by Isaac Marion
Part of Warm Bodies
First published 2017
R takes each breath deliberately. He forms words with effort. Death released him, but being human requires practice. His memories from before remain blank, which suits him fine. He wants to build something fresh with Julie instead of recovering what he lost. The past refuses to stay buried. Something worse than the Dead carries the plague now, something that wants the old world back. It craves the days when power meant everything and the weak served the strong. It remembers R even though he has forgotten himself. Stopping this threat means traveling into America's broken landscape. The journey will take R through wastelands that defy logic. Worse, he must explore the dark corners of his own mind. The answers he needs hide in the basement of his consciousness, in places he would rather leave alone. R must choose between the safety of ignorance and the danger of truth. His new life with Julie hangs in the balance. The plague wants to drag the world backward, but R is learning to move forward.
Genres: fiction, science-fiction, thriller, 21st-century, post-apocalyptic, apocalyptic
Vibes: dark, gritty, introspective, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, journey-of-self-discovery, love-against-odds, second-chance
Setting: America
Period: 21st-century
512 pages · Hardcover · Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Content warnings: death, violence