Review: Wise is improving in story, going backwards in grammar
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 22, 2013
The Deadlocked series is a pretty good zombie/apocalypse romp, with lots of detailed gore and odoriferous prose for those who dig that aspect of the genre. With Deadlocked 5, we jump ahead 20 years to a world essentially devastated by the engineered virus that has overrun the planet and left precious few people immune...and some very pretty women living underground in complete naivete about the real world above them.Wise is now writing in multiple POV mode by chapter, and the action flows well, even if some characters like Ben aren't fleshed out well for two decades' worth of living through hell. There are some near-verbatim repeated explanations about what and how Ben has lived, indicating the need for tighter editing.And there is definitely a need for grammar editing. I have no idea what a "troth" is, and I'm guessing that the author meant "trough." And please, please, please...you don't stack trade goods on a palette; you stack them on a pallet. That homonym doozie seems to be a favorite of indie authors in the Z/A space.I'm about 50% through the volume and, despite the jarring mis-command of English, it's a fun read. I'm eager with anticipation to see who among the characters in Deadlocked 1-4 make it to Deadlocked 5.