Review: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

Source: ARCycling – I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I received no compensation.
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Series: Fallen World #1
Edition: ARC, 304
Genre: Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic
Purchase: Amazon /Barnes & Noble / Book Depository*
*I receive a small monetary kickback from Amazon purchases
Rating: 4/5

It starts with an itch you just can’t shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you’ll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you’re dead.

When sixteen-year-old Kaelyn lets her best friend leave for school without saying goodbye, she never dreams that she might not see him again. But then a strange virus begins to sweep through her small island community, infecting young and old alike. As the dead pile up, the government quarantines the island: no one can leave, and no one can come back.

Those still healthy must fight for the island’s 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?

Poignant and dizzying, The Way We Fall is the heart-wrenching story of one girl’s bravery and unbeatable spirit as she challenges not just her fears, but her sense of what makes life worth living.

The Way We Fall centers around Kaelyn, a 16 year old who recently moved back to ‘the island’ she grew up on. She has to worry about re-integrating into school and life, and she becomes someone who seeks the edges. The last thing anyone expected was for a virus to break out, changing not just Kaelyn’s way of living but her entire home.

The book is written in letter/diary form and split into three sections which signify each major change in the book. The format of the novel isn’t all that different form first person except for a few moments where she breaks from the general narrative of events and gives her thoughts, but it does lend more to what she’s thinking or her state of mind. It also brought on a more emotional response from me that a straight forward detailed story would have probably missed. You can feel the desperation because of Kaelyn, and there were times when I had to stop for a while just so I could feel a bit better. The first third of the book is a slow build where Crewe pulls together the world and works to give Kaelyn and her family some depth. I wasn’t fond of Kaelyn at first but she makes a promise to become a more social person and be someone who steps up, and I thought that as the book progressed she really succeeded in that goal. She becomes strong because she recognizes the needs of others over her own, even in the toughest of times.

I really loved the detail put into ‘the island’ and its people, despite the lack of a name. The plot is slow moving because the virus is slow moving, it takes time for it set in and really start affecting the island. So we get to see different levels of desperation, and all of it is realistic which to me was the scariest part. Anytime a book introduces a horrific player like a virus and then manages to make normal humans into just as much of a threat it really makes me appreciate it more, because that hits a level of realism that some things tend to over look.

I really enjoyed this one and despite not liking to read about viruses like this I do plan on reading the second one. These books seem to be worth the paranoia.