Ethan Reid

Points definitely go to The Undying for originality. From the moment I saw the line "They Came From The Stars", I was sold. Anything that is a zombie apocalypse novel, but also decidedly not, stirs this little part of me that thrives off of the unknown. As apocalyptic happenings go, it's a fairly terrifying prospect. Being hunted down by the very people who were once running for their lives, just like you were. Yup, it gets me. I hoped Ethan Reid would take me on one hell of an adventure.

I wavered on my rating of this for a bit. See, I think the biggest flaw in this story is that the prologue starts the book off at the end. Rather than being thrown straight into the madness that is Paris in flames, we know Jeanie is alive because she's sharing with us her flashbacks of what happened. That, right away, threw me off a bit. Knowing that your main character will absolutely live and that she managed to do the one thing you didn't think she could? Well, it takes away from the rest of the story.

Which is a shame, because honestly The Undying is very well written. I absolutely loved the fact that Ethan Reid didn't try to push this story to a global scale. That he, rather expertly in my opinion, kept the action right in the heart of things. When something big happens, people speculate like mad about what is going on in other parts of the world. That's what Jeanie and her group did. They speculated. I was never sure what was truth, who was sane, or what would happen next. That, I liked. I was also rather impressed at how well paced the story was. I never loved the characters, persay, but I did feel connected to them in a way. I knew bad things were coming, but I couldn't look away.

Jeanie's obsession with protecting the baby kind drove me crazy, to no end. It's just my opinion, and I completely understand that it was being used to "keep hope alive". I felt like it kept Jeanie's character from growing at all though. She never let go of her guilt, and that's one of the reasons she and I never meshed. The thing that clinched my three-star rating of this though, was that Reid shows the truth of human nature. I won't spoil, but trust me when I say that you'll feel frustrated and yet be nodding along. I kept reminding myself that I have no idea how I'd fare in an apocalypse. Happily there's a sequel to this! I'm thinking it's going to be even better.… (mer)

I'm struggling as to where I should begin. I did not enjoy this book. I really did not. It did not live up to the expectations I had and it in no way is comparable to The Passage. So what made it fail?

For one thing, the characters. They were so stereotypical. You need your whiner/pessimist, your comedic relief character, and the determined, courageous, selfless lead. The author didn't really do anything to make them unique as they acted just like these descriptions I gave you. I sort-of liked Jeanie because she had guts and was a go-getter, but I had no emotional connection to her. The way the characters spoke and interacted was stilted and emotionless, making it really hard to visualize. The whole baby idea sounded interesting in the premise but it was poorly executed; Jeanie is just handed this baby and within 2 seconds, she is all gaga about this child and having flashbacks and talking about how therapeutic holding a baby is. Seriously? There is a disaster going on, so you need to hustle and maybe you should be having some doubts about taking on this baby instead of just smiling and cooing at it. While that bothered me, what annoyed me even more was that as the story progressed, the baby became more of an object than an important part of the story. I mean, this story could have still worked without this infant thrown into it.

I did not like the writing style employed here. The prologue that was in the beginning was confusing, and turned out to be linked to the ending of the book. When I was reading the novel, I was unaware of this, so the prologue just made me confused, not intrigued. I also hated that the story kept flitting back between French and English; while I understand French (thank you to my french teachers all through high school!), it was frustrating to switch back and forth in the book and also to have Jeanie feel confused about what was being said as she translated things in her head. There were also too many pointless flashbacks. Literally every paragraph was followed by some mini-flashback to a tragic event in Jeanie's life. I get it, it is a sad thing, boohoo, now let's move on to the action! There are zombies and mutinies going on outside, and I really don't want to be spending my time reading about how sad Jeanie is that her father passed away. There were also short chapters that were flashbacks thrown right in at random points that did nothing to add to the plot and were a complete waste of time to read.

I really don't want to continue to bash this book. I know that the author must have put a lot of effort into writing this story, and I do acknowledge that. Suffice to say, it did not work for me on many different levels. It is part of a series, however based on my experience with this novel, I have no plans on continuing to read on.

I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.… (mer)

Such a good continuation of a unique apocalyptic tale. Set in Spain Ren and his mother have found a home in a small town called Romba. He is now 14 years old and has the ability to shut off all emotion and become invisible to the undead. This has been his and his mothers secret all of their lives until an attack on the town reveals this gift to the townsfolk and a visiting group of warriors set on freeing the cities one by one of the shadows that feed the undead. He ends up having to flee with this group and leave his mother behind. He learns more about how to use his gift as they travel to Seville to infiltrate a hive that has controlled the area for some time. I am very much looking forward to the final book in this trilogy.… (mer)