The book summary said something about Station Eleven (which I love) so I definitely spent the first half thinking this was the author of Station Eleven and fair warning, it’s not. However, Peng Shepherd is a worth successor and I do recommend this book, just be prepared for a few leaps of logic along the way.
The plot of The Book of M centers on a major what if – what if our shadows held all our memories? And what if those shadows could be lost? In a way it’s a new take on zombie fiction (the “shadowless” are shambling, lost, and often attack without provocation, though more in a strike-first-self-defense kind of way). We follow three primary characters: married couple Max and Ory who have spent this first part of the apocalypse holed up in a resort hotel outside DC (once again, I get suckered in because the setting is local) and Iranian archer Naz, making her way south from where she’s been training in Boston. Their stories interweave as everyone aims for New Orleans and the mysterious figure – The One Who Gathers.
So yeah. Part zombie apocalypse, part road trip, if missing the feel-good gore of Zombieland. With magic thrown in? I enjoyed reading it, I didn’t think to hard, and I didn’t see the twist at the end coming. I thought the extra romance was shoehorned in badly, as is tradition, but overall it is definitely a book I will recommend to friends and family.
Bingo Square: So Shiny!
