Cower not, fierce reader! This day is the day you can return to Z-Day. Now, I can't say for certain, but I suspect one need not read the previous book to follow this one. But, we have a new volume of survivors and Zed(walkers, zyborgs, whatever).
First, this book has a lot more tragedy in it. While the first one had plenty of bad things happen, a lot of them happened to people working against the society they were part of. That's not the case here. Here, we have good men sacrifice for a mission, so rebuilding can continue.
Second, we've got a new perspective, and I won't spoil it. Suffice to say there's a transition from mere survival to a pursuit of redemption. This happens in flashbacks, and meets up with our main story at the end. I look forward to how that plays out in the next book.
There's of course a lot of action, and it's written with enough detail to be visceral, but not too much that it bogs down for noncoms. We have some gruesome deaths, including that of a fictional version of our friend Jon Del Arroz(It's already been on twitter, I don't feel bad).
We see further development of the real threat the virus/program is and will be. This is interesting, in that the characters never give up, we have some sacrifices because the threat is that big, and the knowledge of the changes that important. There is not despair, but there is a grave shock at how badly things are headed.
This book plays with readers emotions. There were a couple of points this book made me mad. Because Humphreys had to kill good characters. There's even references with some of the conversations on twitter about Hanson and Taylor Swift. This roller coaster is definitely a worthy successor to A Place Outside the Wild. 9 of 10 fell deeds.
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Now, about that giveaway. I just thrifted copies of Max Allan Collins' Comics and Crime trilogy. (Strip for Murder, A Killing in Comics, and Seduction of the Innocent). Same rules as last time: comment below if you want to be eligible, and I'll draw for it in a week.
When you play Social Justice, the world loses.
I want to be eligible! That's a sweet giveaway offer.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of zombie themed stories. You liked it alot. What makes this book differnt from othevzomie stories?
ReplyDeleteThanks again
xavier
The focus of the people in the world isn't about just today, or even the next few days. It's a long term focus, as they have held onto and rebuilt hope. The first book permeates with it, even with bad guys in the society.
DeleteI rarely care for zombies myself, and this and Nick Cole's are the ones I can dig. They don't focus on the gore, paranoia, and despair most do.
A few reasons I liked it so much:
DeleteThere is an interesting twist on the zombie canon.
It is more hopeful than many zombie apocalypse books.
Humphreys is very conscientious about the details, including the difficulty of surviving in a post-modern world (so to speak). It adds narrative tension.
The second book, at least, is almost a military thriller.
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ReplyDeleteTry this again...Dan's book is definitely on my to read list. The others might be too even if I don't win.
ReplyDelete