Lee has his mission to restore society and civilisation
to the ruined US, destroyed by the RAGE plague turning people into ferocious,
violent zombie-like beings. He’s made it to Camp Ryder but the survivors are
wary. They’re surrounded by a rampaging gang that’s more than happy to destroy them
and they don’t trust or have the supplies for outsiders
Lee has to prove his worth, prove his loyalty and show the camp he can help – but delivering the supplies that were stashed before society collapsed. At the same time, his mission continues – he’s not there for one group of survivors, but to try and re-establish civilisation itself. Unlike Camp Ryder, he can’t ignore other groups needing help.
This book is, in many ways, an action film in book form.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I have to say at times I do like to turn
off some of the higher thinking and watch things go boom. It can be fun, it can
be a good way to relax. It is what it is, and if you like guns and bullets and
action and well written, pretty exciting fight scenes with a Big Damn Hero
protagonist, then this will work for you. If not? Not.
Personally, I’m kind of caught in the middle. Because I
can appreciate a good action book, but this book is pretty simple and devoid of
any real nuance. The bad guys? Are bad. Very bad. I don’t just mean Milo’s band
of evil killers (who are just that, evil killers, rapists, sadistic torturers,
psychopaths), but even people who oppose Lee in the camp as well. There’s a man
who speaks against him early on and he’s seen as conniving, weak, lazy and
generally unpleasant even by most of the people who we meet in the camp (unlike
his mute and nameless supporters) and he doesn’t just question Lee but by the
end of the book he’s almost comically unreasonable. There’s no chance of us
seeing this guy as having a point or even understanding why he would be doing
or saying what he did even if we disagree with him – he’s just wrong.
There’s a guy put into a terrible position and forced to
do something awful in the vain hope of saving a loved one. Ah, nuance and
understanding? Aw hell no, that man is weak and pathetic and needs chewing out
pronto before redempdeath.
And the main character, Lee? Well, in the first book he
was a soldier and special forces so we always expected him to be competent and
capable. But we’ve gone beyond that – he’s a Hero. He’s tough and his strong
and he’s awesome. It doesn’t matter how hurt he is, he will keep on fighting.
It doesn’t matter how hungry, he will skip the meal because he’s just that
tough. He will back people down with the power of his steely gaze, he will
fight on with broken bones and torn ligaments, he will make plans based on him
tearing up several of the enemy, because he’s just that awesome. And he’s good
and kind when called for, and ruthless and brutal when it’s necessary because
he’s a badass with a heart of gold. People who criticise him are wrong and mean
or, at very least, misguided. He’s a leader and he doesn’t so much work as a
team as order around minions who recognise his awesomeness (and are fairly irrelevant
anyway because he’s so awesome. Their main role is to die around him so he can
then be noble and sad and have the Guilts because he didn’t save them).
It’s not nuanced. It’s not subtle. The characterisation
is very one note – but they’re very loud notes. The plot itself is travelling
then fighting. Then some more travelling followed by fighting. Travel a bit
more then lotsssss more fighting. Throw in some piety (personally I found the
priest annoying and arrogant) and rather cheesy patriotism (you’re surrounded
by man eating raging infected but you’re going to take time out to have a flag
lowering ceremony?)
It’s not badly written and it’s not a boring read. It’s
paced well, the action is written really well and it’s fairly exciting (we know
Lee has plot armour, but the minions around him don’t). If you embrace it for
what it is and like it then it’s a great fun read
And there are elements from the last book that continue –
like Lee being on a mission. It does add to his Big Damn Heroness, but it is
different for a dystopian to have characters who have a mission beyond “we need
to survive!” It adds an interesting perspective and a drive for Lee not to just
focus on survival and the very standard “I need to kill people to live, RAAAWR!”.
But then, part of the way he avoids those moral quandaries that are so common
in dystopians is by having “bad guys” that are pretty 1 dimensional.
Speaking of – one of the bad guys is mentally ill and
unable, obviously, to get his medication. This could be an interesting, nuanced
and tragic depiction of what happens to people who do depend on medication to
treat chronic conditions when society collapses. Instead we have a guy who
likes to stab things.
We have some POC, but the main characters are White
(there’s about 5 main characters and they’re all White men) and one of the most
noticeably so is squarely in the bad guy camp of sadistic torturing rapists.
Like so many dystopians, LGBT people all got eaten early, it seems – none are
among the survivors.
We have some women in fairly minor roles – Angela is
pretty much a bit part compared to the last book. One of the most organised and
practical people is a woman at the camp and I love how while the men are laying
out lists of food, ammunition and medicine she pops in and adds warm winter
clothing and contraception. She has a lot of potential despite her minor role
Angela and Lee also have an interesting dynamic that
could be worth watching – he rescued her last book and she stays close to him because
she is a stranger in the camp. She looks to him not so much for support but
because she knows him. While Lee is confused because he doesn’t know if her
attention is friendship, relying on the only person she knows – or whether she’s
looking for more from him (which he also doesn’t seem all that keen on).
This book is well written, has some great action and is
generally fun. But if you’re looking for complexity, nuance or a protagonist
that won’t occasionally make you chuckle over the amounts of super-hero cheese
dripping off him then this isn’t for you. If you want explosions and big damn
heroes, it’s worth it.
