Heroes of New Vegas Series, Book 6 Night Resurrected / Colleen Gleason / 389 pages

Five men emerge from a cave fifty years after an apocalyptic event.  Now with extraordinary new powers, they must learn how to survive in this new dark, ravaged world. They are determined to help the resistance that is fighting against the immortal Strangers that caused the destruction, and now repress the human race.  The Strangers, once human and the rich elite of society, part of the Cult of Atlantis, worked to cause the destruction of the world in exchange for crystals from Atlantis that give them immortality. The world they knew is in ashes, and what remains is in peril and these five extraordinary survivors are humankind's last, best hope. One of the men that emerges from the cave is Wyatt,  he lost his family forever during The Change, and has nothing left to lose. But just when he thought he'd never feel anything again, Remington Truth comes into his life. The beauty faces unimaginable dangers on her quest to safeguard the mysterious crystal in her possession as the Strangers hunt her, he joins her on her journey-never expecting her to find a way past the wall he's built. Remy's a woman with everything at stake. While protecting the powerful crystal that her grandfather and name’s sake gave her, she dares trust no one with her life and family secret. Yet once she recognizes the ravished heart beneath Wyatt's stony facade, she's willing to risk it all. Together they battle the force of darkness-their very survival at stake.  Narrated by Sebastian Fields 11h 46 min.

Heroes of New Vegas Series, Book 5 Night Forbidden / Colleen Gleason / 389 pages

Five men emerge from a cave fifty years after an apocalyptic event.  Now with extraordinary new powers, they must learn how to survive in this new dark, ravaged world. They are determined to help the resistance that is fighting against the immortal Strangers that caused the destruction, and now repress the human race.  The Strangers, once human and the rich elite of society, part of the Cult of Atlantis, worked to cause the destruction of the world in exchange for crystals from Atlantis that give them immortality. The world they knew is in ashes, and what remains is in peril and these five extraordinary survivors are humankind's last, best hope. Bruno "Fence" Washington survived the apocalypse - emerging from a Sedona cave into a strange and terrible new world... 50 years later. Now, scouring for answers about the malevolent Strangers, the former extreme sportsman encounters a woman who calls to his every desire he just has to work through some of the traumas from his past. While try as she might, Ana can't resist the man who tempts her in ways she never knew possible... if she could just trust him with some of the dark secrets from her own past.  But they must work together to face a new evil rising up from the rolling ocean. Narrated by Sebastian Fields 11h 8min.

Heroes of New Vegas Series, Book 4 Night Beckons / Colleen Gleason / 357 pages

Five men emerge from a cave fifty years after an apocalyptic event.  Now with extraordinary new powers, they must learn how to survive in this new dark, ravaged world. They are determined to help the resistance that is fighting against the immortal Strangers that caused the destruction, and now repress the human race.  The Strangers, once human and the rich elite of society, part of the Cult of Atlantis, worked to cause the destruction of the world in exchange for crystals from Atlantis that give them immortality. The world they knew is in ashes, and what remains is in peril and these five extraordinary survivors are humankind's last, best hope. The Change that devastated the earth did not destroy Theo Waxnick, one of the founding members of the resistance.  However during the Change he was altered, made into something more than human he’s eternally young and beautiful, but not immortal. He dies on a mission against the Strangers, and is lost to the darkness, until a miracle lady brings him back. Born during the apocalyptic storms and earthquakes that left the world in ruins, Selena has dedicated her life to easing the pain of others. But Theo is the first in her care to survive. Responding to Selena's tender touch, Theo starts to live again, to feel and desire again. But they both have secrets they can’t share that make them targets for others.   Narrated by Sebastian Fields 12h 42min.

Heroes of New Vegas Series, Book 3 Abandon the Night/ Colleen Gleason / 382 pages

Five men emerge from a cave system fifty years after something destroys human life as they knew it.  Now with extraordinary new powers, they must learn how to survive in this new dark, ravaged world. They are determined to help the resistance movement fighting against the immortal Strangers that caused the destruction, and now repress the human race.  The Strangers, once human and the rich elite of society, part of the Cult of Atlantis, worked to cause the destruction of the world in exchange for crystals from Atlantis that give them immortality. Quent Fielding had it all money, power, women, good looks...until he and his friends were frozen in time for fifty years. Now he finds himself lost and alone in a new world of overgrown urban jungles, feeling useless and that he has nothing useful to offer the resistance besides his strange ability to touch objects and know their past.  However his ability comes as a double edged sword and he can sometimes fall into a deep black whole when he touches something and receives too much information. To feel useful he is determined to find and kill his father, one of the leaders of the Strangers and the Cult of Atlantis, he had a chance to do so when he was younger and his father was trying to beat him to death but didn’t take it and now feels slightly responsible for what his father has done. To find his father Quent’s going to need the help of Zoe Kapoor, the sharp-tongued zombie hunter to kill and avoid the zombies and wild animals, But she’s as sexy as she is elusive and has a dark past of her own, trying to hunt down and kill the man responsible for murdering her family and town. Narrated by Sebastian Fields 10h 30min.

Heroes of New Vegas Series, Book 2 Embrace the Night / Colleen Gleason / 325 pages

Five men emerge from a cave system fifty years after something destroys human life as they knew it.  Now with extraordinary new powers, they must learn how to survive in this new dark, ravaged world. Simon Japp one of the five men has a violent past that will haunt him forever. But when he somehow travels through time to a dark future where civilization is all but destroyed, he sees it as an opportunity for redemption, a second chance. As he becomes familiar with this new, overgrown world of jungle-like cities and overgrown shopping malls, Simon is determined to help the Resistance movement against the immortal Strangers-the repressive, controlling race that has taken over civilization and the ones that caused the destruction. He can't afford to be distracted by the beautiful, soft-spoken woman who haunts his thoughts. Sage Corrigan is the product of a rigid cult that’s goal is to repopulate the world in order to rebuild civilization. She fled when she was a teen to avoid marriage to a man 30 years her senior, who already had several wives and children.  She's learned not to trust anyone, but there's something about Simon and his empty, haunted eyes that tug at her heart. Then there is her friend Theo who also has feelings for her, she not sure what to think. But then Simon and Sage are forced together when they have to pose as husband and wife to infiltrate the cult she once fled. Narrated by Sebastian Fields 10h 43min.

Heroes of New Vegas Series, Book 1 Beyond the Night / Colleen Gleason / 324 pages

Everything they knew and loved was gone.  Five men emerge from a cave to find the world that they knew is gone, they have extraordinary new powers, and they must learn and survive in this new world.  When Dr. Elliot Drake and his friends went on an expedition in a system of caves, he and his companions did not expect to awake from a sleep and emerge fifty years later. Cities are now desolate - lacking technology and infrastructure, civilization is controlled by deadly immortals called the Strangers, and there are zombie like creatures that roam stealing blond people for the Strangers and tearing all others apart.  Elliott has an extraordinary new gift, he has the power to heal, but it comes with fatal consequences, although he can take the injury away from a patient by touching them if he doesn’t touch another person or animal and pass the injury onto them, then he takes on the injury himself, only more fatal.  Jade Kapiza was imprisoned by the immortals for years and escaped and has now been in hiding for years.  She is determined to help the human race fight back against her old captors but doesn’t trust anyone…. Until she meets Elliott.  Narrated by Sebastian Fields 10h 33min

The Rest of Us Just Live Here / Patrick Ness / 319 pages

You know who they are, those indie kids-- the ones who end up being The Chosen One when the supernatural happens, the ones who have the unique powers, the ones who pretty much save the world from the Ultimate Evil?

Well this is not their story.

This story focuses on (somewhat) ordinary kids who just want to graduate high school before it gets blown up.  Again.  Mikey wants to ask Henna out before her family goes to Africa and has a severe case of OCD.  Mel has to graduate a year late while coping with anorexia.  Jared keeps a lot of secrets from his friends, revealing to them only 1) he's gay, and 2) he's part-god (the God of Cats to be exact; cats love this guy).  Each chapter also begins with a short side story on the indie kids' battle against the Immortals, particularly focusing on a girl named Satchel, though there are other characters like Finn, Dylan, Finn, Kerouac, Finn, Wisconsin, Finn, Finn, and even a prince.  Oh, and not to mention Finn.

This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I must say: this was a witty, yet sad, yet heartwarming book all at the same time.  Every character faces a different conflict, both internal and external, while having to deal with the flaws he or she has, making them more realistic.  As the books tagline says, "Sometimes you have to find the extraordinary in the ordinary."

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War / Max Brooks / 342 pgs

This is the second time I've read World War Z, although this time I listened to the Audie-award winning multi-cast audio book. The first time I read the book, I was taking a Reader's Advisory class in 2012 at Mizzou and needed to read two horror books, a genre of which I'm not terribly fond. However, a classmate recommended the book and I LOVED it. It started a bit of an obsession I still have with zombie books. Since then, I've read Rot and Ruin, Warm Bodies, The Girl With all the Gifts, and probably a couple of others I can't remember.

World War Z is set up as a series of interviews that take place a decade after the end of a decade-long war with the undead. The main character is writing a book that will present the human element to the story of the war. He interviews the doctor who first learns of a new sickness when treating a patient in rural China, an opportunistic pharmaceutical marketer who sells tons of placebos during the early days of the infection, an astronaut who spent most of the war on an orbiting space station, a helicopter pilot who was caught in the middle of invested marshes of Louisiana, the retired politician living as a farmer in Vermont, a Japanese computer nerd turned samurai, a South African experienced in making tough emergency contingency plans, a Russian soldier, and a whole lot more. In the audio book, these characters are played some extremely recognizable names like Jeri Ryan, Mark Hamill, Simon Pegg, F. Murray Abraham, Alfred Molina, Nathan Fillion, Martin Scorsese, Bruce Boxleitner, and Rob Reiner.

I am fascinated with the world-building that Max Brooks created in this book, especially how the geo-politics changed. Countries change names and change governments. Since it was published ten years ago, there are a few things that you will encounter that are a bit dated (such as a mention of a still-living Nelson Mandela), but it's still a really great book and I highly recommend it.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies / Seth Grahame-Smith / 319 pgs.

I picked up the audiobook for my #ReadHarder challenge to read a horror book. Horror is not usually my genre, although I find I really like books about zombies (World War Z, Rot and Ruin, Warm Bodies). Who would ever think? You have no idea how much I enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! I highly recommend it! The narrator does all the voices so very well with her highly posh 19th century British accent.


The movie is coming out in just a few days and I definitely plan to see it. If you haven't seen a trailer yet, or figured from the title alone, the author took Jane Austen's classic and added about 30% more content, all related to zombies and the training to kill them. All of the Bennet sisters have been trained in the best dojos in China on the art of killing and the preservation of honor. Those much more wealthy than the Bennets (like Mr. Darcy) have received their training in Japan. Together, in Hertfordshire, they battle the undead, as well as try to figure out love and romance, in Edwardian England.

Walking Dead: Something to Fear v.17 / Robert Kirkman / 200 pgs.

This was the volume I have been fearing since the start of the series.  In this volume, one of my favorite characters in the series gets killed off.  As the creator of the series said, "no one is safe".  I'm so bummed out I don't really know if I want to continue on reading the series.  It is also getting repetitive and depressing.  Every time our heroes catch a break another band of rotten, power hungry, humans come along and destroy their peace.  Again, I would really hate to live in a lawless society where it's kill or be killed, and this series certainly reminds me of that feeling again and again.

I am also almost caught up with the series.  The next volume #18 came out June 18th.  

World War Z / Max Brooks / 342 pgs

On its surface, World War Z seems like just another entry in the expanding zombie-fiction genre, but underneath, it is actually a sly commentary about the diversity of the world's different cultures and how we all react and deal differently with crisis.

Instead of a central plot, the story is told through a series of vignettes of survivors' stories, ten years after a global zombie epidemic. There is no main character except for the unseen narrator, described as a UN worker who has compiled the series of survivor interviews. His voice is unobtrusive, used minimally, and only serves to move the stories along. Through the interviews, we get individual accounts of how the zombie war transpired from various viewpoints all over the world. We also get insight into how different individuals and governments effectively dealt with, or mismanaged the crisis - from Japan to India, Iceland, Cuba, Russia, Brazil, United States, etc.

The book paces itself nicely by first describing the initial confusion and ignorance about what is happening, then travels through the thick of things when the epidemic is at its worst, then ends with the eventual control of the situation and delves into the various ways society changed and adapted in the aftermath.

The individual stories portray the horrors that people experienced on a personal level, as well as give insight as to how things were dealt with politically and militarily. Through its mode of storytelling, it manages to explore the different ways we react to epic catastrophe on an individual level as well as a collective basis, while also touching upon the fog of war and the confusion that stems from panic and misinformation.

World War Z was an easy read due to its short bursts of rotating stories. The accounts are realistic and have a sense of urgency and dread. The book is definitely a fun read, but it also contains a deceptively subtle subtext about world cultures, the human condition and history.

The Walking Dead: A Larger World, Vol. 16 / Robert Kirkman / 160 pgs.

In this chapter, Rick is looking for ways to strengthen the community and increase the defenses to keep the zombies and outsiders out.  While out on a scouting mission, the group comes across a stranger who claims he comes from a large network of communities that are close by.  Rick struggles with trusting and believing the stranger's story and intentions; and has to make the decision whether to keep the community closed off or open up and join the larger network.

Still exciting even if it is a bit repetitive.  AND new characters means a greater chance that someone else is going to be next on the chopping block.  

The Forest of Hands and Teeth / Carrie Ryan / 310 pg. / 1st in a Series

Just FYI - the cover artist for this

book wanted to remind you that

 even though its the end of the

world, don't forget to wear your

smokey Eye shadow and eyeliner.

"Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead."

This book was creepy, had lots of action and a little romance.  I could see teens getting into this book; and now that the movie is in the works this book will become a "must-read".  This is also the first book in a trilogy  and while it does not end on a cliff-hanger the book does abruptly end leaving the reader with open questions and wondering what will happen next.

Just a side note:  Like a lot of post-apocalyptic stories after the characters go through long bouts of suffering and dead ends, I begin to wonder why they still "want" to live.  Why continue on this way, what for, what about the world do you possibly find joy in?  It's always desolate, ugly, extreme weather, the people are mean and take advantage of each other, what could they possibly want to save and preserve for future generations?   Obviously, I will not be someone that will live long after an apocalyptic event.  ;)

Ashes by Ilsa Bick. Audio 10 cds Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

     After hearing Lisa Kimmel rave wildly about this book, I decided to try it. Not normally a zombie person, I thought it would be an interesting change of pace from my usual favorite of historical novels. I am so glad I listened! The world as we know it has changed after an EMP flashed across the sky. Nothing works that has anything to do with a computer chip so good luck trying to travel to get help or eating food that hasn't gone rotten in the grocery stores. Alex was out in the woods, camping and trying to figure life out when the 'zap' as she puts it, happened. She quickly figures out she needs help as a fellow hiker died in front of her, leaving an 8 year old girl behind. So she begins the journey out of the woods and into a world in total chaos.
     This isn't your normal Oorg and Aaughr zombie novel. The dead don't continually walk with their arms stretched out. There are some gross scenes but honestly they are few and far between. Alex (and us) learn the world and its rules have completely changed. 'Normal' people can or can not be trusted, rules aren't always the best thing and well, love isn't what it's cracked up to be. The narrator is a wonderful actress. She injects emotion, raw and powerful feelings into her reading and the listener is just sucked along with the riptide. I highly recommend listening over reading but the writing is well crafted. This is a trilogy and while the second one is out, the third won't be published for a while.
     6 Degrees of Reading: Enclave by Ann Aguirre, Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Gone by Michael Grant.

The Walking Dead: We Find Ourselves, vol. 15 / Robert Kirkman / 160 pgs

The Zombie horde attack is over, but there were causalities.  Rick deals with his grief and worry by trying to put the community back together and make it stronger and safer.  Some of the original community members start to worry that the new members are trying to take over.  Rick has to find a way to get the two groups to work together. 

The illustrations are always good in this series.  The faces hold many different expressions and I like that the bodies are drawn proportionally.  Not much "zombie" or any other kind of action in this chapter, but a lot of scheming and foreshadowing of power plays between characters that are soon to come.

The Walking Dead: No Way Out Vol. 14 / Robert Kirkman / 135 pgs

The safe little community that the crew has been holed up in gets surrounded and overrun by Zombies.  Sometimes I think the author has new people join the story just so there are more people to kill off.  As the writer says "no one is safe".  After 14 volumes the zombie attacks are getting a little monotonous; this one ends on a cliff hanger though.

Walking Dead: Too Far Gone Vol. 13 / Robert Kirkman / 130 pgs

The gang is still trying to adjust to "normal" life.  In their new community, the question arises how do you handle a community member that is abusing his wife and kid?  There are no jails and kicking him out of the community is the same as capital punishment.  Also, who decides what is right and wrong?  This chapter is an interesting look at how societies and governments are formed or in their case re-formed.

World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War / Max Brooks / 342 pgs

World War Z is set in a post apocalyptic world that had been invaded by zombies.  The novel is made up of first person anecdotes about the war and major events of that time.  I listened to this on Audiobook and it has a great cast, which really brings the narratives to life with the different accents and tones they use.  The plot is pretty straightforward, people are just telling their stories about what they did and saw during the Zombie War.  It still made for an interesting book and makes you think how would you act during an apocalyptic war.

Walking Dead: Life Among Them / Robert Kirkman / 125 pgs.

The band of 12 are "recruited" by a stranger named Aaron to join a community that is located in a safe-zone outside of Washington, DC.  Our heroes are so used to being taken advantage of groups of lawless humans who are out for themselves that they have little to no trust of this new proposal.  When they get to the community, the group has a very hard time readjusting and joining back in to the daily routines of "normal" life.  It's very interesting to see how these characters have changed over the course of the series and now how they seem like fish out of water when they return to a regular society. 

Walking Dead: Fear the Hunters (vol. 11) / Robert Kirkman / 142 pgs

In this volume, our small band of weary and sorry-looking travellers are being stalked and hunted by other Humans.  I really feel that Kirkman has a very cynical view of humanity.  Just like "Lord of the Flies" when society goes people seem to turn into animals.  This volume really focuses on this issue and again asks the question, how much of your humanity are you willing to give up in order to survive?

I have the next volume on reserve, so it will be awhile to continue this series.  *sigh*