The Dangerous Days Series–Baileigh Higgins

To be honest when I started reading this I thought it would be a cheap rip off of Dawn of the Dead, the first zombie scene with the woman trapped in the bathroom with her zombie husband outside the door wanting her brains for breakfast, I was almost ready to throw it aside within the first few pages but then it really picked up.

Set in South Africa, the three book series and prequel, follows the story of a small group of people who’s lives are changed in moments. This is a high speed, edge of your seat series. Even the inevitable romances are often fraught with danger. Nothing is set in stone in a zombie apocalypse.

I did find it a bit to co-incidental at times, I mean what are the chances of just running into so many people you know, in a large area, in the middle of a zombie apocalypse? I mean it could happen, if you had made a plan in advance but to just happen, and not once but quite a number of times? A bit unlikely but possible I suppose. And even with this flaw I found the whole series to be constantly exciting and interesting and I really have to say it, a nice change of scene, you read enough books set in America they start running together. Though to be honest, I expected more lions and wild life but that is just me stereotyping again lol. A zombie lion? hmmm no thanks.

Ok enough of the sidebar, there is a great range of characters here, my own favorite being Logan, the rugged loner more used to dealing with animals than people, who has a secret heart of gold for all his rough and tough manly man ways. He is a complex character with a dark past and very well written. Another unexpected favorite was Michael, but you will need to read the books to find out more about this deep and deadly character. Some of the characters acted in a completely expected way but some were just so surprising that you don’t see it coming. It really does keep the storyline fresh all the way through the series.

There are a wide range of directions taken in the books to, its not all about just surviving the zombies, there has to be other big bads right? so in the true tradition of the Walking Dead (would somebody just kill Negan already, its getting boring!) Our heroes have to face some truly vile people and save some desperate and traumatized people. But goodness should always prevail, it should but it doesn’t always. this is the zompoc in South Africa, anything is possible when so many cultures come together in one place.

I really enjoyed this series, for all its expected moments there are enough unexpected ones to make it a good solid series and you know I only review the books I enjoy and are happy to recommend. So next time your browsing Amazon for something new, look up The Dangerous Days series and let me know what you think.

Happy reading

serenity house Series–A W Exley

From the very first chapter you know that you have stumbled across something special, Serenity House is Downton Abbey meets Jane Austen and George Romero’s lovechild with a bit of Stephen King thrown in just to scare the pants right off you.

Set in Somerset, England shortly after world war one, the Spanish flu has taken its toll on a small English village but they have come out the other side and are trying to rebuild. What nobody knows is that there is another war brewing and this will be more devastating than anything they had been through before.

During the flu epidemic mass graves were needed to bury the dead but something got out of one of those graves, something that was not alive but walking all the same and when it came across two servant girls it attacked. It was 18 year old Ella, daughter of a minor lord, who swung her fathers sword and took the head of the beasts.

When more of the dead begin to rise the village turn to Ella to send them back to their maker, she doesn’t relish the job but someone has to do it and the locals didn’t want to risk their own immortal souls by killing the undead so it fell to her to do what they could not

While out doing her duty she stumbles across Seth deMage, Duke of Leithfield and owner of Serenity House, the biggest estate in the region. There is an instant attraction and before long the two are working together to bring an end to the vermin once and for all.

Part horror story, part love story, I fell in love with this series right from the start. The setting is beautiful, the action constant and the characters are interesting. The story arc is unpredictable and exciting. Usually I don’t like too much of the mushy stuff in zombie books but the way the writer has written it, the mush stuff (I know, I’m such a romantic lol) fits in seamlessly and doesn’t distract from the base of the story, the zombies. These aren’t any ordinary zombies either, there is a bigger supernatural thread running through the storyline that isn’t obvious straight away, but I don’t want to give out any spoilers so if you want to know more, get over to Amazon and read the series for yourself.

About the Author

Books and writing have always been an enormous part of Anita’s life. She survived school by hiding out in the library, with several thousand fictional characters for company. At university, she overcame the boredom of studying accountancy by squeezing in Egyptology papers and learning to read hieroglyphics.
Today, Anita writes fantasy historical novels with heart from her home in rural New Zealand.
You can find her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AWExley
or Twitter @AWExley
Be the first to hear about new releases, specials and giveaways. Sign up at: http://www.awexley.com/newsletter

I love that she is a Kiwi writer, we have so few good writers in this genre. I look forward to reading more of her books.

9/10

Zed’s World–Rich Baker **Updated**

Audio Books provided by Author.

With terrorist attacks becoming more and more frequent worldwide there is a growing fear that a biological attack could be imminent. What if one of these terror groups did just that, developed a weaponized virus that had the capability of turning the human race into ravenous zombies? That thought keeps me up at night and Zed’s World taps straight into my worst nightmare.

Told from multiple points of view, Zed’s World follows the events before and after a biological attack by Jihadist fundamentalists, who have found a new way of spreading their message of death and violence. They have created a new army, an undead army. In terror cells across the globe, they are getting their soldiers ready to march, ready to spread their deadly disease to all that don’t believe.

Set in Colorado, the story follows a suburban father, two college boys, a former soldier and a sleeper agent who has grown to love his adopted country. Using the cover of a chaotic college town during graduation, the terrorists release their soldiers at various points around the town, anywhere people have gathered, including a graduation party where two of our heroes are celebrating the end of the college year.

Caught up in the gathering madness, childhood friends Ben Pucket and Keith Wallace take their friends and head to the one place they think they will be safe, their home town with their families. They could never have known how hard that journey would be, a normally short drive, it takes them to places they never thought they would go.

Meanwhile, their parents remain oblivious to the growing danger until it crashes into their safe suburban life and the need to survive suddenly becomes all important. A survivalist neighbour helps the group, giving them a safe haven to escape to.

In Denver Jason ‘D-day ’ Bowling finds himself in charge of the residents of his apartment building. With his background as a soldie, he is the only one with the knowledge that can keep the city dwellers alive, even when they complain about his rough riding over them, making them contribute food and labour to make the apartment building safe.

All though the Growing Hoards and Roads Less Traveled are short books they pack in a big story into the 6.29 hours of listening. At first, the narrator annoyed me, his voice is flat with little in the way of connotation but as the storyline takes over I found myself not listening to the voice but the story itself.

This is the sort of novel that nightmares come from, the threat is so real that I am really hoping the Jihad never get their hands on these books, they don’t need ideas on new ways to kill, they are doing more than enough of that as it is.

It is something I have thought a lot about, in fact, my own novel is based on something very similar (I got the idea long before I heard these books.) With the constant advances in science and terrorists always looking for more ways to kill, it is only a matter of time before someone decides a killer disease is the way to go. Forget nuclear war, the next big war will be fought in the secret labs across the world, not in government nuclear installations.

I would recommend this series to anyone, though I think I will be buying the books. I tend to take information in better if I read it and the narrator really could have been better, though his female voice is not too bad.  The story is complex without being over the top, it is very realistic. Every thing that the characters go through is easy to picture happening. Normally having so many POVs can be confusing but because the books are short and each character or group get their own chapters you don’t have time to forget what each character is up to. The characters themselves are relatable, their pain, fear and frustration are very real and they have a very solid arc.

I would like to take this time to thank Rich Baker for sending me the audio books, I appreciate any author that is willing to let me read (or listen to) their hard work, I know how hard it is to share your baby with someone else and I admire anyone that is willing to send me a book to be reviewed.

I give this book 7/10, not because the story is bad but because the narrator was not as good as he could have been, though I imagine it’s not easy to find a good narrator.

Go to Amazon and get the books or audio books. The books are available on Unlimited if you subscribe and are well worth reading. I have just downloaded the final book No Way Out which I will review when I am finished.

I hope everyone north of the equator is enjoying their summer and those of us that are south aren’t too cold. Looks like rain here in Tasman, a great excuse to curl up by the fire with my kindle and a hot cuppa. Take care one and all and thanks for stopping by

Update

Book Three – No Way Out

**Spoiler Warning!**

Our wee group continues to grow when the Pucketts are joined by D-day and Carmen after they are forced to run from the apartment block when one of the residents lets the infected in. The team faces loses that nearly break them, and one person imparticular will have a major impact and cause more damage to the group than any that has come before. She will bring enemies to the door and what follows will be a devasting blow and cause more backlash than she realises.

I have just one complaint about this book, the next one isn’t out yet. Nothing I hate more than getting invested in a series and having to wait for the next book. I am way too impatient for that sort of thing lol.

I am really enjoying this series and can’t wait to find out what happens next.

End Times–Shane Carrow

         

New Year’s Day: midsummer in Australia. In Perth, twin brothers Aaron and Matt have graduated high school and are enjoying their last few months of summer holidays before adulthood – while on the other side of the country, something has fallen from the sky, heralding the dawn of a new age.
As a terrifying plague spreads across Australia and the world, Aaron and Matt find themselves scrambling to survive, fleeing the city, refugees in their own country. Tormented by strange dreams and beset by violence, they must struggle to find the remnants of their family and survive the Rise of the Undead. (taken from Amazon.com.au)

Zombies come to Australia and no-one is safe. Aaron and Matt are enjoying their last summer of freedom, trying their best to keep adulthood at bay for a few more months, but when something falls from the sky on the other side of the red continent, bringing with it a mysterious virus that quickly spreads to all corners of the country, the boys are forced to grow up and find a way to survive and escape suburban Perth and find their father who was caring for their dying grandmother when the virus hits.

The first two books follow the boys as they go from disaster to tragedy to near death experiences. They meet some good people and some very bad people on their journey as they struggle through a rapidly declining civilization. They fight through hoards of undead, escape death by the skin of their teeth more than most people would be able to, all the while managing to stay together and keep each other sane.

The third book starts toward a path that is more supernatural than zompoc, though the undead do feature they are not the only stars of the show. Aaron and Matt have been having the same dream for awhile now, and while Aaron believes they need to follow where the dreams lead them, Matt wants nothing to do with them and tries to pretend its all in Aaron’s head. But before long fate puts them on the path they can’t avoid, the path to the Snowy Mountains and something hidden in the deep snow filled valleys. Something needs the two young men…

And unfortunately that is where I ran out of book, I hate that, don’t you? You get so engrossed in this bizarre twist and hello…end of book and the next in the series has not been released yet. The third book Blood and Salt was released just last week, so looks like it is going to be a bit of a wait to read the next one in this six part series. I am so not good at waiting!

Blood and Salt left a big cliff hanger as to what is going to happen to our wayward Ozzie brothers but I have a few ideas that I will keep under my Aukbra for now. Oh and lucky for us, there is a dictionary in the back of the books to translate Aussie into English, though I did get most of the obscure words, after a few trips over the ditch to visit my big brother and his band of Mossies (Maori Aussies, Maori kids that have grown up in Australia) After more than a decade living in New South Wales my nieces and nephews are more Australian than they are Kiwi now and they have taught me the language quite well. I still can’t stand the beer though lol.

Great summer reading if your living in the Northern Hemisphere and are hitting the beach or for curling up by the fire if your a southerner like me.

8/10

Happy Reading where ever in the world you maybe.

The Train to Busan

T

I don’t tend to write reviews on zombie movies, mostly because I don’t really watch a lot of them and the few I do watch haven’t been worth the effort, that is until now.

The Train to Busan, released in 2016, is a Japanese zombie movie that is playing on Netflix at the moment. Usually I can’t be bothered watching sub-titled movies but this one was recommend to me by Rhiannon Frater and it looked to good to pass up, so I put my reading glasses on and it was really worth it.

This is edge of the seat zombie thrill at its best, language was not a barrier to enjoying this movie. It really does take you on the train ride from hell. It is a stellar script with a cast to back it up. I dare you to watch this movie and not fall in love with the sweet little girl who plays Soo-an, not only is she adorable but she is one of the best child actors I have seen in a long time.

The critic’s loved this movie and its clear to see why. It had none of the American style over the top acting drowned in special affects, more like a realistic British style of telling the story, full of emotion and fear and grief. The special affects, though great, are few and don’t distraction from the story, but rather take it up to a new level. There was nothing expected about this movie, you can feel the fear spilling from the characters as they race from disaster to disaster. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from the start.

It all begins innocently enough,a divorced father who works to hard and a little girl who just wants to spend her birthday with her mother, who lives in Busan. The father agrees to take her to Busan and from there it escalates into the most terrifying and twisted train ride in the history of trains. With carriages full of the undead, lots of gore and blood and lots of unexpected deaths, just when you think they are safe, they aren’t and they have to get moving again. It is a full on, fast pace, race to a safety than seems unattainable.

I enjoyed every moment of it, even the moments that made me jump. And the ending, well that will bring a tear to your eye.

So, take some time off this weekend and give your eyeballs a treat. And then come back and let me know what you think of The Train to Busan

9/10

Happy viewing.