The Devil by Name

I really enjoyed this book, but it really is a different animal than its predecessor...but then, it has to be.

The first has the enjoyable job of blowing your mind with all this stuff you've never seen in this context before. The hand. The eye. The voice. Zombies. Rock 'n' roll. Shadowy corporations in lockstep with the government. Oh, and the impending apocalypse. It's a hell of a ride.

So this, the second book, has the unenviable job of taking all that stuff you know now, so it's not as mind-blowing. The hand? Big deal. The eye? Whatever. ...and so on... So Rosson now has to remix and move that story forward.

And, as far as I'm concerned, he did a damned good job. His plotting is insane. His characters are very, very real. His dialogue show more is brilliant. But none of that adds up to much of the story isn't there, and the story is there, trust me.

The first was about the characters and the world falling into the void. This one is about some of those characters, and some new ones, doing their damnedest to claw themselves out of that void.

This is a great duology. show less

I don't generally read horror, though I do like apocalyptic tales. This was an entertaining "zombie" book, with a few minor differences- the main one being that the zombies turn out to not be permanent. Also, this book deals with a "devil"- ahem, I don't like supernatural stuff. But the writing mainly sticks to the power lust and evilness of the humans who engineered the scenario and does a good job with that. I do think there are a few characters who are not believable, and the ending is a little too easy. However it is a page turner and very creepy at times.