{review} Fighting to Survive by Rhiannon Frater

 

 Usually, I like to give small updates on what I'm reading next.  Some books get me so excited that it's hard to wait, hard to put it in order of what I want to read.  Never have I been so excited to read a book that it bypassed not only an update here, but the usual to-be-read pile completely.  When the Semi-BFF finally finished reading Fighting to Survive: As the World Dies, Book Two by Rhiannon Frater and dropped it off on one of her visits, I couldn't wait any longer.  I'm pretty sure she was still at the end of the street, waiting on the light to turn when I cracked this baby open to begin reading.

Fighting to Survive is the second book in Rhiannon Frater's As The World Dies trilogy, and I'm going to break it down for you nice and easy here - it's one of the best books I've ever read.  The first book in the series was great (see my review here), but this second one?  Is fucking fantastic.

Trilogies can be hard to write, and even harder to read.  The middle book is a tricky thing - it needs to bridge the catchy beginning and the dramatic end together, while being interesting enough on it's own.  Few second books accomplish this properly (s'up, Catching Fire?), but this one?  This one not only accomplished it's purpose, but surpassed the quality of the first book.

The characters have become deeper.  We start to see Jenni leave her shell-shocked Zombie Ninja coping mechanism, and start to come to terms with not only a different world, but the things she saw - both as the world we know ended, and even earlier, when she lost her identity and morals in a bad marriage.  We see her tough but shallow armour crack, and real emotion come through.

With Katie, what seemed a convienent disclosure of being bi instead of gay when confronted with feelings for a man now make sense.  In the first book, it seemed like a rushed confession.  Now, it ties into the story so much more.

I'm still team Juan, and I still love Travis, but it's Nerit that makes this story complete.  She's strong, she kicks ass (literally), and her decisions are realistic - not just for the story.  The surprise addition of Jack's chapter was some of the best writing I've come across.  Period the end.

The addition of a few new characters provided some fresh entertainment, and I'm more than excited to see what develops in the third book, Siege.

If you haven't already, take a look at Rhiannon Frater's website here, or follow her on Facebook here.  At the very least, start reading this series right fucking now.  RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

What's Next? Outpost by Adam Baker

I've been reading so many Chick Lit titles lately, and I'm not sure why.  Don't get me wrong, I love romances, happy endings (both in books and in ... life.  Thought I was gonna go there, didn't you?), sexy heroes and realistic, ballsy, sarcastic heroines.

But sometimes a girl just needs a good World Is Ending is book, and sometimes the urge for a good Zombie book is so strong that it eclipses everything else around it.  Outpost by Adam Baker has been staring at me for weeks, begging me to devour it.

That's where I am in my life right now - a stranger in a new city, overwhelmed and under prepared, and in dire need of zombies to take my mind off of everything.  No wonder my therapist charges so much.

The last zombie book I read was Rihannon Frater's The First Days, and it blew my mind (Seriously.  Mind still blown), and may have ruined any chance of other books in the genre coming even close to leaving a lasting impression.

My fingers are crossed for you, Outpost.  My fingers are crossed.

They took the job to escape the world

                                          They didn't expect the world to end.

Kasker Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home. But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands. The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way..

Review - The First Days by Rhiannon Frater

The First Days (As The World Dies #1)
Rhiannon Frater
331 pages
First published online 2008, re-published 2011 by TOR (www.tor-forge.com)
Buy it here from Amazon.ca!

I know I have eclectic taste (eclectic is the new black, I say - now how do I trademark that?).  I’m not sure how many other divorced thirty-somethings salivate over books that describe the world ending at the hands of viruses or zombies (or both), as well well written, feel good Chick Lit.  Add in a spattering of regular horror, most books on the Best Seller lists, YA, etc ... and I like pretty much everything.

However, I never in a million years thought I would find a book that encompasses my true loves - zombies, The World As We Know It Going To Hell, and Chick Lit - but I have.  Oh my, have I ever. 

As I mentioned in my pre-review, the Semi-BFF scouted this particular book out, read it, and immediately passed it on to me, knowing I would love it as much as she did. 

Here’s what I loved - The First Days is written from the point of view of not just one, but two females.  While I love my The World As We Know It Going To Hell books immensely, I get very tired of hearing about what the men would do.  Let’s be real here - men are easy to figure out, we already know what they would do.  But what would women do?  What would Adele do if she was faced with a throng of zombies?  What would Chelsea Handler do?  I bet those stories would be a lot more entertaining than what Spencer Pratt or Justin Bieber would do.

I kind of wish zombies did attack, because I know my Ex Husband wouldn’t survive, but that’s probably really selfish of me to say.

Back to the story at hand (although I am sitting here with a satisfied smirk on my face, picturing ... well, never mind).  Katie & Jenni meet by complete and utter luck at the beginning of the zombie onslaught, and manage to just barely get out of the city unbitten and undead.  Katie, the high powered, confidant lover of women, and Jenni, the abused wife and mother are trying to survive in a world where the zombies aren’t exactly like the ones in the movies, and trying to make their way to save Jenni’s stepson. 

There’s only a few things that I found issue with, and I know a few other reviewers did as well.  Katie is first described as a lesbian, but when she’s introduced to one of the smouldering hot male characters, she soon after reveals she’s bi.  I found this a little convenient, timing wise.  Jenni, on the other hand, is a long-time abused wife who not only thrives in The New World As We Know It, but starts to really enjoy killing the reanimated dead.  Given what she had gone through all her life, and the recent images of her own kids coming back from the dead to attack her, her quick segue from Typical Abused Wife to Thriving Zombie Killing Jedi is hard to swallow.  However, given the lack of research on how abused wives would handle zombies, it’s hard to actually find this unbelievable, but it does give me pause. 

Also, for some reason, when I picture Jenni in my head, she’s played by Ginnifer Goodwin. 

Rhiannon Frater wrote this book in bits and pieces, never really intending it as more than a story on her blog.  You can really see her writing, and the story itself, evolve as you read further and further into the book, which really impressed me.  I found the beginning to be such an easy read, but by the time I got to the end, I had to go back and read the last few pages over and over because I just couldn’t believe how intense the plot had become. 

This book is wrought with tough women, close calls, adrenaline, zombies, and sexiness.  I wish the sex scenes were a little smuttier, but that’s probably because I haven’t gotten laid in entirely too long, and considering this book has everything else going for it, I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth (I’m not entirely sure what that means, but in my world it means shut the fuck up and enjoy your Zombie Chick Lit).  I fell in love with the characters (Team Juan!) surprisingly easily, and found myself skipping ahead to make sure my favourites were still intact. 

Zombies.  Action.  Emotions.  Sex.  Tequila.  Guns.  Trucks.  Tenderness.  All from the female POV.  Jesus Eff, I may have found the perfect book. 

P.S - Like the same kind of books I do?  Leave me a comment so I know I’m not alone in my strangeness.

What's Next? The First Days by Rhiannon Frater

The First Days

by Rhiannon Frater

Buy it here on Amazon.ca

The Semi-BFF (Semi because I share joint custody of her BFF status with someone across the pond) and I are kind of an odd pair - we talk about the world ending a lot.  Not in the emo, depressing way, but what we would do if the zombies attacked (um, which when you read it out loud, does sound a little emo & depressing).  We're open to the idea of the world ending in ways that don't involve zombies, but that's the one we always come back to.

A lot of women meet for lunch and cocktails with their nails done and hair did, looking good with the blush of friendship and alcohol, and talk about .. well, I'm not sure what they talk about, to be honest, but it's probably not zombies.  And if it is, I need to start introducing myself to more of these women.  Because that's what Semi-BFF and I spend our lunches doing - talking about Zombies and What We Would Do If The World As We Know Went To Hell.

Please note - we are not as hardcore as this chick on Anderson Cooper:




Seriously.  I'm just going to let you digest that video for a moment, and then reiterate that we?  Are not that hardcore (She probably shouldn't have used her real name, because if the zombies DO attack, I bet she's going to have a lot of people knocking on her door, amiright?).

So when Semi-BFF told me that she found a zombie series written from the female perspective and that it was AMAZINGAWESOMEREADITRIGHTNOW, she piqued my interest.  As soon as I saw her next, she passed the book into my hands and demanded I read it ASAP.

Will it be as good as promised?