Fewer side effects than Ambien, so that’s something in its favor. 
I kind of hate to admit it, but one problem I’ve had with other post-apocalyptic novels – and that I had with this one, too – is that it is really hard for me to feel that survival itself is a desirable goal in the worlds created by the books. The world presented is so bleak that it is hard for me to root for the characters’ survival. This clearly points to some deep character flaw in myself, but I just found it so hard to muster the energy to care about each incremental accomplisment when the whole enterprise seemed to be doomed. I was not surprised when Martha’s Island turned out to be a hoax because that seemed to be inevitable. That the baby would be born with dragonscale seemed inevitable. That everyone would eventually perish just seemed like a foregone conclusion in my own mind. Maybe I’m too much of a depressive or a pessimist for these kinds of books!
One role the pregnancy played was to provide a deadline, a beat-the-clock element that certainly added some urgency to the last segment of the book. But to me – with my clearly black heart – the pregnancy did not offer any sense of hope or renewal. I couldn’t decide whether it was supposed to play such a role in the story. What do others think?
I wish Hill would have ended the book without the coda. The idea that the could have survived a trip across the Atlantic without stores of food and water just seemed utterly ridiculous.
Did anyone have the sense that the logic surrounding the illness at camp was flawed? I admit to skimming much of the camp parts, but the premise seemed to be that the dragonscale could be controlled through control of emotion. The dragonscale had some sort of collective consciousness that responded to feelings of harmony and that induced feelings of harmony. But when that harmony was lacking, presumably that’s when dragonscale caused individuals to immolate. But then why didn’t lots of people in the camp explode into flames when all the chaos and dissent started to arise? I may have missed this in the story. Their survival seemed predicated on their control of their emotions, but when emotions seemed out of control at the camp, it did not seem to affect the disease. Again, please let me know if I am missing something.
(I admit that I’ve already forgotten huge chunks of the book so maybe this happened but I just forgot about it already.)
Absolutely. I was confused, too. Dragonscale can be controlled through unity, whether it takes the form of harmonious “Bright” or malevolent group think. But what about when there is discord? When individuals are at odds with one another, anxious and tense? During the leadership transition, there was plenty of that, and I felt like campers should have been spontaneously combusting left and right. The possibility of this is suggested in a passage where Allie is making an angry scene:
But soon, this no longer seems to be an issue–nobody smokes or explodes, despite forced hair cuts, stones shoved in mouths, and lots of spitting and sobbing.
That seemed strange to me too, but by then a lot of other things were annoying me as well. World building is important in sci-fi and fantasy. If your reader is constantly feeling that things are inconsistent, it fails.
I liked the book; read it on our trip to newport, RI. (liked the trip, too). First time i’ve read this type of book in ages. I didnt feel pessimistic about the ending; and liked the coda.
however, as someone mentioned above, there were so many parts of book i was skeptical about. Eg: the camp, the food, the electricity, getting water & power, cell phones that worked randomly, and mostly: harper’s pregnancy. I kept reminding myself it was written by a man. The physical things she did and the risks she took seemed so foreign to me. Most women i know are much more baby-centric when pregnant; and i dont think the author gets that. But as @nottelling mentions, her pregnancy provides a sense of urgency.
I also wanted to hear more about the social interactions; how things worked, the rest of the world and what was going on. And right at the end of reading the book, i heard about the Zika virus being found in florida. The thought of an epidemic possibly going wild is disconcerting after reading this.
Count me in on noticing there seemed to be no reason to stop for gas.
I had really thought about the deadline element but you’re right in that timing played a part in the last segment. As for hope/renewal - yes, I think so. The baby clearly has Dragonscale so Harper feels no need to give her up. On the clearly negative side, I see whole families going up in smoke during those less-than-harmonious teen years. Or maybe there would be an upward trend in groups like the Jonas Brothers/Hanson Brothers/Von Trapp Family. >:D<
Actually, I’m not sure this is a flaw. Because so much happens on the road and because of sentences like, “The farther north they went, the less it seemed they were driving on the Earth,” the reader is left with the impression that the troupe has crossed a vast terrain. In fact, the truck has only gone 40 miles total when they run into trouble with Jakob, and John and the truck topple into the chasm. John mentions it at the beginning of chapter 14: “To be fair,” he said, “we had almost forty miles of smooth sailing, which was more than I ever expected to get.”
It wasn’t just the escaping road trip that bothered me about not getting gas. Gas would have been hard to get anywhere. With all the destruction, I don’t see gas trucks showing up to deliver to gas stations. Maybe John was able to sneak into special gas stations for fire trucks, but it seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
I didn’t mind the coda too much. It was a pretty simplistic ending considering their journey across the Atlantic. I do like knowing what happens to characters in books. That’s why I love reading book series. I could use my own imagination to decide their future, but I also like to know what authors think will happen to their characters.
Yes, this is true. Harold writes about it in his journal, too: “A better name for Dragonscale would be the Nietzsche virus—if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.” He also theorizes that the spore has coated Allie’s brain to the point where it protects her—which is the only explanation for why a girl of that temperament wouldn’t be smoking/flaming continuously.
I didn’t mind the coda, but I didn’t feel it was necessary. The book ends with them heading for Ireland, baby on board, and the lines, “…get ready to have some fun, little girl, because it’s a big bright morning, and this is where the story begins.” That was enough for the optimist in me—I didn’t need proof that they would make it.
I like rooting for the characters’ survival, while at the same time recognizing that I myself would happily check out at the first signs of privation and hardship. I’m not interested in life without antibiotics and indoor plumbing. Rooting for John Rookwood’s survival, however, was a wasted effort. Did not like his fate. That turn of events seemed sort of flat and…nihilistic.
Now THAT would finally kill Keith Richards.
It seemed like the virus spread relatively quickly so unless the gas stations blew up (which they shouldn’t because thye are all built with automatic fire suppression systems) the main issue would be getting gas out of them without electricity. He couldn’t seem to decide whether we had electricity or not. And how do we charge those cells without it? Was everyone running gas generators?
I’m glad to know there was at least some reference to Dragonscale making one stronger. I’d have liked it to have been done more literally. As a nurse, Harper could have reflected that it was surprising what she could do with a broken leg, or how quickly John healed himself.
For some reason I kind of like the idea of a new version of humanity that has to live in harmony with the Dragonscale, though it was made clear it was no guarantee of good behavior, and in fact some of the coping mechanisms were kind of creepy. Did not like all the kumbaya group think.
I liked John Rockwood’s character, but in the end I didn’t feel like he got fleshed out enough.
I listened to a lot of the book on audio, and the narrator (in my view at least) used an absolutely atrocious English accent for John. I think that might have contributed to my dislike of the character.
What was the name of the kid who was killed? I did like his journals. I enjoyed any part of the book that veered into pseudo-science territory. I liked the theory that the disease spread by ash, for example. I liked the early descriptions of how the markings spread on the skin.
I thought forcing people to suck on stones as a punishment was interesting. Is that a real thing? I had never heard that before.
I think I totally forgot about the coda of a woman in Ireland seeing a sailboat … (I’m sure my forgetting signifies something deeper, but I have no idea what.)
Sucking on stones as punishment – I was SO rooting for Harper to not give in and take the stone so Allie could give hers up. I get that in the end she (Harper) did it so others wouldn’t get hurt/punished, but I really wanted her to fight Mother Carol and the whole ridiculousness of it all. As for whether sucking on stones as punishment is a real thing – I don’t know, but I have heard of sucking on a small stone to keep your mouth moist/if you’re really thirsty and don’t have any water.
I found this: http://dailyhadith.adaptivesolutionsinc.com/hadith/When-Words-Count.htm
Me too!
Interesting find Mary!
I thought the stone thing was fascinating - I was so afraid someone was going to swallow one by mistake!
I couldn’t figure out what the “Coda” was that you guys were talking about. I missed it completely when I read the book. Had to go back and search for it! It seems to indicate that John Rookwood and Sarah were continuing to manifest themselves, if that’s the right way to put it.
I’m still reading! I’m not going to look at this topic until I finish, but I’m hanging in there!
I thought the coda was weird - squeezed between credits and acknowledgements stuff that one might well skip.
Some thoughts from Joe Hill on Harper and her pregnancy:
http://www.npr.org/2016/05/22/478840908/joe-hill-on-fireman-family-and-fart-cookies
I didn’t mind the coda. I wanted a happy ending and the coda provided a little boost.