OK, so according to the description on Amazon, it’s been nearly two years since Alice went down the rabbit hole and met the Biter queen (See my CBR8 review #48). Her and her people and her biters have been through a lot. I think it was book 2 (CBR8 review #49) where her people started to be kinda ok with the biters. They also started communicating with the American resistance in that book.
We start this book with a nuclear explosion in Shanghai. I can’t remember how Alice and her people figure it out, but they do. They find out from either the Americans or the new BIG BAD that the Deadland is next to be obliterated. Alice decides that she needs to go to America and stop the nuclear missiles that threaten her people. One of the funnier parts of this book is the description of Bunny Ears traveling with the group. Just picture a biter who’s been that way for nearly 17 years (we learned in Book 3, which is a prequel, that he got bitten almost immediately at the beginning), wearing bunny ears that he put on to impress a girl (17 years ago), flying in a plane and riding in a Jeep with humans. I thought it was comical. He’s Alice’s right hand man / bodyguard / Biter bouncer, so he’s always nearby. He just shows up at the airfield to make the trip to America with Alice. I think he might be my favorite character now that I’m thinking about it. He’s fiercely loyal, doesn’t put up with BS, and has good command of the biters when needed.
Anyway, even though almost all of the Zeus soldiers in the Deadland defected to Alice’s team, they’re still bad guys in America. There’s a drunken “president” of the US, a head honcho named “the Baron”, and other shadowy evildoers.
The thing I didn’t like about this book is that the characters are so one dimensional. Character development is sacrificed for neverending battle and running around. I’m a big James Bond fan (I don’t know how it started, but it’s been years), but I always hate the car chases. I don’t really care about all the crazy ass action stuff. I want to know why the bad guys are bad. I want to know what motivates the good guys to keep going after the bad guys. One thing I will say about these books is that they’re constantly telling us that Alice cares about her people and her biters. She’s really the only one that gets character development. I want to know what made the drunken asshole “president” a drunken asshole.
Anyway, #4 is another look back book (like #3 was), so I’m enjoying that. It’ll most likely be my CBR9 #2 🙂