I received free books from Penguin Random House in exchange for this review.
Alive was written by Scott Sigler, who is a prolific writer of horror, dystopian and sy-fi. He might be more well known for his podcast in which he reads his short stories and whole books for his fans. He is a New York Times bestselling author but not as well-known as other authors in the genre. Alive was published in 2016 from Del Ray publishing and since then it has gotten great reviews. What drew me to this book was that it wasn’t just horror, or dystopian. Alive combines the features of multiple genres effortlessly to create something that will scare you, keep you in suspense and make you cry, usually all at the same time.
The book opens very simply; a young girl wakes up and realizes that she is trapped inside a coffin. When she forces her way out she sees that she is in a room filled with coffins each with either a dead child or one that was trapped and is now waking up. None of the children know who they are apart from the initial and last name that was carved at the foot of their coffins. The one thing that they all know is that when they woke up it was their twelfth birthday. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know where the grownups are. All the children have different symbols on their foreheads and they are sure that it means something, but they cannot remember what the symbols mean. The group ventures outside of their coffin room determined to find answers, food and someone to take care of them. A young girl called M. Savage takes the lead. She was the first out of the coffins and the only one to get out by herself. The others put her in charge and Savage is determined to take care of her group and find some answers. Savage’s group wanders through the hallway seeing skeletons and horrible scenes of violence that grownups did to each other. What seemed like hours later they run into another group with the same story. It is their twelfth birthday and they all woke up in coffins and have been wondering around since. The two groups combine and now there are twenty-two people that Savage is responsible for.
The story has many twists and turns, plot twists and horrible realizations. It touches on so many issues that are deep but the way that Sigler has included makes the reader think and come to their own conclusions. The children face the issue of deciding which way is best for choosing a leader, should there be a vote, or should the strongest person take control. Does the symbol on the children’s faces mark class and should there be one symbol that is superior above all the others, some think so although they can’t remember why. The group has to decide if it is better to not know the past in order to not repeat those mistakes. Another big question that the group must face is religion. Part of the group are believers the rest not, will this splinter the group. These children must now figure out how to survive together with very little resources and memories and no one to show them the way.
I was very drawn to the story because it is from Savage’s point of view and you can know what is going through her head as she is leading and making the big decisions. You can know her fear as the stakes get higher, her excitement when the few good things happen and her utter helplessness as situations arise that she doesn’t know how to deal with. Alive is a very realistic brand of horror where it is a very realistic depiction of what could happen to a group of children who have no memories, no guidance and must stay alive in a very adult world.