Book Review: "White Trash Zombie Apocalypse" by Diana Rowland

This is the third book in Diana Rowland's White Trash Zombie series, which I've enjoyed since book one. This one wasn't as strong as that first one, but it was still a solid and entertaining book. The quality of the series certainly hasn't gone down as the books progress, and I hope there are more to come in the series.





The premise of this book is that a movie company is filming a zombie apocalypse movie in Angel Crawford's town, and Angel and the rest of the real zombies are having a blast watching the fake zombies and crew. Of course, someone from the set dies and Angel starts getting signs that something more sinister is going on, especially when she runs into her old "friend" Philip, the zombie baby she was forced to create when kidnapped in the second book. She finds herself embroiled in industrial espionage and drawn deeper into her boyfriend's zombie "mafia," even as the movie set threatens to become the start of an actual zombie apocalypse.

The best parts of the book are, of course, Angel, who's character continues to evolve, and her struggles as she becomes more involved with the local zombie mafia. Her personal struggles with her boyfriend and father are also prevalent, all in very positive ways. Again, the main reason to read these books isn't because of the zombies, it's the characters, Angel in particular. The plot is also stronger--more fleshed out and streamlined--than in the previous book. I liked the progression of how Angel gets drawn into the industrial espionage and the local mafia. She isn't automatically part of the group. And she has qualms about some of the things the group does. It isn't a black-and-white division of good and evil, and Angel struggles with some of the darker sides of the corporation and its actions. All of this is good reading.

I was disappointed with the actual use of the zombie movie set. I was expecting this to be used more effectively. Essentially, without spoiling anything, I figured out what was happening with the movie set way early on, and even knew what the culmination of this aspect of the plot would be. However, when that moment came about, it didn't have the power or impact that I thought it should have. This was the only weak point of the book, and the only reason I didn't give it a full 5 stars.

There was another part that was extremely powerful however. Emotionally for both Angel and the reader, and also extremely dynamic in terms of character development for Angel and her father. I can't really say anything more about it thought without spoiling it. But you'll know it when you read it. And you should definitely be reading this series, if you aren't already.

So, overall a great book. Definitely worth reading. And as I said, I hope there are more in this series to come.

Book Review: "Two Ravens and One Crow" by Kevin Hearne

This is a novella that is set between the fourth and fifth books of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles. There's significant time jump between these two books, so it was nice to see that something of significance was going on during these years, besides the training of Granuaile in Druidic lore.





The premise is that Atticus is visited by the Morrigan and told that he must abandon his training of Granuaile and come with her. There are some important people he needs to meet. She won't tell him much more than that. But when he discovers that he's to meet with Odin, who is supposed to think he's dead and has every reason to kill him in cold blood after his actions in Odin's realm, he realizes that the meeting isn't going to end well. And it doesn't. But not in the way Atticus expected.

This was a nice addition to the main series, exposing more about the Morrigan and also developing a significant portion of the plot of the series. It should really be read between the fourth and fifth books. I read it after the sixth, mostly because it was only available before then as an ebook and I don't do ebooks. Not having read it didn't really interrupt the rest of the series . . . but this novella did explain some of the changes in the characters that appeared from one book to the next. The best part about this novella was the development of the relationship between Atticus and the Morrigan, but the confrontation between Odin and Atticus was the central focus and it was also good reading.

So, a good and almost essential bridge between the fourth and fifth books in the series, and a good solid read in and of itself. There's another novella out there now, again only in ebook right now. I'd suggest reading that one in the proper order as well (although I'll probably have to wait until it comes out at the end of one of the later books in the series, as I did for this one).

Book Review: "Hunted" by Kevin Hearne

This is the sixth book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, which I absolutely loved at the beginning. While this book was a fun read, I don't feel it was as good as some of the previous books in this series. It had it's moments, but still . . .





The premise picks up right where the 5th book left off: Atticus, Granuaile, and Oberon are running for their lives from the gods Diana and Artemis. The Morrigan has told them they must flee to England, without using the Old Ways (the pathways through the trees), and find Herne the Hunter. It's their only chance of survival. So Atticus is running like hell, with the two enraged gods on his heels. Oh, and Loki has managed to escape and is searching for him as well. The entire hunt is high entertainment for the other pantheons as well, some putting their own fingers into the plot. For there's more than just the hunt going on, as Atticus soon discovers betrayal amongst the Tuatha De Danann as well.

While the story is good, I think the main problem with it is the main plot at the beginning of this book--the running. There isn't much you can do to make "running like hell" exciting, when that's all the characters have time for. Certainly they attempt to slow the two goddesses down, and are interrupted occasionally by others attempting to kill them, or at least aid the goddesses, but it doesn't make for an engaging read for the reader. And the first half of the book is definitely its weakest part. There were one or two moments of sudden interest, but for the most part it's just run, run, run. And it started feeling like one of those montage episodes the TV shows used to use everyone now and then--with characters revisiting past episodes in dream sequences. It felt for a while like every past character that Atticus dealt with was going to make an appearance, if only to check in with him and taunt him or something.

I didn't start becoming engaged in the story until the plot widened to include betrayal among the Tuatha De Danann. Suddenly there was more going on than the hunt. This aspect made the second half of the book much more interesting. In fact, the best part of the book was after Atticus had dealt with the Greek and Roman pantheons and focused exclusively on this aspect of his troubles. The last quarter of the book was the best.

So, a good book, but it lacked some of the engagement of some of the previous books in the series. Even the humor couldn't save it, and there was plenty of humor. Again, the last part of the book is by far the best. This series continues to have ups and downs. This wasn't the lowest point in the series, but it wasn't that high up there either. I'll continue reading, but I don't look forward to it as much as I used to, since I'm not sure what I'll get.