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A review by vikingwolf
Survivors by Z.A. Recht, Thom Brannan
4.0
With the tragic death of the author ZA Recht after book two, the fans wondered if we would get a conclusion to the trilogy so I was thrilled to hear that another author had agreed to use ZA Recht's notes and complete book three. There have been mixed opinions on how successful the author was but I still very much enjoyed the book. It is hard to judge the contents of the book as I don't know what ZA's notes were, how much of the plot is his and how much was filled in by the new author. So I can only judge it by how I reacted to it as I read it.
Sawyer is trying to convince his superiors to give him access to attack helicopters which will allow him to go after Anna's group at the facility. Harris and his group arrive at Abraham as hell breaks loose there thanks to an escape from the hospital by Lutz. Anna is having no luck with her work on the virus and she knows that time is running out for them. The survivors are determined to get Stiles safely to the facility as he could be the last hope of a cure.
I do have a few issues with this book compared to the first two novels. Firstly, why is Becky such a bitch these days? I liked her at the start of the series but she is a moaning faced cow in this book and I wasn't bothered if she lived or died. These people have kept her safe all this time and she is treating them There are also way too many pointless info dumps that add nothing to the book ie the contents of every person's room at the facility. How does this actually move the plot onwards? In fact, the whole plot is slow in places with too much inane chat and not the same break neck pace that we had in the first two books.
However the action scenes do not disappoint. The attack on the bridge and the following incidents at the transport museum were exciting, tension filled and edge of the seat stuff. It was well written and had you wondering who was going to make it out alive. It was certainly one of the highlights of the book. There are certainly a few shocks in this part of the book that I wasn't expecting, and it kept things interesting. Also, you have to feel sorry for the Sheriff of Abraham as his town comes under attack again by raiders and zombies-the poor guy must have wondered what his people had done to deserve their fates.
Everyone is converging on the facility-good and bad guys which leads to more trouble for our survivors. I was a bit disappointed by some of the things that happened in the last third of the book as a couple of characters that I liked were killed but such is the nature of zombie books. I was also quite lacklustre about the romance elements that were suddenly introduced. It lacked chemistry and there seemed no real point to it, instead detracting from the overall big battles at that stage of the book.
Basically, I'd say that I am glad the book was written and that we got a resolution to the story. It would have been even better to see what ZA would have done with the story but it wasn't to be. I still enjoyed the overall story and it an above average zombie read.
Sawyer is trying to convince his superiors to give him access to attack helicopters which will allow him to go after Anna's group at the facility. Harris and his group arrive at Abraham as hell breaks loose there thanks to an escape from the hospital by Lutz. Anna is having no luck with her work on the virus and she knows that time is running out for them. The survivors are determined to get Stiles safely to the facility as he could be the last hope of a cure.
I do have a few issues with this book compared to the first two novels. Firstly, why is Becky such a bitch these days? I liked her at the start of the series but she is a moaning faced cow in this book and I wasn't bothered if she lived or died. These people have kept her safe all this time and she is treating them There are also way too many pointless info dumps that add nothing to the book ie the contents of every person's room at the facility. How does this actually move the plot onwards? In fact, the whole plot is slow in places with too much inane chat and not the same break neck pace that we had in the first two books.
However the action scenes do not disappoint. The attack on the bridge and the following incidents at the transport museum were exciting, tension filled and edge of the seat stuff. It was well written and had you wondering who was going to make it out alive. It was certainly one of the highlights of the book. There are certainly a few shocks in this part of the book that I wasn't expecting, and it kept things interesting. Also, you have to feel sorry for the Sheriff of Abraham as his town comes under attack again by raiders and zombies-the poor guy must have wondered what his people had done to deserve their fates.
Everyone is converging on the facility-good and bad guys which leads to more trouble for our survivors. I was a bit disappointed by some of the things that happened in the last third of the book as a couple of characters that I liked were killed but such is the nature of zombie books. I was also quite lacklustre about the romance elements that were suddenly introduced. It lacked chemistry and there seemed no real point to it, instead detracting from the overall big battles at that stage of the book.
Basically, I'd say that I am glad the book was written and that we got a resolution to the story. It would have been even better to see what ZA would have done with the story but it wasn't to be. I still enjoyed the overall story and it an above average zombie read.