Zurvival Saturday (95) Review: Zombie Attack: Army of the Dead by Devon Sagliani


This week I'll be reviewing Army of the Dead by Devon Sagliani. You may recall me reviewing the first book of the series back in March (you can read that Review Here!) . While I really enjoyed it, I was left with many an unanswered question. Thankfully all of them were answered this go round. 

Author: Devan Sagliani
Series: Zombie Attack #2
Genre: Zombies, Horror
Publisher: Permuted Press
Publication Date: May 27, 2014


Xander MacNamara’s adventure continues when he is placed in charge of a civilian colony outside Barstow. He and his young wife, Felicity Jane, are forced to deal with the daily grind of reconstruction, the constant menace of zombies, and an equally hungry cannibal tribe known as the Alphas.

Things heat up fast when Sonya, a mysterious stranger sent by a secretive benefactor, frees him from enemy captors. Once again, Xander and Felicity find themselves fleeing for their lives from a never-ending series of new threats as well as old ones. A hidden enemy within the military is hell bent on creating a secret weapon: genetically engineered super zombies! Friends and soldiers are pitted against each other, as one side races to spread the cure while the other battles to gain ultimate control over the fate of mankind.

‘Zombie Attack! Army of the Dead’ is filled with pulse-pounding undead action from the very first chapter until the bitter sweet end. Child celebrities, reality television stars, nightmarish zombie clowns, bikers, ninjas, warlords, and more -- this book has it all! The story takes off like a bullet and doesn't slow down until the last sentence. You won't be able to put it down!


Review
Army of the Dead picks up a few months after the first book Rise of the Horde ends. Xander and Felicity Jane have settled into married life and are living in the military outpost Freedom Town. However, life is far from the blissful existence the characters hoped it would be and issues arise very shortly into the book.

Here's the thing, Army of the Dead is an incredible story. It's filled with constant character development, multi layered plots, romance, intrigue, even some tongue in cheek humor that gave me a few chuckles along the way. So why didn't I love it? In short, I had an issue with the length of the story. It just drags on and on unnecessarily. OK, sure, were given incredibly detailed developments in story but none of that matters if it all feels burdensome to the reader. At least that's how I feel about it.

Another issue I had was with Xander. He just felt so angry in this book compared to the first and I really don't see why. He has the girl of his dreams, a position of power, safety, shelter, food and yet from the very first page it seems that he's brooding and unhappy. He really reminded me of Alex from the Ashfall series in this book and I didn't like it one bit. In fact, it took almost the entire story for me to feel a shred of sympathy for the guy and even then it was fleeting.

On the opposite end you have a new character named Sonya and she was pure delight. She brought the snark and attitude lacking from the other characters. She could also kick some serious Zombie and Human ass as well. Without her I'm not sure I could of put up with Xander's antics for very long.

My last issue with the story was the ending. Everything wrapped up so nicely it was a bit nauseating. Even the villains were given a sort of redemption in the end even though they in no way deserved it. Sure, I didn't want Army of the Dead to end with everyone dying but at the very least knowing the bad guys received their just desserts would've been way more satisfying than the way things were handled. The victims of those characters deserved their vengeance and when they weren't given it I felt bad for them.

Now even though I had plenty of issues with the story I still enjoyed Army of the Dead at least enough to keep reading it.

My favorite part of the story takes place at about the midway part. I loved the town filled with Cos-players. Sure it was a bit cheesy for them to stay in character when nobody was around to even see them perform but it also showed how life moves on even when the going gets rough, Zombie apocalypse be damned. I genuinely was glad for the reprieve from all the action and death even if for a short amount of time.

Another thing I liked about the story was seeing Felicity Jane grow as a character. In the first book she really felt a bit pampered, spoiled even but in Army of the Dead she's willing to do whatever it takes to keep herself alive, even if that meant putting herself in danger despite the protests from Xander.

Lastly, I was happy to see what happened to a couple of characters from the first book. Despite taking the brunt of the story to do so the majority of the questions left unanswered after Rise of the Horde were resolved in the sequel.

Final Thoughts
Army of the Dead wasn't perfect but would I still recommend it to others? Yes. As I mentioned above, I am happy that I read the sequel and I did enjoy it for the most part. If you like Action, you'll love Army of the Dead because it was a nonstop thrill ride from start to finish. I do however wish we had seen Black Beauty or even maybe Nelly again by books end. I'd like to believe neither of them ended up as food. Although I guess I couldn't blame those starving if they did.

With that being said, I'll be rating Army of the Dead by Devan Sagliani ★★★★.


*Copy reviewed provided by Author. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any which way for providing them. 



About the Author
Devan Sagliani was born and raised in Southern California and graduated from UCLA. He is the author of the Zombie Attack! series, The Rising Dead, A Thirst For Fire, and the UNDEAD L.A. series. Devan also wrote the original screenplay for the movie HVZ: Humans Versus Zombies. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1815746/

Devan's fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Million Writers Award. In 2012 his debut novel Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde won Best Zombie/Horror E-book on Goodreads. He is also an active member of the Horror Writer's Association. He currently lives in Venice Beach, California with his wife.

Follow Devan: Twitter / Goodreads / Website

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Out of curiosity, Have you read this yet? 
If yes, How did you like the ending?
If no, Will you be reading it in the future?

 Leave me your answers in the comments below or feel free to tweet me them @Hermyoni  

Well that about wraps up this weeks Zurvival Saturday. Like what you see? Please share! I thank you if you do.  Want to check out past Zurvival Saturday's? Click Here

Comments

  1. Great review, Kristin! Here's my very first Zurvival Saturday post! :)

    http://mybookaddiction.com/review-the-living-dead-boy-by-rhiannon-frater/

    Toni @ My Book Addiction

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't remember seeing this series around but it sounds really interesting. I'm sorry that the book was too long and that ti dragged but still I'm glad you enjoyed it after all. Great review :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. At least you found a few redeeming qualities to keep you reading and interested.

    Love the new header!!!

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yep, like I said not a bad book but just sorta fell short of expectations you know?

    ReplyDelete

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