Max Newsome is our main
“hero/character”, he is ex-military and studying in college; English Major –
less useful than basket weaving in an apocalypse! not my words but a brilliant
line in this first novel by RJ Kennett.
The opening scene of a
shooting on campus is cleverly done to accentuate the shooting and not draw
undue attention to the possible zombie aspect.
Now, let’s get the
negatives out of the way so I can wow you with the positives at the end and
make you want to read this book.
The repetitive
descriptive words or phrases became annoying eventually and the phrase “can it”,
said endlessly by our hero really got on my pip after about the fortieth time
of saying it to people.
Max was generally an irritating
character for me, his constant berating of “his failing in saving everybody”
was nauseating, and then he goes on to berate poor Arthur, his non-military
class mate/nerd for being selfish or stupid but is forever doing that himself.
I actually preferred
Arthur, although the author continually puts Max up as the hero, Arthur had
more gumption and substance for me, he has humour and honesty. Max just got on
my pip, although he did perk up a bit and become what he was bragging about at
the end.
When in the campus
building the time line in mounting the defense and organising “lieutenants” was
a little off for me, and I was sad to see some of the best characters (up until
that point) killed off but I did enjoy the planning element though, some
interesting things to consider. Although it was nice of the “attackers” to wait
until all the preparation was done before breaking glass!
The rehash and reiteration
of what has happened was a little tedious after a while, unless you are the
type to read one chapter at a time, weeks apart there seemed little point of
it.
The muted conversation
about the infected being zombies was clever, I disagree with the other reviews
who comment that “they” ignored the obvious for so long, in reality nobody
would believe zombies, werewolves or vampires, so why change “reality” in a
book?? Yes its fiction, yes it’s a clear apocalyptic book but that does not
mean your characters cannot be real!
With the aftermath of
the campus behind them, our intrepid duo go in search of loved ones and find
Eva hiding out, again she is a good addition to the team, but a little too convenient
that she is medically trained.
The little mishmash group
soon discover that martial law has been instigated and it’s not just the campus
and surrounding areas that are in trouble, as survivors are rounded up by the
Army and taken to the first staging area for safety the inevitable return from
the dead occurs, and the denial that follows was obvious but done in a very
clever way as to detract from the zombie word again.
As they are moved
around and taken to the local airport as a place of safety, it staggeringly has
reinforced areas, unless I missed something major or this is normal in the USA?
The Army and a new group called the COR (Central Outbreak Response – I so want
a sticker saying that!) team are there to greet them, scrub them down and then
start to organise some normality, along food, tents and work details.
They are joined by
various other survivors, one of whom is a Reverend. I found the conversation
and work detail given to him very condescending; councilor, was HE not allowed
to grieve? The ensuing conversation with Max and Eva was so cringe worthy for
me, surely he would know how to talk to distressed/grieving people he does not
need a med student and army vet to tell him! But I thought it got a bit OTT to
then rant GodSquad for a full two pages.
Some pieces of the
writing were outstanding, some stilted, some uncomfy in their “childish” nature
and others pieces just poop – that said, it’s a first novel and RJK should be commended.
Some of the ideas were great and unique, some areas of harsh reality were just
that and not contrived. The characters were full bloodied and felt rounded, I
enjoyed the drip drip of back stories, not the full on confession the minute
you meet someone, although more time spent differing points of view earlier in
the story would have been nice, especially as I personally disliked Max. They
interacted well and for the most part were not wooden.
Fact based issues
should also be addressed, but these issues should have been picked up by beta
readers or the editor – Rigor mortis is used on several occasions as the reason
for the “undead” slowing down, yet when they are doing mass burials at the
airport the dead are all stiff, well after the 24hr time period for it to
occur. Also, and this is a personal bug for me, unless you have proper
facilities for testing, cleaning, giving and storing then using random blood
would be more deadly than suffering without it!
That aside the detached
medical fascination was good, studying the recently undead “patient” and the
rest of the medical comments seemed to be correct and in context.
I thought the action
and the gore description took a while to get going, almost like RJK was
protecting the reader but it soon heated up.
Of course the safe zone
falls, in a fairly dramatic way and our little team are left on a nice cliff
hanger, will I read the next one?
You betcha!
As for Lassie, RJK you are an
arse!
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