What We Harvest

4.3

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Author(s)

Ann fraistat

Publisher

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Genre(s)

Age Range

12+

Release Date

March 15, 2022

ISBN

978-0593382165

Buy This Book

For fans of Wilder Girls comes a nightmarish debut guaranteed to keep you up through the night, about an idyllic small town poisoned by its past, and one girl who must fight the strange disease that's slowly claiming everyone she loves.

Wren owes everything she has to her hometown, Hollow’s End, a centuries-old, picture-perfect slice of America. Tourists travel miles to marvel at its miracle crops, including the shimmering, iridescent wheat of Wren’s family’s farm. At least, they did. Until five months ago.

That’s when the Quicksilver blight first surfaced, poisoning the farms of Hollow’s End one by one. It began by consuming the crops, thick silver sludge bleeding from the earth. Next were the animals. Infected livestock and wild creatures staggered off into the woods by day—only to return at night, their eyes fogged white, leering from the trees.

Then the blight came for the neighbors.

Wren is among the last locals standing, and the blight has finally come for her, too. Now the only one she can turn to is her ex, Derek, the last person she wants to call. They haven’t spoken in months, but Wren and Derek still have one thing in common: Hollow’s End means everything to them. Only, there’s much they don’t know about their hometown and its celebrated miracle crops. And they’re about to discover that miracles aren’t free.

Their ancestors have an awful lot to pay for, and Wren and Derek are the only ones left to settle old debts.

Editor review

1 review

A mineral infused with magic may destroy all.

April 22, 2022 (Updated: April 22, 2022)

Overall rating

4.3

Plot

5.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

What I liked:
A horrifying tale that is rich, detailed, and heartbreaking all at the same time that kept me enthralled. Zombie novels are not new, but I tend to like the ones with a unique take on them, for example, warm bodies. What we harvest zombie-like issues stem from plants that have been enriched by minerals infused with blight. The founding members of this town were desperate, and when they discovered what this blight could do for their plants and the financial freedom that came with using it, they overlooked what could come from it. The horror descriptions flowed with the story rather than providing for shock factor alone.
Final Verdict:
What We Harvest was enjoyable to listen to as an audiobook. I could process and fall into the story naturally without feeling like I was being drugged through a horror novel. I was right there with Wren as she battles with guilt that she caused her family this devasting blow from the blight and has doomed herself and her town. The description of how they dealt with interacting with the blight echoes how we dealt with Covid-19. A fascinating tale.
Audiobook Review:
A narrator that helps lend a horror-like tone to the tale about a town plagued by blight. I was engrossed with each chapter, and I am not a huge horror reader, but this one was unique with the rock, the desperate families, and a character with fierce determination to save herself and her town.