Ahhh…Fall. My favorite season. Not, for the reasons you might expect however. Yes, I am quite happy to be rid of the daunting 118 degrees Texas heat, but cooler weather, and only 1 deodorant pit-stop a day pales in comparison to Fall’s true, most glorious of perks…Zombies.
Oh yes. Fall is the season for “Chiller” TV, “Zombie Girls from Mars” marathons and more importantly, post apocalyptic literature. With Halloween in the not-so-distant-future, I get to lose myself in the slightly demented minds of people like King, Nicholson or Wallen, and not get judge harshly when I chuckle at a particularly gruesome passage.
Fall…the time of year when the freaks get freakier, and the books come along for the ride.
Today’s helping…”After The Virus” by Meghan Ciana Doidge.
“After the virus decimates 99.9% of the world’s population, and all traces of humanity along with it, Rhiannon and Will are forced to move beyond their past fame, fortune, and personal demons to rescue a mute girl from the clutches of two warring cults.”
I know what you are thinking…there is nothing in that synopsis that indicates Zombies, but trust me…they are there. To prove it, I’ll share a particularly brilliant passage with you.
“It cat-batted the jutting knife and got it loose along with a chunk of its brain. The mushed brain matter squelched under the knife as it hit ground. They all, including it, just stared, dumbfounded at the goopy pile.”
Awesome right? I thought so.
Anyways, like all good its-the-end-of-the-world-and-we-know-it novels, the “Infected” as they are appropriately deemed in “After the Virus” are not the story. Yes, they are ooey and gooey and like to pop up at the most inconvenient of times, but it’s the people trying to survive that drive the story, (think…The Walking Dead.)
Now, if I’m to be honest, I was a little concerned at the start of this story. The original blocking (story set up) was all over the place and the editing was a train-wreck (there were “he’s” where there should have been “she’s” and “it’s” where their should have been…well, I don’t know really.) The details felt rushed, the characters’ felt void, and despite my assumption as to what the hell was going on, it wasn’t really confirmed. Thankfully however, about 6 chapters in Doidge found her line and she rode it smoothly to the finish. As a matter of fact, after I got past Doidge’s confusing 1st/2nd person mayhem I had difficulty putting the book down, (despite the 100 or so typos that followed *cough*)
The action was nonstop, the evil was surprising and by the end of the book I wanted to grab a gun and take part, (which says a lot considering I hate guns.)
Even better…Doidge’s choice to alternate chapters between Rhiannon’s point of view and Will’s slightly more frantic one was a stroke of genius, (so was the last damn sentence if you don’t mind me saying.)
Overall, a fantastic post apocalyptic/zombie/angsty/romance that delivers in all of the right areas, even if one of those areas does not include editing.
Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: when in doubt, a high heel makes an excellent javelin.
Click image for complete details.
[Rating:4/5]
You know? I just have not been able to get on the Zombie bandwagon. Vampires? All over that. Werewolves? Gotta love them. I just cannot find anything attractive about Zombies. What good is being undead if you are all gross and rotting? Maybe I will give this one a try. If Zombies are not the focal point I might like it. I love a good dystopic story (have you read Swan Song by Robert McCammon?) and it comes down to a few requirements for me – it has to move – I read at night and I will fall asleep people! The world can be dark and depressing and bleak (Hello? The Road?) but the protagonist has to be someone I can like and that will come out okay in the end – maybe not the okay I would have liked for them but still – good has to triumph somehow, and last – I have to end up in it. No not walking along side of them beating up monsters or saying hey you – love this guy, not that guy! No, I mean I have to forget the world building, the unrealistic magic, even the fact that they sparkle if that’s the case. I have to be holding my breath when the bad things happen and insanely happy when their love interest feels the same way about them. I want to be eavesdropping on their conversation and stomping my foot because they won’t look at the solution that I see. I have to want to punch the antagonist a million times and in the end I want to like the author. We never really talk about that and I am sure that just because I love the story, there is no guarantee that I will like the writer but I usually feel that way. If the story is really really really good I want to invite the author to lunch. I want to buy them a latte and ride around for hours asking how did you, why did they, let me see inside your head, do you want to come live in my extra bedroom so I can observe you working and pick your brain?? Yeah, I would stalk them lol. If I could write a book that would do that for someone else, well, I would not even care if it didn’t sell a million copies. I would be ten feet tall and bullet proof. I would be the definition of coolness. If I could write a book that would take someone out of a world where they might say, feel the need to cut themselves? Plop them down in the middle of a landscape that where evil always loses and people always have more power within themselves than they realize, where everything looks horribly wrong and in the end goes infinitely right? Yup, give me those books..Whew, too much coffee today – but when I crash for a Saturday afternoon nap it will be with my kindle and if the book isn’t good? Click and on to the next because I agree. Life is too short for crappy books 🙂