the many by sylvain neuvel
I'm back with another review of an ARC I very graciously received through NetGalley. As always, I'm a bit late with the review since the book is now out and it hasn't even been 24 hours since I finished it, but life happens and better late than never! I promise I'm trying to get to them in a more timely manner, really I am. Sometimes it's just hard. But onto the book (which I loved)!
The Many is basically a zombie story that doesn't actually have any zombies in it. It's told through multiple POVs, and these POVs expand and shift as the story progresses. A very tiny fragment from space landing in a forested area. This fragment infects(?) a tick and eventually that tick comes in contact with a human. This is how the story begins—a tick. But readers are also introduced to a small group of core human characters that will direct the plot of the story. Though small, this group of people is incredibly diverse. There are people of many genders, races, occupations, etc. There are social outcasts and people who probably should be social outcasts. This is all pretty important in a story where the major catalyst for action is that minds are merging together.
This alone was enough for me to be incredibly interested in this book, but it makes the book hard to review in many ways. Everything I liked about the book outside of those basic structural elements feels like something that needs to be kept secret in order for the book to hit hard. Maybe the best way to do it is the say that it's a book about the human experience and emotions. It's about how we live our lives and about the impact of the choices we make and the actions we take. It's about how we are small, but also, oh so big.
I think this book could be hard for a lot of people. There's racism, white supremacy, police brutality, gender discrimination... It puts the worst of humanity on blast. What it isn't is a dreary reminder of all the problems we continue to grapple with. Instead, it's a message of hope and potential, and from where I'm standing, a calm and assured call to action. We must work together, but we must also work alone. We are nothing without the group, but the group is also nothing without us. These are the feelings I'm left with at the end of The Many.
We are important. We can do this. One step at a time.
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