The Wild West meets Zombies in 'Gehenna' by Jason Brant. Not for the squeamish. It felt short. I'm not sure if it actually was short or if I just inhaThe Wild West meets Zombies in 'Gehenna' by Jason Brant. Not for the squeamish. It felt short. I'm not sure if it actually was short or if I just inhaled it so fast it felt like it was over fairly quickly....more
I was particularly interested to read this story because I really loved Ann Christy's short story 'PePr, Inc.'. This is nothing like that.
This is a zI was particularly interested to read this story because I really loved Ann Christy's short story 'PePr, Inc.'. This is nothing like that.
This is a zombie story, essentially. It is told in a very unusual style, intercutting the daily life of our MC living a number of years post-apocalypse with her memories of life leading up to the event and the days more immediately following what went down. And it is a tragedy made more tragic because it all began with such good intentions. I found myself really feeling for all those struggling to survive, but particularly for our MC because of her very personal experiences with the technology in the lead up to everything falling apart. Any apocalypse is sad, but a cataclysmic world event not of our own making, such as a meteor impacting the earth, has a different kind of a feel to this brand of disaster. I'm don't even want to mention the hopes that get raised in the reader at the beginning of the story that later have your heart in your throat.
The story is fairly brutal, which I expect in dystopian stories, but some of it was just past my comfort I just finished this book and I'm conflicted.
The story is fairly brutal, which I expect in dystopian stories, but some of it was just past my comfort level. I did love the actual science that inspired the kinda zombies we have in the story. That's cool. The false theology the ministers were spouting dogmatically and clinging to was less cool but interesting to observe, as was various different characters reactions to it. The fact that the hold of these teachings on the populace seems to actually be much more tenuous than most people realise was also interesting. I enjoyed the look at how the men in power use and misuse their power, and their self-delusions about their importance, their role in governing and their short-sightedness and arrogant ignorance. And the dearth of learning. By claiming the people were simple-minded and failing to have them educated, it became, to a degree, self-fulfilling. I don't know why I found all that so fascinating but I did.
I felt like this story was nowhere near long enough. I realise it's part of a series, but instead of having the first book in the series finish with any degree of satisfactory closure but with a strong hook for you to read the second book in the series, this book instead felt like episode one of a tv series. A pilot length episode, perhaps, but so many things are barely started and so many characters have barely had their introductions. I do think there was enough done in the story to make me want to know more, but I would have liked a bit more to chew over from this book first....more
This is the book where some of the hints that were dropped in book one begin to take on greater significance. We already knew that things were not quiThis is the book where some of the hints that were dropped in book one begin to take on greater significance. We already knew that things were not quite what they appeared to be, but this is where we truly go down the rabbit's hole. *shivers* I felt like I spent the whole time going, "What??" Maybe I need to read the prequel. But I don't know if I'm ready to actually have that backstory yet. I like being surprised.
Aaaaaaahhhh!!! Zombies!!! I've tried to read books about zombies before and generally can't get very far. Maybe it's because the ones I'm looking at uAaaaaaahhhh!!! Zombies!!! I've tried to read books about zombies before and generally can't get very far. Maybe it's because the ones I'm looking at usually have the disaster unfolding. This book is different in that zombies are an established thing that exists in the world and have done for some time now. They are currently a managed threat, to the point where they've become part of the mainstream entertainment. Aren't we humans odd creatures, really?
This could just be a bunch of teenagers deciding to get up to trouble at the end of what has been a rather boring set of summer holidays, and to some extent it is, but then you've also got the zombies. That definitely raises the creepy factor. But I read this along with part two and there is a whole lot more going on here than meets the eye and that for me is where things get exciting. Oh, yeah, not to forget that we see 'the ending' right at the beginning but I have my fingers crossed that it's only for given values of 'the ending', because it certainly colours everything that you read, already knowing where the characters are heading. Well, where you THINK they're heading. I'm not too sure things will end up playing out how I'm expecting them to, and that's what gives you hope.