**WARNING: This should be fairly obvious, but you really shouldn’t read this review until you read Feed and Deadline first. MAJOR spoilers for the first two books. Read those first, then come back here, kay?**
You’ve been warned…
I can’t believe I flew through this whole trilogy in less than 2 weeks. But, that’s how addicting it was.
At the end of Deadline, major shocker revealed: Georgia is somehow, impossibly, alive. Also, there seems to be a second Rising happening - a storm in Florida brings death and zombies, spreading at an alarming rate. Oh yeah, and Shaun is apparently immune. Holy crap the revelations just kept coming in that one. It all set up the final book really well.
And once again, I can’t talk too much about the book I’m actually reviewing here because I don’t want to spoil anything. Basically though, in Blackout stuff gets crazy and the CDC is after Shaun and his team really, really hard. Of course there’s a lot of tension and suspense, and big new twists. There are definitely some moments that tug on the heartstrings a bit, and times when you really don’t know who can be trusted.
This was a really good conclusion to the trilogy, but it’s my least favorite book of the trilogy. (Of course, Feed is the best.) Maybe it’s because all the really really big surprises happened in the first two books, but it felt like there was a little more filler in this one and it could have been shorter. Part of it might be just me – I’m a bit jaded and I already assume that our government lies to us about everything. So the big end-game conspiracy didn’t seem as scary as the plots in the other books.
Also, there’s this – but seriously, THIS IS A HUGE SPOILER, so highlight if you want to read it:
I don’t like the hidden-romance thing between Shaun and George. When I read the first books, one of the most refreshing things about this series was the fact that there wasn’t a major romance between the two main characters. I really liked their close sibling bond, and it didn’t seem unusual due crazy parents and living in a zombie-infested world. Turning that into a romance seeemed like such a sell-out move.
Anyways, this was still a great book that I read in just a few days, and I’m really sad that the trilogy is over. It’s definitely going to be on my Best of 2012 List at the end of the year. The world-building in these books is just incredible, and I’m already looking forward to re-reading these someday.
Sarah Says: 4 stars
