Any Sign of Life

Written by Rae Carson

Narrated by Amy Landon

“Any Sign of Life is a heartbreaking story filled with courage, friendship, and personality. Paige Miller is the perfect team-up buddy in an apocalypse. I was with her when she lost everything, and stood right next to her when she took it all back.”—Wesley Chu, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the War Arts Saga

“A timely update to classic postapocalyptic YA.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A smart, suspenseful thriller. Totally un-put-down-able.”—Kirkus Reviews

When a teenage girl thinks she may be the only person left alive in her town—maybe in the whole world—she must rely on hope, trust, and her own resilience. A harrowing and pulse-pounding survival story from New York Times–bestselling author Rae Carson. Any Sign of Life is a must-have for readers of Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave and Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman’s Dry.

Paige Miller is determined to take her basketball team to the state championship, maybe even beyond. But as March Madness heats up, Paige falls deathly ill. Days later, she wakes up attached to an IV and learns that the whole world has perished. Everyone she loves, and all of her dreams for the future—they’re gone.

But Paige is a warrior. She pushes through her fear and her grief and gets through each day scrounging for food, for shelter, for safety. As she struggles with her new reality, Paige learns that the apocalypse did not happen by accident. And that there are worse things than being alone.

New York Times–bestselling author Rae Carson tells a contemporary and all-too-realistic story about surviving against the odds in this near-future thriller. Any Sign of Life will electrify fans of Rory Power’s Wilder Girls and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063137226

Rae Carson

Rae Carson is the author of two bestselling and award-winning trilogies, as well as the acclaimed stand-alone novels Any Sign of Life and The Empire of Dreams. Her debut, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was named a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Andre Norton Award finalist. Walk on Earth a Stranger was longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award and won the Western Writers of America Spur Award. Her books tend to contain adventure, magic, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. Originally from California, Rae Carson now lives in Ohio with her husband. www.raecarson.com

Reviews for Any Sign of Life

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Honestly, it's too soon for me to truly enjoy pandemic-based post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction. However, I have never yet read a Rae Carson book that I didn't love, and this is no exception. Terrifying, difficult to put down, wonderful characters, and a pulse-racing, never stopping, unfolding adventure. Love that there's an asexual character. Love that it turns out to be something a little less believable than an ultra fast, ultra deadly flu. Love that the characters explicitly call out racism and struggle with it, even in a fast paced pandemic-based post-apocalyptic dystopian book.

Advanced Reader's Copy Provided by Edelweiss.

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A story dancing between science fiction and dystopian with several surprises along the way. Paige Miller comes to, feeling like someone ran over her. When her head clears enough so she's aware of her surroundings, she's shocked to discover she's hooked up to a series of empty IV bags, smells awful and is alone. In short order, she discovers just how alone she really is. Something killed her parents, her brother, and as she starts to explore outside her house, she realizes whatever it was killed almost everyone else. After rescuing her deceased neighbor's dog, she goes in search of supplies and other living beings. She encounters Trey while looking. He's Black and hoped to become a college football star, then a doctor. Paige was on her way to a similar career as a basketball player. Their shared skills and losses help them bond as they go in search of other survivors. What comes after they meet is a series of harrowing escapes from some really nasty entities. After picking up another teen, angry and prickly Tanq, A message they hear repeated nightly has them moving as stealthily as possible to its source in Sandusky, Ohio. Getting there is by no means easy and what they discover about how humanity was nearly exterminated after their arrival, sets up a dandy series of toe-curling experiences. The way this ends begs for a sequel.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone novel. I got a copy of this book through NetGalley to review. Previous to this I read and really enjoyed Carson’s “Fire and Thorns” series and her “Gold Seer” trilogy.Thoughts: This was a quick enough read and I finished it. I didn't really love it though. We start with Paige waking up in her bedroom with an IV in her hand, very weak and confused, and go from there. The majority of the beginning of the story is Paige on her own but we do have some other characters join as the book continues.All of the characters felt a bit shallow to me and like they were fairly unaffected by all the death around them. The book itself also feels a bit unfinished since it was made pretty clear that the actions the characters take at the end will help the situation but not really solve it. Alsoc, the whole reason for humanity's situation is pretty unexplained and feels like it wasn't fleshed out well.There are some very forced discussions around racism; these sections feel like they were almost developed separately and then plopped into the book. All of these discussions felt very out of place considering what our characters are dealing with. I just felt like maybe they had bigger issues to discuss? Like food, shelter and staying alive?My Summary (3/5): Overall, in the end I finished this and it was a quick read so I didn't mind reading it. However, I doubt I will ever even so much as think about this book again after writing this review. It was just very forgettable and very mediocre. It wasn’t nearly as epic and amazing as Carson’s other series. I am not sure if there will be additional books in this series, but if there are I will most likely skip them.