Hello, traveler! We’re back to writing book reviews! For my first post of the sunny (or shadowy, depending on where you look) month of August, let’s talk about Severance, the shocking and stunning adult sci-fi debut from Ling Ma that absolutely knocked my socks off. (This review is spoiler-free!)
SYNOPSIS:
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.
Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?
Add on Goodreads | Add on Storygraph
Rep:
- Chinese-American author and main character
- Chinese (specifically Fujianese) characters
- BIPOC side characters
Content Warnings:
- Death
- Depression
- Murder
- Pandemic content
- Imprisonment
- On-page sexual content
- Suicidal ideation
tl;dr: Do I recommend this book?
MY RATING: ★★★★★
Oh, my God.
Continue reading “Nostalgia is a Plague: A Review of Severance by Ling Ma”
Sophie Ligaya dela Cruz 