Wonderblood
A Novel
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Set 500 years in the future, a mad cow-like disease called “Bent Head” has killed off most of the U.S. population. Those remaining turn to magic and sacrifice to cleanse the Earth.
Wonderblood is Julia Whicker's fascinating literary debut, set in a barren United States, an apocalyptic wasteland where warring factions compete for control of the land in strange and dangerous carnivals. A mad cow-like disease called "Bent Head" has killed off millions. Those who remain worship the ruins of NASA's space shuttles, and Cape Canaveral is their Mecca. Medicine and science have been rejected in favor of magic, prophecy, and blood sacrifice.
When traveling marauders led by the bloodthirsty Mr. Capulatio invade her camp, a young girl named Aurora is taken captive as his bride and forced to join his band on their journey to Cape Canaveral. As war nears, she must decide if she is willing to become her captor's queen. But then other queens emerge, some grotesque and others aggrieved, and not all are pleased with the girl's ascent. Politics and survival are at the centre of this ravishing novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Strange people encounter stranger adventures while traversing a postapocalyptic America in this unsatisfying debut. In the Eon of Pain, a diseased wasteland is cleansed by the doctrine of Wonderblood, which orders the faithful to sanctify the landscape through beheadings in monstrous carnivals. Aurora, a teenage girl, is captured by Capulatio, an executioner with ambitions of becoming king. Aided by his wife, Orchid, an executionatrix and the scribe of his holy visions, Capulatio makes his way toward Cape Canaveral, Fla., seat of the king, determined to bring a new age. He also decides, despite Orchid's objections, that Aurora will be his queen. As Capulatio begins challenging the throne, two lights appear in the sky, as if to confirm the ending of one age and the beginning of another. Told in rich, dense prose, Whicker's fantasy feels like a blood-steeped dream: there are mummified heads and a religion based on astronauts. The story's voice is vibrant and warm as the Florida heat; but the pacing drags under the weight of the description, and the plot meanders sluggishly, with detours that make the journey feel far longer than it should.
Customer Reviews
Disappointing
The beginning of the book promised
a substantial and meaningful story. Disappointingly, it did not deliver. The undeveloped characters and abrupt and anticlimactic ending left me wondering what was the point of it all, really. I did enjoy the writing, language and the idea of the storyline.