Book Review: Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
SKYNET, The Matrix, The Hot Zone, and Randall Flagg walk into a bar.
SKYNET: I will write a novel by arranging the entirety of the English language into pleasing patterns that mimic human speech.
The Matrix: I will write a novel by connecting all human minds granting free access to each other's perceptions and realities.
The Hot Zone: I will write a novel using nature to scare the fuck out of you.
Randall Flagg: My novel is the history of mankind with the worst chapters yet to be written.
In walks Chuck Wendig: "Hold my beer, bitches."
And WANDERERS was born . . . .
I've been a fan and casual internet friend of Wendig's for many years. I thoroughly enjoyed the Miriam Black saga. It's hard to describe. He has an excellent sense of place and reaching into some of the basest aspects of being human. For example, Miriam Black uses her psychic abilities to be in the right place to rob victims of fate.
But Wendig's works also redeem the scoundrels in surprising and satisfactory ways.
This book is a big satisfying chewy chonk of an apoc novel. It's loaded with characters following threads that will converge, social commentary, contemporary issues, and SCIENCE! From a technical standpoint, it rivals Arthur Haley in being placing the reader in the moment grappling with what the complexities of what hell is happening right now.
In WANDERERS, people start falling into trances and walking across the country. At every town, more join the flock until it is a thousand strong.
The flock is non-violent, non-intrusive, and non-threatening. And people are terrified. For one segment of humanity, the flock is to be guarded and shepherded. For another, it must be destroyed. Neither side understands it. Intended or not, I found this to be a metaphor for the "caravans" approaching our southern border. Some people are welcoming and nurturing while others seek to destroy it as "the other."
I like this method of being dropped right in the middle of the unfolding crisis with no tedious prologue or foreshadowing. Like one of the iterations of Dawn of the Dead where the opening scene is a reporter saying, "The dead have come to life and are eating the living." There's no time to ponder. The emergency is on and it's only going to get worse. You'll find out why later.
Reading about the flock requires some suspension of disbelief. They are virtually invulnerable and have no need for food, water, or rest. Just roll with it. Your questions will be answered. The flock is a constant thread throughout the book. Always walking west.
While the news and social media fixate on the flock. While conspiracy theorists and hellfire internet preachers compete for clicks, something else is happening. A famous businessman bumbles into a previously isolated wildlife habitat and is mauled by its inhabitants. Here, the author makes his only small technical error in the impeccable science lacing the entire book. When Garlin said he needed five rabies shots, he was right, but Chuck missed the RIG protocol. Given the description of the injuries, Garlin would have needed more like 55 shots. Ask me how I know this.
But in this case, 555 shots wouldn't have been enough.
I've long been fascinated by zoonotics. These are diseases that can pass between humans and animals. And it's probably what will take us out of the game. As soon as Garlin began exhibiting symptoms, my first thought was, "That sounds like [disease]." I dropped everything and read a couple of technical papers. Yup, I was right. And, oh, holy shit . . . . GAH!
Ebola and Bubonic Plague show up from time to time in political thrillers. They are poor choices for getting a pandemic off the ground. Despite the fact that plague, in particular, is curable, both diseases kill you too fast.
I know, right?
It's what is sometimes called "the burn rate." Both are blazing hot fires that knock you on your ass so fast that you crawl home, go to bed, and wait to recover or die. And modern societies don't do the things that spread Ebola, such as elaborate home-based funeral rituals that expose everyone to blood and bodily fluids. We call the professionals and the body is handled like an unwanted carcass. And if you did get exposed, you're sick in your own bed before you can get on an airplane and spread it through a half-dozen airports.
Bubonic Plague rebooted western civilization in its three-century reign. To this day, scientists are studying pockets of descendants of plague survivors and finding they have interesting features in their immune systems. It was the beginning of the end of serfdom, changed the value of labor, and opened the door to the Industrial Revolution. Oh, and it was partly driven by climate change. Whelp, in WANDERERS, the human history Magic 8-Ball is being shaken again and it's "Answer Unclear - Try Again Later."
Chuck did some serious homework and found something creeping, insidious, and highly resistant to our existing medicine. There is some medicine but it's not enough. You either survive or you don't and you're on your feet and spreading it like a damn boss before your own symptoms are florid. I am sitting here getting itchy just thinking about it.
Meanwhile, back here in the real world, there has been some bleating and rending of American flag t-shirts over the perceived political agenda in the book. I have one answer to that: LOL WUT?
The story does unfold with a contentious presidential election as a backdrop. The centrist government is being challenged by a bellicose populist. The so-called militias and the fire-and-brimstone evangelicals and opportunists fan the flames of hysteria to further personal agendas as the crisis unfolds. In other words, it's Friday in America.
Not once is a political party named but the "deplorables" just seem to know who "they" are.
Hey, Broflake, if the MAGA hat fits . . .
But, the conventional politicians don't acquit themselves well either. There is weakness and indecision when there isn't a "plan for that." It shows a flaw in our society. If a true pandemic were to dig in, with an ancillary crisis (for example, the flock,) hard strong things that aren't batshit cruel are going to have to be done. And that will take strength and the willingness to think outside the box and not worry about the polls and Twitter. This tends to not be qualities we value in modern leaders.
So, we have the absolute collapse of our society in the background and the threads of the different storylines in the foreground converging in Colorado (intended or not, there are several Stephen King easter eggs in the book, enjoy them.)
Throw in a sinister AI presence and a half-dozen lies and hidden agendas and we have a fucking party.
Wendig wrote a game-changing apoc epic that deserves its comparisons to THE STAND. It's audacious in its ambition and it works. The science is spot-on (and I know my shit in this department.) The characters are well-drawn, interesting, and flawed in ways that let them carry you along on their journey. Yeah, Shanna gets annoying but it's that characteristic that saves lives at the end. Dr. Benji is my favorite kind of reluctant hero. The guy who doesn't want to be there but has the skills and integrity that gives him no choice. Noble as fuck. Beautiful doomed Arav. And O, M, G, aging rocker Pete Corley and his RV in that critical closing scene. It gives just desserts to a horrifying villain who truly deserves what happens to him. We recognize these characters in many shows and books: Rick and the preacher in The Walking Dead, Frannie and Stu in The Stand, and so on. They are us.
And then we have Black Swan. I won't give up any spoilers but, trust me, even Randall Flagg would throw up his hands and said, "No Bruh, I'm good. Keep me out of this one."
So.
If you are in the mood for a book that breaks the mold of 65K words and out. One that takes its time developing characters and explaining and exploring science, with lush well-presented settings while it's, you know, describing the end of the fucking world, then WANDERERS is for you.
Black Swan has already predicted that you'll like it. And you don't want to disappoint Black Swan, do you?
Here, you look like you need a Kleenex. Take the box. No, I'm good.
SKYNET: I will write a novel by arranging the entirety of the English language into pleasing patterns that mimic human speech.
The Matrix: I will write a novel by connecting all human minds granting free access to each other's perceptions and realities.
The Hot Zone: I will write a novel using nature to scare the fuck out of you.
Randall Flagg: My novel is the history of mankind with the worst chapters yet to be written.
In walks Chuck Wendig: "Hold my beer, bitches."
And WANDERERS was born . . . .
But Wendig's works also redeem the scoundrels in surprising and satisfactory ways.
This book is a big satisfying chewy chonk of an apoc novel. It's loaded with characters following threads that will converge, social commentary, contemporary issues, and SCIENCE! From a technical standpoint, it rivals Arthur Haley in being placing the reader in the moment grappling with what the complexities of what hell is happening right now.
In WANDERERS, people start falling into trances and walking across the country. At every town, more join the flock until it is a thousand strong.
The flock is non-violent, non-intrusive, and non-threatening. And people are terrified. For one segment of humanity, the flock is to be guarded and shepherded. For another, it must be destroyed. Neither side understands it. Intended or not, I found this to be a metaphor for the "caravans" approaching our southern border. Some people are welcoming and nurturing while others seek to destroy it as "the other."
I like this method of being dropped right in the middle of the unfolding crisis with no tedious prologue or foreshadowing. Like one of the iterations of Dawn of the Dead where the opening scene is a reporter saying, "The dead have come to life and are eating the living." There's no time to ponder. The emergency is on and it's only going to get worse. You'll find out why later.
Reading about the flock requires some suspension of disbelief. They are virtually invulnerable and have no need for food, water, or rest. Just roll with it. Your questions will be answered. The flock is a constant thread throughout the book. Always walking west.
While the news and social media fixate on the flock. While conspiracy theorists and hellfire internet preachers compete for clicks, something else is happening. A famous businessman bumbles into a previously isolated wildlife habitat and is mauled by its inhabitants. Here, the author makes his only small technical error in the impeccable science lacing the entire book. When Garlin said he needed five rabies shots, he was right, but Chuck missed the RIG protocol. Given the description of the injuries, Garlin would have needed more like 55 shots. Ask me how I know this.
But in this case, 555 shots wouldn't have been enough.
I've long been fascinated by zoonotics. These are diseases that can pass between humans and animals. And it's probably what will take us out of the game. As soon as Garlin began exhibiting symptoms, my first thought was, "That sounds like [disease]." I dropped everything and read a couple of technical papers. Yup, I was right. And, oh, holy shit . . . . GAH!
Ebola and Bubonic Plague show up from time to time in political thrillers. They are poor choices for getting a pandemic off the ground. Despite the fact that plague, in particular, is curable, both diseases kill you too fast.
I know, right?
It's what is sometimes called "the burn rate." Both are blazing hot fires that knock you on your ass so fast that you crawl home, go to bed, and wait to recover or die. And modern societies don't do the things that spread Ebola, such as elaborate home-based funeral rituals that expose everyone to blood and bodily fluids. We call the professionals and the body is handled like an unwanted carcass. And if you did get exposed, you're sick in your own bed before you can get on an airplane and spread it through a half-dozen airports.
Bubonic Plague rebooted western civilization in its three-century reign. To this day, scientists are studying pockets of descendants of plague survivors and finding they have interesting features in their immune systems. It was the beginning of the end of serfdom, changed the value of labor, and opened the door to the Industrial Revolution. Oh, and it was partly driven by climate change. Whelp, in WANDERERS, the human history Magic 8-Ball is being shaken again and it's "Answer Unclear - Try Again Later."
Chuck did some serious homework and found something creeping, insidious, and highly resistant to our existing medicine. There is some medicine but it's not enough. You either survive or you don't and you're on your feet and spreading it like a damn boss before your own symptoms are florid. I am sitting here getting itchy just thinking about it.
Meanwhile, back here in the real world, there has been some bleating and rending of American flag t-shirts over the perceived political agenda in the book. I have one answer to that: LOL WUT?
The story does unfold with a contentious presidential election as a backdrop. The centrist government is being challenged by a bellicose populist. The so-called militias and the fire-and-brimstone evangelicals and opportunists fan the flames of hysteria to further personal agendas as the crisis unfolds. In other words, it's Friday in America.
Not once is a political party named but the "deplorables" just seem to know who "they" are.
Hey, Broflake, if the MAGA hat fits . . .
But, the conventional politicians don't acquit themselves well either. There is weakness and indecision when there isn't a "plan for that." It shows a flaw in our society. If a true pandemic were to dig in, with an ancillary crisis (for example, the flock,) hard strong things that aren't batshit cruel are going to have to be done. And that will take strength and the willingness to think outside the box and not worry about the polls and Twitter. This tends to not be qualities we value in modern leaders.
So, we have the absolute collapse of our society in the background and the threads of the different storylines in the foreground converging in Colorado (intended or not, there are several Stephen King easter eggs in the book, enjoy them.)
Throw in a sinister AI presence and a half-dozen lies and hidden agendas and we have a fucking party.
Wendig wrote a game-changing apoc epic that deserves its comparisons to THE STAND. It's audacious in its ambition and it works. The science is spot-on (and I know my shit in this department.) The characters are well-drawn, interesting, and flawed in ways that let them carry you along on their journey. Yeah, Shanna gets annoying but it's that characteristic that saves lives at the end. Dr. Benji is my favorite kind of reluctant hero. The guy who doesn't want to be there but has the skills and integrity that gives him no choice. Noble as fuck. Beautiful doomed Arav. And O, M, G, aging rocker Pete Corley and his RV in that critical closing scene. It gives just desserts to a horrifying villain who truly deserves what happens to him. We recognize these characters in many shows and books: Rick and the preacher in The Walking Dead, Frannie and Stu in The Stand, and so on. They are us.
And then we have Black Swan. I won't give up any spoilers but, trust me, even Randall Flagg would throw up his hands and said, "No Bruh, I'm good. Keep me out of this one."
So.
If you are in the mood for a book that breaks the mold of 65K words and out. One that takes its time developing characters and explaining and exploring science, with lush well-presented settings while it's, you know, describing the end of the fucking world, then WANDERERS is for you.
Black Swan has already predicted that you'll like it. And you don't want to disappoint Black Swan, do you?
Here, you look like you need a Kleenex. Take the box. No, I'm good.
Comments