After the complete and utter chaos that was John Dies at the End, I really had no idea what to expect from its sequels.
I'm pleased to report that things in [Undisclosed] don't seem to have changed, and Dave and John's antics are just as hilarious as ever. However, This Book is Full of Spiders and the next installment, What The Hell Did I just Read, were much deeper and more profound than their predecessor, and are guaranteed to keep you thinking long after you've finished reading.
I fully intended to review both books in one post, but I realized I just have way too much to say. So, let's jump in!
“Fear is the most dangerous contagious disease.”
The story begins with Dave finding an unwelcome guest in his bed. No, not that kind—the spidery kind. Except the spider has an unfathomable amount of legs and some sort of body armor, making it impossible to squash.
Oh, and it's invisible to everyone except Dave and John.
Dave must have caused quite a commotion while trying to contain the spider, because a police officer arrives at his door shortly after, responding to a call about a "disturbance." The spider manages to break free of Dave's containment system (which most of us would call a laundry hamper), climb into the officer's mouth, and gain control of his brain, turning Officer Franky Burgess into an indestructible killing machine and kicking off what would go down in history as the Zulu Outbreak of [Undisclosed].
If you're thinking "Boy, that escalated quickly," buckle up. This is just the beginning.
"So in any situation like this, step one is to find out what category of creature you're dealing with. Step two is to anticipate what the creature is going to do next, based on what you determined in step one. Then step three is you find out if the thing can be killed with a chainsaw."
Dave and John attempt to take Franky to the hospital, which unfortunately results in a murderous rampage throughout said hospital, where the National Guard and S.W.A.T crews are quickly dispatched to get things under control.
However, this is [Undisclosed], and things are never truly under control. Thousands of spiders are now running free, in search of new hosts—which may or may not be Dave's fault, but that's beside the point.
What results is a classic zombie apocalypse scenario, with the media weaponizing fear, neighbors turning on one another, and authorities using force to separate the healthy from the infected. However, when Dave is captured and detained, he begins to wonder who these "authorities" truly are. It's no longer the National Guard or even the CDC. Instead, it's an unknown organization called REPER, and their intentions may not be as noble as they first seem.
Meanwhile, John begins to hatch an escape plan for Dave, and Dave's girlfriend Amy is on her way from college to make sure Dave is safe.
Communication between the three is nonexistent due to Dave being imprisoned and a mysterious force jamming the cell signal, leading to a convoluted string of missed connections, failed escape attempts, and endless frustration for the reader, who is the only one to know what's going on from all three points of view.
"Even if someone decided that the infection rate down there was something less than one hundred percent, and if they could go to a mountaintop and shout it to the world, it wouldn't matter. Because the people want this. They want their neighbors to be monsters. It's why we lust over news stories of mothers murdering their children, and run after conspiracy theories about a government full of greedy sociopaths. If the monsters didn't come, we would have willed them into existence."
As Dave, John, and Amy each navigate their way through the apocalypse in an attempt to end it, they're forced to confront their ideas of who, or what, a monster truly is.
It presented a lot of commentary on how fear is used to manipulate the population, to the point where many people need something to be afraid of—even if they have to create that thing themselves.
It also introduced a fascinating theory known as Dunbar's Number, which I wasn't familiar with. If you're not either, it's a theory introduced by evolutionary biologist and anthropologist Robin Dunbar. He proposes that human brains can only handle and maintain approximately 150 connections at once, meaning that there's a limit on the amount of people with which we're able to form relationships, connections, and most importantly, feel empathy towards.
Now, I'm not a psychologist, and I don't know anything about the science behind this theory—but it's an interesting concept to think about, and I thought it was a neat thing to include in the story.
"Congratulations, now you know the single reason why the world is the way it is. You see the problem right away—everything we do requires cooperation in groups larder than a hundred and fifty. Governments. Corporations. Society as a whole. And we are physically incapable of handling it. So every moment of the day we urgently try to separate everyone on earth into two groups—those inside the sphere of sympathy, and those outside. Black versus white, liberal versus conservative, Muslim versus Christian, Lakers fan versus Celtics fan. With us, or against us."
This Book is Full of Spiders delivered all the ridiculous antics and hilarious banter I've come to know and love, but it also was a profound and relevant take on today's society that I think could open a lot of eyes.
I do hope you'll give it a read (just be sure to read John Dies at the End first), and be sure to join me and my book-loving friends on Discord so we can discuss it. We also do community game nights, reading hangouts, and support each other through this crazy thing called life.
While you're there, be sure to tell us about your favorite book, and the ways reading has impacted you!
I do still plan on reviewing the next book in the series, and there's also a fourth book that I want to review as soon as I get my hands on it, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'