You'll want to stare into the void and never look back after reading this gorgeously written eco-horror book.

Deading started as a social media trend where teens pretended to be 💀, eyes open, in random places like elevators, sidewalks, etc. However, when an entire town starts doing it, something is clearly wrong.

😱 "Mr. Christiano on the ground shoots staples into his stomach, then chest, horror glazing his eyes." 😱

I love the POV shifts between characters who are flawed, but ultimately trying their best. We have teenage brothers who are struggling with their Mexican identity in a small American town. We have an older Japanese woman who views this eco catastrophe in a very different way.

🏺My favorite POV is a Greek choir of goth teens. I wanted to join them! If I read this book as a teen this would have been my whole personality.

🖤"We told the adults that we were talking something new, something serious, something so dark & filled with ritual that all of us could be the influencers of a new death, a new future."🖤

I love the intersection of eco-horror, sci-fi, and fantasy here. The gorgeous prose elevated this book in a way that had me staring into the void throughout.

DNF @ 46%

I feel like I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in this book. It’s all over the place.

There is an excess of descriptions and pretty much no horror. I’m almost halfway through the book and it’s mostly been internal monologue by characters they keep getting thrown in.

None of these characters felt memorable, the plot kept disappearing, and setting would have been incredible if it was given some more attention that wasn’t about the bird population.

This was a strange book. Unsettling and kind of like a fever dream, but the writing was solid enough to not make it confusing, even if I did not quite know what was going on half the time.

I can see that novel won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I can also see why some people would really love this. I really liked how unsettling it is and how quickly the community unravels. I liked spending time with the various characters and really feeling like I was in some of their heads, whilst others kept me at a distance. I found it compelling and it kept my attention.

I do think the vagueness did not work across the board and I felt like I did want a bit more explanation, especially at the end. The last 50 pages were just a bit all over the place.

I have to admit this is not quite my type of book, but it did not push things too far for me and overall it kept me reading. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, it is definitely worth reading.

The Deading has all the ingredients for a chilling horror: a small community, an inexplicable contagion, and full quarantine--no communication, no contact, no access at all to the outside world. The setting is a coastal town in central California, and the story starts with a gripping account of a social media trend where teens pretended to die that took place long before the adults and even the animals started pretending to drop dead. It then jumps to a local oyster farmer, who has unfortunately discovered a snail in his harvest ...

While a lot of the elements in this story seemed right up my alley, the blend of so many without any concrete explanations ended up falling a bit off the mark for me. I loved the ornithology throughout, and felt that these observations helped weave in all the unnatural happenings seamlessly. I appreciated some of the POV changes, but didn't understand why certain ones were necessary, and at some points it jarred me from the story. However, I think this very much is just a case of not every book will be for every reader. If you enjoy a good nature-takes-back, eerie story, give it a shot!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy for review.

The Deading by Nicholas Belardes #dnf #arc #thedeading

CW: death

In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.

Okay, I couldn’t finish this one. I got 62% into it when I gave up. Life is too short. I was expecting something like Mexican Gothic meets The Birds but this was not that. It was a very slow read, very little plot to speak of, and I didn’t care about a single character. And one of the characters is basically the dead essence of a man who was killed in the first chapter. Sounds kind of interesting but the execution was really lacking. I did think the parts about the bird watching were fun but this not the horror book it was marketed as. The cover, however, is fantastic.

Thank you to @erewhonbooks and @netgalley for the advance copy. (pub date 7/23/24)

I didn't like this. One of the strangest spacings I've seen in a book. Beginning was really slow and we got mostly some birds facts instead of plot. After the middle part things just start to happen really fast and by the end I just wanted it to be over. Had an interesting concept and ideas, but sadly I didn't really enjoy any of what the author did with them.

At least the books cover art is gorgeous so kudos to the designer.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the eARC of this title!**

While I really enjoyed the writing of this one and saw a lot of things that made me want to pick this author up again - the story was too difficult to connect with. I got Jeff Vandermeer vibes from The Deading (which is a huge compliment) and enjoyed the ~weird~ and horror elements of this one. I especially enjoyed the snails and the marine descriptions,

I lost interest during the 30 pages on birds and birding. Unless you are really, REALLY into birds - you will find yourself skimming this one pretty early on. I also found myself skimming the chapters that were told from the perspective of "the sea."

I really do see a lot of stuff in Belardes' writing that I love - this one just seemed to do too much too fast without every attempting to connect with the reader. I think SUPER fans of Jeff Vandermeer will really enjoy this book, and encourage those that love weird fiction and horror to check it out for themselves!

OK.........!!!!! One of the most cool books that i've ever read! I love it and i'd like to read more from the author!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Something strange is washing up on the shore of Baywood, a small beach town in Southern California. First, the snails, then the wildlife, then people are infected with a strange illness. What started as a viral trend by the students, “deading,” becomes an epidemic among the population, one that demands assimilation. The Deading follows the story of several survivors of Baywood as they try to navigate what is quickly becoming a terrifying ordeal.

In many ways, The Deading is a dense novel that involves the point of view of several, sometimes groups of characters, many of whom have their own writing style (some are in third person limited, one is first person, and some seem to be something between third person omniscient and limited). The constant switching made it hard for me to truly comprehend what was going on. There were several themes I only knew to pick out because they were specifically mentioned in the Author’s Note before the novel. Ultimately, I feel like The Deading was trying to do too many things at once, which muddled what Belardes was trying to say.

However, what does shine through is Belardes’ genuine love of nature and his concerns about climate change. Every POV character has their own well-developed motivations and despite the over-arching confusion on my end, I enjoyed the perspective from each character greatly.

Overall, while in my opinion, The Deading is somewhat of a challenging read, I still think it’s worth the time. If you enjoy Into the Drowning Deep, creature features, climate horror, or Hot Topic, this is a novel you may want to pick up.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

It wasn't so much what this book was about, but the writing style that failed to engage me. It was written in somewhat of a train-of-thought and I have never been able to click with that type of book. I found it incredibly difficult to differentiate the characters from one another, and if you were to ask me to list a distinguishing characteristics of any of them, I would fail to do so. Now I love descriptive books as much as the next person, but there are only so many times I can read a dozen species of birds when I begin to drift. It felt like an educational book on ecology at points rather than a work of fiction. I tend to really enjoy eco-horror and was looking forward to something reminiscent of the comped titles that were shown (specifically, 'The Last of Us'. While I could hint at the similarities, and there were bits of potential (especially during the first snail attack), they were too few and far between. Overall, this book just didn't click with me, although I could see it's target audience loving it.

This felt like a love letter to all things cosmic horror and Lovecraftian. I read it in a day. Once I started I just kept coming back to it and that is something. I don't want to say anything that has spoilers in it so I will say this is a horror with elements of cosmic, infectious, and isolationist terror in it while hitting notes of uncanny as well. The characters are well written and I look forward to reading more from this author.

DNF at page 42.

Beautiful cover art and a compelling synopsis can't save the prose on this one. The Deading reads more like a dry academic textbook on oyster farming and birding than a horror novel, and it didn't take long for boredom to outweigh my patience. Moving onto my next read...

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

DNF
Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. The ‘horror’ parts were lacking detail and explanation, so I found myself confused instead of unnerved. In addition, there were so many scientific and bird-related details, that I felt like I was reading a biology textbook. This felt unnecessary; I wish the details were more aimed at plot and atmosphere building. Overall, this book was not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Erewhon books for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review

1.5

Enticed by the premise of the synopsis noted below:
"In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people."

Finally, an-infection horror book, I was excited to begin reading it. I empathize with Belardes' passion for ornithology that is well-noted by extensive passages regarding these wonderful creatures. However, I found it difficult to progress in the book as the focus mostly relied upon the environment and a variety of self-examining. This could have been executed better, in a sense that maybe it should have been written as a non-fiction commentary rather that poorly masking it with a horror fiction and poorly distinguished point of views.

I appreciate the synopsis, it does help draw reader's interest for sure, but certainly could be better if it followed up on it's promise.

Like so many others stated, this one was a miss for me. After trying so hard to get through it, I had to eventually DNF. There was just too much random moments of facts about birds and such that it completely takes away from the story itself. What a shame, the premise sounded so good.

The Deading read like a YA to me, with it's simple fast pace and healthy amounts of dialogue (there is a lot more than just dialogue I just mean it feels like that). It was a really interesting story, I think I was just to squeamish to fully enjoy it.

Premise was amazing however this book was extremely slow and difficult to follow along. I get the multiple view points but it was so slow to the point. Hard to get through and the premise was lost in the writing. I’m so sorry to leave a bad review.

I tried to get into this one, but I really struggled with the dialogue in the beginning. I am still really thankful to Quirk Books, Nicholas Belardes, and Netgalley for granting me advanced digital access to this one before July 23, 2024.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I can definitely see where the other reviewers are coming from. But the reasons others gave this 1 or 2 stars were the reasons that I liked this novel. Different strokes for different folks.

The POV changes, from different characters to first, second, and third person, and going back and forth between all of these different modes of storytelling, can be really jarring and off-putting. But strangely, I liked them. Each different POV gave different insights into the microcosm that was the town of Baywood. I really liked how it gave a well-rounded view on this alien invasion/pandemic story.

It wasn't very difficult for me to discern between the characters because each POV was written well enough that you could tell who was speaking. Sometimes I couldn't tell what was going on, but honestly, it added to the book's atmosphere because most of the characters also had no idea what was going on.

I feel terrible for saying this, but the one thing that really turned me off was the constant talk about bird species. I love when people talk about their passions, and I was really into birds when I was younger, but this felt like the author cornering me and mowing me down with facts about every single bird they've ever seen. It was so overwhelming.

I think if you like bizarre horror, you might enjoy this. If not, then maybe skip this.

Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for this arc.

I managed to get through 40% of this book.
This book feels like a grandfather writing about a teen/writing YA. 30% of this book so far has talked about birds and their rarities which didn't add much to the story (imo). It is nice to see a character have interest in a certain thing but it felt like there was only talked about bird spotting at some point.
The author used slang and puns in his narration, I think this might be a personal preference but it is something I really did not enjoy.
The blurb and idea of this book had much potential but wasn't executed well. It would've been beter if it was shorter as there was alot of unnecessary detailing.