Four years ago on this very day, March 26th, in the accursed year of 2020, New Zealand began its lockdown. A tiny little virus, one with the name of a reasonably popular beer, had managed to spread all over the world. Thanks to the swift and decisive action of our government, and our extended unplanned staycations, Aotearoa was one of the first countries able to return to some sense of normalcy.
While to many of us the ‘rona seems a thing of the past, it’s worth remembering that the virus is still around. With our vaccines and proper procedure, it can feel like we’re invincible and everything is over, but COVID still lurks in the shadows and continues to be a danger to our more vulnerable community members. If you’re feeling those cold-like symptoms, it’s still good practice to do a test, just in case. After four years of dodging it, your beloved blogger managed to catch it, while I was planning this very blog. Being ever the model citizen, I too stayed home to make sure I didn’t spread it further. I now write this wearing a mask, lest I spread my post-plague-germs to any others.
So keep an eye on things, make sure you’re updated on your vaccines, and avoid other humans if you’re unwell. If you don’t know what to do, check official government websites, ready to tell you the important health and science facts.
New Zealand’s health is up to YOU!
YES, YOU!! RANDOM READER!
KEEP US SAFE AND HEALTHY AND WE WILL DO THE SAME TO YOU!
We managed to get through our plague thanks to our collective willingness to take the important steps to spare the many. Covid 19 is a nasty bugger of an illness and what our lockdown showed, what the following mask mandates, vaccinations, and social distancing showed, was that we as a country care not just for ourselves, but for others. I think that’s really special.
It’s for this reason I think we should celebrate this day, as proof of NZ’s love for one another.
Something something Community something something we are one something something peace and love.
But this is perhaps getting a bit sappy, so let’s talk of how we should celebrate this wonderous (?) day.
I’m a librarian, so my biases are obvious. What better way to flex our superior dealing-with-plague skills than to read about other people’s (real or fictional) experiences? Who knows, it might give us some weird mixed feeling nostalgia of familiar things. If you’re a fan of these types of books, you may have noticed how they hit different now you’ve been plagued.
So why not mask up, lock the outside world out, and experience another plague-related removal from reality, this time voluntarily!
Give the dark my love / Revis, Beth
“Nedra Brysstain left the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy with only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. Greggori “Grey” Astor is taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra. She is deeply invested in her studies because a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it’s making its way toward the cities and Nedra is determined to find a cure. When she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Station eleven / Mandel, Emily St. John
“One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor’s early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor’s first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Zhara / Jae-Jones, S
“In the Morning Realms magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before. Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about–appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control-without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is transforming the magicians of Zanhei into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible. In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Plague land / Scarrow, Alex
“An unidentified virus wipes out most of the Earth’s population, liquefying their bodies. The virus moves as if it has an agenda– it adapts as it moves quickly across the planet. Leon, his mother, and younger sister Grace, who just moved to London from New York, must run for their lives.” (Catalogue)
This mortal coil / Suvada, Emily
“In a world where people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, gene-hacking genius Cat must decrypt her late father’s message concealing a vaccine to a horrifying plague” (Catalogue)
Plague of the undead / Cross, Gary
“The boy knew his father was going to kill him. Just like he’d killed everyone else tonight. The boy’s mother, his two older sisters and baby brother, the servants. All of them dead.
When Lucius is ten years old his father returns home one evening as a vampire and destroys his entire family. By luck Lucius is spared. Fifteen years later Lucius has joined the elite group of vampire hunters that saved his life that night. Now it’s his turn to lead the hunt.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The merciful Crow / Owen, Margaret
“Fie’s Crow caste of undertakers and mercy-killers takes more abuse than coin; when they’re called to collect royal dead, she’s hoping they’ll find the payout of a lifetime. But Crown Prince Jasimir faked his death, and Fie’s ready to cut his throat. He offers a wager that she can’t refuse: protect him from a ruthless queen, and he’ll protect the Crows when he reigns. Hawk warrior Tavin, Jas’s bodyguard, magically assumed the prince’s appearance and shadowed his every step, but is beginning to want something to call his own. The trio must form an uneasy alliance to escape Queen Rhusana. — adapted from jacket” (Catalogue)
At the end of everything / Nijkamp, Marieke
“The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named: no one has hope for these delinquent teenagers. When the guards don’t show up one day, the teens are shocked to learn a catastrophic pandemic has occurred outside their walls. Their new-found freedom is now a fight for survival– and there is no one watching out for them. As supplies dwindle, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust– and if they even want to survive in a world that has never wanted them.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Bleeding Earth / Ward, Kaitlin
“Between Mother Nature and human nature, disasters are inevitable. Lea was in a cemetery when the earth started bleeding. Within twenty-four hours, the blood made international news as all over the world, blood oozed out of the ground, through the concrete, in the water. Lea wishes she could ignore the blood. She wishes she could spend time with her new girlfriend, Aracely, in public. Lea wants to be a regular teen again, but the blood has made her a prisoner in her own home. Fear for her social life turns into fear for her sanity, and Lea must save herself and her girlfriend however she can.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
All that’s left in the world / Brown, Erik J
“A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world’s population. When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie’s house, he is injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. And if this new world has taught the two anything, it is to be scared of what other desperate people will do. So why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other? After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But Andrew’s story isn’t adding up– and it could cost them everything. Jamie has a secret, too: he’s feeling something more than friendship for Andrew. To survive the long road ahead they’ll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire. Together.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Wilder girls / Power, Rory
“It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her. It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The enemy / Higson, Charles
“In the wake of a devastating disease, everyone sixteen and older is either dead or a decomposing, brainless creature with a ravenous appetite for flesh. Teens have barricaded themselves in buildings throughout London and venture outside only when they need to scavenge for food. The group of kids living a Waitrose supermarket is beginning to run out of options. When a mysterious traveler arrives and offers them safe haven at Buckingham Palace, they begin a harrowing journey across London. But their fight is far from over-the threat from within the palace is as real as the one outside it.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Illuminae / Kaufman, Amie
“The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Elantris / Sanderson, Brandon
“Elantris was the capital of Arelon: gigantic, beautiful, literally radiant, filled with benevolent beings who used their powerful magical abilities for the benefit of all. Ten years ago, without warning, the magic failed. Elantrians became wizened, leper-like, powerless creatures, and Elantris itself dark, filthy, and crumbling. When Princess Sarene of Teod arrives for a marriage of state with Crown Prince Raoden she finds that Raoden has died and she is considered his widow. But Sarene doesn’t suspect the truth about Prince Raoden. Stricken by the same curse that ruined Elantris, Raoden was secretly exiled by his father to the dark city. His struggle to help the wretches trapped there begins a series of events that will bring hope to Arelon, and perhaps reveal the secret of Elantris itself.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
