I found this book super engaging. I loved the plot of the story and never really knew what to expect. It is full of action, thrills, and even a little romance. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys post-apocalyptic stories and adventures (aliens, zombies, etc)!
Full review on YouTube

Any Sign of Life
by Rae Carson
Pub Date 12 Oct 2021
HarperCollins Children's Books,Greenwillow Books
Mystery & Thrillers| Sci Fi & Fantasy| Teens & YA


Through HarperCollins Children's Books, Greenwillow Books, and Netgalley, I am reviewing Any Sign of Life:


Hope, trust, and resilience are the only things a teenage girl can rely on when she fears she is the only person left alive in her town, if not the entire world. Rae Carson's harrowing and pulse-pounding survival story is the New York Times best-seller. For fans of Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave and Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman's Dry, Any Sign of Life is a must-have.



It is Paige Miller's goal to lead her basketball team to the state championship, maybe even further. When March Madness heats up, Paige falls ill. She wakes up attached to an IV and learns that the entire world has perished. She lost everything she loved, including all of her dreams for the future.
Paige, however, is a warrior. Every day, she scrounges for food, for shelter, for safety despite her fear and grief. Paige learns that the apocalypse did not occur by accident as she struggles to cope with her new reality. Being alone isn't the worst thing in the world.



I give Any Sign of Life five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

I felt very neutral about this book. I managed to finish it, but it didn't capture my attention like I hoped it would.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Review published on Goodreads, 2 April 2021:

I'm a big fan of Carson's Gold Seer trilogy, so I was absolutely up for reading more by the author. Especially when I heard that her newest is a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel. Yes, please! Although I prefer realistic end-of-the-world scenarios, ANY SIGN OF LIFE still kept me entertained. It starts with a bang and never lets up. There's lots of tension, lots of action, and lots of suspense, all of which make the book an engrossing page-turner. The characters are sympathetic and likable, although they could have used more fleshing out. While there's nothing super original or memorable about this novel, it's definitely compelling. I'm assuming it's the start of a series, which is great. I'll definitely keep reading it.

If I could, I would give ANY SIGN OF LIFE 3 1/2 stars; since I can't, I'm rounding up.

Review will post on 9/20/22 on Forever Young Adult blog.

Cover Story: Crow Bar

There’s something very ominous about big flocks of silent birds, as Hitchcock reminded us. The slash through the O is significant to the plot.

The Deal:

High school basketball champion Paige Miller was coming down with the flu, so she decided to take a nap before practice that night. She slept for a solid week, and when she woke up, her mother, stepfather, and brother were all dead from a mysterious disease. And her neighbors. And…possibly everyone else on earth. Accompanied by her neighbor’s dog Emmaline, Paige goes searching for any survivors.

Soon, she finds a couple of humans: hunky, intelligent Trey, and a sullen, angry girl named Tanq. Weird radio broadcasts indicate there’s two guys named Manny and Wyatt in Sandusky, where the trio decides to head. But now that humans are an endangered species, can they even survive the trip?

What’s more, this super flu didn’t start somewhere and spread. It developed all over the world, overnight. This wasn’t an accident. Something wanted humanity to die, and maybe they don’t want to leave any survivors.

Drinking Buddy: Warm, Bottled Beer

So Paige was just kind of a middle class girl with real athletic talent, and family and friends that she loved and could depend on. Now her neighborhood is filled with rotting corpses and it’s likely there are fewer than a thousand people left on earth. She’s one broken ankle away from a slow death. Can she go on?

Yes. Teaming up with other hard-headed survivors, she does what it takes to survive. She says goodbye to her family, then opens her house’s windows to allow the crows to do some natural recycling. She uses her dog to keep her sanity. She tries to leave behind the hate and bigotry that characterized mankind. Maybe there’s a new world coming. If they can all survive the next year.

MPAA Rating: R (Gore, science fiction violence, sexuality)

So when eight billion people drop dead in a week, many of them cut down in the midst of their day-to-day activities, they’re going to leave a lot of meat behind. Paige and her friends are horrified at the amount of human carrion being devoured by coyotes, birds, and maggots. And it’s late winter. Once it gets hot…

Plus now that society has collapsed, the animals are emboldened. Birds and domesticated dogs have turned on the humans. There are guns to be found everywhere, but no one in the trio is familiar with their use. Paige is still recovering from her coma (she only survived because her mother, a nurse, hooked her up to several IVs before succumbing). Paige barely makes it out alive when the sewers in her neighborhood explode when the now stagnant gas ignites.

Paige and Trey, who once had bright futures ahead of them as college athletes, are now battling an earth that’s ready to destroy them. But Tanq had a rough bringing up and Paige and Trey weren’t exactly coddled. Maybe, just maybe, they can do this.

Talky Talk: A Boy and His Girl and Her Dog

The complete loss of one’s family would be absolutely scarring to someone, but Paige doesn’t have the luxury of owning her feelings. It’s very obvious that taking care of Emmaline the dog is all that’s keeping her together at times. But there’s a chance to rebuilt society, and these kids are going to give it their best.

That being said, there were a lot of unbelievable things in this book. When they finally meet Manny and Wyatt, they’re given an explanation as to what killed off humanity. The explanation was believable. But they’re also told why they, of all people, survived. That part was pretty hard to swallow (though I dug the subtle anti-45 jokes).

Also, four kids using a tugboat to maneuver coal laden barges? Only experienced sailors could manage something like that. And using lighter fluid and propane tanks from an outdoors store to detonate the barges? Yeah. Not buying it.

Bonus Factors: The Fetishization of Other Races

Paige’s best friend Shawntelle (RIP) warned her that white women tend to fetishize Black men, and that she should stick to her own lane. Paige sees the sense in this. We’re all guilty of seeing people different from us as exotic, new, and sexy. But, well, Trey is Black. And athletic. And really smart. And built. And practically the last man on earth. I think Shawntelle would give her a pass.

It’s funny how with fewer than half a dozen humans in Ohio, they still manage to bring some of the old garbage into the new reality. Wyatt comments on how brainy Trey ‘Doesn’t talk like a Black person.’ Later, the pair nearly come to blows: not over racial matters, but over football teams. Paige and Trey bicker about basketball vs. football. And poor Wyatt, a nerdy survivalist, can finally say ‘Hey, I am the last man on earth,’…and Tanq is asexual.

Bromance Status: Brave New World

I’m not sure if science fiction is this author’s jam. I hope she gives contemporary fiction a shot some time.

You would think a story about the world dying would be very emotional but sadly this one didn't pack a punch at all. I loved the start and the middle but by the ending I was bored. I liked the twist and think this would make a really amazing sci-fi movie that I would totally watch!

Rae Carson is an autobuy for me personally but sadly her books don't seem to resonate with students. I will keep trying though since her work has such depth and wonderful plot development. I highly recommend all of her books. They have good messages for teens.

It's a scenario we've seen before: waking up to find that the world has changed. As a concept it has some flaws. While Carson addresses some of these with enough detail as to provide plausibility without trying too hard, other elements never fully make sense. The plot is solidly paced but relies a bit too much on gruesome detail for atmosphere. Ultimately, it's not an especially compelling story as no secrets are revealed in later chapters. Once Paige figures out what is going on, where the disease came from, there are no new reveals, just slogging through to a new stasis with no emotional exploration.

This is a fresh take on an apocalypse story with one fatal flaw. The initial trajectory of the story had me hooked. Especially in this current world in which we live, having an apocalypse narrative based on a virus that kills without zombiefying everyone was super appealing to me. I like the idea that art was imitating life. However, the book did not earn 5 stars because of the ending. The convoluted alien invasion storyline almost ruined the story for me. If I hadn't enjoyed the characters and their relationship as it built throughout the beginning of the story and if I hadn't been invested in finding out what would happen to them, I might not have been able to trudge through the last couple of chapters. I'm probably being a little generous with the stars because I enjoyed the initial start to the book so much. I do think it would appeal to it's intended audience because of the survival story and the action/adventure and would do well on library shelves.

Rae Carson does not disappoint. An entertaining read with interesting characters set in a post-pandemic world, it's a familiar storyline. Reminds me of the Rain novel which I also enjoyed.

Teen basketball star Paige wakes up to an empty IV drip bag attached to her emaciated body only to find the dead bodies of her parents and little brother. Alone, afraid, and desperate to understand what happens, Paige must navigate the post-pandemic world to see if others are still alive and learn how to survive in this new world.

New relationships are formed as a small group comes together to fight the unknown and give humanity a chance for survival.

#AnySignofLife #NetGalley

This was a interesting read with a sci-fi twist. I enjoyed the character dynamics. I thought there was some points where there was a lot of telling instead of showing, but I still enjoyed this end of the world story.

Spoilers:
It's interesting that the story begins in a post apocalyptic world that seems to have been caused by a pandemic, but then is revealed to have an alien twist. The execution and development of the story could have been better, but it was good for what it was. I think that people interested in this particular niche of science fiction might like it as it is an entry book into the genre.

Definitely did not dislike or hate this book. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it! It kind of felt like Signs mixed with The Walking Dead. I wish this book had kind of delved deeper into how Paige was the only person on the planet (that we know of) to survive the sickness without an antidote, and a lot of things were only really half formed ideas. BUT overall it was a fun read, and I do recommend it as a nice breather if you’re in a fantasy or romance book slump!

(Sidenote: One thing that bothered me was the amount of times I read the word “pay dirt” in this book.)

I give 3.5 stars to this YA dystopian novel. Paige awakens from an illness to find that everyone is dead. As she searches for other survivors, she rescues a neighbor's dog and soon she finds another survivor of what she learns seemed to be a virus that killed everyone. They soon find out that the virus is not the only killer and struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

Unfortunately, this isn't the Rae Carson I've gotten to know and love. This story felt generic and there wasn't anything special about it. I really wanted to love it. Her writing didn't have the same beauty as I've come to expect from her. I'll still read whatever she comes out with, this one just wasn't for me. However, students new to the post apolocolyptic genre might find a lot of enjoy here.

This near-future, suspenseful young adult dystopian novel grabs you from the start as high school senior Paige wakes up from being sick with what seemed like a bad flu with interconnected intravenous drip bags attached to her arm. As she stumbles dehydrated and disoriented from her bedroom, Paige finds it six days later and both her beloved parents and younger brother lying dead in their beds. Not for the faint of heart: hundreds of crows are outside the windows and have smashed the glass to pick at the decomposing flesh. As she checks out the neighbors, Paige realizes she’s the only person in Columbus Ohio who seems to be alive and worries that be another COVID-type pandemic that she remembers from her childhood. Except for a pre-recorded emergency broadcast, all power is down. As neighborhood gas lines start to explode, Paige escapes in the family car and ventures out to find food and any other survivors.

Paige, herself a star high school basketball student, stumbles upon Trey, an entering college football star and aspirational pre-med, at a partially raided drug store. Trey works to help restore Paige back to her strength. As they acquire food, medical supplies and a safe house in which to hide, they share some spooky observations of transparent weaponized drones. They then encounter what definitely seems to be an alien in a hospital they enter to raid supplies, which transforms the pandemic theory into what seems to be an alien biological attack designed to exterminate humanity.

Paige and Trey, along with her snuggly adopted dog Emmaline from her neighbors, connect with a third teen survivor Trey, and find a live radio broadcast from two other teens up north. All then head off to Lake Erie to track down a live broadcast from teen survivors Manny and Wyatt while dodging the unknown alien enemy.

The truth, when revealed, is startling.

Finally a book I devoured! I love this sci fi story with twists sprinkled throughout. It's difficult to discuss without giving away the first surprise so I will just say that I liked it all right up to the rousing ending [ reminiscent of "Independence Day". I have already purchased both physical and e-copies of this book and will be adding it to my booktalk rotation as well as nominating it for a countywide reading program. GREAT sci-fi!

Have you seen the first episode of "The Walking Dead"? The one where Rick wakes up in the hospital bed and literally the entire world has disappeared, and he has to try to figure out what to do? Well this book is exactly like that, but instead of waking up to a world of zombies, Paige wakes up to a world of aliens.

Paige is a high school senior looking forward to a promising college basketball career. After practice one day, she falls ill and spends what turns out to be six days unconscious with this sickness. When she wakes up, she's attached to an empty IV bag, a house filled with her dead family members, and seemingly not a soul around. As she explores the remains of a destroyed society, she meets a few survivors -- Trey, another promising young athlete; Tanq, a grungy artistic girl; and most importantly, Emmaline, her neighbor's pup. As the team attempt to reunite with a small group of survivors nearby, they must face the terrifying reality of an early alien invasion.

(Have you seen "The Quiet Place"? The aliens are like those...things... in that movie. They are attracted to sound, unable to see.)

The most interesting part about this book for me, without spoiling anything, was learning about the motivation behind the antagonists and the human reactions to it. It made me wish that this book was at least turned into a duology because much of the book's progression getting there felt slow, and then it felt too quick at the end. The first half of the book is spent bopping around to places avoiding the aliens and figuring out what to do next when the future seems pointless. With little conflict besides the major conflict and small character conflict, it felt tough to keep reading at times.

What really didn't work for me was the surface level discussion of social and racial status that lingers from before everyone died. It felt too cursory and explanatory to be effective, and since it wasn't really the point of the book for me, I felt it was unnecessary. And I'm sure this is just my personal issue, but for some reason, whenever there is a protagonist whose main identity is athlete, I just find them two-dimensional and....annoying? I do appreciate that it was a convenient way for Paige to be able to do some non-teenager like physical stunts, but relying solely on this for her character development didn't engage me as an older reader. There were also some world building issues for me that didn't seem plausible. For example, at the beginning of the book, Paige meets a feral dog in the street after maybe a week of total destruction. It seems like it would take more than a few days for a domesticated dog to become completely feral, enough to risk her safety. There were other small details like this throughout that made it a little less immersive for me.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the read. It feels wrong to call this book a "light" read since there is a TON of gore, but it was a nice piece of escapism. Some readers may feel this is too similar or realistic to the world they live in now dealing with the pandemic, but for me this story fit into the tropes of the genre enough for me to have a predictable, interesting world that felt relatable but removed enough to be unrealistic still. I recommend reading this if you love a dystopian novel with some light romance, but not if you're feeling a bit concerned about our current global public health crisis.

I really like Rae Carson's writing, and I loved the Gold Seer trilogy. But I don't really read series anymore - I should have known this one would be set up for a series/trilogy, and it definitely is, so I was disappointed there wasn't a more definitive ending. I also had no idea going in that *SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT* this book involved aliens. I thought it would be just the flu/virus that caused the "apocalypse." Not a big fan of aliens but as I said, I enjoy her writing, so it was still a good book. I liked the main characters, Paige and Trey. It would be interesting if the next book was from Trey's POV.