Review: The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

 

Title: The Girl in Red

Author: Christina Henry

Published by: Berkley

Released: June 18, 2019

Source: Netgalley Electronic Review Copy / Physical Copy through Library

 

Synopsis: A postapocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood", about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems.

It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined. 

Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods....

 

My Thoughts:  

Magical Orilium Readathon Spring Semester: Shapeshifting
Netgalley e-arc / Physical Copy from Library
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5

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Thanks so much to the publisher for letting me review this one.

I did not like the main character in this story. Red was a know-it-all, annoying, prickly, and always had to be right. If it was the end of the world, I would not want to be stuck with her. She just didn't have a personality that I enjoy. Red is also bi-racial and has a prosthetic leg, which are important parts to the story.
It was kind of weird to read this one in 2022, because it deals with a deadly pandemic. This was written and released before Covid. It was just a little strange reading about a disease called The Cough, quarantine, colleges and schools closing down and students being kept at home, masks. I mean, I think this disease was much more deadly, but if pandemics trigger you, maybe stay away.
I am always game for a post-apocalyptic book, but I think because I've read so many of them, this one didn't hit me as being an amazing one. It had the same ingredients, but it combined them in a meh way. The only character that really had any development was Red, so you didn't really get the chance to care or love for anyone else. That's an important part of post-apocalyptic books to me. I love the found family and I want to real some grief when we lose people. And then I didn't really like Red. Red loses people, but I didn't feel much when she lost them because it happened too quick, and those relationships hadn't been built up enough.
There was a cool angle regarding the virus that got introduced, but we didn't get the continuing story of that.
Red was also very anti-gun, which I just thought was stupid to be during an apocalypse. She even found a gun, and instead of keeping it just in case, she threw it in the middle of a lake. That's when I knew she wasn't smart. She wasn't adverse to killing people, she had an axe and would chop, chop, chop. What happens when she's not fast enough with her axe? She'd probably need that gun then.
There was also not really a struggle when it came to finding food. It seemed almost every store they stopped at had some, which felt too easy.
I was also irritated with the racism angle that was added, because it really made no sense for this pandemic apocalypse. Why would these racist guys show up to someone's house and tell them to come outside when there's a deadly, highly contagious virus going around.
I also wanted more from the ending. I wanted more closure. If I'm following this whole journey to get somewhere, I want to see a satisfying ending for that.
I enjoyed the writing in this and will definitely read more by Christina Henry. The main reason that I just thought this book was meh was because I didn't like Red. 

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5

Can I join someone else's end-of-the-world team?