Solid Debut
The fact that this book mixes two of my favorite things, super-heroes and zombies, made it a must-read for me, and I actually decided to make it my inaugural read for my Nook. First, the negatives. I was a little disappointed by how short it was. With the setup, I felt the plot could have gone for something a bit more grandiose. However, it's left open enough that Clines could continue to write stories about these characters--well, at least the ones that survive. (That's actually another complaint. Some of the characters who don't survive are interesting enough that I would like to have seen more of them.) Also, there are some plot holes here and there. SEMI-SPOILERS! For example, take the character Zzzap. He's can basically turn himself into a being of pure energy, and unless I missed something*, I was left with the impression that he could pretty much take out all the zombies single-handedly just by flying through them. (He chooses not to because of how horrible it feels. My response would have been something like, "Man up, deal with it, and save humanity.") He's not as godlike as, say, Dr. Manhattan,--he isn't always in pure energy form, and when he's in regular human guise, he's paralyzed from the waist down--but he seems pretty much unstoppable. END SEMI-SPOILERS A lot of the regular human characters feel pretty interchangeable and aren't very well developed. During the battle scene at the end, I often found myself thinking, "Now who's he again?" I think a little more time with these characters would have really helped to enrich the story. The positives, however, outweigh the negatives. Like I said, it feels too short, but mostly in a good way; I want more. I really enjoyed the flashbacks that fill the reader in on what the characters were up to before the outbreak hit and how they got to where they were by the beginning of the book. I also really liked the revelation of how the infection started. It's a twist that puts things into a bit of a new perspective. Clines has done an admirable job with his debut novel, and I hope he continues the adventures of the surviving heroes. Permuted Press is also to be commended for making their releases available as ebooks. It's something I'm surprised more small presses aren't doing. *If I did indeed miss a sentence or two that mentions Zzzap's powers not being limitless, could someone please point that out to me?
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