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Book Review: ‘Plague Nation’

Plague Nation © Titan Books 2013

The following review originally appeared on Starpulse.com in 2013.

Ever since I devoured Dana Fredsti’s thrilling zombie novel Plague Town last April, I’ve been anxiously awaiting its sequel Plague Nation. Thankfully I was rewarded with it earlier this month, and got a chance to start it during my morning commute. I found myself on the edge of my seat, literally so absorbed, that I didn’t even realize I had gotten on the wrong train. Now that’s gripping zombie literature!

For those that missed Plague Town, here’s a quick recap: our heroine Ashley Parker, is a smart, strong, sarcastic young woman from northern California who helped contain a zombie outbreak in her sleepy college town. Parker is a wild card, someone immune to the virus which causes reanimation. Not only can she survive bites from the creatures, but she possesses enhanced reflexes and senses, making her a valuable asset. Along with her fellow wild cards and black ops military, Parker stopped the disease from spreading…at least temporarily.

Plague Nation roughly picks up where the previous book left off, with the horrific discovery that a vaccine which activates the dormant virus, has been delivered all over the country for urgent distribution. Fredsti gradually reveals that villains hiding in the shadows are responsible for circulating the disease and for sabotaging efforts to cure it. Their appearance immediately intrigues you, since Fredsti provides few details about these assailants and their nefarious motives.

Like she did in her last book, Fredsti uses passages in italics as an engaging device to shift location and provide us with the inner monologue of average people facing the infected. These horrifying scenes establish scope and show that the plague is starting to cause widespread chaos. Additionally, she continues to employ blood-soaked descriptions that paint a vivid picture of how nasty the undead look, and equally detailed wording to express how heinous they smell.

Our sassy heroine Ashley is just as biting and hilarious as she was in Plague Town. Both her internal and external thoughts are loaded with brilliant pop culture references from the mainstream and throughout nerddom. There are typical things you’d expect like Honey Boo Boo and The Walking Dead, but you also get humorous surprises such as Bill and Ted, Lost, Firefly, Lifetime, Star Wars, Star Trek, Arnold Schwarzenegger films, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman.      

Speaking of Batman, Plague Nation is totally The Dark Knight of this book series, because it tackles grittier themes that test our heroine’s mettle. And laudably, it’s just as successful at delivering these tough concepts as Nolan’s film. Ashley’s new romantic relationship is strained,  she faces the zombie outbreak in urban areas like San Francisco where loss of life is inevitable, and she sees friends die. These deaths are just as heartbreaking for the reader since you become quite attached to Fredsti’s main characters, although at least she compensates by introducing fascinating, quirky new ones that you’ll get hooked on quickly.

As I was reading, I inhaled Plague Nation like a ravenous flesheater, wanting to take in every tasty morsel as fast as possible. However part of the way through, I realized that I needed to pace myself because I didn’t want the story to be over. Like the cliffhanger at the end of your favorite television show’s season, Plague Nation leaves you dying to find out what happens next.  

Plague Nation is available in stores and online at www.titanbooks.com.

Evan Crean: Hello! My name is Evan Crean. By day I work for a marketing agency, but by night, I’m a film critic based in Boston, MA. Since 2009, I have written hundreds of movie reviews and celebrity interviews for Starpulse.com. I have also contributed pieces to NewEnglandFilm.com and to The Independent, as a writer and editor. I maintain an active Letterboxd account too. In addition to publishing short form work, I am a co-author of the book Your ’80s Movie Guide to Better Living, which is available on CreateSpace and Amazon. The book is the first in a series of lighthearted self-help books for film fans, which distills advice from ’80s movies on how to tackle many of life’s challenges. On top of writing, I co-host and edit the weekly film podcast Spoilerpiece Theatre with two other Boston film critics. I’m a founding member and the current treasurer for the Boston Online Film Critics Association as well. This site, Reel Recon.com, is a one-stop-shop where you can find links to all of my past and present work. Have any questions or comments after checking it out? Please feel free to email me (Evan Crean) at: ecrean AT reelrecon DOT COM .
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