Monday, May 5, 2014

Books - Ex-Patriots by Peter Clines

This sequel to Ex-Heroes continues the story of a group of Los Angeles superheroes and civilians vs. zombies. I know, I know, but it was fun, what can I say? The book is well-written, as the action changes from downtown LA (where snipers vie in a point system to take out celebrity zombies) to the desert, where the heroes discover a military base with surviving army personnel. The base contains enhanced soldiers that may or may not be the psycho-military from most zombie movies. An intriguing set of heroes are featured, mainly St. George, the fire-breathing "Superman" of the group, Stealth, a female Batman, and Zzap, a hero with electric-based powers. The book had a fun plot, thrills, and the constant sense of doom that most zombie stories have, but still manages to be a solid adventure/superhero tale and ends on an up note. This and the previous book are recommended, if you like this sort of thing.
 
Rating: *** 1/2 out of 5 stars

2 comments:

  1. I've read the first two books in the series and they are some of the best examples of Hero Lit around. The characters have some depth and there isn't a single "doing good for the sake of doing good" one in the bunch. I know. I know. I loves me the Man of Steel with the best of them but I hate when heroes are written as just clear cut do-gooders. No one. No one, I say! No one is that one dimensional.

    On the flip side, the characters in the two Heroes books are horribly scared either. Yeah, there in a Zombie world but they still find the dark humor in their day. It's called a survival mechanism for a reason.

    Good story (not literature but a heck of ride) well told. Can't wait for more.

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  2. Agreed! This is well-done escapism, pure and simple. And Clines is a quality writer, not usually found in this sub-sub-sub genre. Looking forward to raiding the library for the next in the series.

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