E-ARC Review: The Weepers
Author: Susanne Winnacker
Release date: May 15th 2012
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Series: The Other Life # 1
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
Add to your library: Goodreads
3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.
Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.
Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.
While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all. (via Goodreads)
I received an e-copy of this from Marshall Cavendish through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book lies in between post-apocalyptic and sci-fi. From the start, I thought it was purely post-apocalyptic but after knowing what happened, I realized it's more of sci-fi. So really, it's in between.
The over-all atmosphere of the story was really frightening. Living in a bunker without knowing what have happened outside was a bit overwhelming. I'd go crazy if I was Sherry. I won't know if my friends were okay. Or if the country is still alive. Maybe the worst that I can think of will be if our family will be the only living human beings by then. Utterly unthinkable and scary. Add to that the thought that you do not really know what you're up against at!
The outbreak of the rabies forced them to stay there. You think it's the usual rabies? Hell, no. It's different. I'd say that I'll be happy with zombies at least I know how to kill them easily. But with those mutated creatures, I can't even imagine how to kill them. It was scary to even see them. You'll see a glimpse of the person they once were but you'll also see the monster they have become. The process of how humans get to be those monsters pretty much is the same with how-to-become-a-zombie. You'd get bitten and that's it. Or that's how much I understood it anyway. The reason for the growth of the rabies was a little hypocrital for me. Some scientists think that they're the best and they can't get enough of inventing new things. They won't stop till they discover something deadly. And how they act upon their mistake was unforgivable. That was their fault, right? Why do they have to do that. Evilness at its best.
I can say that despite how helpless Sherry and Joshua were, they still found that light ahead of them. They're both stubborn and I think they suit each other well. They'll be great partners for the sequel! I can't wait to know what's gonna happen next. Though they were already in chaos, they found love. Rihanna's song, We Found Love In A Hopeless Place can be their theme song. I actually love how their relationship grew from strangers to lovers even if they don't have the most normal environment.
I love the premise. I enjoyed reading it. But Sherry counting years, months, weeks, days and hours was a little out of normalcy. Maybe she was able to count that much because of desperation. Though I swear it was really bothersome for me. Sherry kept on counting. And I didn't even know how can she count hours when it wasn't obviously stated that she had a watch! Or did she? I don't know. But still, she was already in a lost world and all she did was count. Seriously bothering. And out of place for me.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed The Weepers just as much. It had a realistic feel of how will it be if you were in such a dire situation. Survival instincts were tested. Trust and loyalty were formed in such a hopeless world. And rights as human beings were put in fire. More killings will surely be present in the sequel as Sherry and the others will hunt down their real enemy.
About the Author
Susanne Winnacker studied law before she became a full-time writer. She lives with her husband, a dog and three bunnies in Germany. She loves coffee (in every shape and form), traveling and animals.
When she isn't writing, you can usually find her in the kitchen, experimenting with new vegan dishes.
Her YA thriller IMPOSTOR will be published on May 28, 2013. It has been optioned for TV by Warner Brothers!
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