3.25 stars.

(Won through a Goodreads giveaway! Thank you to FSG books for sending me a free copy.)

The premise is interesting, somewhere between pandemic and zombie apocalypse, kind of The Girl Who Owned a City meets [certain episodes of] The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s a completely new version of the Asian immigrant story, too, with recognizable moments mixed in with the uncertainty of the post-fever world. I enjoyed observing Candace’s journey, both physical/external and emotional/internal, though the climax and part of the falling action was slightly unsatisfactory for some reason I can’t quite identify.

Honestly, I’m not completely sold on some of the author’s choices, specifically the omission of quotation marks (I kind of like how they make memories blend into one uniform mass, but I think present-day narrative should have them to differentiate it); the intertwined timelines, which seem somewhat arbitrary; and some of the especially overt social commentary. Overall it’s an enjoyable read, though, and definitely different from most of what’s on the current literary market.