Thank you Kensington Books, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am giving The Deading by Nicholas Belardes 3 stars.

The Deading showcases many different perspectives as an ocean-borne contagion infects a small town, and as someone who prefers less POV’s I did actually love how Belardes exposes each persons fears and struggles while trying to navigate their new lives. The only thing I struggled with was sometimes I wouldn’t know whose perspective it was until halfway through the chapter, because it is not shown at the chapter head and many internal dialogues sound very similar until later on.

I enjoyed how Belardes went into deeper topics like grief, loss, loneliness, and communication. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing itself, it was very very well done.

The reason I am only giving 3 stars is due to how much unnecessary information is packed into it, the vivid descriptors of birds through the book made my brain hurt, I can not justify the need for knowing all of these birds color’s, calls, and behaviours. And sadly I could not retain any of that information. I really wish he went more into details about the actually Deading instead of birds, because that it what I found the most interesting about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the ARC!

“The Deading” has an eerily beautiful cover which caught my attention immediately and the synopsis sounded interesting. You’re transported in a world where the creatures of the sea come on to land and disrupt the residents of Baywood, remaking the peaceful society into a nightmare colony. The initial descriptions of the flora and fauna were interesting and captivating. I always found birds fascinating so I was following with interest the little group of local birdwatchers as the deadening was spreading.

If I have to summarise “The Deading” I would describe it as a Junji Ito’s grotesque and ever escalating body horror, meets the absurdity of humankind you see in Chuck Palahniuk’s earlier novels. The more you read the more absurd and uncomfortable it gets to follow the residents of Baywood and their cult. I especially liked how the birdwatchers were turned into those who were watched in the end, and I wish the story expanded and build around that more. Especially the lost potential of the eBird app.

Now in terms of writing this is a unique book, it follows its own set of rules unlike the typical horror/lockdown story. There are different points of view - you get inside both the residents’ and the creatures’ minds. Each perspective is written differently and it’s a mix of first person plural, third person, first personal singular…At first this was confusing because I didn’t expect three different styles of writing to be switched back and forth as the story progressed. It affected both the pacing of the story and my own pace as a reader. It threw me off a number of times. Individually these perspectives are well written but it made for a slow and rough read. Especially with how heavy the chapters are with nature and bird details, and the overall descriptions and inner monologues of the characters. It got too much and clustered with little breaks between the chapters.

I’m not sure what to make of the deading other than it’s a kind of disease which I haven’t come across in other fictional books or movies, so that’s one of the pluses of the story. It was a very disturbing idea to follow from start to finish. I do wish the book delved more in the beginning stages of the deading affecting Baywood and how people ended up being divided. I feel like there were missing episodes and I’m also not sure on the passing of time in the book.

For me “The Deading” started with a lot of potential, has a unique structure and premise but the execution was lacking. Some chapters and character actions sounded repetitive, the pacing is slow and at times confusing. The bird and nature details set a good buildup in the beginning but become too much as the story progresses. Overall I wanted to give the book 3 stars but the more I read the less I found the book to my taste. I am curious to read Nicholas Belardes’ nonfictional books, it’s evident he’s an expert in his field and I liked his opening statements.

Thirteen months ago the teenagers at Baywood High in California went through a period of pretending to die for social media. Now the entire town is doing it, seemingly for real. It all begins when Bernhard, a local oyster dealer finds an invasive snail. He is turned into….something else and slinks off to live, in an altered state, outside of town. Then the deadening begins.

Teenage birder Blas and elderly birders Ingram and Kumi are some of the few not deadening and they are trying to figure out how escape. Factions form. Birds and animals dead too. What will happen to Baywood, California, now that it has been isolated from the rest of America?

This book was a bit frustrating in that I liked parts of it, and other parts were a bit maddening. What is actually happening was all a bit vague. Kumi says, “I’m not deading. I don’t have the desire to,” as if it is a choice, but birds and animals dead, so it’s not as if it’s a peer pressure thing. I’m also not exactly clear on how the adults in the town let the whole thing be turned into a Hot Topic goth ritual. Way to stand strong, parents! Big fans of birdwatching will love this book, especially those who want to support minority birdwatchers, kind of a niche thing, but that’s fine!

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the ARC!

“The Deading” has an eerily beautiful cover which caught my attention immediately and the synopsis sounded interesting. You’re transported in a world where the creatures of the sea come on to land and disrupt the residents of Baywood, remaking the peaceful society into a nightmare colony. The initial descriptions of the flora and fauna were interesting and captivating. I always found birds fascinating so I was following with interest the little group of local birdwatchers as the deadening was spreading.

If I have to summarise “The Deading” I would describe it as a Junji Ito’s grotesque and ever escalating body horror, meets the absurdity of humankind you see in Chuck Palahniuk’s earlier novels. The more you read the more absurd and uncomfortable it gets to follow the residents of Baywood and their cult. I especially liked how the birdwatchers were turned into those who were watched in the end, and I wish the story expanded and build around that more. Especially the lost potential of the eBird app.

Now in terms of writing this is a unique book, it follows its own set of rules unlike the typical horror/lockdown story. There are different points of view - you get inside both the residents’ and the creatures’ minds. Each perspective is written differently and it’s a mix of first person plural, third person, first personal singular…At first this was confusing because I didn’t expect three different styles of writing to be switched back and forth as the story progressed. It affected both the pacing of the story and my own pace as a reader. It threw me off a number of times. Individually these perspectives are well written but it made for a slow and rough read. Especially with how heavy the chapters are with nature and bird details, and the overall descriptions and inner monologues of the characters. It got too much and clustered with little breaks between the chapters.

I’m not sure what to make of the deading other than it’s a kind of disease which I haven’t come across in other fictional books or movies, so that’s one of the pluses of the story. It was a very disturbing idea to follow from start to finish. I do wish the book delved more in the beginning stages of the deading affecting Baywood and how people ended up being divided. I feel like there were missing episodes and I’m also not sure on the passing of time in the book.

For me “The Deading” started with a lot of potential, has a unique structure and premise but the execution was lacking. Some chapters and character actions sounded repetitive, the pacing is slow and at times confusing. The bird and nature details set a good buildup in the beginning but become too much as the story progresses. Overall I wanted to give the book 3 stars but the more I read the less I found the book to my taste. I am curious to read Nicholas Belardes’ nonfictional books, it’s evident he’s an expert in his field and I liked his opening statements.

I gave this unique book 3 stars because it took so long to get into. The writing style and setting were not immediately interesting to me, but it did get better as it went on. It was great to see Hispanic characters in the book, as a Hispanic myself.

CW: Language and gore

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.
In a small seaside fishing town an evil has emerged deep from the oceans trenchs. A mysterious and strange infection is spreading, seeping its way into the local wildlife and the towns people. The newly infected being coined as “deading” for as soon as they perish they then rise again forever changed. The towns remaining residents must adapt and survive in this new environment filled with fear, isolation, and paranoia.

I was immediately intrigued just by seeing the cover of this book which is both haunting and beautiful at the same time. The premise of The Deading is a suspenseful creature feature with dystopian elements. The atmosphere, horror elements, and overall creepy factors kept me reading till the end however it was a struggle to get there. This for me is mainly due to the creative writing choices that are done. The POV constantly shifted from third person, to first person, and to multiple characters. This was done so frequently that it was even in the same chapter without any warning of this happening. This made the writing feel disjointed and ultimately harder to comprehend. While reading it is clearly apparent that the author has a wealth of knowledge about the wildlife that is used in this book and I do appreciate an author who takes the time to do their homework. However, it did become at times too wordy for me and ventured into info dumping territory. Overall while this book did take me longer to get thru then normal due to stylistic writing choices it did still manage to keep me interested and up at night thinking about the plots impending dread of quarantine and the unknowns of who you can trust and not in your community.

The Deading comes out July 23rd, 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

An unusual snail discovered at an oyster farm causes a whole town to be quarantined by the US government as a weird behavior strikes the majority of the population. A young man who is very interested in birding stands strong against "the deading" that many others in the town succumb to and fights to save his family and friends.

I really wanted to like this story a lot. The premise is really good, but I think the execution was rather rough. The book starts off with a collective third person, a Greek Chorus as described by the author, which I think made for an eerie start and if it had just stuck to the prologue and epilogue I think would have worked better, rather than including the random chapters in the middle using this pov. Unfortunately, the point of view switches nearly every chapter with some in first, some in collective third, some in limited third, one in second, and some switching within the chapter. This style was very hard to follow and made for a confusing lens to view the events. I could see this working if the flow was better but they felt a little disjointed and getting pov chapters from six characters was a bit much. I still don't understand why Kumi's chapters were in first person.

The second issue with the execution was the sheer number of science info dumps. The first chapter focused heavily on climate change and warming waters and a lot of, what felt like, unnecessary detail for something that isn't really relied on in the narrative later. Very shortly after that we started with the intricate details of identifying birds to species and the names of parts of their anatomy, I'll be honest I started skimming those. It really slowed the story down in those places, changed the tone and made it feel like Belardes just wanted to flex his bird knowledge muscles. I understand this is a passion of his, but it felt really forced just for the sake of being there.

In terms of the horror elements, honestly the snails and their role felt really played down and I wanted more of it. I didn't understand how Bernhard continued to play a role even though we went back to him a couple of times. It felt like nothing was really explained. Some of the best scenes for the horror element were with the Risers, which I still don't understand, in the church. I got really invested and then it fell away again. Everything felt like disjointed ideas and I wanted them to connect and I couldn't find the connection.

I enjoy horror with weird vibey elements, I don't always need it explained, Our Wives Under the Sea is a great example where the reason, the why, is never explained but we get an explanation of the events is happening. We are shown in clear fashion the events that unfold and it is very tense and atmospheric but light on the gore. This could have been a very atmospheric horror with a fair amount of gore that would have worked really well for me, but I think Belardes tried to do too much all at once.

I will still likely pick up a final copy on release and see how things have changed and am very appreciative of the chance to read something early that I really thought would be for me. It is unfortunate that it wasn't.

Ominous dark and twisted seaborne zombie novel. Very well done with creepy apocalypse cults( thanks for the arc.

The author has done a thorough research as it has reflected in his writing. I felt the book was frightening and filled with dreadful descriptions of every little thing. The characters were interesting . The pace was medium. The writing is gripping, flowery and very insightful. In a small fishing town, an evil emerges from the ocean and grips everyone. The strange infection leads to Deading and due to strange happenings in the town, the government separates the town to be able to protect other people. The book can give nightmares to someone who is afraid of ocean creatures. This is a dystopian book and it is about survival, adaptation and accepting the reality. It certainly has horror elements with several twists.

Many Thanks to the Author, Publisher and Netgalley.

This is genuinely a wonderful story. The Deading is one of the best pieces of literary horror I have read. It guides you through so many emotions and inner demons of all the characters. From the young to the old, The Deading highlights the differences of what age and time can do to change the strengths and compassion of an individual. While priorities are always different when we grow older, the basic need to survive and to be loved… never changes. Belardes reminds us that even though we have faults, we are each unique and have the capabilities to survive difficulties and come out stronger and better. 

This is a strong character-driven narrative with some ornithology, creature features, and suspense. Under the watchful eye of the government, a small sea-side town tries to survive an infliction upon them. The people are changing. The once quiet and calm town has become a ruthless and dangerous community. The anxiety and stress of living in this changed town takes a toll on so many.

This is not a story to read quickly. It is best to take your time and enjoy the words. You can look up some of the birds talked about, giving an extra visual picture to the scenes. It will be easy to become attached to the main characters. Belardes makes sure we understand the person and their actions.

If you enjoy a deep story with lots of twists and turns and if you are patient for amazing twists all throughout the story, then this book is for you. I highly recommend slowly devouring every morsel of this amazing story.

#NetGalley #TheDeading

This book had a really interesting cover and description that immediate drew me in. I really enjoy sort of unsettling books and so I was really hoping to love this book.

Unfortunately, I DNFed about 20% into the book. There was just an overload of information about birds and oysters which drew me out of what was happening in the story. I found myself having to reread lines in order to actually absorb what was happening. I was also not a big fan of the characters whose POV we’re reading from. I didn’t like the way Bernhard went on and on about the scientist and about he doesn’t care about listening to her. As for Chango, he’s just so mean to his younger brother which I didn’t like. I don’t like the way he just tore apart Blas’ interests, I found it really hard to relate and sympathize with him in that moment.

Both of those things coupled together are the reason for my DNF. I really wanted to like this book but I just could not keep going.

I gave The Deading 2/5 stars.

This book seemed very unpolished to me. The disease / entity that attacks the townspeople was very confusing to me and didn’t see any resolution at the end of the book. The story was told in alternating first and third person perspectives with no initial indicator of whose view you were reading from, which I found tough to follow. There was a lot of unnecessary commentary on birds, and other creatures that did not offer much to advance the plot. At about 60% through, this book suddenly picks up and gets really interesting before rapidly dropping back off. It just felt like this book had a number of potentially good plot lines and ideas, but failed to follow through on any of them in a significant way. The ending of the book didn’t really serve to complete the story line or offer any resolution either.

Overall, I’m thankful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this arc, but will not be picking up a copy for my personal collection.

A genuinely unsettling vision of the future. A prescient book, reminiscent of the great post-apocalyptic books of our times, like Station Eleven but more brutal.

The opening chapter does a great job in setting up the tone of the book, and the rest of the book follows through. The characters are beautifully etched out, and the setting feels real, lived in. I'd love to read more from Nicholas Belardes.

The concept of this books was so interesting!! It started of, quite difficult to understand but after reading 70 or so pages the story finally became clear to me. The writing style reminds me a bit of Mona Awad. Which is (in my opinion) a compliment. I’d rate the book 3.5 because of the difficulty getting into it.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for a review.

DNF at 14% of the way through. Sorry, I tried but I could not bring myself to continue without it seeming like a chore. I really wanted to like this book but i did not.

I’d like to start this review by starting with the positives. When requesting this book, the cover instantly took my fancy. It is beautiful and I love the colour scheme of it. The colours didn’t clash on the cover and went well together with the font. The description as well also pulled me in. With the small descriptions we did get through the book, I quiet enjoyed the imagery shown and how is easily gripped me.

With all the above said, let’s move on to the aspects of the book that I enjoyed less AKA the negative part of the review. Now some of what I want to say may not be negative but others may be. This is just my opinion so take it with a pinch of salt.

There were times where I felt like there was some serious info dumping and it made me overwhelmed to say the least. Some of the information I felt like we didn’t need to know and could be weaved into the narrative as it made me skim over them. The info dumping made it seem like I was reading a text book instead of a novel. There were also some small parts while reading that I felt were ‘told’ outright to us, like the author/narrator telling us a character saying something in a current scene where it can be shown the character said/done such thing instead.

I did want to stop reading once I got to the end of chapter one but I kept reading in hopes I would enjoy it after. I really did try but I just couldn’t. The side characters I felt were ‘forgettable’. I probably don’t remember but I don’t think I know what any of them look like especially the people the main character works with. I found myself not remembering who these people were when their names came up as well.

There were also times where some sentences read as if we were reading from the middle of one instead of a complete sentence. One example would be where sentences started with ‘Has’ or some variant of that. I do feel like some of the sentences could be reworded so they didn’t feel odd or out of place. I also felt like the chapters didn’t flow well from each other and the timeline threw me off as it seemed to me we were thrown from one scene to another scene? It just confused me a little as well.

Overall, I’d rate this book a two out of five stars. I just couldn’t get past 14% on this book.

1.75 stars, rounded off to 2.
thanks NetGalley for an ARC of this novel.
Story starts with a gloomy atmosphere in this town with people trying to imitate dying for a while and attacked by something in strange way which did not make any sense to me throughout the novel.
Reminds me of a book by Blake Crouch in which people saw some light and started hunting the others who did not see that light. same case was here but its like the dome, in which only this town was kept isolated with depressing gov tactics and drone surveillance, which was totally absurd.
it was like to make a point in a story or make it very dystopian you just changed the world very dramatic.it was melancholic setting or tries very hard to be one.
there were some POVs to carry forward the story and they all begin without even a single hint of who is talking lol.Timeline was very confusing from the beginning itself and adding other characters did not help a bit.
and in the last i want to point out about all the unnecessary info on the birds and nature, it was so irritating after sometime that i had to speed read it. this novel gets exciting a bit after 70% and gets slow down even faster. And there were no explanation or a closure or even a good ending.(Mic drop)

3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for an ARC of this novel.

The story is about this town that is essentially attacked by some entity, causing people to start "deading," where they gruesomely convulse and seem to die, only to come back alive...but they are not the same. Soon the government quarantines the town, and two factions form...the Risers, who are the ones who "dead," and those who don't, who are fighting to escape and survive.

First of all, this book was definitely not what I expected. It had so much more depth than I anticipated, and it's one I'll be thinking about for months. The POV is told in alternating third and first person, depending on the characters, which I thought was interesting and not something I've really encountered.
There was a lot of graphic body horror that was terrifying. I had a lot of feelings of hopelessness and fear of society in the wake of such an event.

While reading, I was reminded of so many creepy tv/films while reading this, such as The Last of Us, The Time Machine, Red Dawn, Midsommer, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (just the culty religion part, with their rituals). The isolation and creepy atmosphere was really well done.

I did find the timeline a bit confusing, and it was a tad heavy on the info dump about birds and oyster farms, but once past those parts the book is very thought-provoking and terrifying.

This was interesting, a twist on sci-fi, but not as horrific as I hoped. In a world of stories like “the last of us”, this book serves as a companion

I am not a huge sci-fi fan, but this is just the type of story to entice me to step out of my comfort zone. A beach town become infected with a contagion and it quickly takes over everything and everyone. It’s creepy, it’s disturbing but it keeps you horrifically glued to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which will be available July 23,2024!

This was a well written atmospheric horror read. Tag line says it is a mix of The Last of Us (video game) and Under The Done by Stephen King. It shows the utter breakdown of society, what we would do to survive and how nature reclaims it all.


I got bored in a few places but that is on me as I tend to get bored when the plot gets worst but overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself