Ten years after a plague of parasitic worms decimated humanity, turning some of them into zombies, the world has become a dangerous country of bandits and hunger. Across this landscape, a young woman must overcome terror and isolation to survive. Driven by determination and loyalty, she must leave the only home she has ever known, confronting both death and her past. Pushed to her uttermost … limits, she will discover who she is and what she is willing to sacrifice.
The stand-alone sequel to the award-winning The World Without Crows, The World Without Flags is a story of survival, loyalty, and what we suffer for the ones we love.
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I read this book via an ARC from the author, for Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team. The fact that it was free has not affected this honest review.
I have an endless hunger for post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction, but it has to be well-written, feasible, properly researched and edited, with great characters, realistic dialogue and a plot that keeps me turning the pages. I am delighted to say that this ticked all the boxes. I loved it.
It’s actually a Book #2, but it’s completely stand-alone; I didn’t know of the existence of Book #1 until I looked up the Amazon links for this review.
Birdie is around sixteen (she is not sure of her exact age), and lives in the Homestead in Maine, where she lives with Eric, who she thinks of as her father. She has only vague recollections of the Worm, a disease that hit the world a decade ago, around 1990, rendering most of the population zombie-like, though only a few ‘cracked’ and became flesh-eaters. She is happy enough in her world – but then a traveller appears with news of a coming war between two factions, both of whom want to rebuild the country under their command.
This news leaves the community in a state of extreme anxiety, but worse is to come. Much, much worse…
Most of the story is about a journey that Birdie must make to ensure her own safety and that of those she loves, through land she doesn’t know, where she will come up against much danger. The hazardous journey is a post-apocalyptic standard, but it works every time if done well, and this was. It’s exciting, unpredictable, and Birdie’s development, as she learns more about the world outside her safe enclosure and finds much strength within herself that she didn’t know existed, is a joy to read.
If you love this genre, I recommend highly; even if you think you don’t, I still recommend. Suffice to say that I’ve downloaded Book #1, and started reading it as soon as I’d finished #2. One word of warning: it’s rather gruesome at times. Don’t read it while you’re eating. I say this from experience.
World Without Flags is Mr. Bedard’s second novel and a sequel to his first, The World Without Crows. I haven’t read the first, but World Without Flags can certainly be read as a stand-alone book. Enough backstory is given that I didn’t feel I missed any critical information.
These two books are about a disease apocalypse called the Worm. Set ten years after the disease nearly wiped out humanity, World Without Flags shows how humanity has survived. But, war between the Gears and the Stars, two opposing factions who want to reunite the ravaged United States. And the Worm resurges.
I particularly liked that the protagonist, Birdie, is a young black woman, but her race is not her defining characteristic. She, to paraphrase the words of Christopher Robin, is …braver than she believes, stronger than she seems, and smarter than she thinks.” She risks her own life (and sometimes those of others) to save the one she loves. The book was at times repetitious, especially Birdie’s internal monologue. There are some places where the writing hangs up and where a good editing would have helped, but none of these complaints kept me from finishing the book. That said, in this Covid-19 world, some people may be distressed by reading about the disease, its symptoms, and the effects on the world.