In 2012, the Plague ended the world as we know it. In 2130, Charlinder wants to know why.
The origin of the disease remains a mystery. Their ignorance of its
provenance fuels a growing schism that threatens to destroy the peace
that the survivors’ descendants have built. Unwilling to wait for
matters to get any worse, he decides to travel to where the Plague first
appeared and find out the truth—which means walking across three
continents before returning home.
Charlinder
has never been more than ten miles from home, has never heard anyone
speak a foreign language, and he’s going it alone.
He
survives thousands of miles of everything from near-starvation to
near-madness before he meets Gentiola. By then he’s so exhausted that
the story she offers to tell seems like little more than a
diversion…until he hears it.
Nothing
could have prepared him for what he learns from her, and no one ever
told him: be careful what you wish for. The world is a much bigger place
than Charlinder knew, and his place in it is a question he never asked
before.
My review:
Charlinder's Walk is set 120 years after a world-wide plague that wiped out most of the world's population. Alyson Miers builds a fairly believable post-apocalyptic world for Charlinder and his village. Although the physical hardships he would have encountered in walking around the world may not have been as realistic as I would have expected.
But it isn't until you get to the part where he meets Gentiola after traveling across North America, Asia and Europe that the real meat of the story begins. Not the that journey isn't a valuable part of the story - it is. The journey is important. But Gentiola's story is where you really start to think. I'll admit the paranormal was unexpected here and took me by surprise, and I found one line in one of the encounters between Charlinder and Gentiola crude, offensive and unnecessary, but one line out of an entire book is not a big deal.
Charlinder's Walk is really a thought provoking book about many topics including religion, ecology, sexism, racism, education, morality, sexuality, family, and ethics. But it doesn't do any of this in a preachy or lecturing way. I'm glad Alyson Miers wrote it and I'm glad I read it.
About the author:

Great review, AB. I'm glad you connected with Charlinder. I love books that keep you thinking! Off to tweet for you now--don't forget to cross-post to Amazon and GoodReads :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks Emlyn.
DeleteAwesome review! I find it a thought-provoking read as well (:
ReplyDeleteStephanie
Thanks for your kind words Stephanie. Tell me more about what you thought of it.
ReplyDeleteNice review. I found I enjoyed the book once I got past the slower beginning. Once Charlinder was fully engaged in the journey and meeting all the other various survivors I couldn't put it down! And the encounter with Gentiola and the revelations about the Plague were definitely not expected :)
ReplyDeleteI agree Carrie - I think the Gentiola bit was quite unexpected!
DeleteThanks for the review. I think it's great that so many important topics were touched upon in this book
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the review Abby. Have you read this one? What did YOU think?
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