Received as part of a Goodreads giveaway.

Releasing this book as part of lane1088’s science fiction book box. Sending this book to the next participant. Happy Travels!

Selected from the Sci-Fi Bookbox. Thank you!

I thoroughly enjoyed this post-apocalyptic tale! It balances the huge scope of this disastrous plague and the sudden smallness of humanity's effect on the world around them. The small group of strong-willed people we get to know interact with both grace and sharp sparks, giving the reader plenty of chances to reflect on both their society and ours. The struggles of emotionally coping with the loss of nearly all of human life are vivid, but the author also effectively creates the sense of openness and potential that some of the characters see as a bright side to the horror. The pace is typically contemplative, which might get frustrating for people who expected more of a survival tale. We rarely worry that our characters aren't going to live, instead we wonder how they can thrive.

There were a few things that bothered me a little, mostly the "will-they, won't they" romance, and a few things about the illness itself that I had questions about. My main issue with the plague was the dissolving bodies, which I had a hard time suspending belief for. I can understand that the natural, decaying aftermath of a million corpses per survivor and its effects on the ecosystem would not be something the author would want to tackle, but having the dead just blow away as dust seemed awfully convenient.

One of the starting volumes in the Otherworldly (Shrinking) Bookbox

Selecting from emmejo's Otherworldly book box.