The Way

Like a gritty post-apocalyptic jaunt through a lawless West, but your main character is a Buddhist monk who avoids hurting/killing people, when people want to kill him. Will is a courier for a potential cure for a plague that ravaged the world, but the man trying to stop him is actually the least of his worries. The remains of society, the lawlessness, the unchecked wilderness is doing a pretty good job of it on its own. Will reflects on this a lot during his journey, and his additional traveling companions, a cat named Cass, a raven named Peau, provide him with additional food for thought and perspectives throughout.

I appreciated the extensive inclusion of Buddhism/Buddhist principles throughout the book, as this is more meant to be an introspective journey than it is a gritty wall-to-wall dystopian adventure. I really felt a part of the world the author was crafting here, and I think I enjoyed the quiet moments of the journey and his interactions/troubleshooting along the way, more than the scenes involving actual action. I like how the author handles Cass and Peau's "talking", equal parts magical realism and plain understanding of animal vocalizations. I like the story told here as well, with the backstory of the Mayhems sprinkled in alongside the journey to get the cure to California.

I'm not quite as in love with how the book ends up though, which prevented me from giving it the 5 stars I was riding on the rest of the book. (ending spoilers here)I'm not sure I love the idea of Eva not being dead, or the way she was woken up. I know I praised the inclusion of the elements of Buddhism above, but her being conveniently able to keep herself asleep for 14 years using some hard-to-achieve Buddhist principle while not really being a practicing Buddhist herself seemed a bit hard to swallow.

But the rest of the book? Fantastic. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.