Though it starts promisingly enough, Z. A. Recht's Plague of the Dead quickly descends into standard zombie apocalyptic territory as the U.S. makes every effort to curtail the spread of a virus on the African continent that turns people into slobbering rage-filled monsters, and then once the hosts are dead, returns them to life as shambling zombies, with forms programmed to do nothing more than spread the virus. This best of both worlds approach (think George Romero and 28 Days Later) is about the most novel addition Recht makes to the proliferation of zombie literature in the universe at the moment. Everything is else is standard, if inoffensive; predictable, though readable.

Characters are by the numbers, with the narrative boiling down to two separate groups who, by the end of the novel, are aiming to meet one another somewhere in the middle of the fairly large land mass known as North America. This implies one aspect of Plague of the Dead which was less than stellar: It is far from its own self-contained novel. In essence, it reads like Part 1 of a massive zombie tome, and offers nothing approximating a conclusion, instead baiting the reader to continue with the second book in the series ...

Of course, this was Recht's first book and to be fair, as far as first books go, I've read far, far worse. It would have been interesting to chart Recht's progress as an author, but sadly he only wrote one other book - the sequel to this one - before dying at a tragically young age.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll bother seeking out the sequel at this stage. I'll have to see if curiosity eventually overwhelms me.

2.5 Non-Sprinting Shamblers for Plague of the Dead.

A few spoilers here and there, but you'll still have to read the books to actually get the story.

 

First of all, I have a ton of respect for author Zachary Recht whom I consider a versatile person. I enjoyed all three of his books, even though the last one was finished by Thom Brannan due to the death of Recht in 2009. 

 

The Morningstar Saga follows the zombie apocalypse from a military point of view. The first book, Plague of the Dead - written also with the help of Bowie V. Ibarra, really focuses on how every effort of containing the virus fails and how this pandemic goes global. So basically a bunch of people get infected with this virus and they turn into what the characters will call sprinters, these people are still alive, if death occurs they get up and turn into the living dead or shamblers.

 

We meet Lt. Colonel Anna Demilio of the USAMRIID, who knows the most about the Morningstar Strain and warns the government of the danger that this virus represents. Of course, her warnings are ignored and the virus - stuck in Africa at first - spreads across the entire world. The public is not sufficiently informed either, so when Morningstar hits land the common people are clueless and unprepared.

Colonel Anna Demilio gets into a lot of trouble telling the truth about the virus to an anchorwoman, they both get locked up inside an NSA facility where they will meet an NSA agent who'll help them escape. These three will constitute one of the two groups who plan on meeting each other in the middle.

We get a lot of military stuff and fights but it doesn't get to be too much. After finishing Plague of the dead I felt like I had not connected with any of the characters, I even had a hard time remembering all their names. I didn't actually mind that because for the first time I felt I needed to know more about the story and less about the characters. 

 

The second book of this saga, Thunder and Ashes follows Francis Sherman and Anna Demilio as they are looking to find a way to Omaha - where there is a research institute.

Who is Francis Sherman? Well he is a General, who also fought in Africa and who now leads a band of soldiers, some survivors and a doctor in the hope that they'll make it out alive. He is friends with Anna Demilio from USAMRIID, whom he communicates with during his stay in Africa. These are the two groups who plan on meeting each other. 

Of course, the remaining survivors of this plague have started to form groups, so we meet bandits too. Some choose to wreak havoc, some are just trying to survive. General Sherman and his crew end up assisting a town of survivors they come across for quite a while in the book. 

There is a plot twist, there is an immune soldier - we really have it all. I did not particularly liked the second book so much, it was predictable here and there but overall it was O.K.. A good, fast read.

 

The saga ends with Survivors, the third book in this series where we're introduced to a corrupt government which rose from the ashes of what was once the United States of America. Their goal is to find and control the cure.

Some of the protagonists continue on trying to develop a cure for the virus, others struggle to stay alive. They are still looking to meet up. The survivors continue to fight for their future in a world where the Infected still reign. 

I liked this one a lot, but I didn't quite fall in love with it. The characters were still shallow and the story reminded me a bit of The Walking Dead.

 

 

The Morningstar saga doesn't bring anything new to the table, it's still zombies, pandemic going global, panic, terror. So I guess what I'm trying to say is - if you're into zombies you'll definitely like this saga, but if you want a good infection novel, Morningstar is not going to do it for you. 

Recommended with some reservations.

Every bit as good as the others. Classic zombie mayhem!!!

Pretty much this book starts out as most zombie stories. There is an unknown plague which animates the dead. A bite or scratch spreads the infection. In this story it is mostly told from George's POV. He sees what is coming and decides to try to reach his hometown where his mother and uncle still live. The government has taken over and put people in FEMA camps for "their own good". There is also a ban on living in private homes and owning weapons, even for safety. As things progress from bad to worse, many of the soldiers abandon posts and who is left are the corrupt and power hungry. FEMA camps become a war zone within itself where you not only have to worry about the guards, but the inmates as well.

As we follow George, we start to see the real monsters and they aren't the ones devouring the flesh of the living. As chaos reigns, gangs try to rule the weak. There are pockets of people sharing and holding out, but they too have to fight the rouge gangs and the government run FEMA soldiers as well. It is a story of true horror in a world we have already seen can happen. What is interesting is that we find that this book was written pre-Katrina and no one believed that anything FEMA run would be that incompetent. Now with this new edition, we find that what he had eerily predicted could come true if a zombie infestation would break out in the US. *shivers*

I give this book 3 stars. This is definitely an adult book. Not only is there violence but sex as well. If you like a good horror book and don't mind quite a bit of blood and guts then this book is for you! Just check your door before reading and make sure all windows are secure. Just in case. ;)