Their Dead Lives #3

Publisher: Zack Scott Publishing

Publication Date: April 4th, 2016

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: Review Copy from the Author

Pages: 560

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Summary (from Goodreads):

Snow falls across California as the conflict between the Arrows of America and Hunters of Cali escalates into a brutal war. 

Jeff, Scot, Alec and Kale are caught in the middle of the bloodbath. As bodies fall and true intentions are discovered, the four guys will decide once and for all what side they fight for... or maybe no side at all.

Meanwhile, Agent Lea Gallo uncovers the terrifying truth inside the Vault.

Confession: Writing reviews for series finales is one of my least favorite things to do. I'm finding that especially true with this review. I don't know what to say to not spoil anything and everything.

The final book in the THEIR DEAD LIVES series has more bloodshed, death, and violence than the previous books I'm pretty sure. You pretty much shouldn't get attached to any characters in this book.

Something that this book seems to be lacking more than the rest of the books is zombies. They're still present, but not as numerous. They also don't seem to be as threatening, but I suppose if you've had to deal with them for a year now, you'd probably be more like, "Ew, a zombie," rather than freaking out and running for your life.

This book has plenty of action between fights between characters, the looming war between the Hunters of Cali and the Arrows of America, a battle with the Embracers and their undead army, and the final challenge of trying to destroy the Eradicator of Life.

After losing his eye and nearly losing something more precious to him, Scot seems to be trying to work on being a better person. He knows that his actions haven't been all that great and he really seems to step up to be better for Kelsey and so that he can save the world.

Jeff has taken a dark turn after being attacked by Alec and having darkness inserted into his heart. Before that conflict, he was always trying his best to help people and save the world. Now he seems to pretty much be doing the same thing, but is having to fight incredibly dark thoughts along the way. But he seems to be stronger than the dark part of him.

Kale seems to be about the same as in the last few books. In the beginning, I think he still is wanting to kind of like take over the world, but along the way, I think he starts being more concerned with saving it with his friends than taking it over. He deals with a lot of crap for being a monster and having people constantly trying to kill him for things he did when the darkness was more prevalent in him, but I think he deals with things pretty well.

Alec is still pining after Nicole. He's still angry with pretty much everyone except really Scot for the parts they played in her death. There were parts in this book where it seemed like he might have finally been coming to terms with her death and trying to maybe move on, but he just can't. Even after a year, he can't get over her.

There are a few new characters introduced and lots going on with all of the characters still around from the last book, but I'll be writing this for the next twelve years if I were to try and talk too much about all of them.

In the romance department, there really isn't anything new from the rest of the series. Except Jeff finally gets a hook up. Cassidy is coming to terms with the fact that she might have fallen in love with the Heartthrob despite how ungodly awful he is. Kelsey and Scot finally find each other again and decide that if they survive the battle with the Embracers they're going to get married. <3

This book is once again, told in tons of points of view. We have Alec, Scot, Jeff, Kale, Carlin, Cassidy, Nat, Falco Girl, Evans, Them, Denzel, and Gallo. Once again, this isn't something that bothers me because it's actually incredibly easy to tell the characters apart when they're talking. Which I love because I still don't really love multiple points of view.

If I were going to complain about anything about this book, I would have to say it was hard to get into right away. There are so many characters in this series and it was hard to remember what everyone was up to when the last book ended since it's been a bit since I read it. But once I remembered who everyone was and what they were doing and why, it was a lot easier to get into.

Also, I didn't understand Lea Gallo's storyline in this one. It was interesting to see what she did and I think it may have set something interesting up for the sequel series, THEIR DEAD WORLD, but I didn't see how what she did contributed to the saving of the world. I think whatever she did just ended poorly for everyone involved!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and series! It has easily been my favorite series that I've been asked to review and I can't wait to see what happens in the sequel series! If you're a fan of The Walking Dead or zombies and aren't bothered by gruesome deaths and violence, you might enjoy this series as well!

Review: Vital Blood by Zack Scott

Their Dead Lives #2

Publisher: Shades of Grey Publishing

Publication Date: October 31st, 2014

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: Review Copy From The Author

Pages: 510

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Summary (from Goodreads):

Over a year after the events of FOUR, factions have formed across southern California. The survivors of the Vault Tactical Force are now the Numark Knights, determined to end the zombie apocalypse and save this world. On the beaches, the ruthless Hunters of Cali are led by a demented teenager named the Heartthrob. Inland, the Arrows of America thrive in a secluded society and will stop at nothing to keep their home safe.

 

Meanwhile, Alec has vanished from Camp Numark. Jeff wants to find him and mend the rift in their friendship, while Scot just wants to hide out with Kelsey and fool around. 

 

When a dangerous mission sends the Numark Knights out into the world of the living dead, the values of Jeff and Scot will be tested. And as factions clash, betrayals surface, and zombies swarm the California lands, a deadly threat constantly lurks in the darkness, for anyone could be an Embracer of Death.

This book takes place a year after the events of the first book, Four. The group finally made it to Camp Numark, Alec has left the group, looking to exact revenge for the death of his girlfriend, Nicole. Jeff is still ever the good soldier. Scot is just existing and not taking anything seriously. Kale is thought to be dead. Things seem to be okay-ish, until a search party goes out to find Alec and bring him back.

I liked this book a lot more than the first one! I really enjoyed the first one, but this one felt like it went by a lot faster. While they are both equally action packed, I feel that the first one started to really drag, but this one was awesome!

I don't really feel like any of the characters changed too much, at least I didn't think they did. Despite Nicole being gone for a year, Alec is still completely like obsessed with her and now that she's gone from his life, he's just obsessed with getting revenge for her death. I felt bad for him at first, but then I started to find him obnoxious like I did in the first book. He's hideously unpleasant ALL THE TIME!

Jeff is still obsessed with saving the world. It's almost annoying how good of a guy he is. He has good intentions in everything he does, but he doesn't always go about things in the best way, betraying the trust of his friend's in order to do what he thinks is best to save the world. He's like that person you know that's really annoying, but you can't help but like them because they're so nice all the time.

Scot is still Scot. He's still all about screwing around and doing whatever it is Scot wants to do at that moment. I still think Scot is probably my favorite character.

There are also a lot of new characters and stories introduced in this book and several returning characters. Usually when new characters are introduced in a book series, I just don't care about them. I don't want to hear about them because I want to hear about the characters I care about, but there weren't any characters in this book that were introduced that made me go 'WHYYY should I care about you?!'. I enjoyed reading about all the new characters and their different clans and groups and how they are surviving this disaster. I don't really feel like I can talk about them without giving things away or making this review sound confusing. So READ IT because it's interesting!

I also generally really hate when a book is in multiple POV, but it really didn't bother me in this book which I found interesting. I found all of their voices to be easy to tell apart. And I also found all of their stories to be interesting!

As for things about this book that I didn't like, there isn't a lot. I HATED Sadie. I hate her. I hate her. I hate her. I. Hate. Her. She's crazy and hypocritical and stupid and AHHH! I was SO disappointed that she even lived long enough in this zombie apocalypse to even be in this book. I really didn't like her in the first book either, but I HATED her in this one. OMG! 

Also, I feel like some things in this book just sprung up out of thin air and I really had no idea where they came from? But at the same time, I also have a puppy running around my house right now that I have to keep one eye on. So that could just be a 'me' thing.

This book ends in a cliffhanger! I don't know, it doesn't really seem like things could get MUCH worse for these characters, but I mean, you never know. I don't know what else could go wrong. So things can only look up in the next book, right?

Overall, I recommend this series! I think it's a fun read. The first book is a bit slow, but this one is a lot better. I think that people who are really into post-apocalyptic books or fans of The Walking Dead would enjoy this series!