Review: Dead Plains (3rd of Trilogy)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 14, 2013
Let me start off with my disclaimer: Not a Zombie fan, and definitely not a lover of western genre stories. That being explained up front, this series is totally awesome. Red, a strong, independent girl-woman who loses her family to the plague which turns people to zombies after a single bite.Resources are scarce, and scavenging for meager supplies (bullets and clothing) and food, make people distrustful of new-comers. A very pregnant Red, and her ‘family’ of survivors look for a place to put down roots. I like the twists in the plot, as well as the author's world building. There is a sadness to the greediness of people who need to take care of their own communities, shunning outsiders as another mouth to feed, and cutting into their supplies. There is no such thing as charity anymore, only barter. Another element to the story is Red’s uniqueness, which makes her a target of people that see her as a possible way to end the madness, and find a cure.This sets up some philosophical questions: a) Is it right to kill the living and healthy, in an effort to cure the dead/zombies? b) Is it right to capture, contain, and experiment on one person for the possible (note: possible) chance of a cure? There are some who believe Red holds the secret of the cure in her blood, and they will stop at nothing to capture her for their experiments.Angela Scott has a great writing style, so I found the story engaging, completely overlooking by bias against zombies and the dreaded western. The books get progressively better - and this is the best (and last) book of the western zombie trilogy. An excellent wrap up to a great series. Many twists and turns I didn't see coming. Highly recommended!