Book: Wayward

 Book: Wayward

Author: Chuck Wendig

Pages: 816

This is my 100th read for the year and the last one for 2022!

This is book two in the Wanderers duology.  It is 5 years in the future - 5 years after almost the total population of the earth was eliminated by a pandemic.  Those who are left are trying to establish communities and start life over.  The sleepwalkers and the shepherds who became sleepwalkers have been asleep this whole time, and suddenly they are awake in Ouray.  The people of Ouray have looked out for the sleepwalkers wondering if they would ever wake and what would happen when they did.  Once they are awake, the town quickly becomes divided.  The sleepwalkers, still controlled by Black Swan, are being very secretive of their activites and what their true mission is.  Meanwhile, the white supremicist who was about to be electice president before the whole fell apart is alive and well and plotting his next move.  When his group and the Ouray group and Black Swan finally meet, the real trouble begins.

This was an okay book. It was really long.  I usually love these dystopian future type books, but this author takes the politics too far.  I completely get it, and I do agree, but like most readers - we read fiction to escape the realities of our world right now.  It was just overdone and after awhile I found myself struggling to finish the book.  I liked the idea of this world, but the story just got lost.  It was a shame.

Stars: 3