Viral nation

DNF at 22%.

Clover was on the verge of tears but fought hard to keep them back. Never let them see you cry. Any sign of weakness put them into a feeding frenzy.

I enjoyed this well enough. The world-building was pretty good; it kept me interested enough to finish, though the ending felt somewhat anti-climactic; and it was nice to have an autistic main character who felt like an actual character, though I wasn't always sure how to feel about her. (I'm not autistic, so can't speak with authority; for a GREAT review by actual autistic people, including author Corinne Duyvis, go to Disability in Kidlit here.)

On the downside, sometimes things seemed to happen just because the author decided they should, and the ending felt extremely anti-climactic.

I will probably read the next book, because the book was well-done enough to make me wonder what might happen next, and by the end, I was starting to care about Clover and her world and her friends.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review from netgalley.com.

I grabbed this book to read based off the cover and title alone. I love dystopian books and this one gave me the impression that it was about a girl and her dog traveling a world after some sort of virus had destroyed the population. I was wrong, happily. Well, there is a girl, and a dog, and there was a virus but there are no zombies (yet) and a bit of mystery and some time travel tossed in. Viral Nation is about Clover, an autistic teenager who is tossed into the action of her society. Clover, her brother, and some other teens gang up to take on the company that has been hailed as the saviors of humanity.

I liked Viral Nation as a setting. The world seems believable and when we're introduced to it everything flows rather well. Everyone has a job and everyone has bought the stories and kool-aid of those who control them. Clover, as the protagonist, works. She questions things but also has her melt-downs and is vulnerable but smart.

The plot, was fast paced and felt a bit too tight for my liking. I could guess a few things: like when Clover first looks at the wall surrounding her city, I knew that we were going to head out. I also felt that some of the time-travelling was just tossed in and I hope that further portions of the series does a more convincing job of its importance than to just “future scope out murderers.”

Over all this series has promise and I look forward to reading more and seeing where it and the altered timelines take our characters.