Wayward picks up five years after the events in Wanderers as we find out how humanity has fared in the aftermath of White Mask. The answer is not surprising. Our ragtag crew continues their quest to shepard their flock, but the actions of an ever-increasing psychotic AI make it difficult.

Wayward is a strong sequa that explores the darkest timeline of humanity and post-humanity.

I received an advanced readers copy from Random House in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are completely my own.
The second book in the Wanderers Trilogy was almost as good as the first book. The ability of the author to pull so many different people into the story was an amazingly brilliant bit of writing. Both books are long 700-800 pages and held my interest from the first page to the last. I'll be waiting for the third book to see how this apocalyptic thriller is finished.

If a solid standalone 800-page novel yielded an 800-page sequel, would you read it?

I did, and it was worth braving the sophomore jinx of this the chonky book series. Sure, I had my problems with Chuck Wendig's Wanderers (2019), but the sequel, Wayward, brings many of the same characters five years ahead and tells the story of a rebuilding world after the White Mask pandemic wiped out all but 1% of the population.

In this story, the president is a (somehow) exaggerated version of Trump who is building an army of really bad guys prepping for a battle of good vs. evil. Sound familiar? If Wendig took some flak from Stephen King fans who felt Wanderers was too similar to The Stand, he goes beyond King's vision in Wayward and makes you think about what a sequel to The Stand might look like. New characters, new conflicts, a sentient AI, and all I kept thinking was, boy, wasn't The Stand a great book?

King fixation aside, I thought the action in Wayward was better than in Wanderers. The villains with superpowers were scary-good and for an 800-page doorstop, Wayward kept me turning pages with only a couple of pit-stops where the book dragged. Recommended only after you've read Wanderers — and only if you love love big books and you cannot lie. By the way, these two books would make a great series. Wendig writes great chapter-ending cliffhangers.

Wanderers was easily one of my favorite books of 2019 and I had been anxiously awaiting a sequel ever since. Wayward did not disappoint in allowing us readers to return to this futuristic world created by Chuck Wendig and get reacquainted with all the characters we got so close to in Wanderers. Since it had been a while since reading Wanderers, I did find myself feeling a bit lost at first when going into this book, which made it a little harder to warm up to it and dive right in, but once I found my feet again I was immediately sucked back into this world created by Wendig.

One of my favorite things about this book (and Wanderers) is how Wendig manages to touch on so many different topics ranging from super dark to the mundane everyday, and he does so in such a way that everything feels approachable and manageable. These books play with some very overwhelming ideas, but the way Wendig uses his plot and characters to work through these is really remarkable and grabs my attention. His characters are full of life and deal with so many complex situations in very human ways. Overall, a fantastic duology I can't recommend enough (as long as you're willing to sit through 800+ pages each time!).

I read Wanderers right as COVID hit. Between that and the general zeitgeist, I finished Wanderers with a love for the book. Wayward seems like a great idea for a sequel, and the first 90% is great. But what made the book good made the ending hard, like trying to finish a kill a hydra; so many stories had to end together, something meaningful got lost in the collapse of civilization. Still good.

I was so elated to receive this book from the publisher and NetGalley! And Wayward did not disappoint my love for the author one bit. This sequel is itself a saga which takes on the remaining characters from the first book but introduces some other fabulous characters. This is a world built on a world and it’s so inventive and just a ride! Can’t wait to see what the author does next! Loved loved loved!

An amazing follow up to Wanderers, the book I never expected to love. I love Wendig's writing, creativity, and relevant humor woven throughout. He's now an "instant read" in my book!

"We have been made family by White Mask because everybody lost everybody. They all lost their mothers, their fathers, their sisters and uncles and husbands and kids. If you’re alive, you are alone but for the kin of despair and destruction. We are not a nation anymore . There is no America. There is only this one big family: a family of death, a family of disease, a family of survivors . We can love one another or we can eat one another. Same as any family."

Can I just start with, I think Chuck Wendig is one of the few authors I'm willing to dive into an 800 page book for.

Just like with Wanderers this is a story with many characters, locations, and switching POVs. There's also the epistolary style throughout with quotes and snippets from fictional journals from within the same story.

This book really gets us set in the post apocalyptic world and the beginning of rebuilding. The nomadic lifestyle, the violence, the lack of humanity in some.

But it's not just some take about surviving in the post apocalypse. It's a survival tale against the AI that succeeded in decimating the human race - the black swan. And Black Swan has only grown more powerful.

I will probably give 5 stars to anything Chuck Wendig ever writes and this is no exception.

Thank you netgalley and random house ballantine for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I missed out having not read the first one. I bought after reading this, so great sign! I enjoyed the sleepwalking storyline - original!

I was such a huge fan of Wanderers a few years back. It was long, but it certainly didn't feel it, and I devoured the thing. So I was of course quite excited to hear about this sequel! We're now meeting back up with the gang five years later, and they're basically trying to rebuild the world- or at least, to the extent that they can.

I will admit, there were some things I didn't quite remember since it had been a minute. As such, the book likely felt a bit longer, but that is probably on me. Regardless, once I got into it, I remembered more and more, and the author threw in lots of little reminders of stuff, too. Yes, it is a long book, but it didn't feel its 800+ pages, thank goodness!

I loved the characters of this story most of all, just as in the first book. They were just so well constructed, and I think that is probably the benefit of having a longer book- much more time to get invested in the characters, more time to get to know them. Likewise, the world is incredibly well developed. And we get to see just as much of it in the sequel as we did its predecessor, which is no small feat! I loved though that we didn't just get a glimpse of Ouray, CO, where our main characters start the story. No, we got to once again travel the country in search of answers and salvation.

Another huge positive of this series for me is how the author managed to balance out some really dark stuff with a lot of good, too. Like yeah there are some really shitty humans, right? But there are a lot of great and inspiring ones, too. There is also a lot of humor sprinkled throughout which I adored, and made the characters' relationships all feel very realistic and well developed.

Bottom Line: Overall, a really solid sequel, and a wonderful opportunity to revisit these beloved characters and their dire, yet equally hopeful, world.

P.S.: This would make a beyond kick-ass show. Who do we beg to make that happen?

The sequel the Chuck Wendig's near-prescient novel Wanderers continues the story of Ouray and its inhabitantsfive years after the setting of the first novel.
Many characters are the same, but this time we also get the perspective of the "president" Creel. Creel is (to be polite), a piece of excrement made flesh. This book gives you an insight into the man, his motivations, his rise to power, and what he does during the pandemic. Frankly, it makes me hate him more. The fact that he, like certain real-life politicians, play to those who hate intellectualism and diversity just reinforces that hate for me.
Anyway.... in this book, Wendig explores what has become of the United States in the aftermath of 99% of the world population dying. He does not pretend that all would be sunshine and roses. He also doesn't pretend that the horrible would thrive. Instead he presents, again, a very realistic world for his protagonists to move through.
The story itself is interesting, though I admit parts did lag for me overall it moved at the proper pacing for the story being told. Only the resolution seemed a bit hurried.
If you enjoyed the first novel of the series, you would enjoy this one... and I recommend that you read it right away when you finish the first novel.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.
#Netgalley #wayward #wendig

I've read most of Chuck's books and I've enjoyed all of them, and this one is no exception. Chuck writes like as if you were listening to a conversation. He's just so smooth and witty. Like Wanderers, this is a very plot and character driven read, although long, but that's not a big deal. My hope is that this will end up on end of year reads,

Brilliant. Uncomfortable. A wild ride. Wayward is one of my favorite reads of the past few months. I will be talking about this to everyone I know. Thank you so much for the ARC.

Like its predecessor, WAYWARD clocks in at 800 pages which may not be a lot for most readers, but when you're trying to meet your yearly goal of books read and also get a review done by deadline, that's a lot of pages. I'll hand this to Wendig, in Wayward all those pages add something to the story. In fact, if you haven't read book one, you might actually be all right jumping into Wayward. Usually that's only possible with books that are planned to be a series; these weren't—exactly. In the Acknowledgments, Wendig explains that if there was enough interest in a second book, he'd write one, but it wasn't on his mind as Wanderers was created. While I'm mentioning the Acknowledgments, allow me to start at the end of the book. The Acknowledgments in Wayward include more than a list of people being thanked. It's a personal letter from author to reader and I feel it's important for people to read it.

The key characters in the mix this time are mostly the same: Shana Stewart, Benji Ray, Marcy Reyes, Matthew Bird, Pete Corley; and now that the Sleepwalking Flock is awake, Nessie (Shana's sister and the first Sleepwalker). There are two enemies: Ed Creel, the man who has stolen the presidency by having all the previous people in line assassinated; and Black Swan, the AI program.

Five years have gone by in which the shepherds have been creating a new town that will be safe after the White Mask pandemic. They had to solve all the survival problems like finding food, heat, clean water. When the Flock awakens, they form a town council with the youngest among them, Nessie, included because of her intelligence. The AI Black Swan had chosen them to be the ones to survive the plague which killed 99% of all humans (it was also in animals, but the percentage of survival wasn't at the forefront). Black Swan kept them alive and then it needed somewhere to go to preserve its own survival. The program was already godlike. The awaken Flock treated it as such and full faith in it, except for Shana who was not an original Sleepwalker.
Shana was the first shepherd who walked with her sister to keep her safe as they traveled around the United States landing in Ouray, Colorado, a remote mountain village. Since Black Swan hadn't intended for Shana, an average person, to be a survivor, it was more about opportunity when the AI leapt into her. When it did, she was already pregnant.

Wayward pulls into mythologies of all corners of the globe. A young pregnant woman carrying the new god is the nucleus. Black Swan adapts and learns that humans aren't going to automatically do what it wants because of predictions. Enemies develop slowly at first within the Ouray community.

As chapters change points of view for all the main characters, readers are brought to the apocalypse bunker of Ed Creel and those wealthy enough to buy a suite in order to wait out the White Mask plague. The thing is, there really isn't a country left. There's one Senator in the bunker. Creel and his Vice-President are down there. But all communication possibilities died. People who worked at broadcasting news agencies kept their channels open until they were taken by the fungus. As the world returned to nature, infrastructure crumbled under its growth. Creel gets out of his bunker and sets out to find the cult of white supremacists who are likely to be the only people alive to recognize his authority.

All hope is resting on Shana and scientist Benji Ray. They have a father-daughter relationship and when they reunite with motherfucking rock god Pete Corley, they hold on to each other with every ounce of love and strength they can muster. Acceptance of others and seeing their special talents is at the heart of what Wayward's story tells us (besides that humans do suck and are violent, greedy, consumers of all resources). There are people who want to give and people who want to take. Even Black Swan wants to take under the guise of giving back to humanity. The program takes over Shana's baby Charlie.

Marcy has important roles in Wayward as she did in book one. She's not as visible as the main characters. She's the conscience of the book. She's the one to look at arguments or debates from all sides. She's fallible and lovable.

Wayward gives readers all the payoffs they would want or maybe hoped for that didn't happen in Wanderers. Not everyone makes it out alive and the deaths are even more intimate if that's possible. In Wanderers, Benji had to watch his love Sadie die from White Mask; Shana saw her father and her love/baby daddy Arav die. Those deaths felt like things that had to happen to move main characters forward. In Wayward, the deaths close the proverbial chapter and give characters an ending. That's not to imply Wanderers didn't handle death well; it was different and on an epic scale as billions of people and animals died.

Content Warnings:

Sexual Violence:
There is none in book two! Wendig introduces a new character in Wayward. A woman readers come to know as Annie. She has a fascinating story arc fit for a hero. Annie's mother was responsible for unleashing the Nanocyte that gave Black Swan the ability to spread. She may not be a main character with a lot of pages dedicated to her, but she is vital to the success of the main trio: Shana, Benji, and Pete. Annie faces all the danger a woman fears, but Creel needs her in order to get what he wants. In this I'll say: there's no sexual assault, but Annie loses all her agency for a large chunk of time. I think that's important to spell out considering how things went for Matthew Bird in Wanderers.

Does the Dog Die?
As I read Wayward, my heart was toyed with. My bar went from "survival is going to be hard as hell" to "there's no hope at all" to "humans don't deserve this planet." I'm sure all of my physiological and emotional responses were exactly what the author wanted. I felt the stress, the panic, I cried; and yet I couldn't stop reading it. When the Very Good Dog Gumball is introduced, I went to the website doesthedogdie.com and searched for Wayward. There are a bunch of movies and TV shows with the word in their titles. I struck out finding the book which I kind of expected considering that it just came out.

Gumball could've been written as "just" a dog (I know there's no such thing IRL but as a character it could be an unimportant figure). He could have been a companion that ends up with different characters and freely roams around Ouray doing dog things like looking for nice people or warning of danger. Instead Wendig takes a bold, brilliant, made-me-cry approach and gives Gumball his own POV chapters. There are reasons the golden retriever is still the third most popular breed of dog in America.

These are spoilers I will give: Gumball survives; the wolves don't fair so well; the fox ends up being alive; the opossum becomes an unexpected icon.

Gun Violence:
There is a lot of gun violence. I think if you're used to seeing/reading it in other action stories about real life, it won't be shocking. However, this brand of gun violence has a large span. It's within the small village of Ouray with two people fighting; it's between small parties against each other; it's also the white supremacist army against what's left of the real Army.

Sci-fi gadgets: the Nanocyte gives certain people the ability superhuman abilities as you would expect to see in things like The Matrix, Terminator 2, and Marvel or DC story, or Valiant's Bloodshot which rather closely resembles the technology in Wanderers/Wayward because it's based on where real science has been tinkering. That includes being able to chop heads in half with liquid metal razors or buzzsaws coming out of someone's hands.

Rating: 5 stars

Marvelous. This is a deep look at a sentient AI gone terribly wrong, surviving a catastrophic pandemic, and the absolute worst of humanity. The author doesn't hold back his utter loathing of white supremacists and the politicians that manipulate them at all, and the chapters in Trump/Creel's viewpoint are creepy. The rest of the characters are wonderful though, and so relatable while also completely different. The character development is terrific, with little moments that tell you so much about a person, like Nessie remembering Shana stepping aside and letting the volleyball just hit the ground, or Benji thinking everything he says is dopey when he first meets Dot. There's even a workable viewpoint of a very good dog. It's grim to think that the only thing that will save what is wonderful and beautiful about our planet is to kill off 99% of humans, but it's probably true. We really haven't evolved past the urge to gratify our immediate needs. We are somewhat redeemed by flawed but good people like Benji, Shana, Marcy, and even Matthew though. It's not exactly a happy picture, but not without hope either.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jakebible/p/friday-night-drabble-party-8dc?r=79m4w&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

Finally! Whew!

This was a BIG book as was its predecessor, Wanderers. This series began when people began wandering/sleepwalking across the country leaving their loved ones and the general population confused and concerned. Many loved ones (shepherds) followed them looking for answers. Ouray, Colorado was the destination, and it is there that they began setting up their civilization. Their civilization is far from being a utopia.

As with the first book, this was a highly imaginative and well thought out book. This book takes place five years after the events of the first book. Readers will know the shepherds and their plight. I was curious to see what they were doing now, how their world looked and what it was like to live in it.

Did the book need to be this long? I don't think so. The first book was long as well. I believe I would have enjoyed this book more had it been skimmed down a bit. I enjoy Wendig's writing and loved his book, The Book of Accidents which was over 500 pages but didn't feel long, this one did. For me, this book really shined in parts and then felt dragged out in others. If you enjoy science fiction/fantasy/dystopian/horror, start with the fist book in this series and go from there!

Wendig can write and has created interesting characters and an interesting world. Fans of Wanderers will most likely love this book as well. Both were solid 3 stars for me which means I enjoyed them both. This was a journey and an interesting ride. I would not be surprised if these books were not made into movies.

3/3.5 stars

Chuck Wendig is back with Wayward the follow up to his 2019 hit Wanderers. We are now five years down the road from the events of Wanderers and society is trying to make a comeback from the bizarre pandemic that swept over the world. While there is definitely a ‘fun’ story (and yes I put that in quote merely because ‘fun’ just seems like a wrong adjective to use for what these characters are put through and have to endure, lol) to be had, witnessing the struggles our heroes go through, I enjoyed the first book more. While I don’t mind ‘big’ books, in fact I usually love them, I just thought this one could have been trimmed a bit, been a bit tighter. But I can easily say that if you enjoyed Wanderers, you’re going to enjoy Wayward. Thanks to Random House Publish Group and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC of Wayward.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wayward-chuck-wendig/1140482257?ean=9780593158777&bvnotificationId=1da075f7-67da-11ed-af02-0a0742ba51bf&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/228890181

4 or 4.5 stars. Chuck Wendig must be prescient! The first novel in this series, about a global pandemic and its effects, was published about 6 months before a real pandemic struck. This second novel follows the course of those characters we came to know, and mostly love, in the first. Wendig excels at character building, plot, and weaving real-life elements into a not so farfetched post-apocalyptic world. If you haven't already, go read "Wanderers" and then this one!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Told from multiple points of view, Wayward by Chuck Wendig picks up five years after The Wanderers ended. An epic, dark, realistic and politically charged tale that you won’t be able to set down.

The Wanderers and their shepherds have settled in Ouray. Benji, Shana, Murray and others have started a community and are rebuilding after the pandemic wiped out much of the world. Black Swarm is among them and has been speaking to Shana. Meanwhile, Creel is facing his own difficulties and Black Swarm is changing….

The tale that unfolds shares multiple points of view from all around the United States as the story moves us forward and shares the horrors that have and are unfolding. We see Pete again, hear Matthew’s inner thoughts, and learn both Shana and Black Storm’s secrets.

The world closely mirrors are own, particularly pre-apocalypse, from political stressors to a global pandemic to the breakthrough advances in nano & AI technologies. The shit sent shivers down my spine. You’ll discover heroes and villains along the way. Some you’ll admire, others you’ll despise, but you’ll also be in awe of man’s will to overcome and survive. Sure, there are still asshats who steal from those who work to rebuild and survive, but there are others who feed the city, lift others up and come together to create something new.

The events at Ouray and the thread with Creel are dark, suspenseful and laced with moments of full on horror. Then you have little towns in the middle of nowhere setting up hospitals and finding new ways for transportation. I loved the rebuilding aspects even if it was the thread surrounding Black Swarm and the technology that kept me flipping the pages in the wee hours.

Brilliant, epic and present. I highly recommend The Wanderers and Wayward. Not sure if we will get more of this world. Wendig did a stellar job of wrapping up threads, but the possibilities remains.

Be sure to read the author’s notes in the back of the book. Just wow. Perfect for fans of Stephen King.