Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book is like a dystopian book about a town that becomes infected with a contagion and things quickly go downhill.

This book has a very low rating on Goodreads and I understand why (unfortunately). This one was a DNF for me because the writing was just all over the place. I felt so confused and I just couldn't continue.

I hope others love this one but it wasn't for me.

Strange and dark, this horror exploration of identity and pollution takes you on a journey through time and space and down a well of doubt and decay. I think you’ll love the creepy atmosphere, the unearthly menace, and the flawed characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

The Deading was... definitely unique. Let's start with that. The concept of "deading", in which young folks basically dropped in the middle of whatever they were doing to literally "play dead" was introduced at the start. Of course, like all things popular, eventually The Olds start doing it, and it becomes decidedly less cool. And then... things go off the rails, and right into bird watching. Look- I try not to punish books for how much I dislike birds, and how I'd rather watch paint dry than birds, and I can overlook a pretty reasonable amount of bird shenanigans. But what we have here is not a reasonable amount, I fear. Mostly because I don't really understand what the point of the birds even was?

When the crux of the story starts, the "bad stuff" happens in the water, with an oyster farming operation. The first folks who fall to the "stuff" are in the water. The "stuff" are not birds and have nothing to do with birds, as far as I can tell. Anyway, when the "stuff" infects people, it's like their minds are taken over, and they start deading. What does this have to do with the "deading" trend mentioned at the start of the book? Your guess is as good as mine. But this is a thing that happens to most of the town.

Some members of the local ornithological group, mostly older folks but one teen guy, find themselves immune. Is it because of bird watching? I don't know, but probably not since all of them are not immune. And now they have to, in essence, try to fight back against the townspeople who are infected.

There are some definitely relevant commentaries that are present in the story, but for me, the extraneous topics muddied the waters a bit. There were some interesting pieces, but none of them really came together in any cohesive way. While I liked the concept of the uninfected trying to survive the town, because of all the other stuff, it just didn't hit as hard. Also, how does this random infection cause "deading", which, as we are meant to understand it, was basically a TikTok trend? So... I have questions, and most of them went unanswered. Also, too much bird talk.

Bottom Line: Unique and with some relevant commentary, but the various topics just didn't mesh together in a way that flowed.

When a small fishing town called Baywood is seized by an inexplicable infection that causes people and animals to experience “deading,”: the act of abruptly dying and then returning to life mentally and physically changed, a bird-loving teenager named Blas and other uninflected residents must adjust to a new existence.

Cut off from the outside world by the government, they contend with the changes to the environent around them and the rising paranoia and unhinged death-worshipping rituals concocted by the Risers, who fixate upon their inability to dead as they do.

The Deading is a novel with an intriguing premise and is a blend of isolation, environmental, body and cosmic horror. Told from multiple perspectives and with a switch between first person and third person point of view, the disturbing disintegration of a community is interspersed with contemplations regarding existence and a great deal of detail pertaining to various birds and the subject of bird-watching.

Blas is an interesting character: a teenager who loves his hobby of watching and documenting birds despite some desparaging from his older brother Chango and other wealthier residents, who then must deal with his mother and brother in the grips of deading while his friends slowly dwindle and his community is reshaped into something malevolent.

His older fellow birder Kumi Sato also provides a thoughtful examination of her own experiences, as well as the extent of the fervor and indoctrination of the Risers when she infiltrates their nightmarish ceremonies.

Certain scenes are absolutely engrossing, such as the changes experienced by a character in the beginning of the novel, scenes involving the garish rituals created by the Risers and a final confrontation that edges into the surreal and yet remains unsettling.

Some of the writing resembles a rambling stream of consciousness and there are moments in the middle where the plot becomes slow and seems to drag. There are also characters who survived separately from Blas and who seem to reinvigorate the story, but they aren’t introduced until close to the conclusion of the novel, which is also slightly abrupt as well.

Nevertheless, The Deading displays an admirable passion for its subject matter. Thank you very much to NetGalley, Kensington Books and Erewhon Books for providing access to this ebook.

I was drawn to this book due to the cover art and the reference to The Last of Us. Unfortunately, I am DNFing this read. I think the story structure was just a bit too disjointed for me. Though I did really appreciate the details of birdwatching, that is not a topic I'm normally drawn to but it was really cool to read about in this context.

Horrifying and very strange. Mysterious and weird. I highly recommend this book for genre fans looking for something way out of the ordinary.

I received an eARC of this book and sadly it was a DNF for me. I got to about 30% and gave up I was so bored. I was intrigued initially because it was compared to the last of us, but from what little I understood the book focus is more on the mind of the disease which makes the writing weird and hard to read.

This book is for everyone who loves an extremely weird story, oftentimes creepy, and loves birds!

"Come with us. If you want to stay, you have to die."

The author blended a few genres here — the story is something between science fiction and fantasy, somewhat a mystery, and a lighter horror. I would definitely classify it as dystopian as well. The unique premise is the selling point of this story. However, I thought it was going to be bizarre and complex, but I ended up feeling unimpressed. I loved the exploration of community decline after some kind of an epidemic happens, how different characters reacted differently, how some type of a cult formed. Some actions were pretty disturbing, some scenes grotesque.
Also, I must admit I skimmed some parts. Birdwatching takes up a lot of the story and, while interesting, it was a bit too much for me. I didn't care for so many descriptions of different birds and eventually started ignoring them as they added little to the plot. The characters were fine but not really memorable, and the overall writing style was okay. Didn't impress me but this is a debut book so I kept that in mind! Although I appreciate the message behind the story, I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending either.

Overall, it's an interesting story that would probably appeal to bird lovers and those who love experimenting with their reads, but I wouldn't recommend this to every reader!

Thank you for the ARC. No spoilers ahead. This was definitely an interesting and different read. There is a lot of talk of birds, a little too much for me but someone into birding would likely find it entertaining. I found myself getting a bit lost in the descriptions of the birds but it had the interesting effect of causing a feeling of disorientation. I would be deep into trying to picture these birds and then was suddenly reading very creepy passages (I won’t spoil!). The book has a very eerie and disturbing feel to it that kept me going. I definitely liked it for how different it was and the thriller/horror vibe. A solid read.

The idea of this story is better than the reality of this story. It had an interesting start as multiple character POVs were introduced, but at some point it got tedious trying to figure out which POV I was reading.

Long story short, I skipped my way through the chapters and read the ending. I'm definitely okay with my decision to abandon this one.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing premise that got lost in the soup. Ultimately boring, unfulfilling, and not really what I would classify as horror.

This book has a definitely creepy set up but the execution ends up making the whole thing a bit muddled. So much time is spent on describing things in minute detail that any suspenseful or scary elements are lost in the minutiae.

The blurb is giving M. Night Shyamalan's theatrical vibes mixed with Under The Dome by Stephen King. The blurb was just so damn good and everything I want in a speculative horror novel. Unfortunately, I don't feel like Belardes delivered on that.

The book is very disjointed, as many other reviewers have said. I wish I had listened to them before requesting this book on Netgalley. There's a lot going on but nothing going on at the same time. I really, really wanted to love this and maybe I set the bar too high prior to reading the ARC, but it fell so flat of my expectations that I nearly screamed.

I'll be totally honest, I couldn't get into this book. To be fair, horror isn't typically my genre, but this one sounding too intriguing to pass up. I really wanted to like it; the initial atmosphere setup was great, and I was really into the idea of the eco-horror, especially something coming from the ocean (because I am truly terrified of the ocean). But there was just too much going on; too many POV shifts without any real clarity, too many different topics trying to be covered...it's described as being similar to The Last of Us, which I loved because of the human survival stories, and I was hoping that's what I would be getting with this book. I didn't feel it at all. This might be someone's cup of tea, but unfortunately it's not mine.

You'll want to stare into the void and never look back after reading this gorgeously written eco-horror book.

Deading started as a social media trend where teens pretended to be 💀, eyes open, in random places like elevators, sidewalks, etc. However, when an entire town starts doing it, something is clearly wrong.

😱 "Mr. Christiano on the ground shoots staples into his stomach, then chest, horror glazing his eyes." 😱

I love the POV shifts between characters who are flawed, but ultimately trying their best. We have teenage brothers who are struggling with their Mexican identity in a small American town. We have an older Japanese woman who views this eco catastrophe in a very different way.

🏺My favorite POV is a Greek choir of goth teens. I wanted to join them! If I read this book as a teen this would have been my whole personality.

🖤"We told the adults that we were talking something new, something serious, something so dark & filled with ritual that all of us could be the influencers of a new death, a new future."🖤

I love the intersection of eco-horror, sci-fi, and fantasy here. The gorgeous prose elevated this book in a way that had me staring into the void throughout.

DNF @ 46%

I feel like I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in this book. It’s all over the place.

There is an excess of descriptions and pretty much no horror. I’m almost halfway through the book and it’s mostly been internal monologue by characters they keep getting thrown in.

None of these characters felt memorable, the plot kept disappearing, and setting would have been incredible if it was given some more attention that wasn’t about the bird population.

This was a strange book. Unsettling and kind of like a fever dream, but the writing was solid enough to not make it confusing, even if I did not quite know what was going on half the time.

I can see that novel won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I can also see why some people would really love this. I really liked how unsettling it is and how quickly the community unravels. I liked spending time with the various characters and really feeling like I was in some of their heads, whilst others kept me at a distance. I found it compelling and it kept my attention.

I do think the vagueness did not work across the board and I felt like I did want a bit more explanation, especially at the end. The last 50 pages were just a bit all over the place.

I have to admit this is not quite my type of book, but it did not push things too far for me and overall it kept me reading. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, it is definitely worth reading.

The Deading is a apocalyptic/dystopian eco-horror that begins in a small sea side town when a species of snails invade. This novels starts off very odd making reference to a social media craze called "Deading". It is like the tide pod challenge but more disturbing (if that is at all possible). So I am not going to give more of the plot away but I just need that bit to show how wackadoodle the premise is. The novel was a rollercoaster for me. I was confused, scared, annoyed, flabbergasted, and frustrated. I wasn't sure we're it was headed. There were so many characters that gave me slight whiplash. However, in the end it really came together. The writing was well done, although threw me a little off kilter at times. Characters were engaging and although there were a number of the they didn't hinder things too much. I would recommend to someone looking for something different in the eco-horror subgenre. ✨3 stars.

The Deading has all the ingredients for a chilling horror: a small community, an inexplicable contagion, and full quarantine--no communication, no contact, no access at all to the outside world. The setting is a coastal town in central California, and the story starts with a gripping account of a social media trend where teens pretended to die that took place long before the adults and even the animals started pretending to drop dead. It then jumps to a local oyster farmer, who has unfortunately discovered a snail in his harvest ...

While a lot of the elements in this story seemed right up my alley, the blend of so many without any concrete explanations ended up falling a bit off the mark for me. I loved the ornithology throughout, and felt that these observations helped weave in all the unnatural happenings seamlessly. I appreciated some of the POV changes, but didn't understand why certain ones were necessary, and at some points it jarred me from the story. However, I think this very much is just a case of not every book will be for every reader. If you enjoy a good nature-takes-back, eerie story, give it a shot!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy for review.

The Deading by Nicholas Belardes #dnf #arc #thedeading

CW: death

In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.

Okay, I couldn’t finish this one. I got 62% into it when I gave up. Life is too short. I was expecting something like Mexican Gothic meets The Birds but this was not that. It was a very slow read, very little plot to speak of, and I didn’t care about a single character. And one of the characters is basically the dead essence of a man who was killed in the first chapter. Sounds kind of interesting but the execution was really lacking. I did think the parts about the bird watching were fun but this not the horror book it was marketed as. The cover, however, is fantastic.

Thank you to @erewhonbooks and @netgalley for the advance copy. (pub date 7/23/24)