Review: Sagliani never fails to entertain!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 31, 2014
Army of the Dead picks up where Rise of the Horde left off, for the most part. Actually the “present” is many months later, but Sagliani does a nice job of bringing the reader up to speed. He also gave me quite the heart attack in the very first chapter! No warm up.. just insanity. Xander is now married to Felicity, but it doesn’t take long for issues to arise. Note to self: Just because there are hordes of zombies that want to eat you, no one is safe from marital problems including a jealous spouse. Xander seems much older to me in this installment. He’s had to grow up quite a bit with everything he’s been through, not to mention he’s now the leader of a survivors camp called Freedom Town — which royally pisses him off. Things heat up relatively fast in this second book, and I found myself wondering frequently how anyone could survive this situation. Not only do they have to survive the enormous throngs of flesh-hungry zombies, but the variety of other dangers in this new world as well.I was thrilled to jump back into Xander’s shoes with so many familiar faces from the first book. This second installment is most definitely darker than the first — in the same way that Harry Potter grows more ominous with each book. I’m still going to let my teenage son read it, but the storyline has certainly matured as it has evolved. The pacing of the story is nice, albeit a little slow at certain times with Xander’s inner monologue. The action and gore was so over-the-top intense, though, that it more than made up for any drags. This is not your typical zombie book, simply running for your life from the undead, trying to find places to hide and better weapons. This story is so much more with a strong cast of characters (the good, the bad, the ugly, and the completely badass) and a plot that will keep you on your toes at all times!I definitely recommend this series to all zombie fanatics everywhere!