Feral by James DeMonaco, B. K. Evenson; A Book Review
Feral was one of the first Audiobooks I bought when I got a Kobo Account, and quite frankly it left me wanting to know more after it ended. That is, however, not to say that the story itself didn’t have some problems and iffy parts that made it a little harder to enjoy. Here’s a review of the audiobook, you can decide if it’s worth your time.
Info:
Tags: Fiction | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Apocalypse
Synopsis
Three years later, Allie has joined a group of hardened survivors in an isolated, walled-in encampment. Outside the guarded walls the ferals roam free and hunt. Allie has been noticing troubling patterns in the ferals’ movements and a disturbing number of new faces in the wild. Something catastrophic is brewing on the horizon, and time is running out. The ferals are coming, and there is no stopping them.
(Indigo, April 2021)
I found that the beginning of this book was more than a little rocky, it felt like the author was trying to really “get into the mind” of a teenage girl but ended up writing in a rather cliche supporting character (in the form of Allie’s best friend). However, the setup of the novel before the fire and ensuing chaos was well done.
This is one of my first Apocalyptic-type books, and I found the idea behind the story rather unique. It pretty much blends the concepts of a pandemic and zombie apocalypse storyline together which is new, however, the air-borne pathogen in the novel only affects the male species. Which essentially kills the majority of the male population and infects the rest, making them the violent feral beasts/monsters you’ll read in the book. Leaving the female population as the last leg of humanity.
*Contains Spoilers*
Not to mention, I highly doubt someone (in high school) will be happy to become famous because of a leaked sex tape. It can literally ruin your life and gain you a reputation that will make it so hard to get a job in the future.
Having been a teen once, I don’t think I know of anyone that would act the same as Allie’s best friend. With that being said, I was thrown in for a loop with the whole artificial insemination tactic that was brought up/insinuated (I don’t remember it fully). It’s not something I’ve seen mentioned in other books before and was interesting to see in this book (though albeit a little uncomfortable).
One thing that is very classic of the Apocalyptic-genre is the whole “instant” or close-to-instant attraction trope that happens. There was a budding friendship building between Allie and her love interest, then he dies, and all of the sudden THERE’S A BABY???? Wow, that flew by fast!
Now, this is just a thought/personal opinion. But whenever a storyline is set up so that one gender is isolated in any way (more powerful, or in this case the last leg of humanity), it’s hard to keep it (the theme/trope) consistent without ending up with a really basic story. The way the authors wrote Feral kind of made it seem like it would have certain twists which kept the book interesting, however in my opinion you can very easily guess where the plot is going.
This is especially true for those who are used to zombie or apocalyptic plotlines in both movies and books. A lot of them follow the same plot or similar plots and they do find ways to keep the book interesting though, so I wouldn’t write off these types of books entirely.
Overall, I think the ending of the book was rather predictable to me. However, despite that, it’s got me wanting a sequel really badly. I think it’s a great starter book for those wanting to get into Thrillers/Apocalyptic novels but be warned that there are some topics that I know some people will find very sensitive/controversial.
