This is how the world ends… “Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig was a slow burn. A new infection affecting 12 new victims a day who begin “sleepwalking,” become impenetrable to blood draws, can “walk” sleeplessly for days, weeks, and months, and anyone who tries to stop the walkers cause them to explode.
The “slow burn” was the 800-page unraveling of the mysterious infection from several points of view. A pastor who uses the walkers for a new following, a director at the CDC, and politicians trying to use the infection for political gain, and the radicals who want to kill or destroy the walkers for fear that they will overtake the world.
The book is very deep and it is both a treatise on science and religion and God. It is filled with Biblical allegory and symbolism on the end times. It explores themes of white supremacy, race relations, artificial intelligence (AI), time travel, quantum entanglement, and many more. This book was stimulating for both the head and the heart.
Despite being 800 pages, you didn’t want this to end and you couldn’t wait to see how it ends. I have read maybe 10 or so post-apocalyptic, end of the world books in the past year or so, and I found this one to be the best with its expert depth and fabulous storytelling. It is a new favorite book of mine.
Poems for Warriors 
I read Station Eleven, also an end of the world as we know it. These ‘virus’ attacks are hitting pretty close to home these days, especially given that some people are ignoring the science as if they are ‘walkers’. Great review. 800 pages is a bit long, still I might give it a try.
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I loved Station Eleven… I think I liked this one even more 🙂
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