A quiet journey through grief & loneliness, reclamation of land & community, and slowly-growing hope.

We’re following Dune, a survivor of Detroit’s fatal Syndrome H-8 pandemic. She’s navigating her new isolated world while grieving her mother (who was patient zero). Dune’s journey through the sharp pain of losing her loved ones leads to unexpected connections with other wandering survivors and a curious magic and power that threads them all together. Throughout the novella, Dune is also attempting to learn more about the origins of the plague.

Though the grief of the survivors was agonizing, I was touched by the cautious optimism that emerged as the survivors began to form new versions of family. The writing and characterization was beautiful & I really felt as though I understood Dune.

I wished we spent a little more time from the perspectives of Captain and Jizo – we were teased with a sprinkling of POV chapters and segments from them, but I was curious about their backgrounds. Perhaps more of that in book 3!

CW: death, racism, confinement, colonization, medical trauma, eugenics, genocide, grief, terminal illness, explicit sexual content

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)