And Then I Woke Up

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Synopsis: In the tradition of Mira Grant and Stephen Graham Jones, Malcolm Devlin’s And Then I Woke Up is a creepy, layered, literary story about false narratives and their ability to divide us. Spence was an engrossing narrator, dancing between hard facts and his subjective perspective with the ease of a drunken marionette. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. The idea is to confuse the reader with unreliable narrators, fear, uncertainty, maybe monsters (but maybe not), and mass hysteria, but also survivors coming out on the other side. Malcolm Devlin’s novella, And Then I Woke Up, explores the concept of the truth and the way its many versions influence choice and action.

She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her.After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. There is always the temptation to leave the convoluted and frustrating real world behind in favor of a fantasy that someone has laid out for you, but And I Woke Up is a scary but compelling argument that a messy truth is still one worth fighting for. However, some have found that living without knowing the whole truth may be easier than facing the consequences of their actions.

Devlin takes the idea of how narrative shapes our beliefs and how dangerous that can be, and I absolutely loved this short, brutal and thought-provoking tale. A scathing portrait of the world we live in and a running commentary on what’s story, what’s truth, and what’s not. The slow reveal of Spence’s journey to being cured was handled well, framing it to be a group therapy session that’s been rehearsed, but with the cracks slowly starting to show.That ending was a it was all a dream one, but it works because all the clues are there cleverly worked in. Like the patch of darkness you can see through an apen window that you keep staring at because you have an idea something might appear there. Ominous titles portrayed on stunning covers that fill me with a sense of dread are a sure fire bet to getting my attention. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own.

The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. And Then I Woke Up is a zombie story of sorts, but told from the perspective of someone who has been "cured" — and these definitely aren't your average zombies. The infected may not be who you think, depending on if you are one or not - because this is the zombie apocalypse with a twist, where the real infection has taken hold of those who think themselves survivors. Then again, it’s easier to admit that you’re seeing monsters than it is to admit you’ve contracted a disease that makes you think you’re seeing monsters. It’s that some people have so much charisma, are so invested in their own beliefs in their own side, that they sway followers into their perception of what the “truth”, the true narrative, really is.

In ‘And Then I Woke up’ Malcolm Devlin gives us a surface-level horror story with social commentary hidden under the surface that is a quick and enjoyable read. The last 20% or so of the novella was phenomenal and I loved watching things unfold, so I'm very happy that I kept going through the more boring elements of the middle.

I did not know what to expect when I picked this book up, but as soon as I entered Devlin’s domain, I was hooked. A bold almost-allegory; a zombie novel that isn't; a foggy mirror held up to our own reality-- And Then I Woke Up is a painfully relevant story of narrative, of propaganda and perception, of the us-and-them divisions that wreak havoc and pain across society.and then he wakes up, pays the inventor half his wealth which is a tin of beans and a broken watch and wanders out into the remnants of the devasted world and works his way across the blasted landscape. And when a new patient shows up, and asks him to help her escape and find her old crew, he worries being “cured” may not be what he thinks. To put it another way, the way that Jonathan Swift put it, “It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. It would’ve been nice to get to know the characters more deeply and see different perspectives around the main event that happens.