Tag Archives: Apocalypse

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The Malthus Protocol

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28364006

The Malthus Protocol (The Last Peak, #1)

I received this book with the original title from the author for an honest review.
The name was later altered to The Darwin Protocol.

Have you ever read something that you both liked and disliked? That is where I am with this one, I liked the book but it did not totally grab me but I was still compelled to keep going because of the things I liked. Things started very slowly for me and took quite a while to heat up to the point I could not put it down. I am not a fan of lots of short chapters that jump from place to place and in this case to an earlier time period. I do like that the story was told from multiple perspectives which made it easy to follow the action.

The Good:
Great characters with lives that are totally believable who you cannot help but love or hate.
A location that works for me because I know exactly where most of them are.
A complex story that makes you work to understand what is happening.
Nice family drama

The Bad:
105 chapters in a book of 400 pages.
No action pertaining to the virus or whatever that is supposed to hit L.A. until chapter 49.
Too many war flashbacks, when one or two could have told the story.

The United States is not what it used to be and does not wish to go down without a fight. To that end they bring in Dr. Anton Reshenko who has a plan that is intended to bring us back to the glory days. What they do not seem to comprehend is that Reshenko is your typical egomaniac scientist who sees nothing wrong in sacrificing the many to benefit a few.

In Los Angeles we meet Mason West, ex military and his family, who have no idea of the crazy about to come their way. Mason has also sworn to take care of the son of one of the men who did not make it back, the kid and his mom are both making that difficult. Elizabeth West is a veterinarian at the L.A. Zoo who has a thing for Bili chimps. Theresa West is their 15 year old daughter who is growing up and growing away from her parents in typical ways. Then there is Elio Lopez, the boy Mason has tried to protect is about to join a gang whose leader is a killer. With a life so full what else could possibly go wrong?

I have to say that it is worth your time to read this book. The characters make it more than worth it because they come to life in a very real way. While you do not get what is promised here I think it will be coming with the second book now that we have been fully introduced to the players.

My rating: 3.5 stars
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Extinction Evolution

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25957736

Extinction Evolution (The Extinction Cycle #4)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am completely blown away by this book. I loved it! The story is being built upon in such an effortless way that it is almost as if it is happening right in front of me. The characters continue to grow and expand as individuals as more are introduced who come forth as full blown people. The tension continues to build pulling you further into their world and their lives. Though this is just as much a medical thriller as it is about zombies/infected, the language does not hold it back and keeps it where you can understand what they are talking about all the time. I was into the story from the first page and only slowed down when I had to sleep mainly.

Staff Sergeant Jose Garcia is commanding officer of the Variant Hunters, so named because they have gone after them and survived more than any others. They are a part of the strike group on the George Washington Carrier and consider themselves to be Americas last best chance to survive. He and his team have seen a lot of action, including first hand knowledge of the changes taking place to the Variants in various locations.

Master Sergeant Reed Beckham and his men had to take charge when an outsider murdered their CO and tried to take over. They are now waiting for the consequences of their actions to arrive on the Island. What happens is far from consequences and the Island gets some much needed support but it is also left without its center. Kate and Ellis are working on their newest attempt to kill the Variants but get word that a new threat may make their work obsolete before it is even deployed. Fitz and Apollo are placed into danger with green recruits and find that they can do more than they thought. What happens while Team Ghost is away is enough to break any man.

Two teams manned by some of the best the world still has to offer will come together to stop what has become the last gasp of mankind. The question is can they do it and if so at what cost.

I cannot stress how much I believe that this series should be read. It is one of the best in the genre! I was crying by the end because I lost some friends in this book and I was so sad to see them go. This is what I want from a book, to make me feel so much for the characters that I forget they are fictional. If you haven’t guessed, I recommend this book highly! 🙂

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The Stand

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13492880

The Stand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

 

I listened to this book this time around after having read it 3 times over the years. It is a story that you find something new in each time you read it. The characters are well written and fleshed so that you get to know them on a deep level. The story is not really scary but has elements that can make you feel uncomfortable or want to look over your shoulder for the bad. Even though it is only a story you can imagine it happening in your world. This seems to be a character study of sorts because you have so many personalities.

A deadly virus is let out into the world because our government cannot seem to keep their word about not creating things that could kill large numbers of people. Around the country people are dying from a superflu and while some are immune they start to dream of two people who they cannot be sure are real. One is an old black woman named Mother Abigail to tells them to come see her in Nebraska, the other is a dark man who scares most but is calling people to him in the west. The good and the evil are bringing together their forces to battle, or so it seems.

For me this is one of his best but I have read most of his work and love it. Try this if you have not read anything else by him.

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Extinction Edge

by

24384184

Extinction Edge (The Extinction Cycle, #2)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What can I say about this book that I did not say about the first? I love the characters who have pulled me into their world and made me care about them in a big way. The ‘zombies’, still prefer the term infected but I will let that go because the story is good enough to make me not care as much. The introduction of the new characters was done perfectly and allowed me to get a feel for them when they return further down the line. The imagery pulls me in and I can actually visualize and put myself in the narrative as it plays out, even though I have never been to the locations described.

With the threat of infection no longer a part of the equation thanks to Kate, the military is now looking to take back the cities. The infected are still in the cities, roaming and killing any survivors they find. But they are not the simple creatures that the men in charge think they are by any means. They are sending their men into a situation that could further decimate their ranks and put them on a path to complete extinction.

There is tension from the moment this book begins to the time it ends and I loved every minute of it. There is a great deal of violence but you know that it is necessary and it is so well done that you cannot help but cheer them on in its execution. The relationships between the men is solid and what you want to see between guys who have each others back on a daily basis.

I don’t know what more to say other than this is a really great series. When I wasn’t actively reading I found myself thinking about it and what might happen next. I was still in this world long after I finished and all I could think about was what will happen in the next book. I am hooked! Highly recommend to zombie lovers or anyone who has a thing for the military.

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Extinction Horizon

by

23738759

Extinction Horizon

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

First thing I have to say is that these are not zombies! They are infected individuals, there is a difference. I know it does not seem important but I am serious about my zombies. Secondly my true rating is 4.5 stars, and that is only because it started a bit slowly for me.

I have here an author who can write a great apocalypse and make me enjoy it as the world falls apart. The characters are realistically portrayed and feel like they could be someone you might meet in your everyday life or at least know someone who knew them. The science is easy to understand, which is good since it could get technical and bog the story down if not handled right. The disease vectors are well thought out, both for the natural and unnatural ones depicted. The descriptions of the infected did put me in the mind somewhat of those in the Will Smith movie ‘I Am Legend’ but I think it is more because they are fast and animal like. Once again, not a bad thing because I like them, as long as you don’t call them zombies.

There have been more breakouts of the Ebola virus around the globe and it appears to be mutating making it harder to treat. Doctors from the CDC are being sent out and coming back with samples hoping to isolate the strain and be able to create a cure. During the Vietnam war there had been experiments with various drugs in an attempt to create better soldiers, those attempts were disastrous.

Now Delta Force operatives are being sent in to rescue or bring back the work of a scientist who has been experimenting with some dangerous virus’s and has gotten into trouble. Master Sargent Reed Beckham and his team go in without a full understanding of the consequences and come away without the prize. Dr. Kate Lovato and her mentor are asked to help figure out what was done and find a cure, but once again they are not given all the facts. Can the world be saved when men decide to play god?

I could give a blow-by-blow but then there would be no need to read the book, and you really should read it. I kind of fell a little in love with Reed Beckham because he seemed so needy in a way, even though he is a strong man who can take care of himself and others. This seems to escalate pretty quickly and I like that we are taken through it day by day which gives a better measure of how swiftly things get out of control.

I cried a little, laughed a little, yelled at the stupid and the slow, was truly disturbed by some of the things done by the infected, and generally had a blast. This is the start, I hope, of a new world of survivors. Enjoy this immediately!

Available for pre-order. Release date December 29, 2014.
http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Horizon-Cycle-1/dp/1505410479/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419751529&sr=8-1&keywords=extinction+horizon
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Monument 14

by

13561848

Monument 14 (Monument 14 #1)

 
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
 
I do love finding an author I have never read before who is able to get my attention with the first thing I read from them. The characters are a bit of a stereo type, such as jock, nerd, pretty girl, promiscuous girl, etc. but that can be overlooked for the most part. They are kids however and so you almost expect this but hope it will not be so pronounced. The dialogue is generally good, the only time it becomes a little stilted is with the introduction of adults into the main story. It also became predictable because I knew exactly where things were going as soon as in a natural progression.

It’s a normal morning in Monument, Colorado and the kids are on their way to school as the buses arrive at their homes for pick-up. But what happens after they are on the way is anything but normal. A massive hail storm starts and the hail starts to punch through the roof of the bus either killing or disorienting those on the high school bus. The driver for the elementary and middle school kids manages to get them to safety and rescue the high school kids too.

Soon the kids are left on their own with no adult supervision as the world outside the superstore they lucked into goes from bad to worse. They find themselves struggling to keep order for the younger children, who are as young as 5 years old, while trying to deal with each other and their different ways of viewing each other. They have everything they could hope for and enough to take care of them for a long time if they can keep the contaminants out. They are already living a precarious life when they allow two more into their haven, making a tense situation even worse.

This was even better than I had expected. It had a sense of tension and urgency with that feel of ‘how will they get out’. I liked enough of them to make it worth keeping up with and those I disliked was because the writing was good and gave me cause to do so. Definitely worth the time.

If you do not like the idea of children in peril and on their own I would pass it up.

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Dust

by

11327688

Dust

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a seriously short story and can be read in less than an hour, though I took longer. This was a well written short for me because I felt like a part of what was going on. I could feel things closing in as things grayed out. References to events that I had actually seen as a child made it that more personal for me. Though you may not get to know the main character as well as you like you understand him enough and get his motivations.

Clyde Jackson builds a bunker after the attack on the twin towers partly because of the loss of his daughter on that day. He was doing it for his wife and himself bu it didn’t work out. When our return to the moon brings back more than just samples the world is not prepared for the devastation, but Clyde is.

This is a story about how even though you may crave isolation, it is never as good as it would seem to be. A really good look at how we handle being truly alone.

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Dead Petals

by

21279473

Dead Petals – An Apocalypse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received this book for free through Netgalley for an honest review.

I was expecting another zombie story but got more than that with this tale. There is much more here than just zombies eating and people being eaten. It got my attention because I needed to see where this was going and if some of the characters I had come to like were going to be around by the time it ended. The characters themselves were interesting, some more than others, but not as well fleshed as I would have liked them to be, you never really got a good background on any of them. The dialogue is good but comes off a bit stilted, not sounding smooth like but like everyone is über proper, even the red-neck. The zombies were pretty great though, they were so different from anything I had read about before and sounded worse than anything I have ever seen on a show.

The end of the world came suddenly and with no warning to those around the world. One day they were going about their every day business and the next it seemed everyone had died and were returning from the grave or simply getting up and walking. While most people die immediately there are still pockets of survivors trying to say ahead of the ravenous crowd of walkers. Among these the survivors are 6 people who are drawn to each other and to a forest that has nothing special about it except that it has been made fairly safe by one man.

Oz was a teacher and trucker before things fell apart and took off looking for a place he could live in as long as possible. He was joined by a doctor named Masaaki, twins Jack and Selene, cop Mason, and country boys Luke and Bob. They were living their lives day by day until they were brought into a secret place that gave them insight into what was really happening with the dead. This was no accident but a deliberate attempt to change life on the planet and they were going to have to stop it.

This had elements of time travel, mystery, horror, as well as an end of the world story. There was greed, vanity, avarice, god complexes, and just simple hate for what had been. I found myself cheering on the small group and sometimes being disappointed in them as well for their lack of follow through when it counted. But really it made me wonder if I would do anything different if I found myself in their situation. Good read but do not expect a lot blood or gore, this is more about the people than the zombies.

 

 

Unknown's avatar

Story Time

by

15708814

Story Time

 

3.5 stars for the story of how the world came to an end. It was a little bit of slow going to start but started to pick up by the time things started really going wrong. The narrative was a bit choppy because you had one individual supposed to be telling the story but what you get are multiple stories going at once, which could get a confusing sometimes. So the flow was a little off but you can still follow where they are going, particularly if you catch some of the hints they throw out. Some of the characters are more believable than others, Naomi and her idealisms are a little hard to swallow after everything that happens, but most I could see living down the street.

In the year 2045 people have come together to hear NaNa Nay tell the story of the survival of humankind after the destruction of Earth. In 2010 the planet started to tear itself apart with earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, everything the Earth can throw at us. Naomi was a 20-year-old college student who was just finishing up her teaching degree when her world fell apart. She is lucky enough to be in a relatively safe location with her brothers and does not suffer as so many others do as time goes by. It is six long years before they are able to start to rebuild. Humans can learn from their mistakes, even if it takes world annihilation to do it.

This is a story of hatred, love, redemption, loss, heroism, and the human spirit to survive. Along with the natural disasters you get some pretty bad aliens and some pretty good aliens. A lot for such a small package.

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NightDrake

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NightDrake

NightDrake

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a great short story! You were able to get the story fast and know exactly what was going on without having that feeling of something missing. Before the end of the first chapter I knew what was going on in this world and then just had to sit back and let things flow over me. Though things moved quickly I did not feel like I was being rushed to a conclusion, but that I was being led to the start of something.

The world changed in 2066 when the Earth’s axis was reversed and calamity reigned as deserts became a part of the ocean and wide swaths of the coast disappeared under those waters. Three hundred years later and mankind lives a harsh life, but there were others that had only been thought myth who surfaced with the change. The Strange are shifters, hobgoblins, telepaths, and all manner of creature.

Nisha the Heartless is a mercenary who will deliver anything, no questions asked, for the right price. She hates the Strange and just wants to make her money and move on to the next job. Drakor is the cargo she will be moving, though she is unaware.

I was ready to dislike Nisha even though she was obviously the focus, but she is much better than I thought.

I really liked this story and wish there could be more about these characters. Maybe if I wish really hard it will happen one day. 🙂