A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope. From the mind of Chuck Wendig comes “a magnum opus . . . a story about survival that’s not just about you and me, but all of us, together” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington … BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • The Guardian • Kirkus Reviews • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • Polygon
Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.
For as the sleepwalking phenomenon awakens terror and violence in America, the real danger may not be the epidemic but the fear of it. With society collapsing all around them—and an ultraviolent militia threatening to exterminate them—the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart—or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.
In development for TV by Glen Mazzara, executive producer of The Walking Dead • Look forthe sequel in 2022
“This career-defining epic deserves its inevitable comparisons to Stephen King’s The Stand.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A suspenseful, twisty, satisfying, surprising, thought-provoking epic.”—Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Run Away
“A true tour de force.”—Erin Morgenstern, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus
“A masterpiece with prose as sharp and heartbreaking as Station Eleven.”—Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M
“A magnum opus . . . It reminded me of Stephen King’s The Stand—but dare I say, this story is even better.”—James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crucible
“An inventive, fierce, uncompromising, stay-up-way-past-bedtime masterwork.”—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World
“An American epic for these times.”—Charles Soule, author of The Oracle Year
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Long but who cares when you have a group of people marching who knows where or why. They are sort of like zombies but not dead. They will not speak. They just keep marching. In the meantime a pandemic looms. What do the marchers have to do with it? What about robotics?
Reminiscent of Stephen King’s THE STAND but wholly original in its execution and theme. A huge novel full of diverse characters, tragic heroism, ruthless villains, and a great bit of heart driving it all.
OH. I am blown away. Brilliant and terrifying and and whoa–what a story-teller. Clear your calendars.
An astounding adventure.
Utterly brilliant and frighteningly plausible.
A defining moment in speculative fiction.
For no apparent reason, people develop a dead stare and start walking. They respond to nothing; their thick skin can’t be penetrated. If something gets in their way, they climb over it effortlessly. If someone tries to restrain them, they shudder and their body temperature rises until they burst in a spray of blood and bone, killing not only themselves, but those around them.
All this brings forth the good and bad of American society: the good shepherds, family members who plod alongside their loved ones; and the bad: religious fanatics, right-wing politicians, and rabid white supremacists with armaments that rival those of the United States military.
It’s an election year, with the incumbent Nora Hunt a Hillary Clinton-like female referenced in vulgar terms by those who despise her, and a reckless far-right opponent named Ed Creel, who curses at reporters and spews lies, conspiracies, and calls to violence against the walkers, shepherds, and anyone who opposes him.
The CDC, under the guidance of Dr. Benji Ray, is assigned to track the walkers and fights off the violent intrusion of Homeland Security, but finds its charges and themselves repeatedly under attack: on the ground by armed militias ready to snatch their country away from a president and society they despise; over the airwaves by a preacher suddenly famous for his increasingly violent scriptural interpretations of sinners in the hands of an angry God; and through the Internet by countless commenters around the world advocating a variety of strategies. Their only protection is an artificial intelligence program named Black Swan, which seemingly holds the key to this panic if it’s asked the right questions.
Until a fungus nicknamed White Mask begins to spread around the world, with a one hundred percent death rate, and the only people not affected by the illness are the walkers, which enrages their paranoid adversaries even further.
Chuck Wendig made sure to cover every conceivable base in this book, but clocking in at 800 pages in hardcover, he’s sorely in need of a good editor to murder his darlings. Entire storylines could easily fall or shorten under an expert red pen — Pastor Matthew Bird and his intact but estranged family are unnecessary baggage, and militia leader Ozark Stover’s sadism veers way too far into Deliverance territory. Even vital characters like Shana, Marcy, and Dr. Ray are burdened with too much backstory, and aging punk rocker/rebellion leader Pete Corley receives far too much of the attention he craves. An entire simulation, much like a video game, featuring the walkers makes no sense and merely pads out the story, as if Wendig had a word or page count to meet. There aren’t many characters who feels unfinished or mysterious, which isn’t a compliment.
If Wendig isn’t actively emulating Stephen King’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand, he at least lays this manuscript at its altar. And while the two books have a lot in common, Wendig simply lacks the chops to pull off such a complex tale, a feat King has achieved repeatedly throughout his long and storied career. In Wendig’s defense, not many writers have been able to match King’s most popular book, but he and Random House provoked a deliberate comparison by issuing such a similar novel nearly 41 years after The Stand’s first issuance.