Review – Devils Unto Dust By Emma Berquist (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Zombie Western
Length: 496 pages
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0062642783
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
“The desert is unkind in the best of times. And the decade since the Civil War has been anything but the best of times for Daisy Wilcox—call her Willie—and her family. This tense, heart-pounding alternate history about a young woman fighting to survive the unthinkable will keep fans of Westworld and The Walking Dead reading late into the night.
A horrifying sickness has spread across the West Texas desert. Infected people—shakes—attack the living, and the surviving towns are only as safe as their perimeter walls are strong. The state is all but quarantined from the rest of the country. Glory, Texas, is a near ghost town. Still, seventeen-year-old Willie has managed to keep her siblings safe, even after the sickness took their mother. But then her good-for-nothing father steals a fortune from one of the most merciless shake hunters in town, and Willie is left on the hook for his debt. With two young hunters as guides, Willie sets out across the desert to find her father. And the desert holds more dangers than just shakes.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I bought at my son’s book fair.
Story (4/5): I loved this story. This is set 10 years after the Civil War in the small town of Glory, Texas. Daisy, better known as Willie, is trying to make a living for her and her three younger siblings. Their mom is dead and their dad is a drinker and a liar. When their dad takes on more than he can handle he skips town and his debts fall on Willie’s shoulders. In order to protect the rest of her family Willie hires a couple hunters and heads out to hunt down her dad and make him pay for his debts. However, the desert and the shakes that inhabit it make it even more deadly than the thugs that are after Willie’s family.
I am a huge sucker for this kind of post-apocalyptic dust bowl story. This reminded me a lot of “Elysium Girls” or “Dread Nation”, both of which I have read in the last few months. It definitely has that zombie-survival vibe to it that “Dread Nation” has. The story was incredibly engaging and well done and I just loved it.
Characters (5/5): I loved Willie and her brother and the two hunters that accompany Willie across the West Texas desert. Willie is just so determined to do good and so stubborn. She’s not a warrior by any means, but she is definitely a survivor and I loved reading about her. All the characters in here are complex and have rich histories. They are all just very well done.
Setting (5/5): I love these alternate history types of stories that are set in the historic United States. The town of Glory was well done, as was the world built around trying to survive the shakes and the illness they carry. You hear bits about the North and what’s going on in the rest of the world. I just loved this alternate history so much, I want to read more stories set in other parts of this crazy world.
Writing Style (5/5): This was incredibly well written, very easy to read and engaging. The description was amazing, everything was easy to picture and really came alive. The writing is lyrical but still portrays the starkness of the world very well. This is a long book but it never felt long, the whole thing flew right by which was exactly the kind of story I needed at the time.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I absolutely loved this and will definitely be checking to see what other book Berquist has written. If you love alternate histories set in a dust bowl type United States setting…with zombies…I would definitely check this book out. It was incredibly well done. I would recommend it for fans of “Elysium Girls” and “Dread Nation”.
