A woman has survived alone in the aftermath of the apocalypse for years, but when she is taken captive by a sadistic man her life undergoes a much more personal upheaval.
The premise of this book is gut-wrenching. In the dystopian wasteland that the world has become after a series of wars and natural disasters, the protagonist has managed to survive on her own, but a moment’s inattention leads to her being captured by a man. This man becomes obsessed with her, keeping her as his sex slave yet arguing that he is in fact in love with her, and hoping that she will come to love him back. When she becomes pregnant, she manages to away escape, but the man manages to catch up with her.
There’s some interesting themes of identity explored in this book, and how it ceases to exist when the world has ended. The ideas that the author incorporates regarding how people behave in a post-apocalyptic world caught my attention, and I liked the many ways in which things turned out. There is an expansive sense of world-building due to how open-ended the messy lives of many side characters are left at the end of the story which I liked.
However, I also felt there were a lot of missed opportunities as well. I would have been interested in seeing the perspective of the woman in captivity further developed, as well as maybe learn a bit more about the man who captured her – limiting our knowledge to the woman’s perspective makes sense but also makes for frustrating reading. I also didn’t really like the style of writing, which felt clumsy (though it was certainly well-edited) and made it impossible for me to get immersed in the story.
Overall, had potential, but I didn’t enjoy it much.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.