The Voodoo Killings - Review

Title:  The Voodoo Killings

Author:  Kristi Charish

Series:  Kincaid Strange #1

Synopsis:     “Introducing Kincaid Strange, not your average Voodoo practitioner… For starters, she’s only twenty-seven.  And she lives in rain-soaked Seattle, which is not exactly Haiti.  And she’s broke.  Since raising zombies was outlawed, she has had to eke out a living by running séances for university students desperate for guitar lessons with the ghost of a grunge rocker – who happens to be Kincaid’s roommate.

     “Still, when a stray zombie turns up outside her local bar, she tries to help.  But not only is it dangerous for her to be caught with an unauthorized zombie, she soon realizes the zombie is tied to a spate of unsolved murders.  Someone is killing the zombies and voodoo practitioners connected to Seattle’s infamous Underground City, a paranormal hub.  When the police refuse to investigate, the City’s oldest and foremost zombie asks Kincaid to help.  She doesn’t want to chase a murderer: she’s broke but she’s not stupid…

     “But then she becomes the target.”

Review:  This is one of the best books that you’ve never heard of.  I hadn’t heard a peep about this book, and I follow a lot of book blogs, bookstagrams, and publishers.  But then a new friend of mine posted, on Facebook, that she had read it and enjoyed it.  I wanted a physical copy, not a Kindle copy, and it was really hard to find!  I live in Western NY and finally found a copy from a seller in Canada.  It took over 2 weeks to arrive and by the time it came I had kind of forgotten I’d ordered it.  So it was a nice little surprise! 

     This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.  I liked the world, and the characters are well developed.  The plot itself reads a lot like a “who-dun-it”, and I really had no idea until the very end who the bad guy really was.  I read a lot of zombie novels, and this is not your normal zombie novel.  The Voodoo Killings is a fun, fast-paced romp through a paranormal world full of strange and wonderful things.  I highly recommend fans of urban fantasy give the novels of Kristi Charish a try.  I can’t wait for the next book about Kincaid Strange!

Publisher:   Penguin Random House/ Vintage Canada

If you like this book you may want to read:

City of Light (Outcast Novels #1) by Keri Arthur

Blood of the Earth (Soulwood Novel #1) by Faith Hunter

Three - Review

Title:  Three

Author:  Jay Posey

Series: Legends of the Duskwalker #1

Synopsis:  "The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.

     "His name is Three, a travelling gun for hire in a dying world.  He has no allegiances, no family, no ties.

     "Against his better judgment, he accepts the mantle of protector to a sick woman on the run, and her young son.  Together they set out across the plains in search of a mythic oasis, attempting to survive the forces that pursue them, and the creatures of the dark.

     "In these dark times, a hero may yet arise."

Review:  I love post-apocalyptic stories.  A world that's our world but not our world at the same time is fascinating.  Three now ranks right up there as one of my favorite post-apocalyptic novels.  We are never told exactly what ended civilization, but the remaining survivors live in fear of the Weir.  The weir are like electronic zombies.  Are they robots?  Are they people turned into robots? Are they Borg?  Are they Cybermen?  We aren't sure, but they are scary as hell. 

     The main character Three grudgingly takes responsibility for Cass and her son Wren who are on the run from a group of criminals almost as scary as the Weir.  We learn some mysterious truths about Wren and Cass as they run from their past.  Three is a fast-paced novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and I loved it.  The world building and character development are wonderful.  I only wish that we had been told what caused the apocalypse that caused this amazing world.  I recommend running right out and buying Three by Jay Posey.

Publisher:   Angry Robot

If you like this book you may want to read:

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (read BookGirlR's review here)

Seven Forges  by James A. Moore

The Buried Life by Carrie Patel (read BookGirlR's review here)

Patient Zero - Review

Title:  Patient Zero

Author:  Jonathan Maberry

Series:  Joe Ledger #1

Synopsis: “Monday, 1300 hours: Joe Ledger kills terrorist Javad Mustapha, AKA Patient Zero, with two point-blank shots from his Glock .45.  Wednesday, 0800 hours: Patient Zero rises from the dead…

     “When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, there’s either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills… and there’s nothing wrong with Joe Ledger’s skills.  Ledger, a Baltimore detective assigned to a counterterrorism task force, is recruited by the government to lead a new ultrasecret rapid-response group called the Department of Military Science (DMS) to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bioweapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies.”

Review:  Patient Zero is a wonderfully dense read.  It’s a zombie story, and we all know how much I love zombie stuff, but it’s so much more than that.  Patient Zero is an action packed thriller in which the real bad guys aren’t zombies, but terrorists wielding a biological weapon that turns ordinary citizens into zombies.  Even after finishing this novel I was still thinking about it, and the main character Joe Ledger.  Joe’s voice is distinct and wow is he funny.  I had a crush on Joe within the first 2 pages of Patient Zero, sorry SuperSteve, and was terrified something bad was going to happen to him.  I’m glad there are more novels in the series, and I’ve added them all to my wish list.  I’ve also added Maberry’s Rot & Ruin series for young adults to my wish list.  If you like edge of your seat thrillers and zombie horror novels pick up Patient Zero, you won’t regret it.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

ISBN:  978-0312382858

If you like this book you may want to read:

Dragon Factory (Joe Ledger #2) by Jonathan Maberry

Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon (see BookGirlR’s review here)

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro (see BookGirlR’s review here)

The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant (see BookGirlR’s review of Feed here)

Coldbrook - Review

Title:  Coldbrook

Author:  Tim Lebbon

Synopsis:  “The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook.  Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world.  Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing.  With their breakthrough comes disease.  Billions are dead yet still walking.  The only hope is a cure, and the only cure is genetic immunity.  In the chaos of destruction there is one person that can save the human race.  But will they find her in time?”

Review:  I needed a new book to read.  My to-be-read pile still has about 20 books in it; but none of them were what I wanted at the time.  Plus I was stressed, and when I’m stressed I go book shopping*.  I found Coldbrook.  At first I failed to notice the red eyes on the shadowy figure on the cover.  I purchased this book because it’s by Tim Lebbon and the blurb on the front cover caught my interest.  The blurb reads “Will a door to another earth mean the end for this one?” and my first thought was, “It wouldn’t be much fun if it didn’t”.  So that, combined with the fact that this is a big book (509 pages) and therefore guaranteed to keep me busy for a few days, prompted me to pick up Coldbrook.  I did not realize until page 43 that this was, in part, a zombie novel.  At that point I was thrilled, because I love a good zombie novel.  I also felt very silly, because now when I look at the dark, shadowy cover the red eyes are the first thing that I notice.

          This book was wonderful.  It was just the novel I needed to snap myself out of a stress filled haze in which barely any reading was getting done.  About halfway through I realized that Lebbon was taking the story into a completely different place than that which I had expected and that was thrilling.  I was afraid for a while that it wasn’t going to end in a satisfactory manner (for me), but at the end of the novel I was pleased with how it all wrapped up.            Coldbrook was exciting, horrifying and thrilling.  I was reading every chance I got (although, when am I not?) and reached the critical climax one day while reading on my break at work.  I had to stop in the middle and go back to work!  It was horrible!  I actually had a moment where I was sitting in the breakroom debating just not going back to work until I was finished with the novel.  At that point it would have been 20 more minutes tops!  I think there should be some sort of special allowances for this sort of thing.  Perhaps I’ll speak to management about instituting an extended break for special circumstances such as these. 

          If you like horror and suspense read Coldbrook.  Zombies come through a portal from an alternate Earth and begin laying waste to our world.  There is death, destruction, plane crashes and even a Speed-like bus chase.  Tim Lebbon is an awesome storyteller and I look forward to reading more from him.

* Please note: I basically go book shopping when I’m feeling any emotion whatsoever. 

Publisher:   Titan Books

ISBN:  978-1781168783

Because I loved this book I have added these to my Review Wish List:

 The Toxic City Series by Tim Lebbon

The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill

If you liked this book you may want to read:

The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant (see BookGirl’s review of Feed here)

Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon (see BookGirl’s review here)

Dead City - Review

Title: Dead City

Author: Joe McKinney

Synopsis:  “Texas?  Toast.  Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history.  Thousands are dead or dying – but the worst is only beginning.  Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life – with an insatiable hunger for human flesh…

     “Within hours, the plague has spread all over Texas.  San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds his city overrun by a voracious army of the living dead.  Along with a small group of survivors, Eddie must fight off the savage horde in a race to save his family…

     “There’s no place to run.  No place to hide.  The zombie horde is growing as the virus runs rampant.  Eddie knows he has to find a way to destroy these walking horrors… but he doesn’t know the price he will have to pay…”

Review:  I’m sure you all know that I am obsessed with zombies.  If you haven’t realized that yet or are new to my blog check out these reviews:

Feed

Apolcalypse Z

Deadline

Monster Island

You see?  I may be new to the zombie genre, but I have fallen in love with it.  I also love zombie television and have watched the first two seasons of The Walking Dead.  Unfortunately I have basic cable and don’t get AMC so I have to wait for Season 3 on DVD before I get to watch it.  So, I have read yet another zombie novel.  I loved Dead City.  Joe McKinney has created a story that at first reminded me of The Walking Dead, but then the plot and main character developed voices of their own.

          I felt bad for poor Eddie and his desperation to find his family.  Every time that something, or someone, waylaid him I got upset and wondered if he would ever find them.  I love how, with Dead City, McKinney has given us the whole time period of a zombie apocalypse.  We get to see the beginning, the middle and the long term outcome of the zombie outbreak.  Many zombie novels simply show a single snapshot, a period of time limited to a brief sample of one of those.  I will definitely be picking up more of the zombie novels available by Joe McKinney and I highly recommend Dead City to zombie and horror lovers everywhere. 

Publisher:  Pinnacle Fiction

ISBN:  978-0786023585

If you like this book you may want to read:

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End - Review

Title:  Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End

Author: Manel Loureiro

Translated to English By: Pamela Carmell

Synopsis:  The dead rise…

A mysterious incident in Russia, a blip buried in the news – it’s the only warning humanity receives that civilization will soon be destroyed by a single, voracious virus that creates monsters of men.

Humanity falls…

A lawyer, still grieving over the death of his young wife, begins to write as a form of therapy.  But he never expected that his anonymous blog would ultimately record humanity’s last days.

The end of the world has begun…

Governments scramble to stop the zombie virus, people panic, so-called “Safe Havens” are established, the world erupts into chaos; soon it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves.  Armed only with makeshift weapons and the will to live, a lone survivor will give mankind one last chance against…

Apocalypse Z

Review:  I’ll admit that I have become addicted to zombie apocalypse fiction.  I'm pretty sure it was after reading Feed by Mira Grant (the best zombie novel ever, by the way.  Read my review of Feed here).  I have been devouring everything zombie apocalypse based since then.  I've also been sleeping with the lights on, and a baseball bat under the bed.    

          I loved Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro, which was translated into English by Pamela Carmell, and it has been added to my list of the top ten zombie novels.  I literally had to force myself to put my Kindle down long enough to write papers, eat, go to class and go to work.  I stayed up way past my bedtime for three nights in a row, unable to stop reading long enough to get any sleep.  I was sure that this novel was going to end in tragedy.  The engaging first person narrative, and the story about the nameless lawyer and his cat searching for a safe place during the nightmare of a zombie apocalypse, kept me on the edge of my seat.  I became so emotionally involved in Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End that I found myself getting upset when things looked bleak.  This is a definite must read for lovers of zombie fiction!    

Publisher: AmazonCrossing

If you like this book you may also want to read:

The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Deadline - Review

Title: Deadline
Author: Mira Grant
Series: The Newsflesh Trilogy #2

Synopsis: “Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn’t seem as fun when you’ve lost as much as he has.
“But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news – he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.
“Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun”


Review: I know that after reading Feed I said I wasn’t sure I wanted to read the rest of the series. Grant’s writing is so vivid and so intense that for weeks I was sure zombies were going to jump out of every shadow. After awhile the aftereffects of reading Feed passed and I was no longer scared. I preordered Deadline, sure that there was no way it could be as great as Feed but willing to try it nonetheless.
So here it is. I love this book. I love this series. I love Mira Grant (who is actually a pseudonym for Seanan McGuire, so I therefore love Seanan McGuire). I read Deadline in about three hours. I couldn’t put it down and carried it around with me. I read while making coffee. I read while brushing my teeth. I read while feeding the cat.
Deadline is told from Shaun’s point of view. Poor Shaun no longer delights in the simple pleasures like poking dead things with sticks or getting almost killed by flesh eating zombies. We quickly discover that George isn’t entirely gone, a part of her lingers. Shaun searches for the reasons behind why she was killed and discovers a conspiracy deeper than he had imagined (there are several revelations that blew my mind) which leads to a surprising ending.
I can’t wait for the third book in this series. I want it ASAP. Writing like this deserves an audience. Go get Deadline and read it now!


Publisher: Orbit
ISBN: 978-0316081061

Before you read this book you should really check out:



Feed by Mira Grant (The Newsflesh Trilogy #1)See my review here.

If you like this book you may want to read:



The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (ISBN: 978-0385736824)



Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (ISBN: 978-0756405717)

Ex-Heroes - Review

Title: Ex-Heroes

Author: Peter Cline

Synopsis: “Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes. Vigilantes. Crusaders for justice, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place.
“Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Despite the best efforts of the superheroes, the police, and the military, the hungry corpses rose up and overwhelmed the country. The population was decimated, heroes fell, and the city of angel was left a desolate zombie wasteland like so many others.
“Now, a year later, the Mighty Dragon and his companions must overcome their differences and recover from their own scars to protect the thousands of survivors sheltered in their film studio-turned-fortress, the Mount. The heroes lead teams out to scavenge supplies, keep the peace within the walls of their home, and try to be the symbols the survivors so desperately need.
“For while the ex-humans walk the streets night and day, they are not the only threat left in the world, and the people of the Mount are not the only survivors left in Los Angeles. Across the city, another group has grown and gained power.
“And they are not heroes.”

Review: Superheroes and zombies together in one novel? I thought that Ex-Heroes had a combination that could not fail. Surprise. This novel was one big epic fail.
Fault number 1: Cline tries to do too much. There are too many main characters and too many plot twists. As a result the characters are one dimensional and the storyline is hard to follow. The confusing storyline leads into
Fault number 2: switching points of view. This is one of my many pet peeves. Pick a point of view and stick with it for goodness sake! Cline switches back and forth between first and third person points of view constantly and the first person chapters are never about the same character and he doesn’t tell you who it is for at least a page.
Fault number 3: Cline switches between “then” and “now” frequently. This would not be a problem, as he nicely labels each chapter, if it were not for the already prevalent confusion.
I almost gave up reading Ex-Heroes halfway through, but decided to stick it out in the hopes that it would get better. It didn’t. I think that I tend to be overly optimistic when it comes to books as they rarely let me down. I don’t recommend this novel. Don’t let the waste of my time be meaningless. Read something else!

Publisher: Permuted Press
ISBN: 978-1934861288

Don’t read this book. Try one of these instead:



Feed by Mira Grant (ISBN: 978-0316081054)
See my review of Feed here.



Monster Island by David Wellington (ISBN: 978-1560258506)
See my review of Monster Island here.

Monster Island - Review

Title: Monster Island

Author: David Wellington

Series: Zombie Novels #1

Synopsis: “It’s one month after a global disaster. The most “developed” nations of the world have fallen to the shambling zombie masses. Only a few pockets of humanity survive…
“In New York City, the dead walk the streets, driven by an insatiable hunger for all things living. From the other side of the planet, a small but heavily armed group of schoolgirls-turned-soldiers comes in search of desperately needed medicine, with a former UN weapons inspector as their local guide. They think they are prepared for anything. On Monster Island they will find that there is something worse even than undeath.”

Review: I read this book in one sitting. It’s a good thing that today was Columbus Day and so I didn’t have to work or go to classes. Once I started reading Monster Island I couldn’t put it down. Wellington’s characters are realistic and I couldn’t help feeling compassion for them. Dekalb, who is searching the world for the AIDS drugs he needs to give to a female warlord in Somalia in exchange for his daughter’s safety; Jack, the unwilling leader of 200 survivors in NYC; Gary, the doctor who figured out how to keep his brain functioning when he turned himself undead and is now stuck as something worse than undead and Ayaan, the Somali schoolgirl-turned-soldier who longs to live but knows that she will die.
The description in this book, while not overly graphic, is chilling:

"We could make out most of Liberty Island now and the shadow of Ellis Island beyond. The girls were pointing with agitation at the walkway that ringed Liberty, at the people there. American clothes, American hair exposed to the elements. Tourists, perhaps. Perhaps not.”
…“On the island I saw hundreds of them, hundreds of people. They waved at us, their arms moving stiffly like something from a silent movie. They pushed toward the railing, to get closer to us. As the trawler rolled closer I could see them crawling over one another in their desperation to touch us, to swarm onboard.
“I thought maybe, just maybe they were alright, maybe they’d run to Liberty Island for refuge and been safer there and were just waiting for us, waiting for rescue but then I smelled them and I knew. I knew they weren’t alright at all. Give me your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse, my brain repeated over and over, a mantra” (pg 4&5).

This novel started out as an online serial and was quickly picked up by a publisher because of its popularity. I think it’s excellent, although I do need to warn readers that it has a cliff-hanger ending. I can’t wait to get the next one to see what’s going to happen!

Publisher: Running Press
ISBN: 978-1560258506

If you like this book you may want to read:

Monster Nation by David Wellington (ISBN: 978-1560258667)

Feed by Mira Grant (ISBN: 978-0316081054)
Check out my review of Feed here.

Feed - Review

Title: Feed

Author: Mira Grant (also writes as Seanan McGuire)

Series: The Newsflesh Trilogy #1

Synopsis: “The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we had created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.
“Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives --- the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.”

Review: I loved this book, even if it did scare the shit out of me. The idea of people having to live in constant readiness for a zombie invasion freaked me out. I realized that I would be more than likely to die within the first day of a zombie uprising, due to my amazing ability to ignore bad and scary things until it’s too late to do anything about them.
I absolutely loved the opening line of Feed: “Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot – in this case, my brother Shaun – deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens.” A normal zombie story (is there such a thing?) would have ended with Shaun poking the zombie with a stick. This zombie story starts with that. After that first line I knew that this was going to be a thrill ride of a novel.

Even though I loved this story I did see Georgia’s frequent reflections about the Rising and how the zombies came to be slightly disruptive to the flow of the first person narrative. It was information that we, as readers need but is extremely difficult for the author to work in seamlessly.
I loved Georgia and Shaun and I saw a lot of myself in Buffy, the techno genius/fiction writer. The zombies terrified me. Many of you who know me know that, as a rule, I stay away from horror. I feel that I’ve had enough horror in my life. I don’t need to add more fuel for the nightmares. Every once in awhile there is a story good enough to make me bend this rule. Although I’m not sure that I’ll be buying the sequel when it comes out, I’ve had enough trouble sleeping the last few nights, terrified that zombies are going to break through my windows and feast on my flesh while I sleep.

Publisher: Orbit
ISBN: 978-0316081054

If you like this book you may want to read:


Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (ISBN: 978-0756405717)

Monster Island

by David Wellington (ISBN: 978-1560258506)
See my review of Monster Island here.