As someone who grew up in coastal South Carolina and works as an earth scientist, I was eager to dive into Inland, intrigued by its premise and the potential exploration of climate driven disaster. However, this is not a sci-fi novel, nor does it deeply engage with the science behind such an event. In fact, some elements of the story, like the smartphone ban which is never explained other than "they are causing cancer", veer into debunked conspiracy territory, which was disappointing.

At its core, this is a story about a mother’s determination to reunite with her son, told through alternating POVs. While I appreciated the themes of perseverance and the emotional depth of their journey, both characters lacked any survival instincts and made frustratingly poor decisions along the way. I do very much enjoy an ambiguous ending, leaving the door open. Ultimately, I was let down by the misrepresentation of the book as sci-fi, but as a story of endurance and human connection, it had its moments.

*spoilers*

Well, that was long-winded with only brief moments of feeling the story propelled forward. The reason I give it 2 stars instead of 1 is because things got a bit more exciting once the teenagers rally together to move inland. But that was it. We never get any answer to why the entire Eastern Seaboard is flooding, only a little bit of insight to The Ban of smartphones, and we don’t even find out if characters actually make it inland enough to be safe, let alone if the parents find their kids again. For such a long novel, you’d think we’d get a little more answers, but it just felt like a lot of descriptions of sludge-y water and driving through flooded areas.

Thank you to NetGalley and 12 Willows Press for allowing me to be an ARC reader in return for an honest review.