Al K. Line

What I liked
The author has some really interesting ideas; this is not the kind of cookie-cutter urban fantasy where you could be reading anybody. This is definitely Al K. Line and nobody else.

I also kind of liked the narrator's voice; humorous and slightly self-deprecating, like a less irritating and more mature Harry Dresden (don't get me wrong, I love the Dresden Files, but early-books Harry has too much testosterone and not nearly enough brain).

Supporting characters, too, are given some show more interesting directions. There are definite indications here that these are real people who will make an appearance in subsequent books; groundwork is being laid. Hooray, because I've noticed a lack of good supporting characters can really damage the entertainment factor.

The Other Bits
I know They always say to start with action, but They also say that you should give the reader some kind of context to hang on to, like a piece of driftwood, or they drown. Al K. Line comes perilously close to drowning the reader, because there's all these people dying and running around and threatening each other, with no explanation about who the £^(% they all are. Luckily, I'm kind of cool with that (good swimmer) so I managed to splash my way through to the part where we get given some context. Other readers may not be so lucky, and their rotting corpses are probably having the eyes eaten by fishes.

Editing. There needed to be more. There were repetitive bits. There was exposition.

While there was an awful lot of action and running around, in the end, the plot sort of folded up a bit too easily. Honestly, I think it would have been a much better book if it had started at Chapter -2, and then we'd get the exciting bit that we've just missed when the book actually does start. The scene that gets described when the MC finally remembers it sounds like it would have been a great read.

Conclusion
This is a book with potential. The author has set up an interesting world with some potentially great characters; I'm hoping that Book 2 ([b:Evil Spark|29985795|Evil Spark (Dark Magic Enforcer #2)|Al K. Line|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1461455561s/29985795.jpg|50386800]) will have ironed out the plot and editing difficulties. On the whole, I'd recommend it. show less

The Twittering Dead

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Member Giveaway program.)

"Ven hit enter and Armageddon was unleashed."

Ven - short for ven.GEANCE, her online hacker tag; Sarah to the tax collector - just wanted to make an obscene amount of cash. And, perhaps more importantly, build the best botnet the world had ever seen. And she did. Build a virtually indestructible bot, that is. The cash? Well, as it turns out, cash is less than show more useless in the zombie apocalypse.

After a decade plus spent carefully nurturing and cultivating her notorious zombie bot, Ven was finally ready for the end game. Using stolen bits of psychological research, she created a virus loaded with "data packets" of information - images, text, and videos, all transmitted from device to user quickly enough to elude conscious awareness - designed to manipulate internet users into opening a Bitcoin account...which Ven would then hijack and drain of funds. (Bitcoin? Really?) The plan was flawless, or so she though. Then she hit enter and accidentally unleashed Armageddon.

As you might have already guessed, those exposed to Ven's subliminal mind manipulation didn't open Bitcoin accounts. Instead, they either became hopelessly locked onto their machines, unable to look away from the devolving gibberish that flashed across the screen (Zombies love to tweet and take selfies, dontchaknow.), while those who failed to maintain steady eye contact went on a murderous rampage. They became zombies of a sort, although it remains a matter of some debate whether they died and were resurrected, or are still alive (and thus potentially curable). Either way, they want brains. In the absence of such, any other body part will do.

Ven's husband Paul is one of the first victims of her zombie bot; while checking Twitter on his way up the landing, he's infected with the virus, goes into anaphylactic shock, and then attempts to devour his wife and newborn son. Luckily, she and her hacker friend Kyle are able to dispatch of Zombie Paul using his own decorative samurai sword - right though the eyeball.

The rest of the story sees Ven, Kyle, three-month-old Tomas, and six-year-old adopted Black Lab Boscoe (Bos Bos) fleeing their neighborhood in the UK for the safety of her sister Cassie's commune in North Wales. All the while, Ven struggles with her unwitting role in ending the world. Convinced that she can't be solely to blame - after all, she viewed the same data as everyone else during the testing stage, with no ill results - she vows to find the person responsible. By story's end this hasn't happened, but the author's note suggests that this is the first installment in a series.

#zombie is a different kind of zombie story, relating the infection to social media rather than a biological virus or environmental pollutant. Line has a rather cheeky sense of humor, and the blood and gore in the early zombie scenes is rather fun. I also adore Bos Bos, and appreciate that the author imparted a nonhuman with his own personality and voice. And - spoiler alert - the dog doesn't get it. (I hate it when the dog dies. The dog ALWAYS dies!)

While the story has potential, the writing could stand to be tightened up a bit. The author tends to rehash the same points ad naseum, resulting in quite a few redundancies. For example, Line includes a lengthy "aside" explaining to the reader the construction of the internet, and why its web-like nature makes it so difficult to shut down. Later on the characters discuss this same material a second time. Likewise, the book (especially the opening chapters) is filled with descriptions of how awesome Ven and her unstoppable bot are. Show, don't tell!

If I hadn't been obligated to review this book, I probably would have bailed 30% in; it just didn't hold my interest, and there are plenty of other books in my pile that I'm itching to get to. As it was, I skimmed over a number of passages in the second half of the book. Line has an interesting concept here, but way too many words. I'd love to see this as a novella or short story. 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 on Amazon.

In conclusion: "Well, fuck Twitter, that was no real loss. It would be a shame to lose Instagram though."

http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/03/03/hashtag-zombie-by-al-k-line/ show less

Written by Al K. Line, the story follows two hackers, an infant, and an overweight dog as they navigate a new world overrun by zombies. The twist is that Ven (the pre-imminent hacker extraordinaire) is the CAUSE of the zombie catastrophe. Line has come up with a unique scenario of how a zombie apocalypse could begin. What if it all started with a computer hack that perpetuated itself through links on Facebook, hashtags on Twitter, and ads on YouTube? Could it be stopped? How could you avoid show more becoming infected?

I loved the concept for this story. A zombie invasion that began because a computer hacker unleashed a subroutine through every available avenue on the Internet? BRILLIANT. As someone who uses social media on a daily basis (who doesn't these days?), it was a chilling thought that by clicking on what first appears as an innocuous link on Twitter I could become a mindless destroyer of humanity.

However, it didn't hold my attention as I had hoped it would. Line has a tendency to drift and focus on minutiae that has no bearing on the tale. Re-telling of information previously stated is also another issue. Also, I didn't really feel connected to the protagonist, Ven. I didn't especially care if she made it through the apocalypse or not. Your main character needs to at least be somewhat relatable/likeable (at least I think so) to keep the interest of the reader. If I hadn't felt obligated to review I probably would have given up despite the fascination of the story's concept.

In conclusion: great concept and some really great wit but could stand a bit of tightening up on storyline and characterization. show less

Weird, bizarre, inventive, funny. A wizard who doesn't stay dead. Shape-shifters, vampires, a fairy godmother, and not a cliche in sight. I especially loved the revelation of the wizard's address - close to one of the top twenty most mispronounced place-names in Britain.
A good read.