World Without Crows Review

The World Without Crows is both a coming of age story and a post-apocalyptic novel.

The Plot

In 1989 a parasite, commonly called the Vacca B, brought about the end of the world.  A year later our protagonist, Eric, decides to walk from Ohio to Maine in search of an island in a middle of a lake from his childhood.

The Vacca B turns people into zombies, but not traditionally.  The zombies in the book are mostly non-issues.  People who just kind of sit and stare into space and ignore you.  Some of the zombies are "Cracked" and thus more violent, but even they seem to be a non-issue in the novel, rarely making appearances.  Animals can also be infected with the Vacca B and more of the animals seemed to be "cracked" than humans.

My Thoughts

It was a good story and a fast read but seemed to be lacking a few things.  The author uses small sort sentences to tell the story instead of being more descriptive and showing you the scenes.  For example:

"He would have to walk."
"She was in the street.  Someone had shot her."

And we don't delve too deeply into anyone's thoughts, which makes it hard for the reader to really feel anything about anyone.  There is little, if any, emotion connected to the deaths in Eric's travels.
You also don't get any backstory on the characters.  Normally I'm not a fan of flashbacks but would have made an exception in this case becauseThe World Without Crows is full of so many potentially amazing characters who are just kind of there.

Should You Read It

If you want an intensely emotional or scare read, this book is not for you.
This does not mean it was a bad book.  I finished it in a matter of days and it makes for a quick summer read and would rate it 3 out of 5 stars and you recommend it to a teen or young adult who is looking to ease into the horror or zombie genre.

If you would like to give it a read you can buy the ebook or the paperback through Amazon.

Or if you want a slightly more intense zombie novel with a similar theme of traveling to a certain destination in a post-zombie world, you could check out Red Hill by Jamie McGuire.

The Author

Ben Lyle Bedard is the author of The World Without Crows.  He chose to self-publish and markets this novel on his own.  You can find out more about him and his novel on his Website The Blog of Ben.
(I won a free copy of this book from a Goodreads Giveaway.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.)
If you are looking for something else to read, you might want to look at some of my other reviews.
Full Wolf Moon
Camp So-and-So
and MORE.
Or, visit Wild Verbs to read some of the fiction that I have written myself.