Zurvival Saturday (82) Novella Reviews: The Infected & The Halfways by Matthew Cronan
Series: The Infected #1
Genre: Horror, Zombies, Dystopian
Publication Date: March 3, 2013
"The city was burning…”
Ten years ago, a biological weapon was detonated in Washington D.C. killing 99.9% of the United States population. The survivors of the fallout live in the town of New Hope, protected by a corrupt government, from the victims that didn’t die…the infected.
Today is the day that Samantha Albright will learn that all of this is a lie.
The Infected tells the story of Sam, a girl whose been trapped/ living in New Hope since being rescued from her burning down city 10 years prior. Her disdain for the ruling class of New Hope grows bigger each day and dangerous thoughts of rebellion start to cloud her judgement. After Sam becomes caught up in an unfortunate situation with the Mayor of New Hope, Sam is forced to face her biggest fear....life outside the walls. What I liked about The Infected is that it's an incredibly fast paced story yet, still full of the world building and character development you'd expect to see in a full length novel. I was glued into this story from the very first page and could see clearly this horrible new world Sam has been forced to live in all these years. Now on the other hand, I do think this story was lacking in some aspects. While I loved Sam, I was sick of the Author describing her as having fire in her belly every single time Sam started to worry or felt odd. The phrase was so overused it became irritating. My other big issue with The Infected is the ending. It just sort of peters out. No real closure, no hints at what is to come, most of all very few actual Infected. This is a Zombie book, it should've had some you know Zombies in it. We go from an exciting chase out of New Hope to nothing. It was deeply unsatisfying and brought down the entire rating of the book for me. Final Thoughts
In the end, despite the stories few faults I really enjoyed this Novella. The writing was great, the world building excellent and I really loved the main character Sam. With that being said, I'll be rating The Infected by Matthew Cronan ★★★★.
*Copy won from Goodreads. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in an which way for providing them. |
Series: The Infected #2
Genre: Horror, Zombies, Dystopian
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Samantha Albright has escaped the town of New Hope but not the burning city that haunts her dreams. As Cole Porter drives her across the desert in search for answers about her past, a series of unfortunate events lands them in an underground bunker and under the watchful eye of an evil General Soto. Now, Sam must defy the odds again, find Cole, and escape before they are trapped forever.
In the underground city of Lost Angel, Sam and Cole learn that there are things much worse than the infected. There are the Halfways.
I am really enjoying the direction the story seems to be heading. It's part The Hunger Games/ part Resident Evil. While I wouldn't go so far as to call Sam a Katniss she does have that characters sense of Justice. Also she can kick some serious ass, that definitely helps. My only real gripe with the story is that I would still like to see more Zombies. We do meet some, so that's something but they feel much like an after thought compared to the corrupt Government element of the story. Final Thoughts
In the end I highly enjoyed The Halfways. In fact, I have no problem saying that it was far superior to The Infected on almost all counts (which is saying something since I liked The Infected). I really can't wait to see what direction the story takes in the next installment now that some pretty big revelations about Concordia have come to a head. It really makes me wonder how far reaching the deception goes. Worse could this all be one big Truman Show?? With that being said, I'll be rating The Halfways by Matthew Cronan ★★★★★.
*Copy won from Goodreads. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in an which way for providing them. |
About the Author
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Out of curiosity, Have you read either of these Novellas?
If so, What did you think of them?
Leave me your answers in the comments below or feel free to tweet me them @Hermyoni
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by Blood Sweat and Books and taking the time to leave a comment! If you find my posts enjoyable please share, it means so much when you do.