So what that means is we'll be seeing some REALLY cool crap popping up subtly in the tiny spaces. In Wanderers, he tones it down a LOT and he tames it for the sake of this story. His Miriam Black novels left me bloody with words. Wendig is like, some kind of master with pop trivia and really sharp, maybe bloody, wit. And delightfully complex characters.īut for me? I love the pop culture references. What sets this above all the rest? Clever fundamental choices and trope inclusions, baby. They're quite happy to be all opportunistic on humanity's ass. This book is full of heart even while it DOES have a rather usual trope of religious nutters, white supremacists, and NRA hotheads. It is, however, quite free of rampant female humiliation, gratuitous rape, and violence in general. No, it's not a zombie apocalypse or a big meteorite spoiling everyone's day or the ultimate reversal of the sexes.

Wanderers, however, is leagues above most of the current runs of epic dystopias. And I had a bit of a rough time with some of the 70's sexism in Lucifer's Hammer.

I'm not saying it has MORE to gloam onto than the Stand, but I had myself a few issues with the Stand. And perhaps a few others that I rank higher than the rest.īut let me be clear.

That's including the Stand, Lucifer's Hammer, or The Power. I think I had more fun reading this book than I have for ANY apocalypse book. Let me tell you something, my fine folks.

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig