IBR - Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes

[Ashley, The Tipsy Challenger]

Members Starting the BR: Trisha and Jammin Jenny
Challenge: Book Quest Adventures
Book: Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes


Anyone is free to join in this Buddy Read! Happy Reading!

[Vicki]

I will be joining you ladies (Trisha and Jenny) for this one.

[Trisha]

YAY! I hope we love this one!!

[bamaace83]

I'm going to join too!

[Vicki]

I hope we all love it too. Glad you're joining us, Anna. :)

[Trisha]

through the first part, (before we hit chapter 1)
and wow, what a start

(view spoiler)[ wow, while they are starving in that cave- just awful
but didn't it feel like he set that kid up? So they could eat him?

*shudders* (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Through Chapter 1 / 94 pages

lots of "parts" within a chapter but wow are they lengthy! lol

(view spoiler)[ I'm finding this one. . .clunky to read. It doesn't give a lot to parts and yet overly describes other things. its odd so far

so 2 timeframes

the Day from before - when he had to make the call. it seems like they were constantly at death's door. I'm curious what he doesn't want to share with the world about what happened. Is it because he and Stevens seemed like they got close on the ship? That doesn't seem like it would keep him from denying eating their shipmates. . .

and the now - searching for the ship Stevens is on. Stevens sounds a bit. . .concerning. Curious the account he gave and the account hidden under the body didn't match and Valle said Stevens wasn't Day's friend. Did Stevens accuse him? is that why Stevens is on this first crew and not Day?

and I don't think I quite understand the timeframe here. The first dock they went to said the missing ship and crew stopped by but a Year later than expected?! I mean, what? that's a loooong time for them to be missing. I wonder how long it's been total. . . (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

through Chapter 2 / 176 pages

(view spoiler)[ well. . .we've lost two in their current boat
and they've found 2 left by the boat they are tracking.

Wild, the first one, how he'd aged and how he'd had certain parts. . .removed. I'm not sure they truly understood why. But the 2nd body, showing signs of being eaten - Day is making it sound like it's something that happens on these expeditions often but only he was condemned by it - but why? What was "all the other stuff"?

and is the dirty secret that he, Stevens, and a few others left those in the boat that were sick and didn't come back for them? did they say the boat sunk when really, they'd abandoned it? Did they sink it on purpose?

and the 2 they've lost. The mask sounded awful. Wild that they think he threw himself off the boat. And then the second, Lee, who was causing trouble. It seems like losing your mind was common at sea. . .the knocking and having to plough through ice sounds awful. I can't even imagine this trip!

and wow, I had no idea how scurvy affected people - what the signs were but OMG they sound absolutely awful (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

through Chapter 3 / 216 pages

(view spoiler)[ it really is hard to figure out what Day really sees and what's in his head.

Is Stevens really dead or are they trailing behind him? I mean, he sees him as younger and he saw himself with him.

But something is definitely tormenting Day but it seems to be the fact he listened to Stevens and didn't stop him in what he was doing - even though others had warned him

Valle is pretty gross though, so it's really hard to side with him.

the orange rolling though - how was that possible? was that Avery or someone else messing with him? (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

through Chapter 4 / 309

(view spoiler)[ omg this feels like it's dragging on forever

so the boat is haunted but. . .not? so many people can see these things. they are dragging people into the water

and I can't tell, is Day still sick - he sounded like he had pneumonia but now he's on the other boat and doesn't sound sick.

so it sounds like Stevens really was the catalyst for much of what happened. He'd been eating the bodies well beforehand, had eaten them on a previous voyage. He sounds like he's doing it again. But is he still alive?

Valle's death was awful, as was Lee's. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

and done

(view spoiler)[ I don't know how I feel about this one
it was dark - for sure
but it felt so fever dream-ish. it was so hard to tell what was real and what wasn't!
are they not saying how Peters ate Avery's face?
and Stevens - is everyone staying quiet about the horrors?

I honestly lost track of who was on the first mission and the second - there were just so many who had large and small parts. I thought Carter died when Day hit him repeatedly with a rock but maybe that was just a dream?

meh. this one was a bit of slog and I didn't love it (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

I am finally able to type so I'll post my thoughts and TRY to keep them in the right page group but no promises.

Chapter 1

(view spoiler)[First, let me say that I hate long chapters! I'm more of a James Patterson girl where you read chapters fast because they're so short. Then I feel like I'm getting somewhere. lol

Yes, the cave thing and all of them starving was awful. But I do agree that the kid was set up and that's even worse!!! I just can't imagine being able to do that but I've never been in that situation. I hope I wouldn't be able to. Ugh...just gross.

I think he didn't want to share it with the world simply because who would want to tell the world what happened? I wouldn't want to.

The time frame confused me too, and I never really tried to keep track of it and figure it out. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Chapter 2

(view spoiler)[I am honestly disgusted by this section. IF Day is right and cannibalism happened somewhat regularly on those trips, why would he and others continue to go. I can't fathom it. I understand in extreme situations like The Donner Party. They didn't have a CLUE that would happen. I think if Day was right and men went on those expeditions anyway they were sick!

I hadn't considered if they might've sank the boat on purpose but that was a good point at that time. And losing your mind at sea almost makes sense to me with all that happened during those trips on the ships. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Chapter 3

(view spoiler)[I just hardly can stomach this book. I didn't think that Stevens was dead. I just had a feeling that he was somehow still alive or the mission would've been for naught. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Last thoughts/finished

(view spoiler)[I wish my hands hadn't been suffering from so much pain so I could've discussed as I read. But I just couldn't with only 1 finger. lol

My final thoughts are I didn't like this book and probably should only have given it a 1 star. It was so dark which works for some books but not others. I could've read some of the same type of things regarding The Donner Party and at least understood (to a degree) but this one felt too much like a way of life that nobody HAD to choose. I'm glad I am done!

Trisha, I'm with you...it was a slog! lol Tedious, prolonged and difficult to read emotionally! Ugh (hide spoiler)]

[bamaace83]

There were two threads for this book! I just went and realized that.

I've started this book this afternoon. This is not my typical book to read and I can already tell that I'm going to have to balance this one with another and read chapters at a time. I'm interested to see how Day develops through the story. The prologue made me feel sorry for him but I'm sure that more will come to light about what happened in the past as the present moves along. I'm in Chapter 1 right now so I'll be back later to post my thoughts on that.

[bamaace83]

I didn't like this book at all. I finally got it read. First, this book just seemed to drag on and on. Second, I had a hard time relating to the characters. It was hard to just keep up. The Day character just never developed. I also had the same thoughts on Stevens. I didn't like Avery. I think it's hard for me to write more because I just read in a haze to get it done.

[Vicki]

bamaace83 wrote: "I didn't like this book at all. I finally got it read. First, this book just seemed to drag on and on. Second, I had a hard time relating to the characters. It was hard to just keep up. The Day cha..."

Join the rest of us 2-star givers! I think I should've given it 1. lol

[Trisha]

It really was a rough read. It was too much of a fever dream for me - bogged down with random thought and flashbacks, so much so that I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't

and OMG the cast of characters, BOTH past and current. it was just too much.

I'm glad you pushed through!! WOOHOO! another one done!

[bamaace83]

I felt the same. I gave it a 2 but thought about a 1. I’m not sure if I would’ve picked this book up if y’all hadn’t suggested it.

[Vicki]

I KNOW i wouldn't have picked it up if not for points for the challenge!

[Trisha]

I had it as an old arc 😭

[Vicki]

Well, at least we all got through it together. :)

[Benedicte, Bookmark First, Ask Later]

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