I had high expectations for The Deading, but unfortunately, it didn’t deliver. The narrative felt disjointed, with elements like eco-horror, birdwatching, and dystopian cultism that seemed to clash rather than complement each other. While some prose was delightful, it was limited to certain perspectives and didn’t carry through the entire book. The focus on various aspects left me feeling the author had too many ideas without fully developing any. Overall, I found it underwhelming and struggled to stay engaged.

Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me.

I didn’t realize it was a cosmic horror when I picked it up and that isn’t always something that works for me. I’m just not an alien fan.

It was an odd one and the cover drew me in.

Points for uniqueness with the virus and the well-thought isolated town. I just don’t know if I was the target audience or if the book was just confusing all together.

dnf @ 30% in

i really don't have anything necessarily bad to say about this book! i was actually super excited to read and was happy to get the arc for it but unfortunately, it left me disappointed and bored as i do not think that this book is personally for me!

This book is indeed a good readalike for the Southern Reach series, but unfortunately it's plagued with many of the same problems that ruined the 4th book, Absolution, for me. There are many very pretty passages, but they come at the expense of the plot, which lurches along, interrupted repeatedly by meticulous descriptions of birds. And, listen: I love nature writing! But it feels out of place when we just watched someone be subsumed and consumed by mystery snails.

There are also some problems with voice. Our first POV character offers some respectable unreliable narration, but slides into descriptions of dreams (?) that are hard to parse and feel as out of place as the bird-talk. His voice is also too similar to the next set of POV characters, which worsens the feeling of slogging through the book.

Nicholas Belardes’ The Deading starts strong, with a great premise and often quite beautiful writing. Following (mainly) Blas, a teenager with a love of bird watching, and charting Baywood’s decline from the sea snails’ first victim to some of the townsfolk’s eventual escape, there was a huge amount of potential here - it’s unfortunate, then, that it felt a little wasted.

Let’s start with the good. Belardes’ writing, as mentioned earlier, is descriptive and engaging, and was a huge part of the reason I kept reading even when I felt like the story was becoming overwrought.

Another highlight were the Risers, the residents that “dead” and eventually form a cult, covering themselves in trinkets and “deading” in the most extravagant of ways. Their scenes are laden with dread and the underlying threat that some of them might never have “deaded” at all, their involvement either a tragic way of surviving Baywood’s new order, or a way to enact their most awful of desires.

But the Risers are just one aspect of The Deading, which ultimately falls into the trap of trying to do too much. From death cults to govermental control, from body horror to something entirely more Lovecraftian, this small coastal town has it all - but might it have benefited from a little less?

Moments of reflection and observation within the narrative suggest that Belardes wanted this to be a contemplative novel, one that raised questions and evoked emotion. And if we’d just witnessed the gradual decline of Baywood through Blas’ eyes, all while the government drones watched on, we might have got that. But instead its packed with characters and perspectives far beyond what the blurb suggests, making it hard to build that level of intimacy with the reader. A few hundred pages in either direction might have made the world of difference - either trimming the fat, or exploring deeper.

Belardes certainly does try with Blas and older bird-watcher Kumi (there’s a particularly memorable scene where she and another birder try to infilatrate the cult and film footage for the outside world), but The Deading simply didn’t hit the way that I wanted it to and it’s a shame, because there’s some really lovely writing here that I’m unlikely to revisit.

The Deading sounded awesome. Strange occurrences in a small town. Isolated by quarantine. Weird slugs! But how did it all tie together?

Deading is interesting. People “dead” in Baywood, and it starts out as a joke? Then it starts to not be so jokey. People feel like they HAVE to “dead”. But again, why?

This was very slow going. I didn’t feel particularly connected to any characters in this - not even Blas, the birdwatcher - and I really love birds! There were just too many walls and walls of text, info dumps, sort of, but about the way people were feeling. Blas and his birds, the oyster farmer and his crop, the leaders of the Risers and their like, manifesto. It was hard to stay engaged.

By the end, I wasn’t really sure what I read or how it all connected. The idea was interesting, the writing has some skill, but the story in itself ended up being uninteresting. It felt like too many pieces thrown together.

I... don't know. 2,5, I guess?

"The Deading" was a really good book at some points, but at others I needed to force myself through it... which shouldn't happen, that's why I'm rounding the rating down. the body horror parts were really good and I really wish there were more of them. I also really appreciated the themes of climate change and social inequalities being touched upon. but had really drawn me to this book in the first place was the plot being centered about birdwatching (and I loved that bit too!)

however, the story took veery long to gain momentum - it started improving around 1/3 in, and was still very slow at times even past that point. I wasn't a big fan of the writing style either (except for K's pov, these parts were really beautifully written - wish there was more of that!). and the reveal about B at the end was... unexpected, yes, but in a bad way, lacking proper buildup/foreshadowing and connection to the rest of the story.

all in all, the idea was really good, but I unfortunately found the execution lacking in too many ways for the book to be enjoyable overall. nevertheless, thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books | Erewhon Books for the E-ARC.

This books premise was a great idea and had me interested, but sadly for me the execution was a little rough. The author has a beautiful way of writing and I will definitely give their writing more chances! This is a book though that I think I'll need to read again to truly appreciate it.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC!

Ecological horror is one of my favorite subgenres - especially ecohorror that explores the dissolving boundaries between human and more-than-human environments and bodies. With its promises of an ocean-borne contagion infecting the wildlife, the seascape, and people of a small fishing town, and for that infection to induce so-called "deading" which compels the infected to collapse, die, and then rise again, changed, <i>The Deading</i> can certainly be categorized as such.

I found the opening chapters compelling and effective in their attempt to situate the story within the ecohorror tradition. Almost immediately, we are introduced to the grotesque, transformative encounter between an oyster farmer and the snails, or mollusks, that have infected the farm (any mention of mollusks and spirals immediately reminded me of [book:Uzumaki|17837762]). While sometimes repetitive, Belardes' narration is descriptive and visceral. This style of narration continues throughout the novel, and the attention given to the natural environment and its inhabitants - from the ocean to the forests - is deliberate. Told through multiple POVs, across gender, age, ethnicity, and even species, the reader is, in a way, forced to undergo, not just observe, the emerging changes and their myriad a/effects.

However, this came at the expense of engaging, fleshed-out character work. I found many characters to border on being one-dimensional and this considerably impacted my enjoyment. Moreover, while being sometimes overwhelmingly descriptive, I felt I was sometimes told what to feel and think; my emotions carefully curated rather than gently guided towards the desired affective state. That the author didn't trust in my ability to reach his desired affective state, to reach the "correct" conclusions. If that makes sense. This first happened in the chapters with the oyster farmer and owner Bernhard, where his inner monologues were presented in a manner which indicated it was VERY important that I realize he wasn't a great guy. That I shouldn't empathize with him. Not one redeemable quality there. Secondly, I felt that I was often told, not shown, that the unfolding events were uncanny and grotesque, and while I enjoyed the descriptive language, it struggled to maintain the sense of dread often present in ecohorror.

<i>The Deading</i>, while not perfect, does utilize the full arsenal of narrative techniques afforded by ecohorror. It raises ecological awareness, engages with the unsettling transformations caused by environmental pollutants and toxins, and human/more-than-human encounters dissolving distinct borders between the "two," and it firmly places itself in the 'nature-strikes-back" tradition (also my least favorite take on ecohorror).

In other words, I found this to be an overall effective ecological horror story that definitely invokes both King's <i>Under the Dome</i> and the games and HBO-series <i>The Last of Us</i>, but which nevertheless failed to fully an consistently grasp my attention and interest. I do recommend this novel to other ecohorror fans, perhaps in particular to those who love nature-revenge ecohorrors.

This felt like a fever dream from start to finish, and I was second guessing everything I read, and re-read. There was a plot in the first few chapters, but it quickly was overshadowed by the bizarre writing style and strange tangents.
It starts with a pretty clear plot and an easily identifiable direction that it’s going. I excited the first dew chapters in and was expecting wildlife horror, and was thrilled about the idea of a town being under lock-down. There is the town and its lockdown, and was wildlife that did not act normal (but what was with the excess talk about birds? I love birds myself- I even have a bird tattoo but I didn’t understand it. Maybe it is a high over-arching theme that I am not seeing) but that is about the only concise thing I can speak about. After the first 5 pages it is a total loss. The rest is a muddled mess of human nature turned violet, and a collective mind overtaking humans. But it’s not just a collective mind, except we don’t ever get to know the true definition. This book feels like someone wanted to write all the horror plots into one book and call it a day.
I will be frank, the writing was so hard to get through. It felt clunky and entirely inorganic and maddeningly confusing. The overall style of the book was also strange. Though that is very possible it could just be a tech thing with my Kindle so I wouldn’t give it too much though. Dialogue between characters was actually fantastic and I appreciated one speck of good. The cast is decently sized and I was sort of expecting it. They all have their own individual stories and interactions. Normally this would be great but this all adds another layer of plot to separate and ended up feeling like a chore.
There was no resolution to book which both shocked and frustrated me. One of the main reasons why I decided to push to finish the book was so I could hopefully gain some clear understanding as to what was happening. I didn’t, and it only left me with more questions and a desire to take back the time I took to read it. Needless to say I half wish I DNF’d it.

Look, I get it. I do but I’m still giving this 4 stars. While I can see the things everyone is complaining about; too much description, too many POV’s, run on sentence I think that added to my whole reading experience 🤣
My god Belardes tells a story and you have to respect the game. The no holding back- the extreme critical eye turned upon human nature.
When I wasn’t distracted by an excellent (IMO) story I was focusing on the message that humans are simultaneously both fascinated by and yet incapable of not destroying nature. Whether that’s Mother Nature or human nature.
This book does do too much but in the best way. The way where you cheer the author on- get it push those boundaries!
I also feel like it had some real Under the Dome vibes and I loved that book.

If you’re in the mood for an eco-horror with layered, measured characters and slow, lyrical description - then this is the book for you. I love the details of the bird and snails especially. You can tell the author did a lot of research (or delved further into their special interest…)

I do think the comp titles weren’t completely accurate - not in a bad way. Though, if you enter this book wanting something remotely related to The Dome or the Last of Us, you’ll probably leave disappointed.

And as an ex-goth teen girl, this felt especially harrowing and, actually, confrontingly rude. I loved every second.

I want to start by saying thank you for the opportunity to have a review copy of this. I am really sad to say that this book did not work for me. Which is a shame, I was excited for this book. Very few books don’t work for me and this just happened to fall in that category.

I did finish it however so there is that.

I feel like there was too much happening and that the author was trying to do way too many things with such a vast amount of characters. It felt a bit like we were getting sidetracked from the main story with side plots.

This sort of book will work well for others but it didn’t work for me. I love being open to interpretation but I do like some things wrapped up nicely and this just left way too many open holes for me.

There are some things I loved, I love horror and I love biology and I love zombies. So there is that and I also loved the setting, anything with an ocean gets a thumbs up from me. I would definitely read something else by this author if it came my way. But this particular one didn’t gel with me.

Overall I would rate it 2 out of 5 which yes is low. But I would definitely recommend it to people I know who would enjoy this type of horror. I really don’t want the author to get disheartened because it didn’t work for me.

Plague horror is 100 times scarier after covid. Isolated on an island plague horror is just terrifying!! This was very good!

Never had I thought bird watching could become interesting.

This was definitely advertised correctly as being liked by fans of 'Last of Us'. I am a fan of both the show and the games. I would also recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Grady Hendrix.

There are definitely times where I was confused and unsure of what was going on, but that was because the characters were confused as well.

"If you want to stay, you have to die."
The Deading is a dystopian novel that takes places in a seaside village that becomes infected by this mysterious ocean-borne contagion. This one follows a cast of characters and each character was intriguing. It was written really well and had me turning pages until the very end. This was a deep story with lots of twist and turns. I loved this book so much and enjoyed this gripping read and would recommend this one to any reader but especially to readers who love sci-fi or horror. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this dystopian read in exchange of my honest review of The Deading by Nicholas Belardes.

"The Deading" by Nicholas Belardes is a haunting and thought-provoking exploration of mortality, memory, and the blurred lines between life and death. The narrative weaves together a tapestry of eerie and surreal experiences that challenge the boundaries of reality, immersing readers in a world where the past and present intertwine.

Belardes’s writing is both poetic and unsettling, skillfully capturing the emotional weight of his characters' struggles. The story delves into themes of grief and the afterlife, provoking deep reflection on the nature of existence and the connections we forge.

With its unique blend of horror and philosophical inquiry, "The Deading" is a compelling read that will linger in the minds of those who dare to venture into its darkly imaginative landscape. Fans of literary fiction with a twist of the macabre will find much to appreciate in this intriguing novel.

This is a very different type of story about "deading," which started out as a game by high schoolers playing at being dead for social media fodder. It jumps around between multiple characters in the California city of Baywood where deading is taking over. One character, Bernard, has an oyster farm in the bay that gets overrun with snails, he meets with an accident, and the snails take over his body and make him part of the "deading", now an entity. Other characters, Chango and Blas, are brothers who live with their mother. Chango works for Bernard at the oyster farm, and Blas is obsessed with bird watching and documenting his sightings. Blas is friends with Kumi Sato, an old widow in tune with nature and fellow bird watcher. Ingram and Victor are also two bird watching friends in the town. All the characters are affected negatively by the deading in one way or another, and it is causing extremely concerning behavior. "It wills her to slip into the dead stasis, to join the others, to be like the birds and the snails, to be the people giving in, giving up, slowly, collectively, dying."

This was a little difficult for me to get into at first. It seemed to be jumping around, and I wasn't sure who was speaking throughout some of the story. There is something wrong with everyone, but you just aren't sure what exactly is happening. The suspense and dread were felt in Mr. Belardes' writing. I thought the story was very uniquely written and was an interesting concept.

The Deading has an interesting premise, unique characters, and some really wonderful imagery when it comes to descriptions of nature. As a bird lover myself, the birdwatching descriptions really spoke to me, though I think you need to be a certain type of reader to appreciate them.

I do feel like this book would have been more effective if it stuck to one focus. It felt like it was pulled between two or three completely different plots. This made for a somewhat inconsistent reading experience with the pacing and feeling like I was reading multiple books at once. However, the writing style and language choice was quite beautiful.

ARCs received from Kensington Books via Netgalley and a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you!