Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep by Michael Merriam

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep by Michael Merriam
Stars: 3.5/5

Overall
A clever commentary on the state of our world mixed with an enjoyable story. Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep touches upon environmental, political and religious topics without delving too deeply or offending too completely. It works to make the reader think while we are carried on the wings of the story...and the loons.

Strengths
Original story. Although the post-apocalyptic (or post-horrible things) world is nothing new, the author has taken a fresh approach. The environment is dead or suffering, but the atmosphere of the story isn't desperate or depressing as the people have begun to survive in this new world. In addition, the story takes an interesting angle when it looks at religion, faith, and miracles.

Main Character. Our heroine is a good mix of weak and strong. She's has moments of 5-year-old child, throwing tantrums when she feels her independence is being threatened, but it adds to the depth of her character, even if it possibly could grate on a reader's nerves. Although her greatest struggle--keeping independence while being limited to a wheelchair--is not anything new, the parallels the author draws between her and the loons pushes this beyond a story of a handicapped individual and into a story of overcoming fears of our weaknesses.

The ending. While I won't divulge the end, I found it appeasing to the buildup through out the story. We are given a happy ending that many post-apocalyptic stories do not give us, while it isn't completely unrealistic.

Cover. It has a lovely, eye-catching cover that is very fitting for the story.

Weaknesses
Ending. While the ending was fitting for the story, it felt slightly rushed and a little too tidy, but nothing awful.

Although there wasn't much that I would mark as a weakness in the story, the reason it scored so low in my star rating was because it never really grabbed me or spoke to me. The romantic interest was lukewarm, which may be appropriate because the focus of the story isn't romance, but I felt like most of the story had the same lukewarm approach. It doesn't mean the story wasn't enjoyable--it was--but neither the story nor the romance nor the characters really grabbed me and held on so I wanted to finish the book this instant. Would I read it again? Sure. Would I recommend this to others? Probably.