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Trials: Death and the Undead
Already living with the demons of his past, Vincent Andrews finds himself in the midst of a new viral outbreak. Along with some old companions, Vincent starts off on a journey through this harsh new world to find a place of solace - somewhere this infection has not reached. Along their path they encounter obstacles that test their wits and people who try their morals. And not only are they thrust into this epidemic without a proper means to combat it, they are also given keys to a greater truth that has yet to present itself.
Only time will tell who will survive - and who will succumb to the madness of this harsh - and ethereal - new world order.
Only time will tell who will survive - and who will succumb to the madness of this harsh - and ethereal - new world order.
- GenresZombies
377 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 20, 2013
4 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 4, 2015
I love zombie books. A lot.
I especially wanted to love this book (a zombie book by a local author), but I couldn't.
The editing was not there. There were quite a few sentences that I reread a few times and still could make much sense of or that just sounded silly. Like, "... The rider tumbled to the pavement, scraping his exposed skin in places and burning through his jeans, his shirt in others." Or "Vincent piloted the box truck through the open gate, trundled through damp grass" (which was the last sentence in a chapter. What?). There was also a part where Louis said something and then responded to himself... While in the company of others.
Most reviews I read said the writing was poetic, but to me it was a collection of poorly used literary devices (namely just personification), pointless descriptions, and poorly written dialogue. This book stands out in its excessive usage of awful personification (whereas many authors seem to love beating terrible similes to death). Somehow the author had more descriptors for leaves than for speech; dialogues were bogged down with the word "said" (John said, Louis said, John said, Vincent said...) while leaves danced, screamed, and glowed. The pointless descriptions were annoying. If they're clearing a road, why are we focusing on the insignificant house at the side of the road? The shower water was hot. I get it. When I zoned out, I generally missed nothing but a bunch of silly descriptors anyway.
The length of the book seemed ridiculous for the content. Nine days (of lots of driving) in 330 pages? Really? I felt like we bumbled along for 90% of the book (mostly describing pointless stuff and following random, insignificant people to their deaths) and just set everything up for the next books (I hope). It doesn't make sense otherwise to waste so many pages explaining how Joe Shmoe and Jane Doe died when you can't give me anything substantial about the main characters' backgrounds. What is the crow (and what the heck does his laughter sound like)? Why did we learn about the militia in the woods? What did Vincent do to his hip? I feel like I'm a cat and the author is dangling a feather toy in front of me then pulling it away saying, "lulz GOTCHA! lololol" over and over again until I just stop caring and go take a nap instead... Which brings me to the characters.
I did not care about the characters. Louis and John were the same person in my head. Vincent stood out because I have hip problems (as does he) and I got really sick of hearing about his ex Isabella and her red hair. Ryn was just annoying and made no sense.
This was one of those books that I could not sit down and get into so much so that I dreaded reading. It was more fun to rant and complain about it to my friend than to actually read it. My cat seemed to enjoy the taste of the back cover quite a bit though, so there's that.
I especially wanted to love this book (a zombie book by a local author), but I couldn't.
The editing was not there. There were quite a few sentences that I reread a few times and still could make much sense of or that just sounded silly. Like, "... The rider tumbled to the pavement, scraping his exposed skin in places and burning through his jeans, his shirt in others." Or "Vincent piloted the box truck through the open gate, trundled through damp grass" (which was the last sentence in a chapter. What?). There was also a part where Louis said something and then responded to himself... While in the company of others.
Most reviews I read said the writing was poetic, but to me it was a collection of poorly used literary devices (namely just personification), pointless descriptions, and poorly written dialogue. This book stands out in its excessive usage of awful personification (whereas many authors seem to love beating terrible similes to death). Somehow the author had more descriptors for leaves than for speech; dialogues were bogged down with the word "said" (John said, Louis said, John said, Vincent said...) while leaves danced, screamed, and glowed. The pointless descriptions were annoying. If they're clearing a road, why are we focusing on the insignificant house at the side of the road? The shower water was hot. I get it. When I zoned out, I generally missed nothing but a bunch of silly descriptors anyway.
The length of the book seemed ridiculous for the content. Nine days (of lots of driving) in 330 pages? Really? I felt like we bumbled along for 90% of the book (mostly describing pointless stuff and following random, insignificant people to their deaths) and just set everything up for the next books (I hope). It doesn't make sense otherwise to waste so many pages explaining how Joe Shmoe and Jane Doe died when you can't give me anything substantial about the main characters' backgrounds. What is the crow (and what the heck does his laughter sound like)? Why did we learn about the militia in the woods? What did Vincent do to his hip? I feel like I'm a cat and the author is dangling a feather toy in front of me then pulling it away saying, "lulz GOTCHA! lololol" over and over again until I just stop caring and go take a nap instead... Which brings me to the characters.
I did not care about the characters. Louis and John were the same person in my head. Vincent stood out because I have hip problems (as does he) and I got really sick of hearing about his ex Isabella and her red hair. Ryn was just annoying and made no sense.
This was one of those books that I could not sit down and get into so much so that I dreaded reading. It was more fun to rant and complain about it to my friend than to actually read it. My cat seemed to enjoy the taste of the back cover quite a bit though, so there's that.
May 15, 2020
The characters were hard to sympathize with, and seemed to speak harshly just for the sake of 'spicing up' every other paragraph. I unfortunately won't be continuing this series.
July 7, 2014
Fantastic writing. The story is swiftly, and steadily paced without lulls. The reveals are not rushed and come naturally whilst still leaving a lot to be learned by the characters in subsequent books. It will definitely move you toward a different mindset. If you like zombie apocalypse style books, you'll like this.
November 4, 2014
Simple and straightforward
easy read, flowed well, tends to wax a bit poetic at unexpected moments but didn't linger or try to solve the mysteries of the cosmos. watch for repetitive word choices, kind of tripped over a few of these but won't "dwell" on them. ending was more of a disappointment, just rushed to wrap up the loose ends but could've easily set up for a sequel.
easy read, flowed well, tends to wax a bit poetic at unexpected moments but didn't linger or try to solve the mysteries of the cosmos. watch for repetitive word choices, kind of tripped over a few of these but won't "dwell" on them. ending was more of a disappointment, just rushed to wrap up the loose ends but could've easily set up for a sequel.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews