Read Shadows recently whilst on holiday.  Shadows takes over where Ashes left off (and believe me that really was a cliffhanger ending with what felt like a very long year’s wait!).  Anyway, my review for Ashes is here.  If you’re interested in reading this post apocalyptic zombie style book then read no further as this will certainly contain spoilers for book No.1

With this being the second in the series it’s difficult to give too much away about the plot without spoiling it even for people who haven’t picked No.2 up yet – basically we left the first book on such a note that pretty much anything could be considered a spoiler at this point.  So, I’m going to steer away from the plot.  Other than to say Alex is desperately trying to stay alive in a world where the boundaries are constantly changing, there are no rules and she seems to be fighting against inner demons of her own.

Well, I was looking for a gory zombie book a few weeks ago and here it is.  This book and the last are action packed for sure and with plenty of twists and turns.  Literally there is no let up.  We seem to roll from one ‘oh my giddy aunt I cannot believe it’ moment directly to the next.  Neither of these books are for the feint hearted and I will say that if you’re squeamish then just forget about picking these up.  Really, just step away.  I thought the same thing anyway after reading the first book but the second instalment is even more grisly.  The thing with this author is she has no fear about killing people off, in quite vicious ways, which makes you feel afraid for everyone in the story – and really with good reason because it seems like anything can, and will, happen.  Once again I think the level of detail manages to convey the world really well without being overly descriptive and I also like that way that events are constantly moving forward with numerous threads overlapping and eventually coming together and new characters being added along the way.

In terms of criticisms.  Well, firstly, we have another cliffhanger – give me a break with the cliffhangers please!!!  Secondly, it’s been a year since the first book.  Frankly, I think I would have greatly benefited by having a reread of Ashes before I delved into this one – but no, I couldn’t wait.  Consequently it did take me a bit to remember who everyone was and how they all relate to the story.  The author isn’t treating us with kid gloves in this follow up – there is no recapping.  If you’re a bit sketchy on any of the detail you really will probably need to have a bit of a refresh otherwise you might be floundering about a bit at first.  Particularly as there is a lot going on and more than one POV.

That being said I have a lot of respect for the fact that we don’t have a book with loads of backstory constantly being dredged over.  It didn’t take me long to get back into the flow of things and once I did I could barely put the book down.  It’s fast, it’s scary it’s gory, it has story lines cleverly interwoven and it takes us to a place that is really terrifying to contemplate living in.  Bleak and a bit desolate – in the way of The Road but instead of humans driven to the brink of madness and despair we have a new monster – one that is developing and learning a sort of sneaky intelligence – not to mention these zombies are not the slow shambling along zombies we’ve seen before – they’re fast.  They work together and they have a sort of pack system that they obey.  Pretty freaky really.

I enjoyed this dark and grisly book and even though I can’t abide waiting – I suppose I’ll have to – for book No.3

I will be including this in my R.I.P. event – I think it qualifies being full of blood and gore!!!