John L. Campbell (5)

I had fun with this zombie book! I saw this book featured at Chuckles Book Cave by my blogger friend, Chuckles, and decided that I would give it a try after finding out that my local library had a copy. I ended up reading the entire book in a single day so I guess you could say that I enjoyed it. It was really one of those books that was hard to put to put down. I am so glad I decided to give this book a try.

This was one of those books that tell a story through a lot of different stories. The book starts right as the zombie outbreak starts and nobody is quite sure what exactly is going on. We meet Skye, a college student, as she is moving into her college dorm with her family's help. Father Xavier Church has an unfortunate event occur that leaves him questioning so many things before the world completely changed. Angie is out filming her reality TV show with her uncle and crew and find that just getting home with the changes in the world will be a challenge. We also meet a Russian pilot, a couple of escaped convicts, a writer, and other assorted characters.

I liked getting all of these different perspectives. Each character had a different situation as that outbreak started and it was very eye-opening to learn how these very different characters dealt with such an impossible situation. Of course, all of the characters that lead these stories are strong characters who are smart, resilient and handle themselves well. Not everyone they come in contact can say those things and often things will end badly for them.

I thought that this story was exciting. There are some pretty intense situations and living conditions for all of the characters are quite harsh. I was happy to see a lot of zombie action in the book and even more happy that a lot of that action is rather brutal. What can I say, I like a bloody book. All of the different threads in the story did start coming together as the book progressed and I am quite excited to see where things will go in the next installment.

I would recommend this book to fans of zombie stories. I thought that this was a well-written story that proved to be quite the page-turner. I look forward to reading more of this exciting series soon.… (más)

Crossbones reinforced a lesson that I should have learned a long time ago. I truly need to read the description a bit more thoroughly before I commit to reading a book for a review. This is not a book that I enjoyed and I don’t recommend it. That said, this is due to my lack of research rather than of the merits of the writer and the story. My negatives:

--The genre of “Horror” doesn’t show on the NetGalley page. It says Literature/Fiction (adult). Horror is not my thing.
--Zombies are also not my thing. This is where my lazy reading of the description sent me awry.
--Crossbones is full of violence, sex, and foul language. I had not gleaned this from the publishers description.

On to the positive:

Campbell is a good writer. The character building was strong and there are a few characterizations that I found humorous. Hippies becoming militaristic is one of them. There is a character that was truly hard to like. She received her comeuppance and that is my favorite moment in the book. It is a testament to Campbell’s skills that he was able to make me hate her so vehemently.

I had not read the first three books in the Omega Series but for the most part Crossbones stands on its own. As would be the case in any series, you miss some of the history and the initial character building when reading it as a stand-alone. There are occasional references to situations that I was not privy to that would have been nice to understand but that background is not necessary to the enjoyment of the story.

As a side note, I started reading this book while returning home from vacation in Seattle. My husband and I had ridden the ferry and visited Bainbridge Island during our stay. It was pretty incredible to be reading about the places in Crossbones that I had literally just visited.

Crossbones is full of action and very fast paced. If you love zombies and action this book is for you.

I received an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher.

For all of my reviews visit my blog at https://blessedandbewildered.wordpress.com… (más)

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Chelle:
*Copy gifted in exchange for an honest review

I adore zombie fiction. And I have read some good one and some terrible ones. When I discovered John L. Campbell's Omega Days series, it was all I could do to wait for the next installment.

Campbell has, in my mind, proven himself a force to be reckoned with in modern zombie apocalypse tales, and the dissected storylines of the series, while something that usually annoy me to no end, lent to a beautifully robust tale from multiple perspectives while still keeping the story arc whole.

Drifters was a bit different than the first two installments, wherein we finally get to find out what happened to the ones that our previous 'main' characters were trying to get back to, specifically, Angie West's husband and daughter, along with the rest of her family. I enjoyed every single page and devoured it in two sittings, but I must admit, I missed the rest of the cast from the U.S.S Nimitz for a good majority of the book, and that is only because Campbell had made me miss them by drawing me in so thoroughly in books #1 and #2.

While Omega Days and Ship of the Dead were slightly more real-time, Drifters takes the reader back to the things that happened during the time that Angie and her family were separated, while uncovering yet another sick and twisted group of survivors, proving once again that all monsters are human.

In keeping with the tone and tension of the series, Campbell holds no punches when it comes to disturbing action, and piles on the grit in a most wonderful way. Nobody is safe in these novels, and I couldn't be more excited about that. :)

If you like The Walking Dead and have a soft spot for horror novels that delve into the human psyche and the darkness that exists within us all, then I highly recommend the Omega Days novels.

Postscript: I was completely saddened because I thought this was the final novel of the series, though I had wondered if John might write a spin-off. I've now heard that there will be more, and after that ending, I absolutely cannot wait!… (más)