I received a pre-release copy of this book from NetGalley.

If nothing else, Wanderers deserves the highest praise for the title of its 42nd chapter: “The Ultimate Answer”. Likewise its kind words regarding the efforts of reference librarians such as myself. Which is not to say that there is nothing else in the book that deserves praise. In fact, there’s a whole lot of real good “else” to it.

There is a lot going on in this book. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but I’ll give a warning now that some plot points will be discussed. The pitch for the book is that some sort of disease sweeps through humanity. The book opens with the formation of a flock of sleepwalkers, people who turn into mindless drones and walk tirelessly to some unknown destination. Surely, the reader thinks, THIS is the plague that will wipe out humanity. These must be the titular Wanderers, and we will all succumb.

But this, it turns out, is not the case at all. Through some seemingly non-sequitur chapters, the true culprit is eventually revealed. As it must, the real disease spreads itself throughout humanity and things start to go wrong.

There are parts where the book may get a little TOO REAL. There is a sub-plot regarding a surely completely fictional right-wing businessman presidential candidate who does his utmost to stoke fires in the hearts of his alt-right supporters. When society begins to collapse, neo-fascist white supremacist militias pounce on the situation, ready to assert some of the “liberty” they believe they have been denied for so long. Wendig does a good job portraying the members of these groups as wannabe soldiers who are living out some long-held fantasy.

Given current events, however, these segments are more terrifying than thinking about any potential humanity-ending pandemic. Also, I don’t want to give much away, but at one point, a character involved in one of these militias goes from a Creepy Level of 8 to 1,000 in the span of a couple paragraphs.

The book follows the points of view of several characters throughout that give different perspectives. One is a sister to a sleepwalker. Another is a CDC scientist. There’s an evangelical pastor trying to make sense of what’s going on. There’s even a washed-up rock’n’roll star in the mix, as well as some others that I won’t divulge.

I really enjoyed this book. Sure, sometimes a couple of the characters were a little grating, but overall this book really goes places. Lots of interesting twists and revelations. I’m sure it will get comparisons to “The Stand” (which even gets a shout-out in the book), but it’s clearly not just another “The Stand”. In fact, I think I even might like this book more.

Wendig's sprawling new novel is as hard to pin down as the sleepwalkers who populate it. Part science fiction, part near-dystopian epic, part character study, part mediation on our times-- the author cements himself as not just a name to watch but a voice to listen to.

The first 99% was amazeballs.  The very end and epilogue chipped the diamond that is this story.



A creative take on the apocalypse, like something that might have happened before Stephen King's The Gunslinger, the world is burning and by-God, we started the fire... I seriously loved this book.

Until I didn't.

The ending took the story from a little quirky, creative, different, and crashed it into a mountain of groans and eye-rolling.  I get it, the story had to end somewhere, but life doesn't have endings, just new beginnings... Wendig actually blogged about this (using the ending of Game of Thrones as a starting point (link)).  I thought it would have been fitting to have an ending more like life... just moving on... I dunno, I don't want to say too many details and spoil it for someone else.  I think the ending was forced and didn't need to end with a solid stopping point.  There.  The other 750 pages was amazeballs, as said before.

The strength of this story is the characters.  The people are real, with hopes and dreams and sins, they may or may not learn from their mistakes, I'm 99% sure I went to school with a couple of these guys.  Overall, this book is worth it for the characters alone.

The only point of the characters I don't like is how the scientists acted early on... before the world went to hell, I got distracted by how some of them ignored evidence.  I'm a science teacher, not an actual scientist, but dear God, a character has a physical reaction to the flock from something being produced (radiation? signals? I don't know, let's just ignore that for right now, it can't possibly be important) and the main scientist not only ignores this but thinks later about how he shouldn't be ignoring it... I just lost so much respect for his character, go to Hell Benji.

Overall, highly recommend.  Now I need to go read more of Wendig's stuff.

**This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Thanks to Chuck Wendig, Random House Ballantine, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. I am a big fan of well-written dystopian fiction — Station Eleven, The Stand, and The Passage are among my all-time favorite novels — so I had high hopes for Wanderers, and happily, it did not disappoint. Wendig has written a novel sweeping in scope (and massive in length!), with engaging characters and a plot that seems all too possible. Terrifying yet heartwarming, this book was almost impossible to put down, and I was actually sad to see it come to an end. Highly recommend!

One of my most highly anticipated books of the summer, Wanderers by Chuck Wendig.. fans of The Stand by Stephen King grab a cup of coffee and check out this addictive, dark and terrifying tale.

Nothing is more terrifying than a story whose headlines mirror our own. While the scientific advances may not happen for years, the concept combines with today’s advances and climate made it feel wholly conceivable.

When an eight hundred page novels is over in the blink of an eye and you awaken to realize time has slipped by … you know you’ve just read a superb story.

Full review will post at Caffeinated Reviewer on July 1st, 2019. I will share it on all social media. A review will cross-post to Goodreads and Amazon. Link below.

Despite the length of this book, I DEVOURED it. What a read! I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did because of it's length (larger books tend to scare me) but I was so wrong. I have never read a book by the author before but that will change! It certainly reads like a Stephen King novel but has it's own voice that make it stand apart. I know this will be a huge hit this fall.

Took quite awhile to get through this book, but it was worth it! Stephen King fans unite....Wendig writes a book worthy of King horror! Would love to see it made into a movie!

The well-written apocalypse novel is its own kind of genre, with Stephen King's The Stand as the gold standard. And WANDERERS closely follows the Stand archetype, including the repentant rock star survivor, and the working class girl. But there are two distinct differences: one thematic, and one story-driven. On the story side, whereas The Stand, or Station Eleven, focused primarily on life AFTER the apocalypse, and how the survivors put humanity back together, WANDERERS focuses on life DURING the apocalypse, bringing to life in excruciating detail how a world collapses.

Specifically, as the book gets underway, a fungal infection is beginning to emerge in the world at the same time as a small group of sleepwalkers -- the Wanderers -- begin to march across the country. The story is told primarily from the perspectives of Benji, a disgraced CDC scientist who is trying to track the infection, the sleepwalkers, and how they might intersect; Matthew, a small town preacher who finds himself caught up in the conspiracy frenzy; Shana, the older sister of the first sleepwalker, who is just trying to keep her sister safe; and Pete Corley, an old rock star along for the ride. There's a host of other characters, as well as a really convincing Big Bad in the form of Ozark Stover, a radical militia leader with an agenda of his own. All of these characters and stories converge as the infection starts to spread throughout the world.

This brings us to the second major difference: WANDERERS considers real issues of today's anger-fueled, tribal world, exploring in particular the intersection between science and faith, the role of religion and religious fanatics and faux-religious power mongers, to create chaos.

Which makes the book particularly terrifying. The first third of this apocalypse novel reads like the headlines from today's news: the fake populist Presidential candidate, white supremacy on the rise, billionaires with agendas, Internet mania like gasoline pouring over every human interaction.

I imagine that the far right crowd will pounce on this book in rage; there's already signs of it on Goodreads. But for those, progressive or conservative, who are concerned and thoughtful about the current state of the world, WANDERERS appears to be genuinely investigating the question: can humanity be saved?

And in all honesty, should it be?

It's a pretty distressing question for a science fiction novel, and it makes the reading experience a bit disturbing. From a craft perspective, Mr. Wendig is a strong writer: the writing is sharp, the story moves pretty crisply along; there was never a time when I was going to put the book down or didn't want to know what happened. And the questions he is asking, through this suspenseful thrill ride, are serious and compelling questions. All to the good.

Halfway through the book, I decided that my ultimate opinion of the book would rest on how it answered this question. Life is hard enough right now; I honestly don't want to engage in something that encourages hopelessness.

And I won't spoil it here. The answer is not simple, is all I will say, and I will also say this:

IT DOES NOT END. So that's why I'm knocking it down from five stars to four. If I read 800 pages, I want some kind of resolution; you don't need to wrap up everything, but....the story is not complete when it is over. And that is something I find frustrating.

Film critic Roger Ebert once said, “No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.” The same is certainly true of books. Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers, sure to be the man’s magnum opus, clocks in at 800 pages and took me roughly two weeks to get through (a longer-than-expected number of days for me, thanks to some very limited reading time while I was busy attending StokerCon 2019). Thankfully, it’s every bit as good as I had expected, better in a lot of ways even, and I never felt burdened by the large page count. Wanderers never felt too long simply because of how damn good it is the whole way through. And frankly, I wouldn’t have minded it being a little bit longer just so I could spend some more time in this world, particularly during the book’s denouement.

Wendig’s latest has been picking up some comparison’s to Stephen King’s The Stand, but it’s a very superficial, easy-to-make comparison. Yes, both are door-stoppers of a book, and there’s some thematic resemblances, mostly revolving around a mysterious illness and a cross-country trip for the handful of humanity’s survivors to wage a Good vs Evil war for soul of the future. For his part, Wendig is certainly aware of these short-hand comparisons and is sure to name-check King a few times along the way. To me, though, if we really must compare End of the World tomes, Wanderers feels more like a kissing cousin to Robert McCammon’s Swan Song, in terms of tonality and odd illness afflicting the sleepwalking wanderers.

Apocalyptic novels are almost always a product of the time period in which they were written, influenced by the particular tensions of the day. Swan Song and The Stand are both products of the Cold War, rife with American attitudes of Good vs Evil. Wanderers, too, is clearly a product of its day, an apocalyptic epic borne necessarily out of the Trump regime and all its itinerant nasty fallout, like the belligerent rise of white supremacist groups and their roots in Christian Evangelicalism, climate change denialism, and mankind getting bit in the ass for its anti-science idiocy, as well as technological concerns, such as the rise of artificial intelligence. The state of current affairs provides more than enough fodder to craft an apocalyptic narrative, and more than a few times in the Real World over the last few years, I’ve certainly felt like we’re on the brink. Presidential candidate Ed Creel is very much a Trump analogue, running against a Hillary Clinton-like incumbent named Hunt. Creel’s campaign slogans, like HUNT THE CUNT and CREED SAVES AMERICA are sadly representative of America’s current (and likely on-going) state of political affairs. Wanderers is a tour through the bedrock of modern-day America, with all its sexism, racism, xenophobia, religious zealotry, anti-vax whackadoo, and violent political divisions. Wendig takes all of these elements and weaves in a modern-day American novel about the collapse of society and the possible extinction of humanity. But there’s also hope, a hope for a better tomorrow borne out of the tribulations of the present, a hope for some kind of rebirth and, perhaps, a renaissance for the future generations of Americans, should they live long enough to survive this current crisis.

It’s heady stuff, to be sure, but Wanderers never feels bogged down by the Holy Shit Everything Is Terrible state of the world writ large all around us. The apocalyptic elements, in fact, are fairly late game-changers that the narrative surely and steadily builds toward, with the bulk of this book concerning itself mostly with the pre-apocalypse that is the Now. Wendig introduces us to a fairly large cast of characters as the sleepwalker crisis begins and unfolds, and then weaves in various side stories to expand on the mysteriousness of Wanderers premise, as well as explorations of what this sleepwalker sickness is (both why it is and what it is), and nature of the mysterious artificial intelligence, Black Swan.

Wanderers is a big book, both in terms of content, subjects, and characters. It’s as rich as it is long, and there’s a lot for readers to unpack. It’s one hell of a meaty read, and the narrative is constantly engaging and evolving, straddling the line between Biblical End Times and scientific examinations of the collapse of everything. It’s dark and serious, but there’s also plenty of room for romance, love, and humor in between all the various losses and tragedy. I was surprised to find myself laughing out loud more than a few times, despite the grimness surrounding much of these characters. One woman, for instance, describes her appreciation for a man by telling her friend, “I would mount him like a piece of taxidermy.” Another wants to “tap that ass like a whiskey barrel.” It’s the seriousness that lingers, though, like the fist pumping rousingness of a racist bastard getting told off by a powerful woman of color:

“I know you. I know your kind. You pretend like you have this…ethos, this patriotism or this nationalism. You love your white skin and pretend that it’s hard armor instead of thin, and weak, and pale—like the dime-store condom that split in half around your father’s dick when he gave it to the dumb, truck-stop janitor that was your mother. I got your number, Big Man. I know you. I know you’re weak and unwanted, so you take it out on everyone else.”

Wendig’s latest stands proudly beside The Stand and Swan Song, offering as many differences as there are passing similarities to those works, showcasing 21st Century concerns and points of view that are wholly its own. Wanderers is necessary update to the canon of epic apocalyptic American spec-fic, examining the collapse of society and the mass extinction of humankind through the lens of USA 2019. This is a wholly modern-day end of the world, unshackled from the nuclear concerns of the Cold War and built off the spine of contemporary issues and problems close to home and rooted deeply in the soil of America. Some of these issues are necessarily ugly, the problems impossible to solve. But there’s enough beauty and hope sprinkled throughout that you can’t help but root for the good guys and gals to win, regardless of the odds stacked against them. At the end of the day, few things are as American as hope, and Wanderers gives us plenty to hold on to, even as it chills us with all its what if? horrors.

This book was totally engrossing. The characters are well developed and the story is engaging. There were a number of typos scattered throughout that, at times, were a bit of a distraction. But, with a close read and copy editing, it would be wonderful.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. In several reviews, readers noted the similarity to Stephen King's The Stand: a mysterious virus/malady makes certain people become wanderers - a zombie-esque, unstoppable and random group, moving across the US. There are also shepherds who follow the group out of personal reasons - relatives, the media and curiosity seekers.

What is stranger is the reaction the rest of the country is having; religious and militant extremist sees signs of an apocalypse. Meanwhile, the rest of the world really is infected with a fungus contracted from bats.

Chuck Wendig is just a damn good writer. He creates a sense for foreboding from the earliest pages of this book.

Wendig has the ability to write about distant lands, as well as worlds that mirror our own. This book is speculative and yet grounded.

Strong science fiction with a character-driven center, Wendig is always in my reading list.

Wow. I love Apocalyptic fiction, plagues, scifi tales. It’s like this story was custom made for me. Wendig crafts a believable epic that people will rightly compare to The Stand. The ensemble cast is fantastic and the book seems perfectly crafted to be developed into a miniseries someday. And I can’t wait.

I was given an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful! 'Wanderers' is simply a great book, full of depth and thought-provoking stories, packed with characters you come to truly care about. Wendig's vision of a human extinction event is detailed and all-too-possible. Even for a lover of apocalyptic fiction such as myself, this novel's ending gave me chills.

Highly recommend.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For as the sleepwalking phenomenon awakens terror and violence in America, the real danger may not be the epidemic but the fear of it. With society collapsing all around them—and an ultraviolent militia threatening to exterminate them—the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart—or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

I tried to get into this book. But was stuck as it dragged and dragged along. It is an end of the world book. Just not at all what I thought.

It's allergy season right now, and every sneeze - whether my own or anyone's on the street - brings Wanderers back to mind again and again. This book is a thriller wrapped in environmental science and the politics of our time. When browsing for something new to read, the description reminded me a lot of The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker but that’s where the similarities end. Where The Dreamers is, well, dreamy… Wanderers reads more like an edge-of-your-seat, binge-able television series, in the best way. The storytelling is spot-on, with a mysterious and emotionally-driven introduction to the mysterious sleepwalking “sickness” followed by a look at the bigger picture. Discovering how these characters each deal with the mystery they must unravel, and the dangers inherent in nationwide panic has put all other reading on the back-burner for me. Watching the world end has rarely been so pleasurable.

Wow, this has pretty much everything. Kind of like The Stand, but Chuck Wendig is a better writer. I always think that King writes with the voice of a 12 year old boy, and while that's fine, the writing in here better suits my 43 year old self. I laughed, I cried a little, and mostly laid awake at night worrying about a global pandemic -- what more could you want out of a light summer read?!?

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.