Review: IndieReader Review
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 1, 2013
It's 2013 and a series of illnesses across the United States puzzles doctors and the narrator in THE OASIS OF FILTH. Those infected with the disease exhibit symptoms of leprosy and rabies, and the victims succumb to a paranoid, violent rage. Author Keith Soares picks up the story ten years after the outbreak, a time when the government has walled and sterilized its cities against the attacking hoard. The narrator meets Rosa, a researcher, in Washington D.C., and they quickly bond, but when Rosa is abducted by the government, she and the narrator escape D.C. and attempt to find the Oasis, a rumored safe haven from the zombies that wander the countryside.Although fiction has recently been oversaturated with zombies, Soares breathes life into them in THE OASIS OF FILTH. While there are several peaceful moments for the narrator and the reader alike to pause and rest, the tension steadily builds as the narrative progresses, exploding at certain moments with lively, exciting action scenes and gritty images. Arguably the best example of this is the first zombie the narrator and Rosa encounter on their travels in search of the Oasis, that comes upon them in the middle of the night on the docks of the Potomac and falls into the water screaming. The characters can't help but watch this creature they've been walled away from for years drown.The main drawback of THE OASIS OF FILTH, besides the off-putting title, is its length. There are important moments in the narrative that Soares breezes through, such as the characters' escape from D.C. or the panicked drive the narrator makes after Rosa's injury. The novella also ends quite abruptly, so while the content and style of the story are exciting and memorable, the length does not do it justice.THE OASIS OF FILTH is a fast-paced and exciting post-apocalyptic novella that, while burdened by its brevity, thrills the reader with its action sequences and gritty images.