Alive
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆
Alive (The Generations Trilogy, Book 1) by Scott Sigler
First book of 2019 is BRUTAL. ☠️
Alive is beautifully brutal and unapologetically graphic. We’re talking blood, murder, gore, rotted corpses, bones used as weapons, and then there’s that scene:
“Babies.
Hundreds of little corpses dangle from the ceiling, so thick I almost can’t see the ceiling itself. They hang from chains that end in metal hooks slid through their rib cages. Cracked, dry skin has peeled away from their bodies, showing the bones beneath. Clumps of fallen flesh cover the floor like some horrid scattering of snow.”
😵🤢🤮 (Yeah… so that happened.) The scene on its own might not be that shocking, but come on, did they have to be babies?
The real strength here is suspense. The tension barely lets up as you keep asking: Where are these characters? How did they end up in this nightmare? And the best part is Sigler doesn’t rely on the overused “start at the end, flashback to the beginning, then bounce around in time” formula. (Not that I hate it, but it’s definitely overpraised.)
Instead, this story starts at the end…and just keeps moving forward. No flashbacks, no convenient exposition dumps. You uncover the truth right alongside the characters, piece by bloody piece, as they explore, stumble on clues, and meet other survivors who may or may not know more than they do.
And that’s what makes Alive work: you, the reader, never know more than the characters. It’s an old-school storytelling trick that instantly locks you in, making every revelation hit harder because you’re discovering it with them.
