Review: Zombie Apocalypse Series
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 7, 2013
I LOVED the first book of the Arisen series! There is only one group, four people involved in the story. This installment has at least two groups with many more characters.In my opinion, and I see the reviews and know many of you disagree with me - that's because we're all made differently, this book just isn't as good as Book One. The thing I liked best about the first book was completely missing in the second book. Since it had a smaller group involved, we got to know each of them very well. I even mapped out where they were and places they were thinking of getting to. I think the author tried to throw out too much information in this book, and I had a difficult time reading it. The characters were not fleshed out at all. I spent a lot of time rereading parts because I would get confused. It felt, to me, that an entirely different author wrote this book. There were numerous grammatical errors made - and sentence structure wash't up to par with the first book. I can't remember the exact sentence, but it went something like - The pilot was one of the ones who chooses to err on the side of caution, etc. Correctly, the sentence should have read - The pilot carefully chooses to err on the side of caution.Honestly, I feel like I am stretching it to give it 3 stars. I deducted those two stars because of poor character development (author already has proven he is capable of much more), and the nonstop violence which precluded ANY sort of relationships to form at all. From the beginning, it was guns, knives, Navy Seals, shooting at zombies (really fast zombies at that!), and lots of explosions! I think *******SPOILER ALERT******** there are two congruous stories in this book. Our boys and girl are not to be found in this book. And I remember thinking more than once about where they were and wanted to call somebody to see if they made it to safety!!One story takes place on a Navy Ship that is currently fighting off fellow crewmates who somehow have brought the disease onto the ship. The other story is a unit (literally think "The Unit" from TV - GREAT SHOW!) Which includes the best soldiers of the best who parachute out and all end up in some dicey situations due to wind currents and such. Here I am thinking all of this is going on in Africa like the first book. Not so fast! Toward the end, I find out they are dropped into Chicago! And the Navy destroyer is on Lake Michigan!! Well, that's what happens when a book isn't good enough to hold my attention. I will concede their location must have been mentioned in the beginning of the book and I missed itI am now going to read the third installment in the series to see if it is better - more carefully edited and sentence structure up to par of the first book. And maybe these poor characters will have some down time to talk about life, family left behind, basically things that help us to get to know and care about these people. I do recommend you read this book, though. Perhaps you will see it in an entirely different way. Plus, there is still at least one more book for the author to redeem himself! And, I am thinking positively and hoping to get that "can't put it down" excitement the first book gave me!