Okay, so first of all this is a post-apocalyptic novel that deals with a flu-like plague. So, with COVID still looming, this may still be a hard topic for people to read. However, I do highly recommend this story! I absolutely loved the narrative and these characters so much. I read the ebook in two days, which for me is phenomenal (as I have a hard time even remembering to read my ebooks), but the book was so addictive. It was a quick read, in that you could lose yourself in the story and the momentum never stalled. It was very easy to empathize with Andrew and Jamison. It was so hard not to like them and root for them and just helplessly read as they face hardship after hardship. The commentary in this book was also spot on. The "what would happen" line that changed depending on where you were. What people will justify doing in order to ensure their own survival. The real fear of people placing themselves in power who are racist, prejudiced, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic assholes. The idea that you may have found a safe haven, only to see some glaring red flags and fearing you are now trapped. But, I also liked the small moments of love and hope that these two young men found throughout. That even in this dark time there can still be pockets of goodness, and maybe, hopefully, that goodness will eventually outweigh the bad. I also found that the story confronted the survivalist aspect of humanity as well. How both Andrew and Jamison are put into situations in which they have to make a choice to either let themselves be hurt or to fight back to save themselves. Do these actions they took, in order to save themselves, make them inherently bad people? Or was it a bad situation, in which they were given an impossible choice? I liked how both of them do not automatically just walk away from their decision, that their choice still affects them and affects the future decisions they make. It is a book about trauma and healing, how both of them must find their own way to accepting what they have had to do in order to survive in this new world. I loved the side characters that help the boys out too, Henri and Cara especially. Henri is tough as nails, but she is also tender to Andrew and Jamison. She helps them when she could easily have left them to whatever fate awaited in her small town. Cara was one of the most interesting characters. She suffers from PTSD, from an event that you never really receive the full story on, but she is also quiet and unassuming. Which gives her an advantage when she decides to stand up for those she cares about. She is protective and a whiz when it comes to maps. She also can sense goodness in people. Finally, maybe my favourite plot point, was Andrew and Jamison bonding over Andrew telling him the plots to many famous movies that Jamison had never seen. And, Jamison reciprocating by telling Andrew the plots of all the Hallmark channel movies. These two are just too adorable. Such a great take on the post-apocalyptic genre, with memorable characters that you hope make it through the worst of it and come out on the other side.
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