White horse a novel

DNF at 27%.

Took 2 days to read, compelling enough to keep me reading, but story felt rushed. She could have spent more time developing characters along the way. The twist at the end with the Swiss was pretty stupid.

For the first 100 pages, White Horse was well on its way to being a five star read. That's not to say it didn't have problems, it did. * But the story was entertaining. The structure was highly effective. The tale of two girls, one blind, trying to make it in this post-apocalyptic landscape worked well. It was [b:The Road 6288 The Road Cormac McCarthy http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg 3355573] meets [b:The Hunger Games 2767052 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) Suzanne Collins http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1326003698s/2767052.jpg 2792775]. % The next hundred pages the book dropped to a 4 for me. My patience was beginning to wane. Too many convenient events coming together. A fight, an explosion, a fight, an earthquake. The novel went from a reflective, but paranoid stroll along the desolated European countryside to an action-based novel moving much too fast.In the last 100 pages, White Horse plummeted to three stars. Characters who were believable antagonists became larger than life nemeses. Shock for the sake of shock. Decapitations and raining cats in an attempt [?] to recreate [b:Kafka on the Shore 4929 Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165515991s/4929.jpg 6191072].The novel's concluding pages could've dropped the book to a two had the beginning not been so strong. Everything conveniently wraps up (odd considering this is the first of a trilogy.) In the final pages, the story becomes ridiculous and cloying. I must credit the author for giving the story a nemesis that—when revealed—is a surprise. No one will see it coming. That's because it is so far from left field that it makes no sense. It's something you expect from a poor Star Trek novel.I didn't have much expectation for White Horse, but I was blown away from the beginning. Though it had some juvenile writing, it had so much potential. I don't know what happened. It just fell apart. It was the story of a believable end of the world and then it became sci-fi melodrama. Unless someone reads the second book in the series and tells me it is a wonderful return to the opening chapters of White Horse I won't bother. What a sad end to a beautiful world.* For the author's many talents in creating characters that resonate, using imagery that clarifies, creating a storyline that largely is entertaining, she has an issue with metaphors. A few work. Most of them do not. The first bad one was so jarring that I had to reread it three times to makes sure I'd read it right. He jerks me backwards and pulls me against him until his gut is a stuffed IHOP pancake bulging against my back. None that follow are as poor as this one, but there are many that should have been eliminated before the book saw print. ^% Despite the publisher's attempt to sell White Horse as another Hunger Games this is not a YA novel. ^

How to review White Horse? In all honesty it's one of the best books I've read this year, and yet anything I type here seems inadequate as to explain why I loved it so much. What is really striking about Alex Adams' story is how beautifully it walks the line between light and dark. The populace is dying. Everything that people once believed made them human is now gone, taken from them by a disease. Still, there is a glimmer of hope underneath it all. In Zoe I found one woman who, despite everything else, had the will to survive. Her hope radiates out, and helps light the way through this otherwise bleak story.

White Horse follows Zoe through chapters from “Then” and “Now”. Although I normally dislike books that switch between past and present tense, it fits in White Horse perfectly. Zoe has gone from a simple custodian, to a nomad. Her past life and her present life are shown in stark contrast to one another, until they slowly merge closer and closer together. Seeking only to find her lost lover and hold on to what makes her human. Wandering through the dead cities, glimpsing the sad remains of humanity. Zoe's story is dark and dangerous. The story telling in White Horse is done in gorgeous prose, but it hardly masks the atrocities the world is suffering. Trust me, this isn't a story for the faint of heart.

The other characters in this story are just as well done as Zoe. Out of all of these, I feel like the one who needs the most introduction is “The Swiss”. The exact opposite of everything that Zoe strives to hold on to, this is a villain who will make you want to tear the pages out of the book. You won't do it of course, because that would mean ruining the story, but you'll want to. Hope plays a big part in this story. Each time that Zoe makes it over an obstacle in her path, three more take their place. Yet, she never stops hoping.

White Horse ate me up inside. I read fervently, cringing at the descriptions of what the world had become, and yet ever hopeful that Zoe would accomplish what she set out to do. The last few chapters blew me away with their twists. The last few pages broke my heart. Alex Adams has written something that fits in the dystopian genre, and yet is infinitely better. I loved this book, and I'll be happy to admit that I am excited to see where this trilogy goes next.