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A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival. Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead. For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them--and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them--the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart--or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.… (més)
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig is an epic about the end of mankind by way of an insidious disease. Peopled with some interesting characters that one grows to care about over the 800 some pages of the book including a disgraced scientist, an aging and decadent rock star, a religious pastor who gives in to temptation and sells himself to the devil, and a young woman who just may be the one who will keep the planet alive. This was an intense, twisty, suspenseful read that kept me glued to the pages but there is a downside to this as well. I wasn’t totally in the right head-space to be reading about an epidemic, and a particular nasty one at that. At over 800 pages, this book is just too long and to top it off, this is just the first volume of the story, there is a second one that is even longer.
The story unfolds through the viewpoint of various characters and we are introduced to the AI called Black Swan who seems to know more than it should about what is happening to Earth. As an ever growing group of people become “sleepwalkers” and head off across America, they are cared for by their relatives and friends who eventually become known as “shepherds”. Meanwhile a terrible fungal disease has been awakened and is killing people. The sleepwalkers appear to be immune and their caregivers come to realize that they are mankind’s hope for survival. Of course many in America don’t see this and instead feel that the “flock” and it’s shepherds should be wiped out.
The author uses his story to ponder upon many things from the power of technology to the violence and prejudice that is done in a religious zeal. The Christian right, the crumbling of society, the rise of Trump-like politicians are all touched upon. There are pop-cultural references from movies, television and music that helped with the slow and tedious speed of the book. Due to it’s subject matter one can be excused for calling Wanderers a thriller, but in reality, it is far from that. This is an apocalyptic story that is very much a reflection of the times in which it was written. ( )
Man this book gave me some anxiety...I'll need a break before I get into book 2! If you enjoyed The Stand by Stephen King you will definitely enjoy this story. It even has a few similarities to The Stand with a character or two and even the towns they are going to. Well worth the read of this hefty tome. ( )
This is a very long book that should be edited. It could be tighter some characters eliminated. Be prepared to sweep by pages because they are unnecessary to the point. There are too many themes. Pick 1 or 2. Climate change, conservative Christian racist gun totting ignorant evangelists, God, thinking computers, lots of stupid people, bureaucracy, trust fear... OK that is what I dislike but I gave it a 4 star because the idea is super cool. 1000 people go into a catatonic state and wander through the United States. It freaks people out. But 1 man and his team must figure it out. ( )
Anyone who’s touched on Wendig’s oeuvre, let alone his lively social media presence, knows he’s a full-voiced political creature who’s less concerned with left and right than the chasm between right and wrong, and that impulse is fully on display here. Parsing the plot isn’t really critical—Wendig has stretched his considerable talents beyond the hyperkinetic horror that is his wheelhouse to deliver a story about survival that’s not just about you and me, but all of us, together. Wendig is clearly wrestling with some of the demons of our time, resulting in a story that is ambitious, bold, and worthy of attention.
Wendig challenges readers with twists and revelations that probe issues of faith and free will while crafting a fast-paced narrative with deeply real characters. His politics are unabashed—characters include a populist president brought to power by neo-Nazis, as well as murderous religious zealots—but not simplistic, and he tackles many moral questions while eschewing easy answers. This career-defining epic deserves its inevitable comparisons to Stephen King’s The Stand, easily rising above the many recent novels of pandemic and societal collapse.
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A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. -The Winderness Act of 1964
Dedicatòria
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For Kevin Hearne, who is kindness and coolness personified.
Primeres paraules
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The woman who discovered the comet, Yumiko Sakamoto, age twenty-eight, was an amateur astronomer in Okayama Prefecture, in the town of Kurashiki. -Prelude
Last night's amateur astronomers got a treat in the form of clear skies, a new moon, and Comet Sakamoto -Chapter One, Part One
Citacions
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Last night's amateur astronomers got a treat in the form of clear skies, a new moon, and Comet Sakamoto -Chapter One, Part One
THE WOMAN WHO DISCOVERED THE comet, Yumiko Sakamoto, age twenty-eight, was an amateur astronomer in Okayama Prefecture, in the town of Kurashiki...Yumiko Sakamoto was going to begin her new academic study the following October, but did not live long enough to see the chance. She died of a brain aneurysm the night the comet passed overhead.
Black swan events were therefore viewed as outliers—named as such from a statement made by the Roman poet Juvenal: “Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno.” Or, roughly translated: “A rare bird, like a black swan.” His statement was understood throughout history as one meant to symbolize something that was impossible. Because black swans were believed not to exist. Except they did. Just as humankind often believed certain events or outcomes to be impossible—until they happened.
(Politicians were always keen to try to “bring back coal,” but you might as well try to bring back the buggy whip. Talking about coal was never about coal, though: It was always code for making promises to blue-collar America about their blue-collar ways of life.)
Dreams were not made on the internet; they were killed there. By mean, nasty little shits who were all looking to one-up each other.
That voice tells me that I’m not good enough, and the world is going to hell, and nothing matters. I’ll never be a famous artist. The coral reef is bleached and dead. I’ll never have more kids than the one we have. I’ll die without ever accomplishing anything and it doesn’t matter anyway because global warming is going to boil us or bake us but that only happens if North Korea doesn’t drop a bomb in our lap first, or maybe a plane will crash on my head, or maybe the ground will swallow me up, or maybe I’ll get cancer and it’ll eat me up. And then—then I turn on the TV and everybody’s talking about those walkers and that sends me into a different spiral. What are they? Do they need our help? Do we need their help? Is it a disease, is it climate change, is it…some terrorist group in the Middle East? It repeats again and again, this cycle. I get sad, then I get worried, and then I get helpless. Lost in a…in a fog.
You didn’t change anyone’s mind about politics by hammering away at them—all that did was drive the nail deeper into the wall of their own certainty.
Maybe it was the comet. Maybe the Devil himself. Maybe this was a sign of something worse to come. Those walkers didn’t serve God. God wouldn’t do that to Americans.
One of those towns where the country had moved on but this place stayed behind, as if it had found grim comfort in the fact it would never grow up, would never get better, and it was what it was from here until it was gone.
Some people are just trash, and they find other trash and start to form a landfill. The internet makes it easier.”
Not to do the right thing, Benji thought, but to give comfort. Even when it wasn’t appropriate to do so. The way the man spoke about Americans with such disregard rankled Benji. Shovel hot dogs. Dump beer. He really did see them as animals to be led around by the nose. Again Benji’s faith in the system shuddered and seized.
A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that’s just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it’s a joke. —Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, part 1
Maybe God had existed once. But it was easier to believe that He had died not for our sins but rather, because of them. It was better that than accept He would allow all this horror to happen to the world of men.
Vegas always carried with it an eat-drink-and-be-merry-for-tomorrow-we-may-die energy: a city perched on the cusp of a never-ending yet never-quite-happening end. It was a city permanently stuck in the predawn hour before the hangover truly hit. Right there at the Rubicon of still having fun and about to start puking, on the line between everything is amazing and the End Times are here.
Benji lifted the box. “The world was an odder place than I knew.” “Shit, Benji. Have you met America?”
Darreres paraules
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The future was a question and she had no answer for it.
A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival. Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead. For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them--and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them--the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart--or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.
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Google Books — S'està carregant…
5
The story unfolds through the viewpoint of various characters and we are introduced to the AI called Black Swan who seems to know more than it should about what is happening to Earth. As an ever growing group of people become “sleepwalkers” and head off across America, they are cared for by their relatives and friends who eventually become known as “shepherds”. Meanwhile a terrible fungal disease has been awakened and is killing people. The sleepwalkers appear to be immune and their caregivers come to realize that they are mankind’s hope for survival. Of course many in America don’t see this and instead feel that the “flock” and it’s shepherds should be wiped out.
The author uses his story to ponder upon many things from the power of technology to the violence and prejudice that is done in a religious zeal. The Christian right, the crumbling of society, the rise of Trump-like politicians are all touched upon. There are pop-cultural references from movies, television and music that helped with the slow and tedious speed of the book. Due to it’s subject matter one can be excused for calling Wanderers a thriller, but in reality, it is far from that. This is an apocalyptic story that is very much a reflection of the times in which it was written. (