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A review by wordsofapaige
Life After the Undead by Pembroke Sinclair
2.0
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.
I really, really wanted to like this book, and I did read the whole thing in a few days. But there were just a few niggling issues that evolved into bigger problems that stopped me enjoying the book.
I've read quite a few zombie books and it was interesting to read a book where the people were the main feature and not the zombies. There were a whole mix of characters, some who developed fairly well, and some who got left behind.
Krista is our main character, and she probably has one of the better developments in the book. Although there is a paragraph at the start detailing how she likes the macabre and serial killers which was pretty unnecessary, it never gets bought up again after that first time. I like that she can't immediately fire a gun and begins to notice the issues with Florida and North Palette. Unfortunately, many of the characters get left behind with little to no development, or their personalities change drastically with no explanation (maybe it'll be explained in the next book).
The worlds building was shake-y for me. I've never been to America but it felt like Sinclair made America too small, like it took 4 hours to drive to Canada, when Florida is still also a few hours away? Perhaps it's my reading of the book but it frustrated me because it just felt slightly wrong. Plus, the zombie migrate west to escape the heat that will ultimately decompose them, but surely they should be migrating north instead? Just moving west leaves them in the same temperatures. Moving west to California isn't going to stop the heat? It just didn't make sense to me.
There's also parts of the book which are well written and draw you in but every now and again there is a bump and you're pulled out of the book by a strangely written passage. One of Sinclair's worst offenders is feeling the need to detail when the characters 'kissed on the mouth', like surely 'kissed' would be enough? It felt like the author had no experience with relationships, or doesn't know how to write them. Things move too fast in some places and too slow in others. A good relationship can hold a book together in my opinion but with the one it's actually the part that ruined it the most for me.
Like I said at the start of the review, these are only small issues, but it's enough to obscure my enjoyment of the book.
I really, really wanted to like this book, and I did read the whole thing in a few days. But there were just a few niggling issues that evolved into bigger problems that stopped me enjoying the book.
I've read quite a few zombie books and it was interesting to read a book where the people were the main feature and not the zombies. There were a whole mix of characters, some who developed fairly well, and some who got left behind.
Krista is our main character, and she probably has one of the better developments in the book. Although there is a paragraph at the start detailing how she likes the macabre and serial killers which was pretty unnecessary, it never gets bought up again after that first time. I like that she can't immediately fire a gun and begins to notice the issues with Florida and North Palette. Unfortunately, many of the characters get left behind with little to no development, or their personalities change drastically with no explanation (maybe it'll be explained in the next book).
The worlds building was shake-y for me. I've never been to America but it felt like Sinclair made America too small, like it took 4 hours to drive to Canada, when Florida is still also a few hours away? Perhaps it's my reading of the book but it frustrated me because it just felt slightly wrong. Plus, the zombie migrate west to escape the heat that will ultimately decompose them, but surely they should be migrating north instead? Just moving west leaves them in the same temperatures. Moving west to California isn't going to stop the heat? It just didn't make sense to me.
There's also parts of the book which are well written and draw you in but every now and again there is a bump and you're pulled out of the book by a strangely written passage. One of Sinclair's worst offenders is feeling the need to detail when the characters 'kissed on the mouth', like surely 'kissed' would be enough? It felt like the author had no experience with relationships, or doesn't know how to write them. Things move too fast in some places and too slow in others. A good relationship can hold a book together in my opinion but with the one it's actually the part that ruined it the most for me.
Like I said at the start of the review, these are only small issues, but it's enough to obscure my enjoyment of the book.