wanderers

3 stars

A long, ambling science fiction tale.

This book is 800 pages long – and it reads as a long book. It was about 300 pages too much for me. I wanted to like this book more than I did, but alas, found myself wondering if it would ever end. The premise of the book is very interesting, but it was bogged down with too much technical jargon and wandering story lines. Other than Shana, I didn’t really care about any of the other characters.

Shana is a typical teenage girl living in a small farming community. She dreams of escaping and living a bigger life somewhere else. One morning she wakes up to find her sister afflicted with a mysterious condition. She appears to be sleepwalking with her eyes open. She can’t be woken up and doesn’t communicate at all. Nothing seems to affect her, including pain and hunger. Shana’s sister begins walking to an unknown destination and as she does, other people with the same affliction begin to join her. Shana follows her sister to take care of her and protect her, as do family members of the other afflicted people.

The phenomenon causes chaos in the U.S. Some believe the flock are driven by a higher power, others believe they are terrorists intent on destroying America. Scientists try, and are unable, to determine the cause or cure of the sleepwalkers. As the flock travels through America, the story of its journey is told through individuals in various groups reacting to the flock.

As the story drug on and on and on, I found myself becoming less and less invested in the story. I had a hard time picking the book up, which is why it took me so long to read it. I think there is a huge market that would enjoy this book. It’s very well written, it just wasn’t for me.