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vikingwolf's review against another edition
3.0
Word of the superflu reaches Antarctica along with the last supply flight in and a zombie, showing the scientists what a dangerous situation they are in. Seeing the news broadcast where the President tells the nation about the zombie apocalypse is a shock and they realise that they are now on their own and must join with other research groups to survive. A plan is also made to send their final plane to New Zealand to their supply base to try and find somewhere safe to evacuate their people to. The people left behind have to wait and watch their supplies run low...
At the bunker Beoshane's people are constantly on the attack to try to find a way to get at the supplies inside and the bunker defences are beginning to look a little shaky. The other bunkers are having a mixed time too with one falling under the command of a madman, one falling to the zombies and others no longer willing to cooperate in the joint ventures. Mary also has mixed news about Kim and David's blood tests which causes a rift between the couple over the prospect of having children and whether they will be immune or infected.
Bill leads the team to Christchurch and they plan to try and use the terminal building as a base inside the fences. However there are already people living there who have turned to religion to survive though they offer to help Bill's people. But their help is going to come at a terrible price when Bill discovers the secret to the food that these people are eating.
The bunker is surprised to intercept a message from Antarctica, sent out by a Russian agent seeking extraction by her people. Knowing that there are more survivors motivates them into planning a complicated rescue which will take the combined efforts of several bunkers. Is the rescue worth risking to save these people?
I loved the first book in the series which followed the military as they set up zombie task forces to deal with small outbreaks and then start building the bunkers when they realise that they are losing the war. This second book starts with the people safely in the bunker and a few groups of scattered survivors in Antarctica and New Zealand, trying to survive in different ways.
What I liked was the idea of the Antarctica story and especially the plans for the rescue teams going there. The rescue plan was the best bit of the book actually. I was less keen on the power struggle in Antarctica by corrupt men and the Russian agent sleeping her way through the communications men until she was able to persuade one of them to send her message over the radio. The men involved were extremely dumb and broke every rule in the book for her but in the end it did cause a rescue attempt. It just wasn't an entertaining plot device. I also liked the bunker being under attack in different ways from Beoshane's people which kept things tense for a while.
My issue with the book was the way it was written. It moves from the as it happens narrative that I liked so much in the first book, where we followed the military teams on and off the bases as they dealt with the various outbreaks and prepared the bunkers for the chosen people. In this book we would get a chapter on the Antarctica group then time would jump ahead to what was happening in the bunkers or the supply run in New Zealand. There would be a very dramatic story like Bill's and the next chapter would jump 2 years ahead to the starving people in Antarctica then a year on to the latest attack on the bunker. The time jumps I found irritating because I wanted the story to flow and see what happens to each character instead of jumping years ahead each time. I get that the author was trying to cover a big period of time but I just found the whole thing clunky, disjointed and lacking the tension and cohesion from the earlier book.
It was still a decent book but the format did affect my enjoyment of it, along with the limited contact we have of favourite characters in other bunkers.
At the bunker Beoshane's people are constantly on the attack to try to find a way to get at the supplies inside and the bunker defences are beginning to look a little shaky. The other bunkers are having a mixed time too with one falling under the command of a madman, one falling to the zombies and others no longer willing to cooperate in the joint ventures. Mary also has mixed news about Kim and David's blood tests which causes a rift between the couple over the prospect of having children and whether they will be immune or infected.
Bill leads the team to Christchurch and they plan to try and use the terminal building as a base inside the fences. However there are already people living there who have turned to religion to survive though they offer to help Bill's people. But their help is going to come at a terrible price when Bill discovers the secret to the food that these people are eating.
The bunker is surprised to intercept a message from Antarctica, sent out by a Russian agent seeking extraction by her people. Knowing that there are more survivors motivates them into planning a complicated rescue which will take the combined efforts of several bunkers. Is the rescue worth risking to save these people?
I loved the first book in the series which followed the military as they set up zombie task forces to deal with small outbreaks and then start building the bunkers when they realise that they are losing the war. This second book starts with the people safely in the bunker and a few groups of scattered survivors in Antarctica and New Zealand, trying to survive in different ways.
What I liked was the idea of the Antarctica story and especially the plans for the rescue teams going there. The rescue plan was the best bit of the book actually. I was less keen on the power struggle in Antarctica by corrupt men and the Russian agent sleeping her way through the communications men until she was able to persuade one of them to send her message over the radio. The men involved were extremely dumb and broke every rule in the book for her but in the end it did cause a rescue attempt. It just wasn't an entertaining plot device. I also liked the bunker being under attack in different ways from Beoshane's people which kept things tense for a while.
My issue with the book was the way it was written. It moves from the as it happens narrative that I liked so much in the first book, where we followed the military teams on and off the bases as they dealt with the various outbreaks and prepared the bunkers for the chosen people. In this book we would get a chapter on the Antarctica group then time would jump ahead to what was happening in the bunkers or the supply run in New Zealand. There would be a very dramatic story like Bill's and the next chapter would jump 2 years ahead to the starving people in Antarctica then a year on to the latest attack on the bunker. The time jumps I found irritating because I wanted the story to flow and see what happens to each character instead of jumping years ahead each time. I get that the author was trying to cover a big period of time but I just found the whole thing clunky, disjointed and lacking the tension and cohesion from the earlier book.
It was still a decent book but the format did affect my enjoyment of it, along with the limited contact we have of favourite characters in other bunkers.
vanncrowe's review against another edition
3.0
Thank Christ this series is over. It somehow turned into a slog. I’m never reading another Zombie Fiction book again? Why did I read any, you might ask? Why indeed.
bigotterbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Recommend/4 stars. This book was not what I expected but in a very good way! Yes there are zombies, yes the world as we know it has ended and there is a rescue mission afoot, but-it was NOT your average horror/zombie story. The zombies were almost peripheral to the story.
The main story is how each group of humans is coping with day to day life. Every other zombie book out there is all about the first few days and how to kill the zombies before they kill you etc. This book spans several YEARS and goes beyond just the zombies climbing over the walls but the people inside the walls and how they do (and do not) survive.
Just that would have been a great book but Kristopher goes further and gives us a sub plot of a rescue mission to save a group of humans stranded (for years) on Antarctica. One of these trapped scientists could hold the key to stopping the zombies-but what could have been a tired old cliche' is given a couple of twists that lead to the rescue going awry in many ways I didn't expect.
I did have to go back and re-read a few times to keep the HUGE cast of characters straight-I should have read the first book first! There were also a few times I had to suspend my disbelief at the convenient way manpower, equipment and just plain old know-how was in the right place at the right time for the rescue mission but not a big deal. The story moves right along with no extras or fluff-it reads like a script, just start the cameras because this is ready to film and would make a terrific movie. I did feel like a few things that happened to main characters were glossed over in the interest of keeping the breakneck pace. Hopefully there will be a novella along that goes into more detail and gives us the rest of the story.
I really liked this book and will definitely get the next one to see how it all ends.
(I received a copy of this book to read & review, this is my own personal opinion)
The main story is how each group of humans is coping with day to day life. Every other zombie book out there is all about the first few days and how to kill the zombies before they kill you etc. This book spans several YEARS and goes beyond just the zombies climbing over the walls but the people inside the walls and how they do (and do not) survive.
Just that would have been a great book but Kristopher goes further and gives us a sub plot of a rescue mission to save a group of humans stranded (for years) on Antarctica. One of these trapped scientists could hold the key to stopping the zombies-but what could have been a tired old cliche' is given a couple of twists that lead to the rescue going awry in many ways I didn't expect.
I did have to go back and re-read a few times to keep the HUGE cast of characters straight-I should have read the first book first! There were also a few times I had to suspend my disbelief at the convenient way manpower, equipment and just plain old know-how was in the right place at the right time for the rescue mission but not a big deal. The story moves right along with no extras or fluff-it reads like a script, just start the cameras because this is ready to film and would make a terrific movie. I did feel like a few things that happened to main characters were glossed over in the interest of keeping the breakneck pace. Hopefully there will be a novella along that goes into more detail and gives us the rest of the story.
I really liked this book and will definitely get the next one to see how it all ends.
(I received a copy of this book to read & review, this is my own personal opinion)
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