A review of this novel will be coming very soon to our podcast, Genre Junkies, available on most podcast platforms.

To enjoy the full breadth and depth of this novel you must have read part 1 in the duo. I cannot fathom how surreal it must have been for Chuck to write part 1 before a global pandemic ABOUT a global pandemic, to then have to write and publish the second piece after everything had happened.

I was very satisfied with Wayward. There is pressure to wrap up a second book in a 2 book series knowing how many loose ends there are and how many fans are attached and want to see certain things happen to their characters. I was pleasantly surprised with serval bends in the road and choices Wendig made, such as events and characters panning out differently than I thought they would.

I found the concept and execution to be incredibly unique. And despite the large cast of characters, I found myself sincerely invested in almost all of them. This was a happy turn of events for me as a reader because I admit I struggled to embrace the first book as quickly as I wanted to. I was more preoccupied learning the intersecting plots and keeping all the players straight. By the end of the first book I was invested!

There are some scenes of truly disturbing and grotesque horror to keep those fans like myself hooked. The AI character is one of the best of its kind I have ever read. “Black Swan” will stay with me for a very long time.

Wendig has a talent for blending horror, and science fiction, giving us BIG concepts to swallow but never sacrificing character development. I feel his writing continues to grow and evolve with each book he publishes. Seeing the progress makes me care about him and root for him to be successful! Readers looking for content warning should be advised the villains in the series are white and/or Christian nationalists and there is a sexual assault in book one.

Wayward is Chuck Wendig's follow-up to his 2019 hit Wanderers. Oh, what a difference three years make! The first book was scary but still mostly science fiction then. We hadn't yet experienced the fear of a pandemic. We have that history to provide context to Mr. Wendig's post-pandemic world three years later. While our world may not be as drastically different as his, we still better understand the loss of businesses and people that pandemics cause. Add to that base knowledge three more years of GOP hatred and lies, and Ed Creel's power-mad narcissism is much more realistic and sickening to behold. This time, Mr. Wendig discusses artificial intelligence and its inherent dangers, adopting the adage that if something is too good to be true, then chances are it is. I enjoyed Wayward as much as Wanderers and appreciate that while they are a duology, they are two very different stories. This latest is a lot of "now what" questions regarding the world and everyone's place. There is also quite a bit of reflection on what humanity's responsibility is in this new world, which I enjoyed. It all feels very pertinent to our world as we continue to battle COVID, nationalism, and climate change. Many readers shy away from big books, but this series deserves attention. Mr. Wendig hits all the right notes in his world, which should have been much more fictional than it ends up being.

As a huge fan of both Stephen King’s The Stand and Robert McCammon’s Swan Song, I never expected another epic apocalyptic story with as many memorable characters could ever compare. I was completely proven wrong with Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers. When I found out that a sequel was being published, I jumped at the opportunity to read it and I have to admit that every single page has been an absolute joy. My husband can attest that every 10 minutes, I would exclaim, “I f*cking love this book!”

Wayward takes place five years after the events in Wanderers and our favorite characters are back dealing with the ever increasingly powerful and self aware AI, Black Swan. For me, reading this book was the equivalent of checking in on old friends and family. It is a rare talent to create so many unique characters whose traits hold steady over the course of two very lengthy novels and also be able to execute an incredible plot driven storyline that is both very horrifyingly believable and so action packed that I simultaneously did not want to put the book down and I also did not want it to ever end.

Wendig has produced a near perfect conclusion to Wanderers and everyone I know is getting a copy under the tree this year.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Del Rey, and Chick Wendig for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Wanderers and was looking forward to this. I am very disappointed. For what is not the first time this year, a novel presents the reader with a hardly-veiled-at-all version of Trump as a main or ancillary antagonist. Writers. Stop doing this. It is low-hanging fruit and it is lazy. Give me a villain that is interesting. DNF at 40%.

Chuck Wending does it again. I mean that, literally. This is the sequel we didn't know we needed for the brilliant apocalyptic sci-fi horror, WANDERERS. Yes, it's chonky, as is the first book, but I could not stop turning the pages (or swiping, as the case may be - thank you to the publisher for the eARC!). I've made sure this title is at the front of our store with a shelf-talker that reads:

5 years after the world was rocked by the sleepwalking pandemic, YOU'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO READ TO FIND OUT. Nuanced characters and gritty world. Fans of The Stand, pick this up!

I want to start by thanking Net Galley for and ARC of this book. I read the first book right when it came out, and it actually took me quite a while to read. But I was hooked after that and had been waiting patiently as possible until the next book came. It was definitely worth the wait. I enjoy how the author takes things that are relevant to the here and now and puts a spin on it in their books, and I feel like the author and I have many similar feelings and beliefs about the world and the politics and the state of humanity. This book had a bit more sci-fi in it compared to the first one, but it all blended well and told an amazing story that was hard to put down. Can't wait to see if there will be a third installment, to answer all of our questions about what will happen next!!

Another great read by Chuck Wendig. The story was engaging and kept me turning the pages. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this sequel to his first book, Wanderers! It was great to continue to follow the characters as they figure out how to live in their new normal and learn more about them in turn. There is always the worry the second book won't be as good as the first but Chuck Wendig did not disappoint! This is a MUST READ!

Not sure if this is duplucate feedback. Last time i filled it out, netgalley bounced me out to their login page. I reviewed the book on Amazon.

Great sequel and wrap up from Wanderers
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2022
This story is the sequel to Wanderers. Chuck Wendig tales the characters forward and creates a compelling story to conclude it. The story tales its time to build out the emerging world and round out its cast. There are scenes of great action and times of reflection. The world is well developed and I could step in, feeling it, hearing it, seeing it.
All in all, a rewarding read.
Note that I read an Advanced Review Copy through Netgalley.

I absolutely loved following the characters in the first book on their journey and discovering the horrifying reason behind it. Now, five years after the first book, the Wanderers and Sleepwalkers are settling into their new reality in Ouray, Colorado. We learn more about the characters and the fascinating and terrifying events that will keep you glued to the pages until the satisfying end. It's hard to describe the books without giving everything away, so I'll just say....you just HAVE TO read this!!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks for NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing the ebook!

First of all, the first book Wanderer was a great read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Second, Chuck Wendig is a very good writer and storyteller.

Wayward picks up the story 5 years after the end of the last isntalment. It does not explore as many topics or characters as the last one (which was a lot but not overwhelming), which makes it much more straightforward and easier to follow. And because of that, it is unnecessarily longer, and there are a lot of moments where the dialogues and storylines become quite predictable and.... boring. I do think if it was cut down to about 2/3 of the length or shorter, it'd be a better and more satifying follow-up.

I was curious to see what was happening with the wanderers, but this book was so long that in the end, I didn’t care. Not only that, but there are not enough flashbacks and reference to refresh your memory from the first book, which was published several years ago. It took me a long time to get into it, and I found the plot convoluted.

Oh, my god! What a wonderful book! I’ve read a few books by Chuck Wendig and have not been disappointed . This book concludes the story that started in the book “Wanderers”. When I applied for this book , I did not realize it was the second book of the story and so I had to read the first book first. That took me a while as these are not short books. That being said, what a ride!
This book continues the story of the Flock and their Shepherds as they arrive at their destination in Ouray, Colorado. They become a part of this small mountain community. Now that they are safe, is Black Swan’s job done? There are also many side stories that come together at the end.
Not only is the story good, but I also love so many of the characters, Benji, Shana, Pete, Marcy. They are good people who are not only looking out for themselves but also their friends who have become their family. Good people to have beside you in times of trouble. If the synopsis of this book sounds interesting to you at all, do yourself a favor and get yourself a copy. You won’t be disappointed.

I wasn't sure what to expect with Wayward. I loved Wanderers, but while it definitely sets up the possibility of a sequel, I also loved the ending that it had and was slightly worried the follow-up might be disappointing. I shouldn't have worried. Chuck Wendig doesn't disappoint. This book really dives into the threat of AI in the form of Black Swan in the wake of the pandemic of book one. It's explored in so many different ways through so many different characters. I loved seeing old friends from the first book (PETE!) and also meeting new survivors as well. This is a dense, long book. I will say that I had difficulty with it at times, not because the writing is bad, just because it stressed me out so much. But it's absolutely worth the time and effort. An absolute banger of a novel. Wending is great at confronting the dangers that our world currently faces without reducing them to strawman caricatures. He really digs in. The story and characters are nuanced, the prose a delight.

The first book in this series lived rent-free in my head for years after I read it in 2019 as Chuck Wendig seemed to unknowingly bring the real-life events of 2020 into existence through his (at the time) entirely fictional plot surrounding a flu-like pandemic kill off the world amidst a social/political backdrop of radical social conservatism lead by a Trump-like demagogue. So when I saw the sequel had finally come 4 years later I was eager to dive right in!

Like Wanderers, Wayard is a gritty, chillingly believable post-apocalyptic sci-fi/horror (mashup) that picks up not long after Wanderers ends which is 5 years after a pandemic wiped out the majority of the word's population where the remaining members of the original cast, the sleepwalkers and shepherds of the first book are trying to make sense of their new reality, build their community in Ouray, Colorado--the destination selected by the artificial intelligence to rebuild humanity, and gather the resources necessary to go up against enemies old and new to save each other and what is left of the world.

The key to a successful sequel is to capture the things that are well-loved by your original audience and bring that sense of familiarity to a new or expanded story. I can confidently say that Chuck Wendig achieved that with Wayard. I instantly reconnected with the books main characters, Shana, Benji, Marcy, Nessie, etc. and they felt comfortingly familiar --and that comfort was needed as Mr. Wendig didn't shy away from putting these characters through the ringer again in book two. There were some parts that were understandingly difficult to read (and a bit triggering!) coming off of years of living through the COVID-19 pandemic and the last presidency, but the raw HOPE and goodness of these characters were consistently able to pull me through.

Wayward, like its predecessor was a chunky book (800+) pages but it is absolutely worth the read. Also - the audiobook performance narrated again by Xe Sands and Dominic Hoffman was absolutely EXCELLENT. Highly Recommend!

Wayward picks up five years after the events in Wanderers as we find out how humanity has fared in the aftermath of White Mask. The answer is not surprising. Our ragtag crew continues their quest to shepard their flock, but the actions of an ever-increasing psychotic AI make it difficult.

Wayward is a strong sequa that explores the darkest timeline of humanity and post-humanity.

I received an advanced readers copy from Random House in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are completely my own.
The second book in the Wanderers Trilogy was almost as good as the first book. The ability of the author to pull so many different people into the story was an amazingly brilliant bit of writing. Both books are long 700-800 pages and held my interest from the first page to the last. I'll be waiting for the third book to see how this apocalyptic thriller is finished.

If a solid standalone 800-page novel yielded an 800-page sequel, would you read it?

I did, and it was worth braving the sophomore jinx of this the chonky book series. Sure, I had my problems with Chuck Wendig's Wanderers (2019), but the sequel, Wayward, brings many of the same characters five years ahead and tells the story of a rebuilding world after the White Mask pandemic wiped out all but 1% of the population.

In this story, the president is a (somehow) exaggerated version of Trump who is building an army of really bad guys prepping for a battle of good vs. evil. Sound familiar? If Wendig took some flak from Stephen King fans who felt Wanderers was too similar to The Stand, he goes beyond King's vision in Wayward and makes you think about what a sequel to The Stand might look like. New characters, new conflicts, a sentient AI, and all I kept thinking was, boy, wasn't The Stand a great book?

King fixation aside, I thought the action in Wayward was better than in Wanderers. The villains with superpowers were scary-good and for an 800-page doorstop, Wayward kept me turning pages with only a couple of pit-stops where the book dragged. Recommended only after you've read Wanderers — and only if you love love big books and you cannot lie. By the way, these two books would make a great series. Wendig writes great chapter-ending cliffhangers.

Wanderers was easily one of my favorite books of 2019 and I had been anxiously awaiting a sequel ever since. Wayward did not disappoint in allowing us readers to return to this futuristic world created by Chuck Wendig and get reacquainted with all the characters we got so close to in Wanderers. Since it had been a while since reading Wanderers, I did find myself feeling a bit lost at first when going into this book, which made it a little harder to warm up to it and dive right in, but once I found my feet again I was immediately sucked back into this world created by Wendig.

One of my favorite things about this book (and Wanderers) is how Wendig manages to touch on so many different topics ranging from super dark to the mundane everyday, and he does so in such a way that everything feels approachable and manageable. These books play with some very overwhelming ideas, but the way Wendig uses his plot and characters to work through these is really remarkable and grabs my attention. His characters are full of life and deal with so many complex situations in very human ways. Overall, a fantastic duology I can't recommend enough (as long as you're willing to sit through 800+ pages each time!).

I read Wanderers right as COVID hit. Between that and the general zeitgeist, I finished Wanderers with a love for the book. Wayward seems like a great idea for a sequel, and the first 90% is great. But what made the book good made the ending hard, like trying to finish a kill a hydra; so many stories had to end together, something meaningful got lost in the collapse of civilization. Still good.