Mason is a soldier with a new posting – to one of the
remaining settlements in the plague states, one of only two places left where
zombie slaves are captured and sold into the US. It’s not a reward – this is
where the screw ups go, those who need to be shuffled out of view and Mason,
with his record in Egypt and his PTSD, is a prime candidate
Someone else also thought so – but not to guard zombies in cells, but to be part of a plot to change how zombies are treated and finally reclaim the plagued states. Mason is an essential cog in that plan
And, possibly, a disposable one.
This book, like the first book in the series, is short –
very short. But it isn’t written like a short story.
So we have a long introduction, a recap to the world,
some excellent characterisation, some great world building, lots of slowly
built foreshadowing, some devious hints to the world… all of it is building at
a nice steady and ominous rate. It’s really well done…
…then the REST of the plot and the action and actual
stuff happening is rammed in with a crowbar, fastforwarded to 20x speed and is
a blur of barely understood, slightly incomprehensible splurge. It’s one of
those books where I wonder if a deadline was looming because it was all nice
and steady then it was zomg finish it! Finish it! No, I don’t have time to
explain that it, just happened – characterisation? Gah, just throw in a random
doctor, she’ll do – explosions! More explosions! MOAR EXPLOSIONS! And
half-breeds and escape through doors which are open and throw in a flashback
and memory loss – there, done!
Those last two also didn’t help. The protagonist has had
a traumatic experience as a soldier in Egypt and many references are made
throughout the book. He also speculates a lot on why other soldiers are
dispatched to this posting and what they could have done wrong. Then, because
of the plot, he suffers an injury that shakes his memory and causes confusion
and makes him mistake the other soldiers for people from his past which adds to
an odd moment which seems to be telling the current plot as a flashback from
the future (I didn’t quite get it. It could have been talking about events from
the previous book and have been a memory?). It’s probably pretty clear that I had trouble
following – confused memories and fast pacing combine to completely lose me.
At the end, I kind of get what happened by piecing
everything together. And the plot is a fascinating and a crafty one. We get to
hear a lot more of the world and how the US has suffered by having so many
states given over to zombies as well as the attempt to restore those areas –
which means clearing out the zombies. And part of that will inevitably mean
stopping the new slave trade that depends on the zombies both as a plain moral imperative
(which is clearly seen) but also to gather sufficient impetus to actually
seeking and implementing a mass cure for zombiedom. But on top of that is the conflict of chosen
methods – and how much does the end justify the means even when ending such a
vile practice? Especially when the “good guys” feel like a nefarious cabal.
The plot is also interesting in the way that Mason is
pulled towards the conspiracy whether he wants to or not. He’s subtly and
carefully manipulated and, possibly, kept ignorant of what he is truly being
prodded into (again, the confusion means I don’t actually know what Mason does
and doesn’t know).
There’s also some interesting parallels and references to
American military strength being used abroad – in this book in a conflict in
Egypt. The way the Egyptians were treated carries a lot of parallels to how the
zombies are treated – to their mutual dehumanisation. It also includes a lot of
abuse and violence that becomes so natural when regarding people as either the
enemy or as chattel.
Of course the flip side is that we are comparing and
contrasting the Egyptians to zombies which is also dehumanising in a narrative
sense not just as a narrative tool. We do have other POC in the book – the chief
scientists is a Black woman - she and another doctor are the only women in the
story. Both are intelligent and highly competent. One ruthless, the other compassionate,
both driven. But the book has the whole cast pretty much call her a bitch over
and over not only is it a grossly unnecessary slur, it’s also deeply clumsy,
weak characterisation – she is demonised with slurs to make her seem like an
unpleasant, hard person when she never
actually displays anything like that behaviour. She’s also the victim of some
more sexual shaming and severe misogynist slurs in a truly gratuitous manner which
doesn’t even have an attempt for a story reason.
A number of the other soldiers are also POC – including one
Black soldier who can’t control his tongue (but speaks a lot of sense) and a
number of Latino soldiers. There are no LGBT characters at all – but the book
repeatedly uses anti-gay slurs for no apparent reason.
So, in the end we have a book with an awesome concept,
some fascinating plot, a lot of world building backed with a racially diverse
cast willing to tackle some heavy issues. Which then throws in a lot of slurs,
bemusing flashbacks, some terrible pacing and a whole lot of splurgy confusion
that left me beyond confused.
