I love PC Cast, but this was 100% not for me. I loved the concept of this, but could not connect with the writing or the story whatsoever.

I really liked the idea of this book, and I had seen a lot of Cast's book but never read them, so I was eager to try this one. For the most part, it's good. There is a nice variety of characters with vastly different personalities. Mercury and Stella and Ford were the most fleshed out and interesting. The way Cast depicts the bombing and the green fog is very well done. No one knows what's going on, there's barely a coherent thought in anyone's head, and people react on pure instinct. The chaos of those early scenes is perfect. She also does a good job of building tension. From the brutal men roaming around looking for female victims to the crazy mayor in Madras, I was constantly worried about what would happen next.

I did find some hiccups that were distracting. I found it very odd that the characters weren't constantly checking their cell phones for a signal to try and call loved ones. It is mentioned once and never again. I also found it strange that people in general weren't scrambling to find a way - any way - to find out what was going on in the rest of the world. Most people in that situation would be focused on when help was coming, not just accept that it may not and settle into the disaster.

The bigger issue was the way the characters deal with the probably death of everyone they loved. Imani is the only one who shows and owns her grief. For the rest of the characters, including people who have lost children, it doesn't even seem to be a second thought. Yes, there is the tantamount issue of surviving, but in those moments when you aren't fleeing for your life, or you're as safe as you can be inside a warm building, that grief would be at the forefront, and it is nowhere to be found here.

As for the ending, I think it's a bit pie-in-the-sky, and I since the book is clearly set-up to be the first in a series, I hope we see a little more nitty-gritty reality about a small group of people trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world and the emotional toll that and grief would take on these characters. Imani can't be the only one mourning.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the book, but found the above-mentioned issues too distracting to give it a higher rating. I will definitely check out the next one.

DNF at 22%
Honestly I really tried to push through and finish this book, but I simply couldn't... First off, the characters were extremely annoying. When I read an excerpt of the book, I thought they were teenagers, only to find out that they are women in their 40s, who speak and act like teens.

While the novel is advertised as feminist, I did not get that from the portion I read. Simply killing off most of the men in the novel doesn't make it inherently feminist. Not to mention the fact that all the characters were extremely superficial.

Finally, many aspects of the novel were highly unrealistic. The characters conveniently had everything they would need in an apocalypse, which was a bit absurd. Likewise, there was supposedly an EMP, yet the characters claimed that electronic cars would still work as long as they were off at the time of the EMP, they were also able to use batteries and cell phones (even thought they had no service). It really showed a lack of research on the author's part because that is not how EMPs work.

Overall, I just found this book disappointing, unrealistic, and a little annoying.

Into the Mist
by P.C. Cast
Pub Date: July 12, 2022
Crooked Lane Books
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I have read YA by this author so I thought I would give this one a try. * Fantasy * fiction
From #1 New York Times bestselling author P. C. Cast comes INTO THE MIST, the first book in a pulse-pounding dystopian duology for our times.

Practical Magic meets Station Eleven in this gripping take on female power and the inevitable, destructive path of violent patriarchies.
This book didn't quite meet the mark for me. But others loved the writing.
3 stars

Release date: July 12

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of Into the Mist ebook from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Into the Mist is the first book in a new series by PC Cast. I have read this author before and enjoyed her YA series House of Night.

The story follows a group of teachers visiting Oregon over Spring break for their annual teachers conference. As they head down the mountain towards their long trip home to Oklahoma, a deadly attack including bombs? And the release of strange green mist. They group soon discovers the mist is deadly if you’re male and enhances existing skills if you’re female.

An apocalyptic story showcasing the strength of women, I was super interested in how this story would develop. Mercury and her best friend Stella are at the centre of the story and gather a band of women to carry them to their next destination.

The story was okay….I wanted to know more about what was actually happening. What is the mist? What does it do and why? Stella’s intuition has been heightened by the green mist but often the group just does what she says without the why behind it.

I liked it enough that I will read book #2 in hopes of closing some of the gaps and loops the first book left.

Rating this one 3 star and I would recommend for anyone that enjoys this author and/or like apocalyptic stories.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me an early copy of this book!

#intothemist #pccast #netgalley

Into the Mist is an apocalyptic story where the world explosions and a mysterious green fog is rolls in. The green fog kills men and gives women strange new abilities. A group of women have to work out how to survive in this new world

The concept of this book was good but one that is over done theme now and i felt the book lacked in delivering the story. There wasnt much character growth as the characters all had the skills to survive and have the exact supplies and so there wasnt much surviving.

as much as i love book with strong women this book was just had too many and so lost the strong women vibe quickly, The story was unsatisfying because readers never get answers and there wasn’t really a plot at all that I could follow.

Cast has a very unique voice, that I quite enjoy. She is a master of suspense and the supernatural. I loved the apocalyptic theme with the mist primarily targeting men. I can't wait to read more in this series

This was simply just not for me. It's not my cup of tea in writing style. There wasn't enough depth for me and it was predictBle

I discovered P.C. (and Kristen) Cast when I was a teenager and picked up the Marked series so I was very excited and grateful to have the opportunity to receive this ARC of P.C.'s new series. I loved the apocalyptic theme and I found the premise of this book very unique with the mist primarily targeting men. I can't wait to see where this series goes next!

Its been a while sense I've read anything from this author but I a super glad I grabbed this book as it was Great!! Definitely recommend!!

I knew i’d like this book the moment I’ve read the excerpt a few weeks ago. So glad I got the chance to red the whole book. It’s fast paced and the characters are well developed. It’s wild ride, you will enjoy it!

Into the Mist is an apocalyptic story where the world is rocked by explosions and a mysterious green fog is roaming. The green fog kills men and gives women strange new abilities. A group of teachers have to find their way in their new surroundings and stay alive.

The concept of this book was great and super interesting but lacked in delivery.

I think the thriller/action scenes made up for it a bit, but not enough for me to enjoy it as a whole. I really wished I had liked it more but overall, it’s just okay.

The characters seem very unrealistic because they all conveniently have the exact knowledge and experience that a group would need in an apocalypse. They also conveniently find the exact supplies they need, no problem. They also keep their cool and act like chipper Disney Princesses in every situation which probably would not be the case with most people.
All of the women give girl boss vibes and speak the same way using “yaaassss sis” and such. The only woman that doesn’t is Karen Gay, who is of course a stereotypical white Christian woman, cardigan and all. She is often used by the girl bosses to make a point.
I’m all for powerful women but this was so unrealistically saturated with it so it didn’t have the same effect.

The story was unsatisfying because readers never get answers and there wasn’t really a plot at all that I could follow.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

2 Stars

Politicians are some of the most hated people in the world, just by virtue of their job and the resulting cliche. (Honest politicians? What are you smoking?)

I'm just telling you that to lay down some ground here, to make it clear that the protagonists of our tale could have been worse - they could have been politicians! Lucky for us, they're not - instead, they belong to a different class of people who are also, shall we say, sometimes frowned upon: teachers.

Meet Mercury and Stella, two Oklahoma teachers on a spring summit in Oregon, chatting away and sipping mimosas like they're starring in the remake of SATC (I think it's called And Just Like That). A few nasty remarks about their colleagues later - and suddenly their world changes.

<img src="https://crossingthepondreviews.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/wp-1634669123743.gif?w=400">
<em>I sense a lack of mimosas in the immediate future! Oh no!</em>

Pretty soon the setting changes from SATC to something more akin to Mad Max, and the green mist engulfing them brings back memories of John Carpenter's The Fog (only in green). So I guess it's welcome to the end times!

And yes, it becomes clear pretty soon that our protagonists are now living in an apocalyptic setting, where the initial green mist killed every man that breathed it in. But there's still enough toxic masculinity (pun intended) to go around, as not everyone was outdoors when the bombs hit. And while the males are turning into slosh, it is hinted on pretty early that the females might even gain some restoration powers (although not all of them). Likes slow version of wolverine. (No claws, though, which feels like a budget cut. I mean, come on, give me the claws, too!)

So right now I'm wondering, who dropped the bombs, what was in the green mist? Maybe some kind of genetically engineered bio weapon (because of the gender targeting), but your guess is as good as mine. I don't know it, our heroines don't know it, and I'm not even sure if the author knows it. (Hopefully she'll have it figured out in time for the second novel.)

But all in all, we're off here to a promising start. It's the apocalypse, our girls are in an old car, other survivors will pretty soon start to pick fights with them - it's a road trip mad max style, y'all!

Throw in the simple minded surviving men, and you could easily argue that this novel is of the zombie variety of all things apocalypse. Well, there aren't any&nbsp; zombies in the classical sense, but then again those men should have been dead to start with, so they're the walking dead, alright. And like classical zombies they're on the constant lookout for braiiiins, if only because of the fact that they all seem a little missing in that department.

Actually, that "men are brutal, stupid, aggressive and toxic" cliche is at times on the brink of getting annoying, but the female protagonists (with super powers, kind of) are adding a kind of chick lit vibe to this tale that turns everything around. I know this all might sound like a wild kaleidoscope of things, but it's actually blended together really well - and makes for fun reading (despite the dystopian setting, because let's be honest - the one and only time this whole apocalypse thing was really funny was during Good Omens by Pratchett &amp; Gaiman).

I've already told you about the powers of self healing the women got, but it goes deeper than that. It seems the green fog changed something in their blood which now holds healing powers that stretch beyond the body. Mercury discovers it when she accidentally cuts herself and bleeds on some potatoes that start sprouting away. Which is, if you think about it, some kind of allegory. (And maybe there are some more alterations to the women's body, like intuition and other stuff.)

There are exceptions to the "men are bad" show here, but basically we see men as destroyers (when the ladies see the bombs drop, one of them immediately says something about men finally destroying the world, which is either a weird flex or some foreboding) and women as caretakers and livegifers. That duality seems to be at the core of this tale.

And once you're aware of that, you realize that P.C. Cast is actually very upfront with this. There's a PJ party kind of scene in the lodge where the ladies are talking about how the world could be better with less men in it and more women running the show. That's not only on the nose, it's also feeling a little too much forced. I mean, really, it's like the apocalypse out there. Shouldn't you be thinking about increasing your odds of survival instead of planning a new world order? And there is one scene where this is taken too far, in the lobby of a lodge when the ladies tell the people it's basically good luck that the fog kills men because men have been running the world too long and too wrong. There's some truth to it, but telling this to a wounded guy who probably worked as a handyman seems like an insult. That guy ain't done shit, just saying.

The book turns ever more feminist during it's course, but you know what? I've immensely enjoyed it. Yes, at times I thought that the author is belittling all men (see above), but then again there are some good men in here too, as identification figures I could use. (Most of them die pretty soon, like good old Sims. Ah, well.) And it really is fun to watch the ladies on their road trip. Go girls, you rock!

That being said, I might have been reading the book wrong. It's quite possible P.C. Cast did indeed mean it like some feminist manifesto (feminifesto? manifeministo?), and to be honest, there are some critical points about today's society you just can't argue with (she is right about men being war mongers and generally more aggressive, there's simply no denying it). Then again, I treated this tale not as a social commentary, but rather as some kind of popcorn cinema/entertainment. You know, the kind of movie you watch for the thrills and the fun, not because you want to be intellectually stimulated. Like the mission impossible franchise - I'm here for the kicks and the action! And the ladies in Into The Mist do some serious butt kicking while sipping red wine and mimosas, it's just fun to watch.

Actually, I was reminded of the Tarantino movie death proof by this group of women. Luckily, the group from the second half, not the first, if you catch my drift. Which probably turns Zoë Bell into Mercury and Rosario Dawson into Stella.

Although, regarding the delivery of pun-chy one liners, they could have learned from some men, really.

*****

In the end, I enjoyed my time with this motley crew of women, and I'm inclined into looking into the second book when it comes out. I'm rating it 3 stars - I just have to take one star away for the bluntness with which men are presented as the root of all evil. A second star falls victim to the fact that there are so many cliches in here. But it's solid 3 star trash entertainment for me!

Disclaimer: I’ve received a free Advanced Reader’s Copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I picked this up thinking it was a readalike for The Power or Red Clocks. I would definitely recommend this more for New Adult (odd given the age of the characters) and folks who like light/leisure reading but are looking to try dystopian.

When the bombs come and release a deadly green fog, the world changes. Suddenly men are dying and women are developing new powers. Mercury, Stella and their friends decide to take the changing world as a sign to do better and begin working to build a better world for those who remain.

P. C. Cast has done it again because this is a wonderful dystopian story that has strong female characters at it’s heart!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

A fast paced, action-filled adventure about women, friends, and community. PC is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoyed her newest venture into adult fantasy.

It's been a long time since I've read a P.C. Cast book. This was a really quick read. The story was fun, but I struggled with liking the main characters. The premise that this 'green fog' kills all men it comes into contact with completely avoids the trans-population. I struggled with this not being addressed at all in this book.
I appreciated all of the authentic Tulsa/Oklahoma details and love for the midwest rural country.

I am a HUGE lover of anything P.C. Cast and this book was absolutely NO exception!

I loved the heroine's in this book and also that they were around my age! It's so hard to find a book where authors dabble with middle aged women and actually pull it off.

This continued my quest to devour anything and everything P.C. Cast!

This book was a slow starter for me. Maybe I just was not in the mood for the gene or I am in a funk but I struggled getting through this

I loved the idea, and the cover is gorgeous. The characters are likeable it just didn't mesh well for me.

"Mediocrity is so much easier to control than free-thinking excellence, but they put
mediocrity in charge of those of us who are free-thinking and excellent”

I loved this line because it is so painfully accurate. There are a lot of things I really enjoyed about this story, but overall, it left me feeling fairly meh about the story overall. I disliked the repetitive need for all of the women to constantly point out how badass they were, or how badass their friends were. The women were clever & there was a great dynamic between the personalities of the various characters, however a lot of the language felt like it would be more likely to come out of the mouths of older teens and those in their 20’s as opposed to a group that predominately consists of people in their 40’s, it really kept shoving me out of the story. The premise itself is an interesting one, but something I felt it lacked was explaining whether the mist worked based on genetics (only targeting XY chromosomes for example, but then what happens to those that have XXY chromosomes etc?) or whether it was a mentality thing since some males did somehow survive. Trans & Non-Binary people are not mentioned at all throughout the book & I hope it’s something the author discusses in the next book when we will hopefully learn more about the origins & intended purpose of the mist. I loved that the women developed their own individual powers that seemed to be very much based on their personalities & what strengths they could play too. All in all this was a fairly mixed bag for me, there was a lot I really enjoyed, but there was also a lot that frustrated me or felt far too repetitive throughout the story. Also pigeonholing most males as non-readers felt ridiculous, I know just as many men as women who are voracious readers, so little things like that bugged me. Overall 2.5/5 stars but rounded up to 3 since you can't do half stars. I’m not sure if I will read the sequel, shall have to reread this again closer to the release date of the sequel & see how I feel.