Makes you think twice about the sick people on the plane with you…

I would give this a solid 4.5 stars (rounded up here).

This book has been on my to-read list for over a year, and I finally was able to walk away from my ongoing series to listen to this one. It was an excellent audiobook, I really enjoyed the narration.

Short synopsis: It’s the end of the world as we know it… there is a virus that wipes out 99.99% (est.) of the human population. The book primarily follows a few key characters throughout their time leading up to and the following 20(ish) years after the event. We also see how these characters’ lives overlap and intertwine over time through (primarily) the traveling symphony and the airport.

I enjoyed learning more about Arthur (one of the primary characters) quite a bit, it was good to see his character development even though it was not long lived (not really a spoiler). I am also usually a fan of the non-sequential timelines and I think this book pulls it off spectacularly. Station Eleven is the name of a comic book series and I sort of wish I was able to read that as an appendix. (This is really the only thing I would have changed about this book.)

I should also mention, if you’re planning on traveling by plane in the immediate future, maybe hold off on this one. I flew while I was in the middle of the book and when the girl next to me was sick upon landing I was definitely holding my breath a bit and maybe giving her the side-eye. I do not want to be the plane that pulls away from the terminal when they land :/