The Survivors by Sean Eads

The Survivors by Sean Eads
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up after reading The German. This was also nominated for a LAMBDA award in the SciFi category and the premise appealed to me.

While The German was very light on the sci-fi, almost to the point of being non-existent, this one goes deeper. I don’t think I’ve read sci-fi before, this plot reminded me a little of Doctor Who in the David Tennant years, which was a good thing.

The book zooms along well, I love the little details which gross you out but also give you a reaction, it’s a great way to hook a reader, such as the purple dripping semen. I felt the book went a little too far into it’s own world, near the very end I was kind of looking for the escape button as I became a little too uncomfortable, but I suppose that’s the sign of a good author as well. Lord knows I couldn’t stop once I hit 75% or so I had to read to the end or die trying. Similarly there’s a few scenes of violence that I felt uncomfortable with, but I wasn’t sure who’s side I was on, the side of the human or the side of the alien, so I like the moral ambiguity as well.

One thing I would say, there are tricks an author can do to make his main character more likeable or relatable, I would have appreciated a bit more of that. Well Craig was nice enough, I’m not even sure that’s his name, and I was far more invested in the story than in him. Similarly the ex-boyfriend, Scott I think, I didn’t get why Craig cared about him at all. Guy seemed like an idiot, and I felt for us to be invested in him turning bad, we would have had to believe that he was ever good, and I didn’t, so a full star off for that.

This being said the book is very well paced and a fun exciting read that you won’t soon forget and I highly recommend it.

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