2013 urban fantasy, third of its series. Angel Crawford is still a
zombie (subtype conscious and super-strong, though still
cerebrivorous), and gradually getting her new life together. It
doesn't help that nobody tells her anything.
There's a lot going on here, and certainly a sense of progress,
but very little conclusion. A Big Evil Corporation is working on a way
of taking over the zombie community, and Angel's boyfriend's Uncle
Pietro is trying to fight them; someone's making a zombie apocalypse
film, and some of the horde of extras are a bit more lurchy than
they should be; Angel's getting her life together; her deadbeat
alcoholic father is apparently getting his life together; their
house gets washed away by a flood (well, this is Louisiana)…
Some of these ideas get linked up; most of them don't. Also it turns
out that Angel can spontaneously do a thing that most zombies can't do
for their first few centuries. I like the narrative of Angel learning
to take the hands that are held out to her to help her get into a
better place, though the unstated implication that all the other
pill-popping losers and other white trash are ignoring similar
opportunities grates a little; I'm less fond of Angel the Speciallest
Zombie Ever.
(Also the Cutest Zombie Ever, as two men other than her boyfriend make
it clear that they're interested in her, and the one person who
doesn't think she's utterly wonderful is presented as obviously a bit
strange.)
There are also slightly too many repetitions of someone having an
explanation for the apparently horrible thing they did, and Angel
casually saying "oh, I guess that's OK then". Once or twice would have
been fine but it keeps on happening, and it seems to me that part of
the process of growing up and living her own life that Angel's going
through would be getting less susceptible to a convincing line (even
if it turns out to be true).
It's OK; I had more fun with this than I did with book 2, and I'll
probably read another. But it never manages the sense of energy and
humour that the first book had; it's all deadly-serious plot
progression.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.