Day of Now by Miranda Reason

✦ BLURB ✦

A devastating fungal pandemic has wiped out most of society. Dayna and Pax live in an isolated house in the countryside, learning to survive in the world left behind. But when their father gets sick they make a choice that changes they summon help from the outside. And they're not prepared for the betrayal that follows . . .

Dayna and Pax must race against time across a ruthless landscape to save their father. They won't be able to do it on their own, but who can they trust in a world where survival is everything?

A powerful post-apocalyptic story about growing up fast and facing impossible choices.

---

---

✶ PRE-READING ✶

I always enjoy a post apocalyptic story, even more if children are the main characters. The blurb made it seem like this would be something close to The Last of Us, which I really enjoyed.

---

✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... the tension is high in this one. We're about ten years into this apocalypse, so the big upheavals have all happened and the survivors have settled into routines and patterns. Whether that's Dayna (named for Scully) and her family's quiet life with gasmasks always to hand, the mysterious Hummingbirds in London, or the spooky Liam and his followers along the coast, people have begun their new lives.

It surprised me by... how accurate it is in most respects. Roads are starting to crumble, but still mostly passable, and problems are due to fallen trees or crashed cars more often than infrastructure failing. Only a very few, mostly older cars are still running (petrol usage is very iffy ten years on, but we'll let that pass for now.) The fungus infects people and animals and drives them crazy, but it doesn't make them zombies; they die when their bodies give up, so there aren't hordes wandering around for our heroes to deal with. They only encounter one infected person and a few infected animals during the story.

---

✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

Book Recommendation: We Call them Witches is a recent novel set just a couple of years into an apocalypse in Britain. It's not fungal, the attackers are monsters, but the feel of it is very similer.

TV or Movie Recommendation: The Last of Us is the obvious recommendation here; Ellie and Joel's journey has some echoes in Dayna and Pax's.

---

✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

A colour palette: Rusting cars, green spreading across concrete

A soundtrack: tense strings and high winds.

A season: Hot, humid summer, pressing against your skin

A mood: fierce determination

A scent: fresh greenery

---

★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

Nine of Wands. This card represents that feeling of 'I can't keep going, there's too much happening and it keeps piling on me'. Dayna's journey becomes more and more difficult, and she's forced to make choices no child should ever have to. But she keeps going.

Closing Thoughts

I really enjoyed this. There's a section about two thirds in where it seemed to be dragging a bit, but as soon as I got passed that it was full speed ahead to the finale. I don't want to spoil anything, but I loved the range of characters we met - some who were worthy of joining the heroes, some who absolutely weren't. If you're looking for a tense, morally unsure read, this is a great one to pick.

Day of Now publishes on the 12th Feb, 2026. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.

🃏 The deck had opinions: [Card Name] — [Comment about how it fits the book]