This was a fun horrifying read. Being how focused on how the world and society react to an outbreak.
Pulse Rating: 4/5
In the year 2040, a mysterious creature is unleashed at the world's biggest music festival…
Pulse is a multi-POV dystopian sci-fi horror thriller set in 2040, centered around a corporation, a creature, and a music festival. Think Fyre Festival, Black Mirror, and X-Files combined. The story deals with themes of capitalism, consumerism, business, politics, pandemics, climate change, activism, and technology while bouncing between a diverse group of characters sure to entertain almost anyone.
LF Rating: 5/5
LF is a world-famous DJ intertwined with one of the biggest companies in the world, Pulse. LF is starting to question the motives of his boss after an accident at a show followed by some suspicious activity. This story takes place a few years before the novel Pulse and is a companion piece to both that novel and the original songs.
Release Date: December 1st, 2021
I was offered to read and review an ARC of Pulse and its prequel short story, LF by the author himself. After reading his previous book, Someone’s Story, I knew I had to see what they’ve come up with next. And while Someone’s Story was a contemporary book focusing on mental health, Pulse is nowhere near in the same league. However, both will leave you saying “WOAH!”
I went into the Pulse universe with no expectations. I was completely unsure what it was even about either until I started with LF. LF was an amazing prequel. It really sets the tone for Pulse. Once I finished LF, I was left saying to myself, “wait, what just happened?” I immediately wanted to pick up Pulse and continue reading the story.
LF was an amazing prequel. It really sets the tone for Pulse.
I found the premise of Pulse + LF to be very interesting. We see a future of our world, where society is struggling to survive as resources are being depleted by the massive population and climate change. And big-name companies take advantage of that saying they care but are the main cause of pollution affecting climate change. The biggest company is Pulse. And Pulse is throwing a music festival, one of the largest the world’s ever seen. However, the night of the festival it gets attacked by a contagious virus.
I will say, while I enjoyed Pulse, it didn’t hold that same level of urgency that I got in LF. It came in waves. There were a few slow patches in this one for me. Especially after the explosive start, we get as we’re thrown into this universe. I was left with so many questions. But these go unanswered for most of the book. And some didn’t even get answered at all. Though, I know that’s because this is going to be a series and this ends in such a manner where you know there will be more to come… Rude! Now you’re going to make me wait! I need to know what happens next!
There’s a lot going on within the pages of Pulse. We see a lot of characters and a bouncing timeline. And I did struggle with that especially with a few of our characters having similar names. It was hard for me to keep up with who was who and what day and time we were in the timeline. Bouncing timelines usually don’t bother me, but this one didn’t really have a pattern so I never knew where we would go next. I also felt there was some key information missing, but again based on how this is the start of a series, I’m expecting/hoping this will be shared later. I’m also glad I read LF before starting Pulse, I think I would have been even more confused at times if I hadn’t.
There’s a lot going on within the pages of Pulse. We see a lot of characters and a bouncing timeline.
Though I did struggle a bit with this one. This was still a fun horrifying read. I also got Maze Runner vibes, more so the prequel - The Kill Order. Just with this being how focused on how the world and society react to an outbreak.
I loved the horror this one entailed involving the outbreak. The descriptions we see were truly horrifying. And I must say for a zombie lover, I was so excited to see this involved zombies! Plus, these zombies were unique! I still don’t really understand how they even came to be, hoping to get this answer in the sequel! And I expect more zombies in the next one! I’ll be excited to see what happens next!
I think if you enjoy sci-fi horror involving virus outbreaks you’ll enjoy this one too!