C is for Chasers (by James Phelan)

the challenge

C is for Chasers (Alone #1) by James Phelan

on goodreads

This is my current quick read.

I read the first half in a few hours last night and had trouble sleeping. Yay for prayer! It was only after some hardcore praying that I was able to go to sleep. I think I'll try to read the rest of it during the day and then wash it down with some My Little Pony or something. It's just scary and way too realistic-feeling. There are slow parts, which I appreciate in a zombie-esque post-apocalyptic book, and those real survivor parts make it feel a little like Castaway. Castaway with zombies. So yeah. I gotta say, though, the writing is surprising in a good way. The beginning bit has normal dialogue just like any other book, but after the event happens, the quotation marks all disappear and you get this feeling like it's all happening in Jesse's head, almost. Very interesting mechanism there. I'd say it makes the dialogue feel more urgent, and like it's being processed through the fog of trauma. As a writer myself, I always love to see the ways authors pull off something like that. James Phelan has done a fantastic job on his first YA novel. I'll be reading the whole trilogy. The books are shortish, and take place over only a matter of weeks. I'll keep you updated.

Here's the blurb:

The trip of a lifetime just turned into the end of the world. 

When Jesse crawls out of the wreckage of a subway car and emerges into daylight, he’s greeted by a living nightmare. An unexplained force has destroyed New York City, turning skyscrapers into ash, cutting off all power and communication. Jesse and his new friends, Dave, Anna and Mini are dazed but unhurt. The other survivors are not so lucky. Every human being they encounter is infected, gripped by an unquenchable thirst that drives them to monstrous acts of violence. 

Somehow, Jesse has to escape. But first, he has to stay alive.

What are you reading?

Other current (taking my time) reads are:

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu (fantastic!!)
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Pisher (adorable)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madaleine L'Engle

After the ALONE series by James Phelan, I'll be reading PAS DE DEATH by Amanda Brice (also through NetGalley)