Prompting consideration of religion, family, life, death, and memory, Severance is rich and thoughtful, limited only by its ending, which may leave some readers unsatisfied. Through the events that led to Candace’s current situation, her story becomes more apparent to readers. BookPage called it, 'astounding debut novel.' Refinery29 included it on a list of Post-Apocalyptic Books Will Freak You Out, saying, 'Ma creates a convincing portrait of a woman slightly disconnected from the world, even before the virus.' According to the review aggregator Book Marks, Severance received 'rave' reviews, based on 19 reviews. Shifting from Candace’s present efforts to navigate the group dynamic of fellow survivors to recollections of her life as the fever first developed, the novel offers intrigue to the reader. Bustle Buzzfeed BookPage Bookish Mental Floss Chicago Review of Books HuffPost Electric Literature A.V.

Candace’s memories and descriptions are vivid and touching and have a specificity that grounds the reader in Candace’s emotional experience as they read about an apocalyptic version of their world. In an early chapter of Ling Ma’s debut novel, Severance, a genre-savvy character details the difference between vampire and zombie stories. Ling Ma’s hand as a writer is light and masterful, characterized by a solemnity touched with humor. Alongside a crew of other people who never contracted the fever, she journeys toward the Facility a building promised to be a stronghold in their crumbling world, unraveling her past and confronting the frightening uncertainties of her future along the way. Survival is insufficient, they keep reminding. Severance follows Candace as she confronts the realities of the changing world, from the shifting of her relationships and her working life to the dramatic changes in New York City, where she lives and works. The real drama of the novel doesn’t come from gore or gun battles, but from the protagonists’ constant reckoning with just how much they have lost. In Ling Ma’s Severance, fever with no known cure has become so widespread that the world’s infrastructures have buckled.

Severance novel book review