Chapter by Chapter

Truthfully, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from author Emma Pass’s novel The Fearless. It looked very dystopian from the cover and the description I read for it sounded interesting. A case of science trying to do something right and doing the complete opposite instead. It was a story that wasn’t anything at all what I expected it to be and had an action-packed storyline that kept me guessing until the very end. The Fearless is an incredibly unique novel.

               Set in a future where a military serum meant to make super soldiers goes horribly awry, main character Cass has been among a group of survivors for the past several years. The Fearless were originally supposed to result in soldiers stripped of their fear, but instead resulted in people stripped of their humanity, whose goal is to turn others just like them. After losing her father in the invasion of the Fearless, Cass and a small community of people have taken refuge on Hope Island—distanced from the Fearless and their inhumane ways. But when Cass’s brother is stolen by the Fearless, she embarks on a journey to go after him and bring him home.

               At its core, The Fearless is a zombie story without the zombies. The Fearless themselves are a horde of monsters who have been turned from humans to something else entirely. Something that craves only to pass on its affliction to other humans. Something that is slowly rotting in the most horrifying ways possible.  Unlike zombies, the Fearless are still intelligent. They are still strong. They’re pretty badass. Imagine an onslaught of human-shaped monsters with no humanity coming after you with dead, silver eyes—it’s pretty scary to imagine. And that’s exactly what Pass’s characters have been enduring every day for the past seven years.

               While the Fearless are an incredibly imaginative concept, I do wish that there had been more elaboration on certain points in the plot. There were many plot holes that left me asking far too many questions throughout reading and long after having finished the story. While Pass’s stylistic prose is smooth and easy to read, I still wish that there had been more details into certain aspects of the Fearless, life on the mainland (which doesn’t seem as dangerous as we’ve been lead to believe), and the world outside of Hope Island.

               Cass isn’t the only protagonist in The Fearless. We also read from the point of views of other characters like Sol and Myo as she embarks on her quest to find her brother, Jori. While Cass is the main character who leads the plot forward, Sol and Myo are two characters who offer us outlooks into the life outside of Cass and her adventure. Sol gives readers an insight into life on Hope Island, where everyone lives like soldiers. Myo gives us brief insight into the life on the mainland and what that looks like in these post-invasion times. Both Sol and Myo pose the threat of a love triangle popping up in the storyline, but whether that happens or not is for readers to discover.

               Readers who enjoy novels with strong leading protagonists will love The Fearless. Readers who are looking for a novel that is filled with secrecy and plot-twists will eat up The Fearless. Fans of dystopia and thrillers will love this new novel from Emma Pass.