of her younger sister who was the first to start walking. A former CDC doctor who trashed his career for a noble lie tries to learn the cause of the sleepwalking. An aging rock star runs away from his messy life to join the people shepherding the walkers. A preacher begins publicly painting the walkers as harbingers of the apocalypse, and he’s handsomely rewarded for his efforts by a pack of right wing conspiracy theorists who are backing a lying sack of shit for president. Behind it all is a secret that is either the salvation of humanity or its dooooooomm!!

I’ve got mixed very feelings on this one. There’s a lot of stuff I liked, particularly some of the core idea of what’s behind the sleepwalkers once it all gets revealed. There was a pretty cool and clever story to all of that. Wendig also has a readable style that keeps you turning pages, and he’s built up an intriguing scenario here that really held my interest for the first couple of hundred pages. But then the problems started creeping in.

First off, this is way too long. I’m glad I got an e-copy because it’s gotta be a real kitten squisher in print form. And it just doesn’t seem that necessary. There are big swaths of the story where not that much happens. Yeah, some of that was trying to develop characters, but it really doesn’t matter though because for the most part these people are still exactly who I thought they were the entire time. Unfortunately, that means that they’re all jerks or pushovers from start to finish.

Even the ones you’re supposed to sympathize with the most I found irritating and weak. Shana, the older sister of one of the first walkers, is supposed to the tough teenager with a chip on her shoulder, but it all seems like posturing because all she ever really does is be snarky to people. Benjy, the disgraced CDC doctor, should be our hero, but he seems so naïve, helpless, and completely overwhelmed at all times that there’s nothing there to root for. And some of that would make sense in a book like this where people would feel insignificant when faced with something like this, but the structure of the scenario leaves them so little to actually do that they feel completely pointless.

In fact, this entire novel is incredibly passive, and the people in it really don’t matter that much at the end of the day. There’s a few minor things they try to accomplish here and there, but usually they even screw that up. You could take every single other character out of this book and just make it about the sleepwalkers while eventually revealing what’s behind them, and the entire story pretty much ends up exactly where it eventually does. I also didn’t care for what seems like a sequel set up in the end. I’m not sure if that’s the case, but Wendig left plenty of room to return. I’d be more interested in that if I thought that any characters in the book might actually be able to impact the story.

Overall, I didn’t hate this one, but the potential it had early on seems to just fade away as the book goes on and on.

In this sci-fi, apocalyptic novel, Chuck Wendig builds on current trends to come up with a horrifying scenario that is mostly all too plausible. There's climate change and its results, the rise of white nationalism and its ties to the "Christian" right, militias, technology, religion. And what a plot! Increasing numbers of people become "sleepwalkers": automatons all walking endlessly toward some unknown destination. Is it a disease? A terrorist attack of some sort? The CDC is there, trying to figure out what is going on and protect those affected in the meantime. Some are just trying to take advantage of society's gradual descent into chaos. Others are just trying to survive.

Excellent character building. Scary to think what nature can do and even scarier to think what humans can do!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving an opportunity to review such a cool book in exchange for my open and honest review.

""Wanderers is a work of fiction,” reads the edition notice at the start of Chuck Wendig’s new novel. “Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.”

"As boilerplate legal disclaimers go, okay! Sure! Except with Wanderers, it’s... kind of a lie? The good kind of lie. A lie that, like Wanderers, brings truth into the light. - Portland mercury(Hometown newspaper)" It is a grabby thing to say, a good lie. Chuck Wendig is digging in his heels and drawing in some whopping lies, the parallels are too great between some of the main background characters, the characters that shape world events to be coincidental. I don't mind these kinds of lies, especially right now because they buzz and resonate so hard with people living in this world. It makes the reactions of the characters all the more visceral and real. 

One morning in Maker's Bell Pennsylvania on June 3rd, Shana stood looking at her little sister's empty bed and her first thought was: Nessie ran away again. This little sister is gone, having left the farm on an outing with nothing on but a dress. She is sleepwalking or as she becomes known, a walker. She begins the long walk. Nothing can deter her. Shana is not far behind. As the days pass, the group grows. They pick up walkers, and shepherds (people who help take care of their flock of walking friends and family). The whole time American and the whole world is split on what type of creature these walkers are. Are they aliens, science experiments, do they carry disease. Whatever they are the right-wing side Kreel (trump) can agree that there is something unholy about them and they should be stopped. Kreel goes to rallies and muckrakes against the sitting president Hunt(Clinton). How she is not doing anything fast enough and putting our children at risk. It would be perverse if it wasn't so plausible. All of the political machinations of the two-party system tear each other apart and turn to civil war in the background of the story. 

In the foreground of the story we have a few intersections of some very well thought out and interesting characters. First thing I notice about this story is that it doesn't feel like there are any protagonists, either that or everyone is a protagonist. No one truly is a hero. This seems like it would be wrong, but it is a very long very well thought out story. Everyone develops in one way or another. There is so much change.  

Except maybe Marcey. She kicked all ass all of the time. 

Secondly, the characters are written very well. You will like them, you want them to live. Especially Benji, Aram, and Pete. They probably will not. I tell you this as one reader to another. This author is not kind to his characters in this book. This book is The Stand meets Nevil Shutes On The Beach with some Techno-Thriller Johnny Mnemonic stuff that is impossible to explain without spoilers. Half the time I had no idea where the hell the story was going. I said, "huh" more times than I could count. 

The pacing was a real issue for me. The book was so well written chapter for the chapter but it lacked the oomph. The zing chapter to chapter that sped you along. It was slow for the first half of the book till around the 48% mark and it started to pick up the pace dramatically. To Wendig's credit, he had a bit of a magnum opus in this book. It is a symphony of parts that must come together in a crashing sforzando on the last page. And, most importantly of all, there is hope. I didn't see it through the weeds most of the book. But it's shining light would stick out now and again. There is hope, that most magnificent of human emotion that leads us through tragedy. Especially something on a scale such as this. 

I would absolutely recommend this as a must-read. I have never encountered a Wendig book that I was not fond of, this included. The reader should be aware of the exciting and interesting, heart busting, soul-crushing time they are in for. But remember the hope.

Propulsive thriller of a timely read, just in time for anyone looking for a good vacation book. I dug the science and the clever use of social media, and Chuck's gift for characters really drew me in.

Warning, before you begin this monster of a book: there is no conclusive, all-the-ribbons-wrapped-up ending. If this is a problem for you, save yourself the time and grief of reading the 800 pages to get there.

Or read them anyway, because Wendig's writing is so good you shouldn't pass it up even if you end up angry at him.

If you don't mind a little ambiguity, this is the apocalyptic book you've been waiting for. "Wanderers" gets compared a lot to Stephen King's "The Stand" but I thought it owed more in style to the classic Niven-Pournelle world-ending books.

Teenage Shana wakes up to find her sister Nessa has walked off. Is still walking, in fact, apparently in a trance and oblivious to everything around her. When Shana and their father try to physically stop her she begins having a violent seizure, so they reluctantly let her go and follow along. Then she's joined by another walker. And another. And another...

No one can tell why the Walkers walk, what keeps them alive since they're not eating, or why walking 24/7 doesn't seem to damage them, but they do find out what happens when you stop one completely, as one police officer does. It's not pretty. Or survivable.

The story follows the flock of Walkers, the loved ones who trail along behind and among them to try to get them safer and maybe somewhat clean, the media that tags along, the frightened populace, the opportunistic Christian extremists-slash-white supremacists, a mysterious articificial intelligence, and the CDC crew that's trying to solve this mystery and then a much worse one that threatens the rest of the world. Sometimes it's funny. Sometime's it's terrifying. Sometimes it's a bit of both.

"Wanderers" is a wild ride but it's a slow one, building carefully up so that when the real horrors begin things can take off. Some of the mysterious parts of the book aren't revealed until nearly 400 pages in.

Along the way Wendig touches on pop culture, our political situation, sexism, racism, anti-sciency ideology, xenophobia, and, of yes, the possible extinction of humanity.

Such a creepy, creepy, compelling, can't -put-it-down tale that became a scientific blur and horrific thriller.
Started quietly and ended with a roar. Weird. Therefore, I liked it

A friend described this book as “the stand meets station eleven meets the water knife and american war,” and I was sold. That’s an accurate description, both of the novel and of one of my favorite genres (sub-genres?). Wanderers is long but reads quickly, and left me thinking back over all the different twists and turns for quite a while after I finished.

Oh man, is this epic. Reminiscent of an '80s SFF novel (think The Strand) this tome follows the people caught up in the phenomenon--wanderers as they seem to "sleepwalk" to an unknown destination. I loved the multiple POVs and the scope of this book as the consequences of the phenomenon have widespread effects. I was so impressed with the way Wendig manages to suck you in to the story, as it switched from various characters. I can't wait to read more of Wendig's work--after working on his Miriam Black series, I've been a huge fan and this solidified him as an author I will always need to read!

4.5 stars

This book terrified me. Not in the way a twisty thriller would. Wanderers isn’t a psychological thriller. It’s not horror, even though it is horrifying. It’s not a mystery, even though there is the mystery of the walkers. That mystery takes up the first part of Wanderers. And yes, you do find out what caused their zombie-like walking. (No, they aren’t zombies a la The Walking Dead.)
.
No, the real terror here is the reaction to the walkers. How would this country react if something like this actually happened? Right now. Ponder on that for a minute.
.
This is the epic, post-apocalyptic novel I’ve waited to read. Wanderers lived up to my hype for it and then some. In reviews, it has been compared to Stephen King’s The Stand. I read The Stand many years and it solidified my love for King and for post-apocalyptic fiction. The Stand is even reference in Wanderers. What makes Wanderers different is that it felt like something that could really happen. Not just with the reason that the walkers exist. But in the reaction to them. The modern-day reaction. This is an epic for today’s world, today’s America. It’s frightening. What would the collapse of our society look like in 2019?
.
For all that is terrifying in Wanderers, it also has wonderful characters and heart. There are the shepherds, those who follow the walkers, (the flock). People like Shana Stewart, who refuses to leave her sister, Nessie, the first walker. Benjamin Ray, a doctor who worked for the CDC, who is trying to figure out the mystery of the malady that affected the walkers. There is Matthew Bird, a pastor who falls down the rabbit hole and into the violence, racism and xenophobia of white supremacists. There is Marcy, an ex-cop with a traumatic brain injury, who joins up with the shepherds to protect the flock. She is one of my favorite characters.
.
Word of warning: this book gets into political themes, religious themes. What happens when a society denies science and climate change? There is violence and rape. Racism, guns. Violent political divisions. Yes, this book is long. Yes, it can be slow at times. I wasn’t in love with the ending. Doesn’t matter though. I loved Wanderers. I want to thank NetGalley and DelRey Publishing for my copy. All opinions are my own.

The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig was INCREDIBLE. It was my first time reading this author and I can see why he has the devoted fan base that he does. His writing style is gripping, immersive, and fast-paced, while also feeling natural and organic. The characters are well-developed without feeling like he's developing them, and as the point of view changes through out the book, the writing style shifts subtley to reflect the character's viewpoint.

The book itself is intense and riveting. I had to take several breaks because the relevance to current events was haunting and a bit terrifying. The breadth and depth of topics touched-on and explored in the book was impressive, all while making it feel natural and organic. The plot was exciting, frightening, and intense, without any lulls, boring parts, or unnecessary scenes or discussions.

Highly, highly recommended!