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Perspectives

perspectives

Perspectives (LZR-1143 #2.5)

I like that the stories were short, sweet and to the point. When the zombies come not everyone will survive or want to. These stories for me are about what will happen to the vast majority of people if the dead started to walk and attack. Very nice!
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Extinction Evolution

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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Mayor of the Damned

20879961

Mayor of the Damned (Sven the Zombie Slayer, Book 3)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I read the first book in this series I did not expect that I would get to the third one and feel a bit underwhelmed. I am assuming that this is the last book, though it may not be another in the works somewhere. These stories grabbed me with the first book I picked up but they have gotten a little less interesting as they have gone along. I had a very hard time getting into this book even though I liked the characters. This was not what I would have expected from the characters and it made it a very hard read. The plot was a little convoluted and could not hold my interest because I really didn’t care about them like I did before. There was no real action, though more than the last book which took place in the three locations our mains were in.

Sven makes his way out of City Hall only to be faced with more of the infected and no easy way to get home to Jane and Lori. While he is trying to make his way across the city he runs into someone he had thought dead or at least one of the infected. Milt is infected but has evolved in a different way from the others, he has decided that the world needs to be evolved and that Sven and his friends should join him.

The creator of the virus which has caused all the chaos is on the move and wants to observe how his Desi is causing trouble. He also wants to see how it has mutated and what it might do as it travels around the country.

Milt plays a little like a cartoon villain, its the way he talks and acts. He is not a likable character at all. I would have liked to have seen more of the vegan, he is a character who got a serious short look in every book but was an interesting kind of guy. Maybe in the next book if it happens. You have to read this if you have read the first two.

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Dead Line

19429634

Dead Line (DEAD)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was very light on the horror, zombies, but heavy on characters. When I read the first book I liked it so much because there was a nice balance of action to character development. That is so not the case here, we know who these characters are and the new characters which come along, almost incidentally, are not all that interesting in the long run. The dialogue drags in a lot of places and makes the narrative drag right along with it. The language itself is fine and makes sense for the characters.

Shane, Terry, and Marla find themselves hold up inside a museum with a little girl named Rebecca (River) who swings a mean machete. They are safe for the moment and Shane is looking for his daughter so that he can put her out of her misery. They cannot stay forever but Shane has other priorities and until they are fulfilled, he will not be moved. If they are to continue to survive then they will have to keep moving and look for other survivors.

There are more survivors but some of them are not the type of people who the group really wants to meet. The good and the bad wait for them in the world they are about to enter.

If you have read the previous two novels you have to read this one to complete the story. I found it slow going and did stop and start, though I completed it. Some of the situations are just so obvious that you may want to skim to get to more interesting parts but don’t because you would be cheating yourself.

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Dead Ice

in24353296

Dead Ice (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #24)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have enjoyed this series since the first novel I found quite by accident. While some see the evolution of the characters as bad for the series, I see it as perfectly normal that they would change and become more than they were before. I have read each book and been more than happy with the situations and the growth that Anita has experienced. The story is good with what I consider to be a nice balance between the relationship stuff and the work stuff. Anita has gone from single-minded to thinking outside her little box. There are multiple story lines going on here and while all are not resolved, each is at least presented and hopefully will be dealt with at a later date.

Anita has been called in by the FBI to help in a case involving someone raising zombies and using them in sex shows on the internet. Surprisingly she is recommended by an unlikely person who knows that if anyone can help, she can. Once Anita sees the footage for herself she is more than willing to help find the person doing it because they have stepped over the line in  more ways than one. The most disturbing thing about the zombies is that she has seen zombies like this before, but the person who animated them is dead and no one else should know how to do it.

While trying to help solve the case she has also been marginalized by many because of her engagement to Jean-Claude. They are looking for the perfect ring, or at least Jean-Claude is, and are having problems agreeing on a design. Anita has made a decision on something for her hand-fasting with Nathaniel and Micah however, causing a touch of jealousy from Jean-Claude. Not to mention the other men who want to be a part of their inner circle. Things are never simple with this many people in a relationship.

I like all the stories which are going on around the main mystery because they give more dimension to everything else. While people have complained in the past about the sex scenes there are not nearly as many in this book as before, mainly because it is no longer needed to tell that particular story. I kind of missed it since I had come to expect at least more than this. You get to see a few characters who have been absent for a while such as Richard and Raphael, who are mentioned but seldom seen. There is also more about some of the animal groups who have been folded into Jean-Claude and Anita’s main home group.

Some people may figure out the guilty party right away and others may take longer, either way I think it is a great ride. If you love the series then you are likely to be happy with this entry, if you had loved it but stopped reading then you should give this a look.

“Holy Wrath of God, Batman, your ass was going to be ours soon, you soul-trapping son of a bitch.”
Laurell K. Hamilton, Dead Ice Laurell K. Hamilton
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Extinction Age

25332734

Extinction Age (The Extinction Cycle Book 3)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here we are at book number three and things just keep getting better and better. I am so invested in this series that I cannot bear to have any of the characters hurt or even worse. The characters are true to life and make it very easy to feel for what they are going through. I even understand some of the science stuff that is talked about because it is not over the head of anyone. I am totally loving the action and even if I want to scream at them sometimes it only means that I have found my fully into their world.

When we left off last time Reed and Jensen along with other members of Team Ghost had been dumped into the sewers underneath New York as the rest of the military evacuated back to Plum Island. Things did not look good for them as they found their way through the maze underneath the city. I will say that everywhere they go they seem to find survivors in the most unlikely places.

Kate is still feeling as if she is responsible for the death of the world, even though she made it at least a little safer. Major Kennor finally takes responsibility for his mistakes, though its to little to late. And they are back to needing Ellis and Kate to come up with a way to save them all.

The tension and horror is ratcheted up ten fold as changes come to the Island and to the world around them. They are working to survive for each other and for their friends. I have to say again that Reed is my ideal man but if Fitz were a little older I could go for him too. Death, destruction, loyalty, betrayal, and bravery. These are things they deal with and it is exciting to get to be a part of it.

If you have not read this series you have no idea what you are missing, so you should remedy that right away. Extinction Horizon is where it all begins but the story is far from over here.Enjoy!

View all my reviews

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LZR-1143: Infection

8683969

LZR-1143: Infection (LZR-1143 #1)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a really good zombie story that has it’s own little twist. The main characters are somewhat light in the beginning but get fleshed out nicely by the end, though there is still room for more development. The story is fast paced and brings things to a critical point pretty quickly. There is a bit of a mystery as to how things got started as well as the mystery surrounding the death of the main characters wife, though that seems to have been figured out. The language is straight and conveys the thoughts and actions of the characters perfectly.

The narrator is an ex-action hero and movie star, Michael McKnight, who was convicted of killing his wife and committed to a mental hospital as criminally insane. He does not remember killing her or anything else about that time, and they keep him so doped up he can barely function. When he wakes up and finds all the staff and a number of the patients gone he has no idea what happened until an orderly wanders in and eats the only other patient he has seen.

Michael meets Kate, a psychiatrist and some of her patients as he tries to escape the hospital. They get out together only to be confronted with the reality that the dead are walking and trying to kill them. Michael is having flashbacks and is sure that they are a way to redeem himself by saving the world, or maybe he really is crazy and its all a delusion.

The zombies are gross, the infection is fast, and the world is being devastated quickly. The only thing that really annoyed me about this was that it seemed to end so abruptly. I know there is another book but it could have given a better lead in for it. Still good though!

“Lemme guess,” I said, affecting the appropriate sarcastic tone. “We’re running low on gas?” He nodded curtly, eyes on the road. Despite my intuition, I was incredulous. “What the hell? Doesn’t anyone keep gas in their cars anymore? Why don’t any vehicles in the apocalypse have any goddamn gasoline? It’s like a really bad fucking movie! Jesus!” I couldn’t believe this. Second time in as many vehicles! “OK, I’m just telling you now, if any of you mother-fuckers even think about going outside to check out the noise in the dark, or go to the dark room upstairs to find the virgin after hearing the strange sound, I’m shooting you myself!”
Bryan James, LZR-1143: Infection
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The Zombie Axiom

18883640

The Zombie Axiom (In the Time of the Dead)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I liked the idea of this story from the first time I read the blurb. It sounded somewhat different from the stories I had read in the past. With that being said it was very hard for me to become engaged with the story for a large portion of it. I never really did feel much for any of the characters, they never fully came to life for me. I was never really able to connect to any of the characters except for small instances near the end. The characters were not completely real to me, they seemed to almost be nothing more than stereotypes. The story did progress well and moved from point to point fairly nicely. The language was easy to follow and seemed to work for those characters as they were drawn. I will also say that I did not particularly like the way it was laid out, two chapters for a book of 311 pages made it hard to pace it.

After a meteor shower some of the people of Connisburgh start to act in murderous ways attacking their family and neighbors for no apparent reasons. Things start so slowly that at first no one notices what is happening. Three people get a front row seat to the apocalypse as it begins even though they are not sure what is happening right away. Virgil is a vet who would rather avoid people at all costs than get close to anyone, Sasha is a nurse who has an abusive home life but is a true survivor, then there is Derek, a Sensei in Akido who has a calm that nothing seems able to rattle.

These people and others will find that things may seem bad at first but that they can get even worse. There is an unknown variable that is pushing to help destroy humanity and our little band has no idea.

While it was not something that grabbed me and held my attention until the end, it did still entertain once I finally got into it. The confrontation could have come earlier since I had been promised that there would be one but it did materialize, if a bit late. I did find that the ending has at least sparked an interest in the next book. I do hope the alien aspect gets a little more play in the next installment.

Zombies good so if you like them I say give it a try.

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Thirteen Roses

23480236

Thirteen Roses Book One: Before: An Apocalyptic Zombie Fable

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I do love a good zombie story! The one thing that did kind of annoy me about this one is that it seemed like it took so long to get to the zombies. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying the lead up completely, it’s just I was looking all over for the zombies. I like the way the characters were introduced one at a time in order to give you a feel for who they are. It gave me a chance to decide if I liked them or not, meaning whether I was going to be rooting for or against them. I liked the use of interludes to give more background on the state of things as they unfolded. This was definitely a different type of zombie story with what seem to be spiritual/religious undertones.

A flower seller who appears to be nothing special but who speaks like a very well-educated man, and is much more than anyone would believe. Flowers are given to seven carefully chosen people for reasons that can mean life or death for them. One of those people has the ability to cause the release of a plague that will devastate the world and it seems to have been made possible by someone associated with our flower seller.

You have to read this in order to truly appreciate it. Angels, demons, the almighty, and an interesting cross of humanity. I want book two to be just as interesting as this one because I am highly motivated to read it as soon as it comes out. Great characters, good action, nice premise, and kind of fun. I would call it a must read.

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If you have not yet read book 1 do so immediately!

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Night Of The Living Trekkies

10126210

Night Of The Living Trekkies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Being a major Star Trek fan I had to get this book as soon as I saw it. This was a really fun novel as far as I am concerned. The writing was great and made good use of the world of Star Trek and its characters as well as those from Star Wars ( Personally I don’t think there would have been a Star Wars if not for Star Trek to lead the way). There were what I believe were a few nods, though I could be wrong, to characters from the show. The characters for the most part were interesting and felt fleshed out enough that you were invested in whether or not they survived.

Jim Pike (James T. Kirk and Christopher Pike)had been a fan of Star Trek when he was younger, but after his tour of duty in Afghanistan and the loss of his squad he no longer wishes to indulge in that fantasy world. He is working at the hotel which is hosting The Gulf Con for Trekkie’s, an exclusive convention for Star Trek fans only. He just wants to get through it with minimal fuss. The best thing about the whole thing is that his sister is attending with some friends and plans to spend some time with her big brother.

They are not far from Johnson Space Center and the secrets that it houses which could cause the destruction of all mankind. There are many Star Trek fans working there and they manage to bring something to the convention that stops it before it going. A zombie virus is unleashed and all those people who wanted to boldly go end up gone and back to munch on their crews.

It did take me a few chapters in to really get into it but I was going to finish no matter what just because it combined two of my favorite things, Star Trek and zombies. This has a bit more of twist than just throwing zombies into the mix with our Trekkie and it was a pretty good one that caught me a little off guard. If you want something that will make you smile, make you laugh, and gross you out a bit, then this is for you.