Moving along, this is another book I got from the Enchanted Inkpot giveaway and was one I put off for a while since it was a "what if this disaster happened and everyone the main character cared for started dieing?" which just isn't a genre that I particularly like. I wasn't so worried about whether or not the book would be good, I had seen enough people on the internet praise it so I was sure it was going to be well-written, I was just wondering if I would need something extra fluffy to cheer myself up with afterwards.
The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe
The cover certainly stands out here, I'm sure if I was to pull up one of those charts that note how many books have these things/this color on the cover that there wouldn't be many other yellow books and it's a little unusual to use the title to create the imagery as well. Very eye-catching so I think it works quite well.
Summary: Kaelyn lives on a small island on the coast of Canada and only recently moved back after living in Toronto for several years which has helped create a rift between her and her old neighbors. She's trying to repair this crack when an even bigger disaster strikes in the form of a mysterious disease that sweeps the island, killing all whom it infects. Quarantined from the rest of the world the island slowly sinks into a panic where all semblance of normal life vanishes and Kaelyn and her family must try to cope and stay alive until this nightmare ends.
The Good: While it can't strictly be called a zombie book, people don't come back after they're dead and such, Kaelyn does have a very good line about how this virus is a much smarter one because it doesn't make it's victims turn crazy and cannibalistic but rather crave attention and physical contact so that the disease spreads even faster and that was a really smart idea on Crewe's part and helps keep the story realistic. In nearly every zombie story a character will get infected for a really dumb reason and, while I'm not saying that didn't happen here as well, with that explanation of how the virus spreads it was a lot easier to take the characters actions seriously and the whole story felt stronger. There was some romance that came about very naturally that I liked and I liked how there was a prominent, female supporting character (which, as odd as it sounds, I've noticed lately I'm not seeing a lot of them in books that are single point of view, most often the biggest supporting character seems to be of the opposite gender*).
The Bad: The progression of the story is very predictable (infection starts, characters are told there is no hope for outside help and must wait it out, after some time has passed and the characters/reader feel it's safe someone becomes sick and dies, main character goes through tough situation but because of plot armor remains mostly safe, etc) and, while the story is well-written and doesn't feel constrained by it's genre, I do wish that someday I come across a book that does one of those parts very differently. And that was another reason I was hesitant to read the book, I had correctly guessed that this story wasn't going to do anything that I hadn't seen before and I prefer to read books that promise a new concept. Finally, I was a bit frustrated at how vague the ending is (I almost feel like the author was torn on having a happy or sad ending) but it wrapped up as well as I expected (because again, there's a "usual" way these stories end, it was something I had guessed before the book started, not because of how the story progressed).
Despite my criticisms this is a good, solid book, just not the book for me. As such I'll be donating it to the local library when I get a chance and I'm sure there will be plenty of people there who'll enjoy it much more. Heck, I think that many people who've enjoyed zombie stories in the past will enjoy this one (as long as they're not in it for zombie-killing-gore which doesn't really happen here) so I do hope the book finds it's audience and does well.
*which seems to be that way for (straight) romance purposes frustratingly enough.
