This book reminded me a lot of Stephen King's "The Stand", especially about halfway through when some of the mystery of what's happening with the sleepwalkers is revealed. And that's not a bad comparison considering how much I loved "The Stand". But this isn't that book -- this story is bold on its own terms. I've always enjoyed Wendig's work and this is no exception. Wonderfully written and paced with interesting characters. I enjoyed every page of this book.

Thanks to the NetGalley, the publisher, and to Chuck Wendig for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. I loved this book and think you will too!

What would you do if you woke up one morning to your loved one missing from the house, only to find them completely zoned out in an almost trance like state walking down the road and completely unresponsive to all attempts to get a reaction from them? Sounds scary but intriguing right? That is what immediately hooked me on Wanderers by Chuck Wendig, and as I kept reading I fell further and further down the rabbit hole. I received an Advanced Reader Copy ebook edition of Wanderers from NetGalley and I never realized how big this book was (800 pages!!!). I can tell you that the length of the book was not noticeable while reading the story because the journey of the “sleepwalkers” just swept you up. My mind was constantly thinking what it could be that was affecting the “sleepwalkers”. Was it some sort of sleeping sickness similar but different enough to what I read about in The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker ? Or is it little bots that take over the person’s brain, or perhaps an Alien invasion?? All I knew was I HAD to keep reading to find out.

I really enjoyed how the different story lines of each important character were intertwined and eventually connected. Definitely one of the better scifi books I’ve read in a while. Artificial intelligence machines built by secret scientific agencies, the CDC top teams who study crazy viruses all over the world, and the thought of alien invasion will always peak my curiosity and get my heart racing. If you’re looking for a good Scifi book that will keep you thinking then I definitely recommend Wanderers by Chuck Wendig!!

NetGalley ARCs haven’t disappointed me yet, and I am so grateful to get a chance to read books before they are released to the public! On to the next, it’s a busy reading month. Happy Reading friends!!

I’m really not a fan of current fiction that’s a little too on the nose politically. I don’t want to read about online trolls using terms like “crisis actors” and “fake news”. That’s a little too real for me right now. Also, I just couldn’t get into it, I guess stories told from multiple points of view, and “sweeping sagas” just aren’t my thing right now. Seems like it would make an excellent mini series though. Definitely purchasing for my library though, it will definitely have its fans.

Fair warning, I’m going to start with an anecdote. (Sorry, but stick with me.)

The other day I was in a restaurant with my daughter and my parents. The conversation started out, as it often does, with the question: What are you reading?

So, I began to tell them about Wanderers. I didn’t do the spoiler thing, but I did take them through the first couple of chapters. By time I was done, they were announcing theories (my mom kept insisting it was aliens). I smiled and told them they would have to read the book.

A little later, people from a couple adjacent tables came up to me, excused themselves for eavesdropping, and asked me the name of the book.

And that’s how compelling this is.

From the moment you start reading this, it becomes one of those epic, can’t-put-it-down reads. Comparisons to The Stand are apt, but this is wholly original.

Readers sensitive to political issues will want to note that the book DOES get political. If you know the author, you know what side of the political fence he’s on anyway and he’s refreshingly unapologetic about it.

But, politics aside, it’s the story that matters and this is a huge, world-shattering, wonderfully told story with all the drama, heartbreak, and yes, hope!

I loved this book. I want everyone to read it. And I hope those people at El Torito really like it.

*ARC received via Net Galley

“You designed Black Swan.” Of course. It’s why she took any criticism of it so personally. It was her creation. Not just a program, or a design, but something that existed interstitially between artwork and entity.”
. . .

“It helped up predict a multi-state measles outbreak that could’ve decimated the West Coast: It saw what we did not, which was that local vaccination rates had dipped – all thanks to parents falling prey to misinformation about vaccines.”
. . .

“It’s not some app on your iPhone, Benji. Machine intelligence is, like people, imperfect. It has to be trained. . . Black Swan is a tool, and we must wield it. . . Black Swan wants you, Benji. And that’s why I’m here.”

I am running a giveaway for a signed ARC copy of this book! Please check me out on Twitter for instructions on how to enter.

As someone who rarely reads novels which are set on modern day Earth, this was a change of pace for me. Oddly, it can take me out of a book a bit when I see references to Twitter, Instagram, or other social media sites, despite them being a part of my daily life. Once I got past this and adjusted my mental framework, I very much enjoyed Wanderers. It has some excellent commentary on the current political landscape that is highly relevant to modern life while also having just enough science fiction in it to keep me hooked.

Wanderers is a slow burn that builds up to a solid, satisfying conclusion. Loose ends are tied, character arcs have appropriate ends. A few moments are a bit heartbreaking – but that, I would argue, is to be expected in a book dealing with a mass outbreak of mysterious plague. The destruction is twofold: first, an unknown illness causes individuals to begin walking, almost like sleepwalkers or zombies. If someone attempts to stop them from reaching their goal, they become human bombs – exploding in a mass of sharp bone and blood, killing those around them. Second, there’s a mysterious fungal infection spreading. Whether this is related to the walkers is unknown, but Benji, a member of the CDC, has his suspicions.

Surrounding those who are afflicted by the walking disease is a caravan of their loved ones. Known as Shepherds, all they can do is watch the flock of walkers and do their best to protect them as they may. Watching Shana care for her sister, Nessie, as she mindlessly walks endlessly towards an unknown destination is painful. She brushes her hair, keeps her clean, and makes sure that Nessie has someone on the outside who loves and cares for her.

While the overall plot was revealed slowly, this allowed Wendig plenty of opportunity to dive deep into current social issues such as white supremacy, cult tactics, vaccinations, et cetera. Although the political leaders in the novel were fictional, they had clear parallels with our current elected officials (especially a certain someone who enjoys Tweeting quite a bit).

“Politicians were always keen to try to “bring back coal,” but you might as well try to bring back the buggy whip. Talk about coal was never about coal, though: It was always code for making promises to blue-collar America about their blue-collar ways of life.”

Megachurch religion and how it can corrupt was another theme – as was how one can be redeemed after falling into that trap. One of the storylines follows a small town preacher who becomes drawn in to a large megachurch-style personality. He thrives on the attention and publicity he receives, but gradually becomes more and more distant with his family and the original tenets of his faith. As the racism and bigotry of the church is revealed to him, he finds it more and more difficult to extricate himself. It’s a humanizing tale, and shows how decent people can be corrupted and turned towards toxic platforms.

“Racism was a little like that. Sometimes the initial symptoms were small: microaggressions here, simmering resentment there. If you dealt with it head-on, maybe you could keep it contained. If you didn’t deal with it, though, it came back with a vengeance: just like that little bacterium. Came back worse. Entrenched. So entrenched, in fact, the longer you let it go, the harder it was to control, and soon everything started to break down.”

I definitely enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in “build up to the apocalypse” style novels.

Recommended for fans of:

The Stand by Stephen King
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Well, that was a journey! My legs are tired from wandering! Thanks to Netgalley and Del-Rey for the advanced copy! This book is massive in scope. It has been compared to The Stand, and in fact The Stand is name-checked in this book. Sleepwalkers are traveling as a flock to a destination for some strange reason. Family members of the sleepwalkers are walking with them to protect them, and thus becoming 'shepherds.' The world is confused and captivated by this. An epidemic is destroying and breaking humanity into factions.

There are so many topics in this book, and contemporary at that. The political nature in this book is very familiar. Global warming, AI, vaccines, neo-nazis, world religion on all sides of the spectrum, gun laws, race and bias are just a few of the cast of characters in this 800-page whopper.

The characters are well-developed and unique. The locations are great. There were a few instances of the author giving us too much information that probably wouldn't come out in normal dialogue. I will let that slide, as some medical/scientific understanding does make the story better.

There is a tie-in that I loved. I love playing Fallout 4 on PS4. One of the songs in this post-apocalyptic game is "It's All Over But the Crying" by the Ink Spots. In this book, discussing the crumbling world, one of the characters mentions "It's All Over But The Crying" and says it's in their head because it was ironically placed in the Fallout 4 game.

I should wrap this up. I like it, I love it, I want some more of it! I wish this book a lot of success upon release date. (less) [edit]

Wanderers
by Chuck Wendig (Goodreads Author)
M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review Jun 05, 2019 · edit
it was amazing
Read 2 times. Last read May 19, 2019 to June 5, 2019.

An amazing tour de force opus of 800 pages. After reading this gem I would title the book: The Chosen Ones ... which will be self evident after finishing this tale of survival of mankind.
Our main protagonist, Shana, is on the verge of her 18th birthday when she awakens one morning to find her younger sister, Nessie, missing. She soon finds Nessie inexorably ambling down the road in a somnambulistic state ... seemingly unarousable on an unseen destination. Nessie actually is the first in a growing flock of "sleepwalkers" trekking across the US. Shana and other friends and loved ones join the enlarging flock as "shepherds" in hope of providing some type of protection.
The origin and purpose of the flock is a mystery and invokes a variable response , not only in the US but across the world. Is this a disease or a sophisticated terrorist plot .... society is torn asunder in suspicion and fear.... and violence soon bubbles over. This bizarre situation elicits a widespread response of investigation and containment from a multitude of government agencies..... CDC, Homeland Security , State and Local police, the FBI and even private think tank companies.
At the same time, a private company utilizing an advanced machine artificial intelligence entity, known as "Black Swan" has uncovered a growing, almost unseen epidemic involving a potent fungal pathogen, Rhizopus destructans. Are these two events linked?
In response to the unknown, the world is going ballistic .... are we in store for a comet-borne zombie apocalypse .... as some radio-preachers suggest, is the flock the "Devil's Pilgrims" ... or is there some scientific, rather than supernatural explanation for these events.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing an Uncorrected Proof of this epic in exchange for an honest review.

This took me a while to finish, probably because the pace varied throughout the book. There were many stories connected to the main plot, many points of view, and I was happy to see a book that brought nostalgia- I kept thinking about my experience reading The Stand. Besides having similar dystopian notes, both books have a healthy dose of relatable and hatable characters. Wanderers takes a more modern/technological look at the “end of human civilization” theme, but the human nature component is fairly similar.
I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy books about the end of the world and survival, particularly those who can tackle lengthier titles and enjoy character-driven stories.

I've been hearing about this book for a while and was able to obtain an ARC through NetGalley.

The book starts with Shana Stewart finding her sister Nessie wandering down the road. Other people seem to be doing the same thing. Sleepwalking. Ironically enough, these sleepwalkers become known as the Sheep.
Family members/friends of the sleepwalkers are following them and they become known as Shephards. (Get it!\?)

The book vaguely reminds me of Stephen Kind's The Stand (great book!) but is more modern day with events that are revelant to today.

It is a LOOOONNNG book. There were moments where I didn't think I would finish it because it was so long. I was hoping with investing that much time in reading the book, the ending would be fantastic. Considering how long of a journey the author took you on, I was expecting it to blow my mind. Um, yeah no. Its a let down to be honest at the end which almost made me angry.
Thank you NetGalley

I really wanted to like this book. However, about half way through the book, I lost interest and just couldn't continue reading. If reading a book starts to feel like a chore, then that is when I usually stop. I really enjoyed Wendig 's other books (especially Star Wars) - not really sure why I lost interest in this one.

Incredible storytelling, superb character development, engaging dialogue- this story has it all.

This is my first Wendig novel (so embarrassing to admit) and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire ride. Many interesting topics covered including environment, faith, and humanity's resilience. I don't want to give too much away in this review but suffice it to say that it opened up a terrifyingly possible end-of-world scenario and I sincerely hope this is only the first book in a series.

This book was kind of a cross between The Three by Sarah Lotz and one of the hundreds of "pandemic fiction" books out there.. I did not quite like how the author made political ideology and religion the dividing line between which characters were good and which were bad. Also, the premise did not seem as believable to me as other apocalyptic novels, but once I started reading I had to keep going to see what happened! The characters were very well developed and I felt invested in their fates.

Quite good, although quite long. Mr Wendig has a lot of talent. He writes well crafted characters and an interesting plot that kept me engaged. There are a lot of reviews, so I probably can't much more of value that others. If you like dystopian sci-fi, this is probably for you.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

A modern day The Stand by Stephen King, one of my all time favorite books, the characters still live in my head.

And that's my problem with this book. While it is good, it's not as compelling, intriguing, and intense as The Stand.

Perhaps if the author had not make reference to The Stand a few times, I could have let go of the comparison.

But worth the read if you are up to the length.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

My two favorite genres are sci-fi and apocalypse, so when I find a book that blends the two, I’m in reading heaven!! My all time favorite books in this type of genre are The Stand, Swan Song, The Book of M, The Passage, and now... Wanderers! All are epic and most are behemoth books!

I couldn’t get enough of Wanderers! A teen girl sleepwalks out of her house one night, but can’t be woken up. Ever. Eventually other sleepwalkers join in. Their loved ones stay with them to watch over them and eventually become known as Shepherds of the Flock. This made for an eerie and disturbing picture in my head. The premise was amazing. As the miles pass by, more and more sleepwalkers join the flock, which means more and more Shepherds.

Wendig then veers off to others stories such as the preacher who gets caught up with the white supremacy, at first with some hesitation. His story was very hard to read.

A former CDC doctor starts off by investigating the cause but becomes the sleepwalkers’ protector.

The strangest storyline was the aging rock and roll star who joins as a Shepherd for attention. His role was one of my favorites!

Shana’s sister Nessie was the very first sleepwalker so Shana was the very first Shepherd. I loved Shana’s character the most.

Although the book is 800 pages, I never felt that it was a long book. It went by much too fast and I read it in 3 major sittings. I stayed up way too late because I couldn’t put it down!!

Chuck Wendig, this was my first time reading one of your books, even though I own several. I need to grab your backlist off of my shelf (they’re even signed!) and get to it!!

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Del Rey Books for the advance copy!!*

I nearly quit reading around the 56% mark, due to a graphic and unnecessary to the plot rape. I kept going to see if it was critical to the story. Turns out, it was not.

This is another AI fixes the earth by killing off most of the population story. Scientists create an AI. AI learns All the Things. AI realizes that the only way to save the planet is to kill the source of destruction...which is always people. AI knows you can't Kill 'Em All so, it picks some folks with above average intelligence to be spared and then repopulate the earth. Scientists figure it out too late. Things Don't Go According to Plan. AI is surprised. Fade to black.

The lead protagonist is an awful, snarky, potty mouthed teenage girl about to turn 18. Mom left suddenly. Dad is useless. Little sister is Dad's favorite. Resentment, complaining, blahblahblah.

My fav character is a disgraced CDC MD, who got busted doing The Right Thing The Wrong Way and betrayed a bunch of friends and colleagues. He has the moral compass of this story...IRONIC ISN'T IT???

The Greek chorus is a disabled cop with a plate in her head, who can see and hear Things The Others Can't.

The redemption arc is courtesy of a preacher who ignores his family, gets famous, makes a deal with the debils, and has A Fall...leading to attempts at atonement...etc.

It's an interesting tale with predictable twists, and prepped for sequel(s).

Recommended for those who don't expect clever sci-fi; fans of AI tales, plague drama, and apocalyptic stories.

Wanderers has been a book that I have been savoring; one of those you don’t want to end, because there may not be another one that good out there right now...and just when you think you have the plot figured out, you find out you didn’t. The creep factor is fairly high; I won’t spoil it for you. When you pick this novel up, prepare for a sleepless night as you read through. This novel is a joy.

An entertaining near-future thriller from Wendig. A surefire hit for anyone who enjoyed The Stand, Swan's Song, or similar novels with an apocalpytic bent. Despite weighing in at around 800 pages The Wanderers never overstays its welcome and nails it's big finish. That being said....I still wish there were more!

I'm grateful for NetGalley allowing me to preview WANDERERS by Chuck Wendig. I know one isn't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I will be honest. As soon as I saw the cover, I wanted to know more. I wish I could note the artist or designer, but it's not given on NetGalley or the Amazon listing.

I'm so far behind on my Wendig reading, because I've honestly been trying to keep my TBR list to women and marginalized voices. I make a couple of exceptions during each year. I'm so overwhelmed that WANDERERS landed in my lap. It is 800 pages which I did not realize when I started. I wondered why my Kindle percent gauge wasn't going up after several hours of reading. That's fantastic news for those of you who love to be so immersed in a robust world that you'll get to know everything about it.

WANDERERS could be considered five books in one.

The characters are remarkable and memorable. It's a diverse cast set in a world that succumbs to a plague known as White Mask, which then leads to a political coup by white supremacists. There's no allegory here. We're living this shit now and you're fool if you haven't noticed.

The five distinct stories are: Shana Stewart (includes her sister Nessie, her father Charlie, and her mother Daria); Doctor Benji Ray (with all of the associates from the CDC and private companies on the science end like Arav, Cassie, and Sadie); Marcy Reyes (she's all on her own though she becomes welcomed to the group); Pete Corley (infamous punk rocker past his due date with his lover Landry and band mates); and finally Pastor Matthew Bird (tied to his wife Autumn, son Bo, and then the right-wing militia and zealots).

Nessie Stewart: She said to Shana one day, I heard that if you complain it reprograms your brain like a computer virus and it just makes you more and more unhappy, so I'm going to stay positive because I bet the opposite is true, too."

(I had to include that quote because, like a lot of Wanderers, there is science which backs some of it up. While I -- a severe depression sufferer -- don't believe you can choose happiness, there definitely is proof of neuroplasticity -- the ability for the brain to find the paths most taken like an interstate rather than a dirt road.)

The ball immediately gets rolling as Nessie walks out of her house, unresponsive and apparently sleepwalking. We learn it's not really sleepwalking, but even the characters use the term throughout by choice. Shana realizes she can't redirect Nessie back home and stays with her to make sure she's safe. As their walk progresses and gets weirder, more and more sleepwalkers show up until there's a flock of 1,024 people plus their "shepherds" the loved ones who stick by protecting them.

As something this wild goes on, there's speculation from all kinds of sides: are they dead/zombies? are they terrorist bioweapons being controlled by enemies? are they sick? are they Satan's pilgrims? are they angels?
All valid questions for the most part and it takes a long time to get the full answer.

I love the ethnic diversity of the main speaking characters. What becomes part of the global mystery is why the flock of sleepwalkers itself is so diverse. They fall into some criteria: must be above average intelligence and in health; their ethnic breakdown seems to reflect the demographics of the United States.

Of the characters, even though I found Shana Stewart a believable and lifelike 18-year-old and Benji Ray, a complicated scientist who has spent his life saving the world a number of times, it's this other character Marcy Reyes that I truly fell for. Marcy is an ex-cop who becomes disabled after a brutal beating by a perp. Her life sucks when we meet her. Then the growing flock of sleepwalkers head down her street and it changes Marcy's life. Following her along with the walkers, the good guys, and the bad guys is a definitely a B-story that I wanted to keep reading.

** Here's where I get "sensitive" and put up Trigger Warnings **
Pastor Matthew Bird vs. Ozark Stover:

I've taken many deep breaths to clear my thoughts and figure out exactly what I want to express about this part of the book. Though both characters here, Matthew and Ozark, are essential to the grander scope, I believe a huge bulk of their arc could have been managed through short summaries. Each chapter already begins with a variety of blurbs from quotes by podcasters, news reports, and tumblr entries.
Select text to reveal.

I genuinely think the horrific graphic nature of the male/male rape and all the white supremacy could have been of the same value if handled differently.

Readers know what today's Nazis are like. They know about militias like those assholes who laid siege at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon and declared it their territory free from the US law.
The play by play details of Ozark's group -- which later merges with a bunch of other militia Nazis and becomes known as ARM -- wasn't that necessary. Readers are smart. They can be told periodic updates about how many tanks and guns and RPGs some asshole has on his ranch. I'm not sure they need to smell the gun oil and powder after a target practice party (among other much worse things).

I even made a digital note in chapter 66 that I was sick of the pastor's story and don't care about him or damn family at all anymore. Pastor Matthew does seek redemption which is a fine for his character development, but I was so over him. I just didn't care.

** Different Content Note **
Mental Health Issues

Personally, I think Wendig did a great job handling the mental illnesses of both Autumn Bird and Daria Stewart who suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts.

Daria also had addiction problems and inconsistent drug therapies that made her whole situation unique. Autumn, meanwhile, was married to the pastor who felt she could pray away the pain if she just gave more of herself to the Lord. Autumn's recovery is bit more unbelievable, but not impossible. When the whole world is ending and everyone is suffering -- there's nothing clinical about Autumn's depression anymore. People are ending their lives as the plague drives them to insanity or through mistakes like Alzheimer's patients (example, a pilot forgetting he's flying a plane and just exits).

I wanted to mention their plights here because it does come up and it could be triggering. Daria goes about her day in a supermarket and gets whammed with those feelings of depression, suicide, and paranoia. She ends up hiding behind a machine and hoping no one sees her crouched down there. It was visceral.
My only criticism here is that both characters were women and suffering from the same symptoms. As far as I could tell, both straight white women too. With such a great cast of characters and a story line where people are taking their lives because the White Mask plague is unbearable, I think two depressed white women felt like a missed opportunity in some way. I could be wrong about Daria's ethnicity because I don't think it's ever specified. With Pastor Bird's family getting under the thumb of the white supremacists, I assume Autumn was white or she would not have been a welcomed guest at Ozark's estate.

The Wanderers World

I referred to the environment as robust and I wasn't exaggerating. The sleepwalkers travel around the entire country with their shepherds (and news crews). Even with an uncorrected proof, I have a ton of passages highlighted because I appreciate the artistic descriptions of what it was like walking into small towns where the people held signs of hate speech, the feeling of going a month without a shower, or the orgasmic satisfaction of having the first cup of coffee in nearly a year.

"This man was an enemy of the angels -- that's what they were, Marcy realized that now in an epiphany that felt to her mind like the warm tickling waters of a bubble bath, they were angels --"

I've made it this far and haven't actually mentioned the antagonist. Black Swan. It's the machine intelligence which, as all scifi computer-centric fiction warns us, is too damn dangerous to exist. Shana doesn't trust Black Swan from the beginning. Benji is leery, but then he's the one who grows to have a relationship with it. There's even a period where Black Swan won't speak to Sadie, its lead programmer, but it will only speak to Benji.

Before the White Mask illness is even discovered, Black Swan had events in motion with human beings. Meanwhile, there's also an oh-so-familiar presidential race going on with the female incumbent President Hunt -- who is naturally called Hunt the Cunt by her opponents because they're not particularly smart nor creative -- versus right-wing, faux Christian, war monger, white supremacist Ed Creel. Creel uses people like Pastor Matthew Bird to spread the fake news and conspiracy theories that the flock of sleepwalkers are an imminent danger to the country.

Wendig holds no bars when it comes to making a novel that is based completely on ethical principles and politics. There are so many bits of factual trivia in Wanderers. The whole plague, White Mask, is based on the unfortunately real white nose fungus which obliterated the little brown population of the country and kills millions of them. The presidential race could give you flashbacks to 2016 and if you stayed up all night on that fateful day like I did then spent a week crying, the politics in Wanderers will feel familiar.

'Weeks before that, he threw at her a series of eyeless baby dolls, painted red. Symbolizing her defense of women's rights -- meaning, Planned Parenthood, meaning, abortion. (Even though abortion counted for less than 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's function, Creel said it was "more like 95 percent of what they did, killing good American babies.")"

Also the mentions of people buying fish antibiotics from pet stores because they didn't have health insurance to see doctors or pay for prescriptions is something I've seen people admit to on Twitter. Point being, there are a lot of real fucked up things in Wanderers that should cause people to reflect on our own current state of right fucking now.

And without needing to quote, I'll tell you climate change comes up regarding the White Mask plague. Like all the other catalysts, it's a controversy between the characters whether that was genuinely the source of it. And boy-howdy, wait until you find out!

You'll find some fun pop culture references to musicians like Babymetal and Bowie; but also movies like The Matrix, Stephen King's The Stand and more.

Reminds me of Robert McCammon's Swan Song--similar in length (ie, LONG!); pacing (it starts slow, day-by-day, and then rapidly speeds up as disaster accelerates, eventually stretching many years); and in the characters whose independent stories merge and diverge throughout the novel.

Many of the characters are wooden, without a lot of nuance, and this makes for jarring reading at times. They feel like stage actors who follow a predictable arc designed to move the story along: "Be the preacher! Have faith, get overzealous, lose faith, re-find balance!"

The AI piece is fun and current, though at times too far-fetched, even for sci-fi.

Overall a fun read that doesn't require a lot of attention and will hit all the right notes for readers of this genre.