Review: Solid series about a zombie uprising
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2014
Good series with solid tactics and strategy.I like the characters and the tough situations that they have to battle through. What I liked...* The characterizations are solid. Each person has a decent backstory and can be seen as an individual.* The psychological pressure on the team was well described. I particularly enjoyed how the head Marine dealt with so many of his team sacrificing themselves for the greater good.* The concept of a "zombie storm" was freaky and unsettling (though I didn't believe it when it "built" a column of zombies in a few seconds to swat a *manned* plane out of the sky).* Every LaMoE (last man on earth) they ran across was interesting.* I will continue reading the series even though I have a few complaints (see below).A few complaints in no particular order...* The Captain of the Carrier helps save the day at the 11th hour but is then unceremoniously ignored afterward. We never hear about him again nor does the XO (Drake) ever really talk about him. The guy just shanghied 200 people from the crew to pull his fire-fighting foam trick and *saves the ship* yet the XO doesn't have even a brief scene with him where he thanks him for it?* The reasoning and explanation given for why the Alpha team stops to help that crew in the middle of Lake Michigan is very weak and unbelievable. They have a scientist who can potentially cure the world but they needlessly expose him because the team needs to find their own humanity? No way. If we are to believe that these "operators" are so excellent, they wouldn't make such a bad choice.* The outbreak in the Hereford hospital was ridiculous. The nurse let herself get bitten by a person suspected of infection? Really? They shackle their arms and legs but somehow neglect to add a simple bite guard? Why are we expected to believe these people who have survived so much can remain so stupid?* Planning the operation to Chicago would have included some contingency plans. Their pickup by plane didn't happen yet they weren't aware that they could use the marina as a backup to get onto the lake? They dropped their pallet of ammo into the Lake but didn't consider how they would retrieve it? Sloppy writing.* The Alpha team, which regularly reminds us is focused on "Mission First," somehow fails to make sure that their retrieval of the vaccine data (plus scientist) doesn't get delivered to the backup ship. Instead, most of them parachute onto the carrier to fight and never give a single thought to making sure the scientist is safe. Nor do they hand off the backup copies of his data to any superiors for safe-keeping or distribution of the data to other ships & subs. Again, hard to believe these operators would forget about their mission before it's completed. Stuff like this helps undermine the veracity of the military descriptions while adding no additional suspense to the story.