Alex Adams

The jar was the beginning; it appeared out of nowhere, delivered by no one to be found sitting in her living room. No one can say how it arrived, this ancient jar, or where it came from. But all that was secondary, the only thing to matter now was what the jars sudden presence in her home and in her life meant. The jar was a mystery, and the only thing she knew for curtain was that this mysterious jar frightened her.

It started with the weather, then it was the war. But it wasn't just one country against another, if it had been there might have been somewhere safe to run to, but it was the whole world and nowhere was safe. Now there were monsters lurking were before there were only people. With no where safe, she ran in the direction of the one person she loved, because at the end of the world where else would she want to be.

Having lost everyone she ever cared for, somehow she still manages to carry on. Because despite the disease, the death, and the monsters, despite the end of the world, life still goes on. Armed only with hope, she will walk halfway across the world to find a new beginning for the future, or she will die trying, for what else has she to live for.

White Horse is a gripping tale of the end of the world and those who are left behind to survive it. This is the story of one ordinary woman who makes a heroic journey across a wasted and broken earth in search of hope, love and life on the other side of the world. As the story unfolds the truth about the jar, the war and her love is uncovered. This is a survival story that tells of strength and humanity in a world that is no longer what it was. An intelligent, passionate and keenly written story that will hold you captive.… (more)

It is the end of the world as Zoe knows it. A mysterious plague came along, killed almost everyone. A small few survived, but were changed, mutated. Others were immune. But civilisation is gone. It is man eat man out there now as the survivors try to stay alive. Zoe isn’t just crossing the world in some random hope of trying to survive. She is pregnant, and the child’s father is in Greece. Or so she hopes, wishes and believes. She must reach him for any chance of a life.

Zoe tells her story in alternate sections, then and now. Then, back before the war and the weather and the plague. Back when life was normal, or as normal as it could get. And now. After the end.

It is an effective structure, letting the reader get to know Zoe and how the world ended.

Trouble is, I just didn’t enjoy this book. Plot elements seemed to swing out of nowhere. Randome things happened because, I felt, the author figured we need a bit of action now, or lets through in some horror. It made very little sense.

But the writing itself, the descriptions and words actually used, they work well. It makes for a very easy to read book. You could probably skim read it and not really notice a lot of flaws, but they just annoyed me. Zoe herself I didn’t like, and everyone existed to serve her story, which is understandable, I mean, this is her tale, but at the same time they felt and read like supporting characters not real people.

And the bad-guy! I’m sorry, but, just no. Didn’t work for me at all. Irritated me no end.

So I didn’t like this one, but I think I would try another by Adams, this is her first one, a certain amount can be forgiven.… (more)

This is one of those books that showed up on my to-read list without my having any recollection of when or why I put it on there.

Zoe is a middle-class white American who works as a janitor at a pharmaceutical company when the world begins to collapse. Alternating between then and now, Zoe describes the events leading up to her journey across the country -- her appointments with her therapist, an investigation into a mysterious jar that appears in her apartment, the illness that begins to kill her friends; then her fight for survival amongst the sickening, her decision to attempt to reunite with the father of her unborn child, her prolonged encounter with a brutal Swiss man, the people she tries to save along the way.

This book is very readable, but intense and brutal in its plot; characters are killed and die terribly, or sometimes not. Zoe's determination to survive for the sake of her child is that much more admirable, given the situations in which she finds herself. As the first book of a trilogy, the ending seemed to wrap up all together too quickly and neatly, which makes me wonder what exactly will happen in sequels.… (more)

How to review White Horse? In all honesty it's one of the best books I've read this year, and yet anything I type here seems inadequate as to explain why I loved it so much. What is really striking about Alex Adams' story is how beautifully it walks the line between light and dark. The populace is dying. Everything that people once believed made them human is now gone, taken from them by a disease. Still, there is a glimmer of hope underneath it all. In Zoe I found one woman who, despite everything else, had the will to survive. Her hope radiates out, and helps light the way through this otherwise bleak story.

White Horse follows Zoe through chapters from "Then" and "Now". Although I normally dislike books that switch between past and present tense, it fits in White Horse perfectly. Zoe has gone from a simple custodian, to a nomad. Her past life and her present life are shown in stark contrast to one another, until they slowly merge closer and closer together. Seeking only to find her lost lover and hold on to what makes her human. Wandering through the dead cities, glimpsing the sad remains of humanity. Zoe's story is dark and dangerous. The story telling in White Horse is done in gorgeous prose, but it hardly masks the atrocities the world is suffering. Trust me, this isn't a story for the faint of heart.

The other characters in this story are just as well done as Zoe. Out of all of these, I feel like the one who needs the most introduction is "The Swiss". The exact opposite of everything that Zoe strives to hold on to, this is a villain who will make you want to tear the pages out of the book. You won't do it of course, because that would mean ruining the story, but you'll want to. Hope plays a big part in this story. Each time that Zoe makes it over an obstacle in her path, three more take their place. Yet, she never stops hoping.

White Horse ate me up inside. I read fervently, cringing at the descriptions of what the world had become, and yet ever hopeful that Zoe would accomplish what she set out to do. The last few chapters blew me away with their twists. The last few pages broke my heart. Alex Adams has written something that fits in the dystopian genre, and yet is infinitely better. I loved this book, and I'll be happy to admit that I am excited to see where this trilogy goes next.… (more)