The way we fall, by Megan Crewe
When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back.Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest.
Because how will she go on if there isn’t?
I discovered this book on NetGalley, which has become my favorite go-to place for new stuff. Dystopian is very hot right now, and The Way we Fall fits nicely into that category.
This book is told as a series of letters to Kaelyn’s one-time BFF with whom she had a falling out. The beginning of the book is rather slow and at some points it’s heartbreaking because you can feel how upset Kaelyn is and it’s quite clear how much she misses her best friend, Leo. The story picks up when people in Kaelyn’s social circle become inexplicably ill with a quick moving virus. Eventually, it seems like everyone on the island has it.
I’ll be honest, a lot of the book is the typical “I can’t believe XXX the neighbor tried to shoot me because he thought I was sick. He was always so nice,” type stuff. There is a great deal of teens being left to fend for themselves, but in this case it’s quite believable since a majority of the people on the island end up perishing from the virus, including many kids’ parents.
The rival the synopsis speaks of is actually a great deal misleading. Kaelyn ends up entrusting her safety to Leo’s girlfriend. But the girl isn’t rude, mean, demeaning, or snobby to Kaelyn at any point, she is just aloof. The new love is very sweet and it shows a good friendship as a base before it falls into the love category. I think the author was spot on when writing that particular arc of the story.
Kaelyn is a special case on the Island, but eventually I feel like the story loses it’s way before it wraps up. There have been paralells drawn to The Last Survivors Series by Susan Beth Pfeffer, but I’ve read that series and I have to say I liked the characters in this book way better, I just wish some parts hadn’t meandered as much as they did.
There were many questions that were left unanswered, and even more that simply weren’t asked. Very little in the way of explanation was discussed where the virus was concerned and the steps the doctors (and to a larger extent, the government) were taking in order to discover a solution. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the book was the anti-climactic ending. When I realized the book was over, I just set my Nook down and thought to myself, “That’s it?” I have since read that this is supposed to be a series, but there was nothing at the end of the book that indicated as much. The book just…ended.
I enjoyed the format of the book, and I really liked Kaelyn and her rival, but I wish there would have been a little bit more at the end to guide the reader into the idea of another book. Hopefully, the sequel will be ripe with answers to all of the unanswered and unasked questions in the first book.
The Way We Fall earns a 2.5 fangs. Because I did like the book, and it was hard to put down I want to score it high. But, there was just too much that wasn’t resolved and too much of a confusing ending, which earned the lower score. I will, however, be on the lookout for the follow up from this new author!
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