A unique take on familiar themes.

One of the trickiest parts of writing speculative fiction in the modern era lies in attempting to do something "new" with well-worn concepts like pandemics, post-apocalyptic visions of Earth, and mythological creatures such as vampires. An even more challenging task involves combining such elements into a single cohesive and coherent narrative. As far as I'm concerned, Tony Travis managed to largely pull all of that off in "Of Hunger and Will," making it one of the more interesting and unique reading experiences I've had in a while.

For me, the most compelling aspects of this novel are its world-building, which is detailed and convincing, its plentiful but not excessive nods to legitimate scientific practices, particularly with regard to virology, and its occasional plot wrinkles, which I feel successfully deviate from the tropes and standards of such tales in ways that I generally found refreshing and satisfying.

There were a few components of the experience that didn't completely work for me, or that I found a bit lacking, such as occasional instances of excessive length and repetition that at times hindered the pacing and flow of the story and my immersion in it, or scenarios that thoroughly stretched the boundaries of plausibility in my mind but overall, I found it to be an effective and worthwhile read, with any low points easily bolstered by the aforementioned positives.

There's a lot more I could go into with this one as it's a fairly long and nuanced book but I want to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, so I'll simply close by saying that if you're looking for a solid, significantly-rewarding speculative-fiction novel that's notably different from typical efforts and pleasantly thought-provoking, I'd highly recommend giving "Of Hunger and Will" a try. 4.25 stars for me, rounded up so as not to underrate it.