Review: Humanity's Hope by Pembroke Sinclair

Title: Humanity's Hope

Author: Pembroke Sinclair

Publisher: Stitched Smile Publications

My rating: 3 stars

I received an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Humanity's Hope is an intriguing, short YA novel that explores what it's like to live in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The protagonist, Caleb struggles with anxiety, depression, and PTSD due to his difficult past, even though he has since earned a high-paying job with  Zomtech, a company researching the cause of the zombie outbreak. When Caleb learns that he is immune to the zombie ailment, he's thrown into danger as powerful forces battle for use of his abilities. After receiving a chilling threat, he's forced to go on the run to protect himself and the people he cares about.

This novel had many interesting concepts. I'm not a huge fan of zombies, but I was pleased at how much political complexity there was in the post-apocalyptic world the author created. The company Caleb works for is shrouded in troubling conspiracy theories about illegal testing and frightening zombie creatures. There are also ethical concerns about the actions of the government: Is it an invasion of privacy to test people's blood for the zombie disease? Is it wrong to kill zombies if a cure may be possible? These concepts added a level of intrigue that I didn't expect from a zombie novel.

Unfortunately, besides the political conflicts, the setting wasn't very developed. I never really got a sense of exactly what the surviving human civilization was like. There were a lot of unanswered questions: Who is in control? What exactly is the "government"? Did the governmental systems of the world survive the zombie outbreak? Did the borders and countries of the world remain the same? How many people even survived the outbreak? How much did human life change? The novel never gave me much of a sense of setting. Overall, it could have used more detail.

I enjoyed Caleb's character. Though he's trying to adjust to life after the zombie outbreak, his past haunts him. He struggles with anxiety and an insistent darkness that controls him and keeps him from feeling comfortable in his life and connecting with other people. Caleb wants to be a good, normal person, but he can't seem to stop the dark voice that constantly tells him to run. I like the fact that this book dealt with trauma and mental illness--especially in a male character. As I don't suffer from any of the conditions represented, I can't evaluate how accurately they were portrayed, but I liked the overall concept.

There were some times where Caleb's actions and decisions didn't make sense to me. I understand that he was supposed to be paranoid, but there were some instances where I had no idea why he did the things he did. Some of his decisions seemed purely erratic--they didn't make sense and I didn't understand what they added to the plot.

There were also a few times where things happened that were far too convenient. Caleb made a lot of narrow escapes that seemed both unrealistic and too simplistic. Too much of the plot was based around overly convenient events--Caleb just luckily finding just the right tools, escapes, people in unlikely situations. It could have been better thought out.

The end of the book did genuinely surprised me. I'm pleased that I never suspected the character who turned out to be the villain. I did wish that more had been resolved--the ending felt very sudden, like it was just cutting off randomly.

 As for the quality of writing, it was good, but there were a few flaws. Sometimes there were sentences that obviously needed to be rewritten. There were also a lot of infodumps that slowed down the pace of the book and interrupted the flow of the scenes. Sometimes I also felt we spent too much time in Caleb's head. At times, the inner monologue distracted me from the scene taking place.

Humanity's Hope has some interesting concepts and a promising main character, but it sometimes gets bogged down by flaws in the setting, plot, and writing.  I gave it three stars because I enjoyed the political elements and Caleb's personal struggle, but my issues with the construction of the plot, the quality of writing, and the setting kept me from giving it a higher rating. If you enjoy zombie stories and indie books, I would recommend reading it.