Review – When Will You Rise?

When Will You Rise: Stories to End the World

by Mira Grant

There are two super short stories in this little book.  One is the prequel to the Newsflesh trilogy (without Sean or Georgia), the other is an alternative apocalypse in case zombies aren’t your thing.  For Newsflesh fans, we see how the two cures (for the common cold and the cure for cancer) form together to infect everyone on earth and the loveliness that ensues.  In The Box, game night between long-time friends takes a turn.

A must read for fans of the Feed/Newsflesh trilogy. The two stories are both pretty short, but they gutted me. I think it is the immediacy, you ride along with the people as they realized the zombie apocalypse is happening and there is nothing they can do. It is heart wrenching without the details. You kind of make them up on your own once Grant leads you giggling down her little merry path of destruction.  She walks you to the edge, drops your hand and lets you view the carnage on your own.

I love her writing style and my biggest complaint about this book is I wish there was more to it!  However, I can appreciate why she kept it so slim.  This is pre George and Shaun, nor Buffy or any truly bad guys.  There isn’t a lot there.  But since I love the world-building.  I loved the series and just enjoy the hell out of Grant’s writing, this book was great.  The price tag was crazy though.  You can end up paying way too much for this book for what it is.  My version, which was swapped to me was $38 and signed.  For a collector’s item I guess that is ok, but at this point in my life I just couldn’t justify that for the hour of reading time.  So, it feels like they are cashing in on the popularity of the trilogy and Grant.  I had a wonderful time getting all queasy as the human race nears the brink of destruction and give this little prequel 4.5 star-shaped amoebas, shifting and changing and clinging to germs as they float by, creating a super flu.  Watch out!