Review: Charlinder’s Walk – Alyson Miers
A plague has wiped out most of humanity. Survivors are slowly rebuilding their lives, yet they know that nothing will ever be the same again. Life as they’ve known it is over and they must start anew from scratch. Technology is non-existent, as is the abundance of food. Despite this, humanity is slowly learning to cope with the world as they now know it.
While most in the settlement he lives in are content to live their lives quietly, Charlinder can’t help but question the origins surrounding the plague. There are no specific answers to his questions. Some say it was an act of God. Others say the disaster was caused by Man. Whatever the reason, his only wish is to know more.
Unable to let things be, he’s determined to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding humanity’s downfall. In his mind, the only way to get the answers he seeks is to go straight to the source – the place where the plague originated from. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be easy in getting there. It’s miles and miles away and there’s a lot he’ll need to do before he can make it there. Nevertheless, he knows he’ll get there one way or another.
Embarking on his quest, he never imagined the ordeals he’d encounter throughout his journey. Language barriers make it hard for him to understand those he comes across. Food is also scarce. With everything step he takes, he gets further and further away from his place of birth. Doubts and insecurities creep upon him as he treads along the path he’s set before him. Yet there’s one thing he’s sure of – he will get the answers he seeks, no matter the cost.
This was quite a thought-provoking book. Granted, it’s just fiction, but certain aspects of it make the reader wonder ‘What if?’ Heavily fortified with religious themes, the reader finds him/herself immersed in a world that’s very much possible in this day and age. Alyson has painted a very vivid picture of a world in which we’re able to feel each character pain and insecurities. We’re able to glean what the post-apocalyptic world is like through their eyes, as well as understanding the meaning behind the lessons that have been imposed throughout the book.
Synopsis:
In 2012, the Plague ended the world as we know it. In 2130, Charlinder wants to know why.
The origin of the disease remains a mystery. Their ignorance of its provenance fuels a growing schism that threatens to destroy the peace that the survivors’ descendants have built. Unwilling to wait for matters to get any worse, he decides to travel to where the Plague first appeared and find out the truth—which means walking across three continents before returning home.
Charlinder has never been more than ten miles from home, has never heard anyone speak a foreign language, and he’s going it alone.
He survives thousands of miles of everything from near-starvation to near-madness before he meets Gentiola. By then he’s so exhausted that the story she offers to tell seems like little more than a diversion…until he hears it.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he learns from her, and no one ever told him: be careful what you wish for. The world is a much bigger place than Charlinder knew, and his place in it is a question he never asked before.
About The Tour:
Wanna win a $50 gift card or an autographed copy of Charlinder’s Walk? Well, there are two ways to enter…
- Leave a comment on my blog. One random commenter during this tour will win a $50 gift card. For the full list of participating blogs, visit the official Charlinder’s Walk tour page.
- Enter the Rafflecopter contest! I’ve posted the contest form below, or you can enter on the official Charlinder’s Walk tour page–either way works just as well.
About the author: Alyson Miers was born into a family of compulsive readers and thought it would be fun to get on the other side of the words. She attended Salisbury University, where she majored in English Creative Writing for some reason, and minored in Gender Studies. In 2006, she did the only thing a 25-year-old with a B.A. in English can do to pay the rent: joined the Peace Corps. At her assignment of teaching English in Albania, she learned the joys of culture shock, language barriers and being the only foreigner on the street, and got Charlinder off the ground. She brought home a completed first draft in 2008 and, between doing a lot of other stuff such as writing two other books, she managed to ready it for publication in 2011. She regularly shoots her mouth off at her blog, The Monster’s Ink, when she isn’t writing fiction or holding down her day job. She lives in Maryland with her computer and a lot of yarn. Connect with Alyson on her website,blog, Facebook,Twitter or GoodReads.
Get Charlinder’s Walk on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Love your review! So agree that this book raises all these ‘what if’s.
Welcome and thank you. I’m glad you like it.
Thank you for this exciting review! Charlinder is very glad that you gave him your time. 🙂
Welcome, Alyson, and thank you for sharing his story with me.
Excellent review as always, LizzieBeth. Charlinder’s Walk is definitely a thinking novel. Thanks for being a part of this tour and for writing such an eloquent review. Please don’t forget to cross-post!
Emlyn
Thanks, Em. I’m glad you like the review. It definitely left me thinking about quite a few things. It’s a pleasure to be a part of the tour. As for cross-posting, I always do across the mediums I use to promote. I just do my best to not spam things so as not to upset anyone with repeated postings. ^.^