White Horse by Alex Adams

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 384pgs

The Story

When I wake the world is gone. Only fragments remain. And then I remember . . .

Then: Her life may have taken a couple of wrong turns but thirty-year-old Zoe is trying to make the best of what she has. A part time cleaning job to pay for college, a weekly appointment with her therapist to straighten out the problems in her life. The same problems that any thirty-year-old girl would have. Nothing major. Nothing too life threatening. A few bad dreams. It's all going to be fine.

Now: There is no other thought but survival. And so begins a treacherous post-apocalyptic treak across a desolate world in search of life for her unborn baby. Through the remains of what was once civilization, Zoe crosses continents strewn with fellow survivors, knowing the only thing that can keep her sane is normal human decency. But acts of kindness are few and far between in a world where untold horrors exists around every corner, and where food and water is in desperately short supply, and the only chance of happiness is half a world away.

The Review

A big thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

With me already being a fan of YA dystopian and post-apocalyptic books, it was sure a nice change - at least this time round - to read something different and something of the adult genre. With adult books you can get away with a lot more than you can in a YA novel, and with that said, while I was impressed with this book and how Alex Adams sets up her very intense storyline, by offering bleak circumstances and horrifying aspects of this soon-to-be broken down world, but honestly it's really hard to talk about this book in one review. It really is . . . especially without spoilers but here goes nothing.

WHITE HORSE alternates between the 'Then' (the past) and the 'Now' (the present) which was certainly a clever tool to use on the author's part. Sure, it confused the hell out of me and all too often and might not even be everyone's cup of tea, however as we soon learn about the main character, Zoe, about her life, about what she's been through and also finally seeing the past events and the actions that caused humanity's demise in the now time, I soon got the clearer picture and understood what was going on. But this book was so . . . weird and strange. In a good way of course. It allowed 'us' readers to question everything that was happening to the characters and it just kept your mind guessing until the huge reveal comes around the corner. Again, like I said, I was confused for the most part but I loved that element.

As for the main character, Zoe, I thought she wasn't exactly perfect but she remained a terrific protagonist from start to finish. But what was different in this dystopian-like tale was that she wasn't someone inhuman with superpowers and constantly saving the day, she was just someone human. This made me believe in her character which was very important when it came to this type of book. As for some of the other supporting characters like Nick, a person Zoe ends up meeting along the journey, they were really entertaining, but some were better than others and given the genre that's okay . . . because this book is the first of a trilogy so it'll be interesting where Alex Adams takes this storyline.

Overall, WHITE HORSE was a great read especially for the first installment of a series and it reminded me a lot of Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me YA novel, at least in the way it was figuratively written in prose which was both strange and raw, and at the same time it still manages to gain your full attention. If you love anything dystopian even if you're mostly a young adult reader of the genre such as myself, then I would still recommend giving this book a crack . . . even if this book might not necessarily be of your taste!

The Rating

3 1/2 / 5 stars