Reviews

This was a quick read, and I’m thankful for that! It’s always hard for me to stay on task with a book (thanks ADHD), so it was nice to just breeze through this one. That being said, I would say it was mostly fun because of the zombie aspect. The main character is an alcoholic cop (which definitely isn’t who I want to be following during a zombie apocalypse; I want to follow Everyday Joe!) who spends most of his time getting wasted rather than finding out what is going on with this ship from hell. Guaranteed, I’m not saying I would be much better in his shoes in this situation…but the man spends nearly a year drinking, fucking, and getting into fistfights with other passengers on the cruise. And the reason behind the ‘Groundhog Day’ aspect of the plot just didn’t work for me.

The zombie virus is just that: a virus. Spread to the passengers as they got on the ship. And I’m always on board for a plot that shows a sickness caused the zombie outbreak because it’s plausible and therefore SCARY! But the Groundhog Day plot point just seemed…odd, and lazy. There was a Romani character (who the author refers to as a ‘g*psy’) who just magically is on this ship when the breakout happens and is able to keep the day resetting as long a specific candle doesn’t blow out? It just seemed out of left field and a little disjointed to me. Why not make the Groundhog Day effect be because of a theory based in science? Why not a time loop or something like that? I didn’t like that fact that the author took a plot point somewhat based on science (a virus that causes its victims to go feral) and decided, “Hey! Let’s throw in some ‘fantasy’ elements and not do this ethnic group justice!”

All in all, this was a decent read, middle-of-the-road kind of thing for me. Probably won’t read it again, but I guess it’s a good thing it was free.

Content Warnings

kyra_joy's review

Go to review page

fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was fun, but overall didn’t feel like it made a tons of sense, it had good bones but I wasn’t able to push past some of the weird plots point. It had some moments but seeing that the second one is even longer I think I’ll pass.