I'm grateful for NetGalley allowing me to preview WANDERERS by Chuck Wendig. I know one isn't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I will be honest. As soon as I saw the cover, I wanted to know more. I wish I could note the artist or designer, but it's not given on NetGalley or the Amazon listing.

I'm so far behind on my Wendig reading, because I've honestly been trying to keep my TBR list to women and marginalized voices. I make a couple of exceptions during each year. I'm so overwhelmed that WANDERERS landed in my lap. It is 800 pages which I did not realize when I started. I wondered why my Kindle percent gauge wasn't going up after several hours of reading. That's fantastic news for those of you who love to be so immersed in a robust world that you'll get to know everything about it.

WANDERERS could be considered five books in one.

The characters are remarkable and memorable. It's a diverse cast set in a world that succumbs to a plague known as White Mask, which then leads to a political coup by white supremacists. There's no allegory here. We're living this shit now and you're fool if you haven't noticed.

The five distinct stories are: Shana Stewart (includes her sister Nessie, her father Charlie, and her mother Daria); Doctor Benji Ray (with all of the associates from the CDC and private companies on the science end like Arav, Cassie, and Sadie); Marcy Reyes (she's all on her own though she becomes welcomed to the group); Pete Corley (infamous punk rocker past his due date with his lover Landry and band mates); and finally Pastor Matthew Bird (tied to his wife Autumn, son Bo, and then the right-wing militia and zealots).

Nessie Stewart: She said to Shana one day, I heard that if you complain it reprograms your brain like a computer virus and it just makes you more and more unhappy, so I'm going to stay positive because I bet the opposite is true, too."

(I had to include that quote because, like a lot of Wanderers, there is science which backs some of it up. While I -- a severe depression sufferer -- don't believe you can choose happiness, there definitely is proof of neuroplasticity -- the ability for the brain to find the paths most taken like an interstate rather than a dirt road.)

The ball immediately gets rolling as Nessie walks out of her house, unresponsive and apparently sleepwalking. We learn it's not really sleepwalking, but even the characters use the term throughout by choice. Shana realizes she can't redirect Nessie back home and stays with her to make sure she's safe. As their walk progresses and gets weirder, more and more sleepwalkers show up until there's a flock of 1,024 people plus their "shepherds" the loved ones who stick by protecting them.

As something this wild goes on, there's speculation from all kinds of sides: are they dead/zombies? are they terrorist bioweapons being controlled by enemies? are they sick? are they Satan's pilgrims? are they angels?
All valid questions for the most part and it takes a long time to get the full answer.

I love the ethnic diversity of the main speaking characters. What becomes part of the global mystery is why the flock of sleepwalkers itself is so diverse. They fall into some criteria: must be above average intelligence and in health; their ethnic breakdown seems to reflect the demographics of the United States.

Of the characters, even though I found Shana Stewart a believable and lifelike 18-year-old and Benji Ray, a complicated scientist who has spent his life saving the world a number of times, it's this other character Marcy Reyes that I truly fell for. Marcy is an ex-cop who becomes disabled after a brutal beating by a perp. Her life sucks when we meet her. Then the growing flock of sleepwalkers head down her street and it changes Marcy's life. Following her along with the walkers, the good guys, and the bad guys is a definitely a B-story that I wanted to keep reading.

** Here's where I get "sensitive" and put up Trigger Warnings **
Pastor Matthew Bird vs. Ozark Stover:

I've taken many deep breaths to clear my thoughts and figure out exactly what I want to express about this part of the book. Though both characters here, Matthew and Ozark, are essential to the grander scope, I believe a huge bulk of their arc could have been managed through short summaries. Each chapter already begins with a variety of blurbs from quotes by podcasters, news reports, and tumblr entries.
Select text to reveal.

I genuinely think the horrific graphic nature of the male/male rape and all the white supremacy could have been of the same value if handled differently.

Readers know what today's Nazis are like. They know about militias like those assholes who laid siege at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon and declared it their territory free from the US law.
The play by play details of Ozark's group -- which later merges with a bunch of other militia Nazis and becomes known as ARM -- wasn't that necessary. Readers are smart. They can be told periodic updates about how many tanks and guns and RPGs some asshole has on his ranch. I'm not sure they need to smell the gun oil and powder after a target practice party (among other much worse things).

I even made a digital note in chapter 66 that I was sick of the pastor's story and don't care about him or damn family at all anymore. Pastor Matthew does seek redemption which is a fine for his character development, but I was so over him. I just didn't care.

** Different Content Note **
Mental Health Issues

Personally, I think Wendig did a great job handling the mental illnesses of both Autumn Bird and Daria Stewart who suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts.

Daria also had addiction problems and inconsistent drug therapies that made her whole situation unique. Autumn, meanwhile, was married to the pastor who felt she could pray away the pain if she just gave more of herself to the Lord. Autumn's recovery is bit more unbelievable, but not impossible. When the whole world is ending and everyone is suffering -- there's nothing clinical about Autumn's depression anymore. People are ending their lives as the plague drives them to insanity or through mistakes like Alzheimer's patients (example, a pilot forgetting he's flying a plane and just exits).

I wanted to mention their plights here because it does come up and it could be triggering. Daria goes about her day in a supermarket and gets whammed with those feelings of depression, suicide, and paranoia. She ends up hiding behind a machine and hoping no one sees her crouched down there. It was visceral.
My only criticism here is that both characters were women and suffering from the same symptoms. As far as I could tell, both straight white women too. With such a great cast of characters and a story line where people are taking their lives because the White Mask plague is unbearable, I think two depressed white women felt like a missed opportunity in some way. I could be wrong about Daria's ethnicity because I don't think it's ever specified. With Pastor Bird's family getting under the thumb of the white supremacists, I assume Autumn was white or she would not have been a welcomed guest at Ozark's estate.

The Wanderers World

I referred to the environment as robust and I wasn't exaggerating. The sleepwalkers travel around the entire country with their shepherds (and news crews). Even with an uncorrected proof, I have a ton of passages highlighted because I appreciate the artistic descriptions of what it was like walking into small towns where the people held signs of hate speech, the feeling of going a month without a shower, or the orgasmic satisfaction of having the first cup of coffee in nearly a year.

"This man was an enemy of the angels -- that's what they were, Marcy realized that now in an epiphany that felt to her mind like the warm tickling waters of a bubble bath, they were angels --"

I've made it this far and haven't actually mentioned the antagonist. Black Swan. It's the machine intelligence which, as all scifi computer-centric fiction warns us, is too damn dangerous to exist. Shana doesn't trust Black Swan from the beginning. Benji is leery, but then he's the one who grows to have a relationship with it. There's even a period where Black Swan won't speak to Sadie, its lead programmer, but it will only speak to Benji.

Before the White Mask illness is even discovered, Black Swan had events in motion with human beings. Meanwhile, there's also an oh-so-familiar presidential race going on with the female incumbent President Hunt -- who is naturally called Hunt the Cunt by her opponents because they're not particularly smart nor creative -- versus right-wing, faux Christian, war monger, white supremacist Ed Creel. Creel uses people like Pastor Matthew Bird to spread the fake news and conspiracy theories that the flock of sleepwalkers are an imminent danger to the country.

Wendig holds no bars when it comes to making a novel that is based completely on ethical principles and politics. There are so many bits of factual trivia in Wanderers. The whole plague, White Mask, is based on the unfortunately real white nose fungus which obliterated the little brown population of the country and kills millions of them. The presidential race could give you flashbacks to 2016 and if you stayed up all night on that fateful day like I did then spent a week crying, the politics in Wanderers will feel familiar.

'Weeks before that, he threw at her a series of eyeless baby dolls, painted red. Symbolizing her defense of women's rights -- meaning, Planned Parenthood, meaning, abortion. (Even though abortion counted for less than 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's function, Creel said it was "more like 95 percent of what they did, killing good American babies.")"

Also the mentions of people buying fish antibiotics from pet stores because they didn't have health insurance to see doctors or pay for prescriptions is something I've seen people admit to on Twitter. Point being, there are a lot of real fucked up things in Wanderers that should cause people to reflect on our own current state of right fucking now.

And without needing to quote, I'll tell you climate change comes up regarding the White Mask plague. Like all the other catalysts, it's a controversy between the characters whether that was genuinely the source of it. And boy-howdy, wait until you find out!

You'll find some fun pop culture references to musicians like Babymetal and Bowie; but also movies like The Matrix, Stephen King's The Stand and more.

Reminds me of Robert McCammon's Swan Song--similar in length (ie, LONG!); pacing (it starts slow, day-by-day, and then rapidly speeds up as disaster accelerates, eventually stretching many years); and in the characters whose independent stories merge and diverge throughout the novel.

Many of the characters are wooden, without a lot of nuance, and this makes for jarring reading at times. They feel like stage actors who follow a predictable arc designed to move the story along: "Be the preacher! Have faith, get overzealous, lose faith, re-find balance!"

The AI piece is fun and current, though at times too far-fetched, even for sci-fi.

Overall a fun read that doesn't require a lot of attention and will hit all the right notes for readers of this genre.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was not really my thing, but it will find an audience. Paranormal meets suspense. Someone will love it.

I really, really enjoyed this book, very much looking forward to the next one! Definitely recommend.

It starts with a teenage girl, who drops everything and begins "sleepwalking" one day, barefoot, down the road. Nothing wakes her. Nothing can stop her without causing her body to overheat and start hemorrhaging. As she walks, others with the same mysterious condition join her and a herd of sleepwalkers forms. Soon, a whole caravan is following the sleepwalkers: distraught family and friends, the CDC, law enforcement, and the media, and no one seems to have any answers about what's causing the bizarre disorder.

Wanderers weaves together many disparate cultural elements and fears, including AI, climate change, epidemics, and the alt-right. It does this well, creating a believable apocalyptic tale. I don't find many apocalyptic or dystopian stories to be believable because they tend to get a lot of things wrong about how people react to crises. This one does feel accurate to how people would behave in a crisis with those starting conditions.

I enjoyed this book a lot. Because the pacing isn't rushed, it has the opportunity to explore how the characters react to change and wrestle with mortality. Alongside these contemplative themes are plenty of thrilling twists and revelations.

Trigger warning: rape (male victim) and torture, both pretty graphic.

Mr. Wendig creates vivid, enticing and provocative scenarios. As dystopian genre continues to take off literally and visually this creative work will captivate numerous types of readers with its realism and intriguing take on many of today's current issues and concerns. Possibly a bit longer than needed, but well worth the time, "Wanders" stays on track and presents the reader with an enjoyable trek through the possibilities of our rapidly changing world. The true test for us readaholics- I had trouble staying away and found myself returning to read asap!

Thank you for an early copy!! I loved the storyline and character development! If you love Stephen King, you will enjoy this book!

This book took me a while to get through. But, I'm glad I stuck with it. The apocalyptic aspect is not something I am typically drawn to, but I enjoyed this story.

I received an advance reading copy via Netgalley.

What makes <i>Wanderers</i> such an intense, disturbing read isn't that it's gory--though it has some major moments of that. Or that it spins the apocalypse in a sinister new way; sneezing as you read will creep you out, trust me. Or that Chuck Wendig is from a GRRM school of writers where no one is sacred or safe; seriously, expect a lot of death, torture, and even a graphic rape mixed in. What makes this book such a successful psychological trip is that Wendig brings a deep level of humanity to the full cast. I came to care about these people, so as the tension ratchets up--and wow, does it ratchet up--I felt the compulsion to sneak in reading time as often as I could to find out what happens next.

I don't read a lot of thrillers or watch horror movies for that reason. They tend to really get to me. But I really enjoy Wendig's other writing, and couldn't help but be curious about the book because of the buzz it's generating. I was happy that the publisher approved me to read it early. Now, with the book done, I'm feeling a mix of awe and relief and trauma. <i>Wanderers</i> is well done even as the content is absolutely horrible.

The premise is bizarre to start: in the Midwest, disparate people enter a bizarre sleepwalking state. They don't need food or water or to even defecate. Their skin is impenetrable to needles. Bad things happen if you try to hold them back. As the group walks, more people join as sleepwalkers--and other loyal family members follow, becoming loyal shepherds, even as the rest of the country and world squabble about if this is a terror attack or infection or what.

As I mentioned earlier, this book is intense, sometimes very gory and outright disturbing. There were a couple scenes that really got to me, and if they'd happened early on, I probably would have stopped reading right there. As dark as the book is, though, there is still a sense of hope and humor throughout. This is about people being people, with the full spectrum of hate and nastiness and love and joy.

All of the buzz around this book is justified. I know in my case, this is a read that will haunt me for a long while to come.

Shana Stewart wakes up one morning on her family farm and notices her sister Nessie wandering down the road. When Shana catches up with Nessie, she believes her sister is sleepwalking.
As Nessie walks through town, seemingly unaware of her own actions and unable to be awakened, another person soon joins her.
Shana doesn't know where her sister and the growing number of sleepwalkers are headed but they are slowly making their way across the country with an intense determination and their number is climbing steadily. The group becomes known as the flock and the friends/family who follow and protect them known as shepherds.

America is soon divided about the meaning of the sleepwalkers. Is it a terrorist attack? The beginning of Armageddon? A disease?

Along their journey, readers meet a vibrant cast of characters, including an aging rock star, a preacher whose family and faith are in crisis, a wealthy businessman trying to escape the shadow of his family's legacy, and a group of scientists with the CDC; including the disgraced Dr. Benjamin Ray whose involvement is sanctioned by a mysterious piece of artificial intelligence known as Black Swan.

When Black Swan alerts Dr. Ray and his team to a body discovered in the Everglades, it appears at first to be entirely unrelated to the sleepwalkers until an epidemic sweeps the country and everything from government to religion crumbles in the chaos, the only constant being the sleepwalkers steadily moving toward their unknown destination.

It's up to Dr. Ray, his team, and the shepherds to protect the flock from a violent militia that preys on people's fear and faith and discover how everything connects before the world as they know it ends.

Wanderers is an epic saga that covers everything from politics, science, religion, good vs. evil, and the power of technology with a rich cast of characters that add to the story sometimes in superficial and other times vital ways.

This book will certainly be compared to Stephen King's The Stand but it manages to hold its own with a modern-day message and by focusing on the actual apocalypse rather than its aftermath.

At 800 pages, there is of course a lot of build-up; we're introduced to so many characters who shape the entire story and that takes time.
Readers are completely in the dark for the entire first half of the book; we know the events but not how or why they're connected so it can be frustrating to wade through almost 400 pages without any real movement on the plot itself.
The ending. Oh the ending. All that carefully crafted build-up for a mediocre showdown (which coincidentally was my main complaint with The Stand). Everything has been building toward this moment and readers get a few pages of limited action. It just wasn't enough after that long journey to be given a rushed "five years later" catch-up that concludes with an open ending.

All that said, it's a fantastic journey that I was completely invested in, personally. The plot is heavy but entertaining, the questions raised are both compelling and thought-provoking, and most of the characters are well-developed.

If you enjoyed The Stand, odds are that you'll enjoy this novel also.
If this 800 page behemoth seems daunting, it's a coin toss to recommend: on the one hand, it was a highly entertaining saga of an apocalyptic epidemic and I enjoyed the long journey, but on the other hand, the pay-off wasn't completely satisfying with a rushed finale and frustrating open ending.

Thanks to Del Rey Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Wanderers is scheduled for release on July 2, 2019.

A dark and powerful apocalyptic novel that mirrors our current political climate a little too closely for comfort at times. Highly recommended for fans of Stephen King's The Stand or Under the Dome.

Scifi litfic isn't something I would have assumed I'd love, but boi was I wrong. The sleep walkers aspect was extremely fascinating and also entertaining.

This was an end of the world apolyptic tale about sleepwalkers and the folks that follow them (to keep them safe?)!

This was good and it kept me going to the end, however, there did seem to be a LOT of characters to keep track of.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advanced readers copy. Release date is set for July 2019.

The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig is a great horror book in the vein of The Stand! Well worth the read and will keep you turning pages until the last one.

I've tried two or three of Wendig's books and they're not really my thing. I spend a lot of time reading what is often called "literary science fiction" so when I switch back to books written in a more popular b vein the difference is fairly striking. That's what happened to me with this one.

I've given Wendig a fair chance now but I'm moving on. I'm sure the majority of readers who pick this up will like it.

Running against the herd here, but this one simply didn’t work. Speaking of herds, if you’ve watched enough Walking Dead, you know about the dead 💀 wandering in herds. Here, you get a similar phenomenon with eyes bulging and consciousness seeping out they walk toward a goal like the folks in Close Encounters with shepherds tending to them. The survival of the species might be at stake, but that all gets lost in a story with shifting points of view and an attempt to throw politics religion and rockstardom in together. In the end, you didn’t care where this was going or where the end was. Onward!

This is an epic novel and a huge undertaking. The various characters are all so different and unique and their voices consistent and believable. The scariest part is how realistic the plot is. Great!

The concept is simple: a large swatch of Americans contract an unknown sleep-walking disease and begin trekking across America. Their friends and families begin “shepherding” them, protecting them from the elements while the CDC works to determine the cause of the sickness and prevent it from spreading. As more people contract the disease and join the “flock”, various groups use it to their advantage (religious zealots claim it’s the apocalypse; the alt-right blames big pharma, etc.). While i thought it was going to be dystopic, the book is actually very contemporary and relevant, exploring themes such as family, religion, fake news, the opioid epidemic. The story is epic in scope with multiple character access points, and at its center is a beautiful story about two sisters: one is patient zero, the other will follow her sick sister to the ends of the earth to protect her. If you love big, epic swings (think THE STAND) and can handle the page-count (800+), then this is a definite read.

This book is massive but reads quickly. I would have give it 5 stars except for the language, and violence. TW for rape. Also, there seemed to be a plot hole or two by the end and speaking of which, what was with that ending!?! Still, it's an engaging read with lots of twists and turns. I'd recommend it to fans of apocalyptic thrillers.

In this immensely creative story, it appears that end times have begun in the United States and around the world. When sleepwalkers begin their journey across the country while a strange disease begins to make its way also, a key group of people are racing to find answers and a cure.

I was drawn into this story from the very first chapter and I have to admit that I would never have guessed how this would all play out. This novel makes several political statements and the characters are all flawed in some manner, which only makes it more interesting. I really enjoy this book.