Title: Contagion
Author: Erin Bowman
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Horror, YA
Length: 423 Pages
Published: July 24th, 2018
Rating: ★★★
I was on the Contagion hype train before it released. Having found Erin Bowman through her other books, Vengeance Road and Retribution Rails – which I absolutely fell head over heels in love with – I was so ready for more. And scifi! I have a hard time getting into scifi novels, but I was ready to try! I participated in launch week instagram story fun stuff, I went to an actual physical bookstore for it even!
And then sometimes your summer gets weird and you don’t even start the book until December and read the first hundred or so pages and go ‘Oh… I am in for a ride… I better pack a lunch and sign the waiver’. And boy was I not wrong about that.
After receiving an urgent SOS from a work detail on a distant planet, a skeleton crew is dispatched to perform a standard search-and-rescue mission.
Most are dead.
But when the crew arrives, they find an abandoned site, littered with rotten food, discarded weapons…and dead bodies.
Don’t set foot here again.
As they try to piece together who—or what—could have decimated an entire operation, they discover that some things are best left buried—and some monsters are only too ready to awaken.
Summary from Goodreads
- I really did stop myself after the first hundred or so pages because this book required all of my attention. Everything happens so much! In the best ways. So many characters to meet, and relationships to understand, and concepts to grasp, and science! And world! And everything!
- It is a large cast, especially for a YA novel. I love large casts. There is something silly in me that takes great pleasure in reading all the different ways different people interact with one another. Despite having a somewhat unconventional chapter style, the POV switches work! I was not once confused or frustrated by the jump to anyone else’s head.
- Like, half the cast is girls. All the important people are women. And they are all such awesome and unique people with different strengths and weaknesses.
- We have Thea, technically the protagonist, precious science intern. She wants so bad to prove herself and takes so much flack for being ‘just’ the intern. How can you not love her?
- You think you know Dr. Harlow and her introverted married to her work ways, but no. The woman has depths. Depths on depths on depths. And delving into them was a treat.
- Female! Pilot! In a similar vein to Thea, Nova is a young pilot with something to prove and I am here for her. Her varied relationships with the rest of the crew were maybe the most fun for me.
- But Dylan may actually be my favorite. Captain Dylan. A woman who’s allowed to be wrong and terrible! My government allotted trash woman, who also deserved so much better.
- My only real negative comment is this, without spoilers; I am not happy with the ending of Nova and Dylan’s storyline. Curious to see how it plays out in the next book, but… Mm. Unfortunate.
- The men were equally as wonderful characters. None of these people were overt stereotypes, which I feel gets easy when you start having to fill out the traditional roles of say… a horror story, or a ship’s crew. I especially enjoyed Coen’s character, as he did not quite go the direction I would have expected.
- You know what else is great about the multiple POVs? Nobody trusts anyone entirely and it’s beautiful. The amount of secrets that were juggled between characters was amazing and so well done! Sure, you wind up looking like the Pepe Silvia scene from Always Sunny, but I live for that.
- And we haven’t even gotten into the plot yet! Partially because gosh, you really want to go into this as unspoiled as you can be, trust me. It’s a ride.
- I will admit I was a little apprehensive of the concept. With that title and summary, the comparison to films like 28 Days Later, you know something’s coming back from the dead. How though? That was the part that was going to get me. I am pleased to say these are the good kind of space zombies and Contagion only scratches their surface.
- I! Cannot! Wait! For! Book! Two! I have so many questions now. Uhg.
- The 11th and 12th hour plot drop were everything. I had been strung along on this ride, not a moment’s pause, surely… surely there could not be anything else. And yet. There was.
Contagion by Erin Bowman is an absolute thrill to read, jam packed with emotion and twists, not something you want to have to put down.
abruptly mystic 