Novella Review – Three for the Road: Stories from the World of Dread Nation by Justina Robson (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Alternate History/Zombies/Post-Apocalyptic
Length: 70 pages
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: September 20, 2020
ASIN : B08JLC2V1Q
Stand Alone or Series: Companion Novella to the Dread Nation series
Source: Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Three short stories all set in the world of the New York Times Bestselling Dread Nation.
Dread South, Dread Quarter, and Letters From Home.”
Series Info/Source: This is a companion novel to the Dread Nation duology. It features three stories set in that world. I borrowed this through Kindle Unlimited.
Story (4/5): The first story here is “Dread South” and shows how Juliet got her assignment as an attendant. I enjoyed this story, although it felt unfinished. The second story is “Dread Quarter” and this shows how Katherine left the French Quarter. I also enjoyed reading this background on Katherine but it again felt a bit unfinished, I wish it had been a bit longer and taken us closer to when Katherine ended up at Miss Preston’s. The third story was “Letters From Home” which details the events that caused Sue and the other girls to leave Miss Preston’s. This did a nice job of filling in some events that went unexplained in the original duology.
This was a very quick read, took maybe 30 min to read all three stories. I am glad I read it because I loved revisiting the world. However, I would not recommend reading this unless you have read the original duology because I think you’ll be pretty confused about what is going on.
Characters (4/5): It was great fun to revisit some of my favorite characters from the original series and get a bit more background on them. The Dread Nation duology really has very strong characters and I love any excuse to spend more time with them.
Setting (5/5): I absolutely love this alternative historical world and again, loved getting the chance to revisit it. The world building in the Dread Nation series is amazing.
Writing Style (4/5): These are all very well written, if a bit incomplete feeling. Robson has excellent pacing, description, and characterization in her stories and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I am glad I read this, it gives some nice additional background on some of the characters from the Dread Nation series. I would definitely recommend picking this up if you are a big fan of the series. Not sure if it is worth buying but it is definitely worth the read if you have Kindle Unlimited. I would not recommend this you haven’t read the rest of the series. I guess the first story stands alone okay and gives a bit more background than the others in this book, so if you just want a taste of Robson’s writing style it might be worth getting for that.
