e-Audio, 10:01:45
Narrated by: Krystal Hammond
Release Date: November 7, 2023
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Read from: November 7-9, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Quarantine, Death, Disease, Man eating animals, Animal (turned monster) Death, Climate Change Consequences
For Readers Interested In: Science Fiction (Climate Change), Horror, Romance, Survival stories, Mental Health (Anxiety), Dark storiesSixteen year-old Shur is one of the first to see the creatures. While staring out the window in history class, she spots one floating over the soccer field. It looks like a monarch butterfly—but it’s huge. Within minutes, her classmates’ phones are buzzing with emergency alerts. These things are everywhere, and though nobody’s exactly sure why the alerts are telling them to take cover, Shur knows it can’t be good. It’s only when she’s left school and headed home that she what the creatures do: they attack.
By the time Shur, her two brothers, and their two best friends make it back to her house, it’s clear the five of them must survive whatever comes next on their own.
As the “butterflies”—new hybrid creatures thought to be created by climate change—multiply and swarm outside, anxiety-prone Shur focuses on what she can control: boarding up windows, stocking food, and preparing a shelter in the basement. They lose internet and power while vigilantes create terror outside. Meanwhile the creatures begin to fulfill their ultimate purpose: multiplying via parasitic load, and before long, the butterflies aren’t the only thing trying to get in. To protect her family and survive the invasions, Shur must find the strength to protect their sanctuary at any cost.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I know with absolute certainty that I will never look at butterflies the same. This was the weirdest book I’ve read in a long time. And not only was it weird, it was also dark. I mean I knew I wasn’t going to get fluff and romance when I saw the synopsis, but this was more than I was expecting. So naturally, I loved it lol
Ok so first things first, I LOVED that they connected this to climate change. Idk, to me it made it seem like it might actually happen. Which makes me even more excited to introduce the teens to this book. (Yes I know, I’m cruel lmao) But they’re the ones who actually care about climate change right now, so maybe showing them this book could make them tell their parents who might be like wtf and they might start caring too? Idk, just trying to save the environment lol I also think it would be fun to come up with some other scenarios that might come up from climate change. Like what would happen with another like glacier or if there was another like monster spawn from it and what it would be. Jut anything to get their mind going and how they can be better about saving the planet.
But I will warn you, when I said it was dark, I meant it. It was dark to me because there’s like an animal death (but it’s an animal/monster hybrid), and these things are eating people, and it’s like non-stop scary and not really any like comedic relief. There is a romance that comes out of it, but for the most part, it’s like all bad. But it is a survival story and it really reminded me of how we had to quarantine during the pandemic and how people acted toward people that got COVID. (Which is another reason I’d like to bring this to our tournament. ) And there’s also the people who got bitten and the things that started happening to them. That was the part that scared me the most.
The character are where I had a real problem. Her brother was so annoying. And her little brother was too well behaved in this crisis. Ain’t no way he was a real kid lol I called her brother annoying because he kept hounding her about her anxiety, and like Idk much, but I think a situation with some big ass man eating butterflies that can make you get sick and you don’t know where they came from or when they’re going back that just sprung up all over the world and is a time when having anxiety is actually warranted. I HAVE anxiety, and I think this was a situation where I would have been scared and probably having a panic attack no matter where I am in my meds. Idk maybe I overplayed it in my head because I also have anxiety, but I think this time it was warranted. They made her out to be like crazy and I didn’t like that.
The only thing I had a problem with, is that we never really know what exactly made them appear or disappear. And if the thing was enough to start making hybrid animals, why didn’t it do it with others so they didn’t leave? Idk I had a lot of unanswered questions about these things. I like that they made this into a science fiction thing, but because of that, I think it should have been talked about a bit more.
The narrator was also really good. I wanna say had I been reading this with my eyeballs, I don’t think it would have had me as scared as I was lol But the narrator that was able to do all the inflections and change in tone, etc. , it made me scared enough to not want to read this before I went to sleep. lol I ended up having to read something else before I laid down because I didn’t want to have dreams of these things lol
I know this is a very vague review, but I intended it to be. I don’t really want to go too much into detail. This is a book you’d do better experiencing yourself. There’s so much happening and I promise you’ll want to know every little detail. If nothing else so you’ll know what to do if or when these things pop up near you………….
Overall, I give this
