What do you think?
Rate this book
Purge of Babylon #1
The Purge of Babylon
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Horror (2014)One night. That was all it took.
Creatures that once lived in the shadows, hidden from humankind, have risen, spreading like a plague across the globe over the course of a single night. Their numbers growing exponentially through infection, these seemingly unkillable creatures have swallowed up whole cities and collapsed unprepared governments.
Survivors call it The Purge.
Against all odds, a disparate group of survivors has emerged from that blood-soaked night that devastated the planet and reduced humanity to an endangered species. Among the survivors are two ex-Army Rangers, a businesswoman, and a third-year medical student. But surviving The Purge was one thing – staying alive is another matter entirely.
Hope exists in the countryside, in the form of a self-sustaining underground facility designed to withstand any calamity. But in order to reach its safety, the survivors must travel hundreds of treacherous miles, with the night – and the creatures that dwell within it – always at their backs.
The rules are simple: stay out of the dark, load up on silver bullets, and whatever you do, stay alive.
The road to salvation has begun …
Creatures that once lived in the shadows, hidden from humankind, have risen, spreading like a plague across the globe over the course of a single night. Their numbers growing exponentially through infection, these seemingly unkillable creatures have swallowed up whole cities and collapsed unprepared governments.
Survivors call it The Purge.
Against all odds, a disparate group of survivors has emerged from that blood-soaked night that devastated the planet and reduced humanity to an endangered species. Among the survivors are two ex-Army Rangers, a businesswoman, and a third-year medical student. But surviving The Purge was one thing – staying alive is another matter entirely.
Hope exists in the countryside, in the form of a self-sustaining underground facility designed to withstand any calamity. But in order to reach its safety, the survivors must travel hundreds of treacherous miles, with the night – and the creatures that dwell within it – always at their backs.
The rules are simple: stay out of the dark, load up on silver bullets, and whatever you do, stay alive.
The road to salvation has begun …
483 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 2013
824 people are currently reading
5584 people want to read
About the author
Sam Sisavath
90 books488 followersWriter of stuff, and things, and whatnot.
Website: http://www.roadtobabylon.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/P6fgT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writerofstuff
Website: http://www.roadtobabylon.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/P6fgT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writerofstuff
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 351 reviews
January 19, 2022
Attack of the Zompire (Vambie?) Munchkinsteins
Imagine a really, REALLY gripping episode of Baywatch. Well that pretty much sums up what Sam Sisavath has created here. Okay, I know the words "gripping" and "Baywatch" should never appear in the same sentence, but as our hairy-chested heroes seem to be continually saving our hot, sweaty maidens in distress, and then having the favor returned with some hot, sweaty sex, I kept having the image of David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson pop into my head.
Oh, and then there's the matter of our bad guys...
Sisavath elected not to use a generic, off-the-shelf monster creation. Instead, he decided on a blend of creatures. They like blood and shun daylight, so they're a bit vampirish. They like biting bits out of people's necks thus turning the bite-ees into zombies. After being bitten, our victims seem to shrivel up to a shadow of their former selves, although they become regular little Einsteins. Yes folks, they are Zompire Munchkinsteins! They're quite believable and I found them scary, although I was left with a lot of questions: Where did they come from? How did they take over so quickly? Do they suffer from Vitamin D deficiency?
The main protagonists, are two ex-army SWAT team guys with all the gun smarts anyone could hope for. They seemed quite corny and unbelievable when, in the opening scenes, they lose over half their team to the zompire munchkinsteins, and all they do is crack really poor jokes about it. I mean, who does that? Nobody. I just couldn't connect with these guys. Likewise, in a mild fit of misogyny, our author writes heroines who are flat (but not flat-chested) and slightly boring. They're Baywatch beauties whose only function seems to be to look after the kids, and provide a bit of jungle-love for our SWAT guys. This is of course, after our SWATies have whipped out their shotguns and done The Monster Mash with our unfortunate little zompires - who seem hellbent on getting themselves killed. Hmm. Maybe they're not so smart after all.
To be fair, I enjoyed this book just a little bit (probably because I'm juvenile and shallow) and the action is non-stop, but a bit repetitive. It has the potential to be a stand-out in the apocalypse genre, if only all the (very) rough edges I mentioned above were smoothed out. I think the book could be a bit shorter too. If you can put the blinkers on and overlook all the schmaltz, you'll like this just a little bit too...maybe.
Imagine a really, REALLY gripping episode of Baywatch. Well that pretty much sums up what Sam Sisavath has created here. Okay, I know the words "gripping" and "Baywatch" should never appear in the same sentence, but as our hairy-chested heroes seem to be continually saving our hot, sweaty maidens in distress, and then having the favor returned with some hot, sweaty sex, I kept having the image of David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson pop into my head.
Oh, and then there's the matter of our bad guys...
Sisavath elected not to use a generic, off-the-shelf monster creation. Instead, he decided on a blend of creatures. They like blood and shun daylight, so they're a bit vampirish. They like biting bits out of people's necks thus turning the bite-ees into zombies. After being bitten, our victims seem to shrivel up to a shadow of their former selves, although they become regular little Einsteins. Yes folks, they are Zompire Munchkinsteins! They're quite believable and I found them scary, although I was left with a lot of questions: Where did they come from? How did they take over so quickly? Do they suffer from Vitamin D deficiency?
The main protagonists, are two ex-army SWAT team guys with all the gun smarts anyone could hope for. They seemed quite corny and unbelievable when, in the opening scenes, they lose over half their team to the zompire munchkinsteins, and all they do is crack really poor jokes about it. I mean, who does that? Nobody. I just couldn't connect with these guys. Likewise, in a mild fit of misogyny, our author writes heroines who are flat (but not flat-chested) and slightly boring. They're Baywatch beauties whose only function seems to be to look after the kids, and provide a bit of jungle-love for our SWAT guys. This is of course, after our SWATies have whipped out their shotguns and done The Monster Mash with our unfortunate little zompires - who seem hellbent on getting themselves killed. Hmm. Maybe they're not so smart after all.
To be fair, I enjoyed this book just a little bit (probably because I'm juvenile and shallow) and the action is non-stop, but a bit repetitive. It has the potential to be a stand-out in the apocalypse genre, if only all the (very) rough edges I mentioned above were smoothed out. I think the book could be a bit shorter too. If you can put the blinkers on and overlook all the schmaltz, you'll like this just a little bit too...maybe.
April 13, 2014
First the good news. I really enjoyed the story and intend to read the second book. Most fans of post apocalyptic fiction will agree that it's a page-turner with a few twists and some likable characters. The romantic relationships and much of the dialogue were pretty corny, but forgivable. With a little re-writing and some polish, I could see this book being made into a good movie.
Now the bad news. The editing in this book is absolutely horrible. In fact, it's probably the worst I've ever seen. It's so bad that I would have taken away another star for all the glaring errors in the book, but it appears to be a self-published, first work by this author and the editors were probably friends or family. The fact that I enjoyed the story enough to finish reading it, and will read the second book, redeems it to a degree. The female characters are flat stereotypes. All of them are gorgeous sexpots who serve as damsels in distress. The two main protagonists are macho superheroes, almost to the point of caricature. I wanted to give the book another star, but the kindle version I bought honestly seemed like a rough draft that no one had proofread, and that's normally a deal-breaker for me.
Overall, I do look forward to reading the second book in this series and hope the author keeps working on improving his writing skills. It's hard to recommend a book after only giving it 3 stars, but I would recommend it for those who enjoy the genre and can get past some pretty serious editing flaws. Hopefully Mr. Sisavath will make enough money to hire a better editor.
Now the bad news. The editing in this book is absolutely horrible. In fact, it's probably the worst I've ever seen. It's so bad that I would have taken away another star for all the glaring errors in the book, but it appears to be a self-published, first work by this author and the editors were probably friends or family. The fact that I enjoyed the story enough to finish reading it, and will read the second book, redeems it to a degree. The female characters are flat stereotypes. All of them are gorgeous sexpots who serve as damsels in distress. The two main protagonists are macho superheroes, almost to the point of caricature. I wanted to give the book another star, but the kindle version I bought honestly seemed like a rough draft that no one had proofread, and that's normally a deal-breaker for me.
Overall, I do look forward to reading the second book in this series and hope the author keeps working on improving his writing skills. It's hard to recommend a book after only giving it 3 stars, but I would recommend it for those who enjoy the genre and can get past some pretty serious editing flaws. Hopefully Mr. Sisavath will make enough money to hire a better editor.
February 23, 2014
The reviews on this one really confuse me. I honestly don't understand all the five star ratings this book is getting. I got about 200 pages in and had to put it down. I read a lot of EOTW type books, and while the plot idea for the story is a good one, the characters just aren't believable at all.
First, let us remember that the story is about a disastrous event that takes place with no warning. Things are going normally and then there is chaos. Despite this, all of the characters seem very well adjusted. Granted I only made it a little less than halfway through, but no one seem at all concerned about any of their family members that may be in trouble. Really all the two army guys feel like doing is making jokes and the two female characters want to flirt with them. Even the kids don't question where their parents are and instead make jokes and seem like everything is perfectly fine.
Second, and much more important, much of the dialogue is cringeworthy. People in a crisis just wouldn't talk the way these characters do. I believe this is the author's first book, and the dialogue shows. People survive a night of being hunted by blood drinking ghouls and when they finally reach safety one of the first things a girl does is let people know she has a crush on a guy she just met a few hours ago. A SWAT team is killed except for two members, who are trapped by the same ghouls and their conversation of choice is to joke about some girl they both dated. Maybe it's just me, but the dialogue really killed the story for me. It just made me have no sympathy for the characters at all, and I really didn't like any of them all that much.
Honestly, while the story idea is intriguing, there are many other series out there with much better story and character development, such as D.J. Mollles "The Remaining" series.
I'm not planning on reading anymore offerings from this author.
First, let us remember that the story is about a disastrous event that takes place with no warning. Things are going normally and then there is chaos. Despite this, all of the characters seem very well adjusted. Granted I only made it a little less than halfway through, but no one seem at all concerned about any of their family members that may be in trouble. Really all the two army guys feel like doing is making jokes and the two female characters want to flirt with them. Even the kids don't question where their parents are and instead make jokes and seem like everything is perfectly fine.
Second, and much more important, much of the dialogue is cringeworthy. People in a crisis just wouldn't talk the way these characters do. I believe this is the author's first book, and the dialogue shows. People survive a night of being hunted by blood drinking ghouls and when they finally reach safety one of the first things a girl does is let people know she has a crush on a guy she just met a few hours ago. A SWAT team is killed except for two members, who are trapped by the same ghouls and their conversation of choice is to joke about some girl they both dated. Maybe it's just me, but the dialogue really killed the story for me. It just made me have no sympathy for the characters at all, and I really didn't like any of them all that much.
Honestly, while the story idea is intriguing, there are many other series out there with much better story and character development, such as D.J. Mollles "The Remaining" series.
I'm not planning on reading anymore offerings from this author.
May 10, 2015
50% love, 50% annoyance, and a whole lot of back and forth
Where to start, where to start...
Okay. First off, this story is amazing. Refreshingly original (or passibly unique, however you want to look at it) in a genre that could probably fill at least ten stadiums and still not contain all the literature we have on the undead and supernatural. Mr. Sisavath's writing style immediately pops off the page - fast-paced, modern, and easy to read without making you feel like you've lost a few dozen brain cells in the process and suddenly reverted back to third grade reading (*coughs* E.L. James *coughs again*).
The plot is plausible and immediately engages the reader from page one, and I was rooting for the heroes before the horrors had even begun. I also greatly appreciated the fact that the author seemed to have done his research when it came to the military aspects and use of weaponry, because nothing is more annoying than when you come to that point in a novel and pause, re-read, and blink a few times because you know what you just read was flat out wrong. Or inconceivable. Or both.
Ignorance in the form of laziness does not a good writer make. Luckily for us, Mr. Sisavath doesn't have this problem!
That aside, my issue with the author is his repetition (third year medical student, "dead, not stupid", Will grinning to every comment made and the constant description of him being calm, etc.). I also didn't like his subtle, probably subconscious, sexism toward the women in his writing, as if every female character was seen first by their attractiveness and not as another human being surviving "the purge".
More than that, his female characterizations were pretty much the same across the board. He rarely hit deeper than one-liners and physical descriptions.
My advice, Mr. Sisavath? Spend some more time with the gentler sex. Stop seeing us as blank, empty slates to fill your plot holes. If you don't see us that way, then you should probably learn how to write women with a little more respect considering we're at least 70% of all fiction writers' fan base.
That being said, I still loved the book. Have read the first three in the series and despite facing the same complaints stated above in each and every one, I continue reading! There's something special here even if I can't exactly put my finger on it.
I look forward to more from this author, and will continue with this unique series until the end. Unless, of course, you kill off Danny, and then you're dead to me!
Where to start, where to start...
Okay. First off, this story is amazing. Refreshingly original (or passibly unique, however you want to look at it) in a genre that could probably fill at least ten stadiums and still not contain all the literature we have on the undead and supernatural. Mr. Sisavath's writing style immediately pops off the page - fast-paced, modern, and easy to read without making you feel like you've lost a few dozen brain cells in the process and suddenly reverted back to third grade reading (*coughs* E.L. James *coughs again*).
The plot is plausible and immediately engages the reader from page one, and I was rooting for the heroes before the horrors had even begun. I also greatly appreciated the fact that the author seemed to have done his research when it came to the military aspects and use of weaponry, because nothing is more annoying than when you come to that point in a novel and pause, re-read, and blink a few times because you know what you just read was flat out wrong. Or inconceivable. Or both.
Ignorance in the form of laziness does not a good writer make. Luckily for us, Mr. Sisavath doesn't have this problem!
That aside, my issue with the author is his repetition (third year medical student, "dead, not stupid", Will grinning to every comment made and the constant description of him being calm, etc.). I also didn't like his subtle, probably subconscious, sexism toward the women in his writing, as if every female character was seen first by their attractiveness and not as another human being surviving "the purge".
More than that, his female characterizations were pretty much the same across the board. He rarely hit deeper than one-liners and physical descriptions.
My advice, Mr. Sisavath? Spend some more time with the gentler sex. Stop seeing us as blank, empty slates to fill your plot holes. If you don't see us that way, then you should probably learn how to write women with a little more respect considering we're at least 70% of all fiction writers' fan base.
That being said, I still loved the book. Have read the first three in the series and despite facing the same complaints stated above in each and every one, I continue reading! There's something special here even if I can't exactly put my finger on it.
I look forward to more from this author, and will continue with this unique series until the end. Unless, of course, you kill off Danny, and then you're dead to me!
December 16, 2014
What started out as a decent quasi-zombie story took a nose dive around the middle, never to recover. The problems the author put in front of the characters all had simple, painfully-obvious answers to which everyone remained resolutely, unrealistically oblivious. By the end, I almost resented those characters who had survived after--or so it seemed--having made every conceivable effort to get themselves killed. I will not be reading the sequel.
June 22, 2015
Oh my goodness! 4.6 stars!!!! What a ride! I did not think I would come across a book that I liked as much as The Remaining series, but this book was such fun. I loved it. The author takes quite a different path from most in the "zombiesque" genre and I will definitely read the next one as there are questions to which I need answers. One thing I really enjoyed was the use of humorous banter between the Rangers which helped add some lighter moments to an otherwise heavy and dark situation. Although it took a few chapters to introduce the characters,once the story takes off it doesn't let up. Non-stop action with quite a twist in plot. I can't wait for the next one.
April 27, 2019
I am so mad at this book because it is a really fascinating take on like a zombie vampire hybrid and there are so many great details where I'm like, dang, this author is doing some cool stuff with a very well-trodden concept but then he has to really muck it all up with just a whole lot of stupid. Its 2019 so when the "hero" of my book only gives communication equipment to the men (including a 14 year old boy) and makes all the women fawn over two military dude types and then goes and makes the first significant death the one person of color - man, I am disappointed. Then to have women instantly in competition with one another comparing who is more attractive and just a bunch of other dude-bro stupidity. Here is my advice to Mr. Sisavath - try talking to actual living women before trying to write dialogue for them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2020
Wow what a read, it was nonstop acting from being to the end , and there was times I was screaming mentally at the characters like they could hear me to do something like run or don't just stand there. And the creatures or what ever you want to call them was unlike anything I've ever read about before in a book , so more points to the author for that and the ending wow just wow. Can't believe I never picked this up until. and I'm so glad I did because after reading this I want to read the next book when I can get it to see if it's just as good.
April 9, 2016
How to review this? I settled for 4, more like 3.5, but could be anywhere from 2 to 5. I feel at this point I've read all the must read end of the world/ zombie ish books and now I'm on to the B squad so I had low expectations coming in here.
This was a great story, new take on Zombies, more like Zompires. Really fun premise, characters, and world building. If you took out the character dialogue I think it's well written and easy to follow. Not too caught up in the military descriptions some of these do, and believable decisions.
That said there are major problems. I gave it a 4 in the end because of the story, but like I said above, this could go in the tank if some things don't change. The dialogue, namely every character just ripping jokes and being mostly calm while this all happens is really annoying and unbelievable. I can accept Danny is like this but all of them, even the women they rescued and 16 year olds, come on! Can someone take this seriously?
Will giving up on Kate cause she acted weird after all those deaths? No way. Heck that was the only real showing of emotion in this novel. And how in one night did only 7 people survive? More couldn't of because if they were blaring that siren the whole time, people would have came. So if 7 people made it, the world population is about 1000. At least make it ambiguous.
When they found out the sun killed these things, UV lamps were my first thought, it took them 5 months to figure it out, no way sorry! Lastly, the time jumps were unnecessary in context of this novel and in fact I think hurt it. The story could have gone straight through with no jumps till they were safe in the bunker. It just left me saying wait, what happened days 3-21, nothing? After everything on the first nights, I felt empty.
After those complaints, best one of this type I've read in a while. I hope the author matures like I've seen others do in later books, I am definitely on to book 2
This was a great story, new take on Zombies, more like Zompires. Really fun premise, characters, and world building. If you took out the character dialogue I think it's well written and easy to follow. Not too caught up in the military descriptions some of these do, and believable decisions.
That said there are major problems. I gave it a 4 in the end because of the story, but like I said above, this could go in the tank if some things don't change. The dialogue, namely every character just ripping jokes and being mostly calm while this all happens is really annoying and unbelievable. I can accept Danny is like this but all of them, even the women they rescued and 16 year olds, come on! Can someone take this seriously?
Will giving up on Kate cause she acted weird after all those deaths? No way. Heck that was the only real showing of emotion in this novel. And how in one night did only 7 people survive? More couldn't of because if they were blaring that siren the whole time, people would have came. So if 7 people made it, the world population is about 1000. At least make it ambiguous.
When they found out the sun killed these things, UV lamps were my first thought, it took them 5 months to figure it out, no way sorry! Lastly, the time jumps were unnecessary in context of this novel and in fact I think hurt it. The story could have gone straight through with no jumps till they were safe in the bunker. It just left me saying wait, what happened days 3-21, nothing? After everything on the first nights, I felt empty.
After those complaints, best one of this type I've read in a while. I hope the author matures like I've seen others do in later books, I am definitely on to book 2
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2016
This is obviously one of those reads where it was a "just me" kind of thing because I am definitely in the minority for not enjoying this book. There were an abundance of characters in this read and because of that it felt as if none of them had much depth. The 2 main characters were both ex-military. They reminded me of a couple of teenagers. Everything about this book felt forced and ridiculous. I typically like apocalypse reads but this one just seemed tiring for me personally. The plot seemed repetitive and slow and the characters never felt genuine or realistic. I am glad it was offered as a kinldleunlimited, but this isn’t a series I will continue.
September 16, 2014
What a find!
I completely stumbled upon this book, but oh how happy am I that I did! I love post apocalyptic fiction and have a special place in my heart for zombies and vampires. I spotted a review for this series and ended up downloading the whole series on a whim. I'm a fast reader, but I'm off work right now since I just had surgery. All I have to say is any book that I hate to put down is worth the read. Read it. You won't regret it.
I completely stumbled upon this book, but oh how happy am I that I did! I love post apocalyptic fiction and have a special place in my heart for zombies and vampires. I spotted a review for this series and ended up downloading the whole series on a whim. I'm a fast reader, but I'm off work right now since I just had surgery. All I have to say is any book that I hate to put down is worth the read. Read it. You won't regret it.
December 18, 2015
I'd give this 3.5 stars. Fun read with overcomable flaws and a plot with many openings to become more complex and interesting as the series continues (though the first book did not achieve complexity in the plot department until the end).
Generally, this is a story about two manly men doing manly things with various forms of weaponry and explosives, accompanied by Barbie inspired female characters with republicanesque famly values and morals to go with useless college degrees, as they adventure through Ghoul infested East Texas after the zombi Appocalypse.
That said, it was still a fun read for me.
I read through reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and I agree with them in principle. Where I see what the reviewers were talking about, I don't see the flaws as agregious as some nor do I see the high points as consistent.
The knocks:
Mysognoy- Yeah, I get it. The female characters were set up well, but they were never allowed any level of importance in the story that allowed them an equal role. So it may be more of an overall character development issue, that left them with a primary duty of child-care, looking hot and gracious "my-hero" sex in the slow parts. It's not fair to say they were all written as damsels in distress. The 3rd year med student did save one of our heros from certian death in the big climactic battle with quick thinking and a good dive or two. The other most developed female became involved in a fairly interesting plot twist with potential for more development in the next book. It's also not fair to say that the female characters were any more dependent on the two main heroes of the book than the other male characters. I've taken to calling them "cubes (A.K.A. Red Shirts)" or maybe "Spear Catchers (no explanation needed)." So the issue is more a Barney - Sue thing than a mysogony thing. The med-student acting as a doctor could have been made more important to the story as could any of the rescuees. The real truth is that nobody was as brave, strong, smart, or effective as the two main characters.... nobody.
Yeah, I did read the part about the survivalist, leacherous rapist thugs in the woods kidnapping or trying to kidnap, the afore mentioned Barbie inspired female characters with useless college degrees, with ill mannered intentions. This is a common meme in post-appocolyptic stories. It is also in keeping with real world horror stories in Cleaveland and upstate New York and other places as recently as last year.
Is it a necessary plot device? No, but it's also not something that is necessary to leave out either. It's just a plot construct. When put with the general lack of importance of characters, other than the main two characters, it does give the sense of objectifacation where female characters are concerned. The writer also doesn't seem to believe that men are capable of complex thoughts that do not begin with "she's hot" or that men are capable of setting goals greater than, fight or flight, can I eat it, or Damn, it would be nice to get in bed with...." Survival is the top goal on everybody's mind. And, yes, apparently survival involves sex.
The simple fix is to let the female characters have more valueable, roles, traits and skills than just being "the hot ones." This means the writer makes what they do and who they are more valuable to every character in the story. Doctors heal people. Creative thinkers solve problems. Mothers protect and defend as well as care for and nuture and on that note, mothers are some of the most creative problem solvers and survivors on earth. A good idea should be followed through to a helpful conclusion rather than forgotten or left useless. Valuable, lovable people, come in all shapes and sizes, not just Barbie and Rambo-Ken size. If all that is written is an object focus conflict centered on the pretty girl between villains wanting sex on a leash and male heroes to save them then those scenes quickly take over a story. More depth and breadth and these become just some of the bad things that happen in the world that the characters deal with.
I'm not talking about making female combat monsters, but hey, maybe the doctor could be a doctor once and a while, or a good idea could be a good idea and game changer? Generally if Will or Danny did not think of it in this story then it didn't count. The general lack of developed supporting cast rendered good supporting characters to cube/red-shirt status if their male and sexy female characters (there were no other female characters) to babysitter and cheer-leader, and sex object status, regardless of their potential value to the plot and story. It might also have helped if the two leading characters were less important or at least not the answer to any and every problem. Come on man, share the love.
High-Schoolish romantic relationships--The surest way to devalue a strong female character is to have her fall in love. Surely this can be managed without the calf-eyes and, oh-golly-gosh-gee-whizz, Kate, do you think he likes me?" or having her go from emerging potential supporting cast to damsel in distress whenever the "L-word" is uttered. On the otherside of the coin, doesn't the dating game always feel high-schoolish...with more legal sex and minus the father with the shotgun standing guard at the girls bedroom door?" Why is it that authors write about love as if love makes male characters stronger (more to live and fight for) and female characters weaker (less decisive and able to focus)? Surely somebody can figure out how to balance this scale better...even in post appocolyptic Texas. This is not like real life. In real life Love screws everybody up and makes everybody stronger or weaker at the same time. it's not a gender specific-trait development process.
Frat-Boy humor/banter. Yeah, stuped, juvenile, immature and I laughed. I can live with it.
The Good Stuff
Action - yep, lots of battles and running gunfights with all sorts of baddies. Fun read, tests the limits of plausability but within the range of the old "just press the I believe button" mode. They were fun, good not great but they got close and enjoyable.
Good imagry of post-appocolyptic Texas. It was likely inspired by images on the news of Iraq after the war and that's fairly artistic writing to connect the two.
Good Villains - The writer did a good job of making his own zombie-vampire-ghouls for the story rather than relying on the other vessels in the story. They were like what we know, yet unique in their own way.
Huge potential to develop the plot and fix the flaws already mentioned. The problem is at the point I thought the plot was rising to it's potential, the book ended and never made the connection between what should be part of the discussion and what actually was valuable to the plot and story. The clues from early events were not emphisized enough (or were too singular to be emphasized effectively) early in the story. Even the female roles have potential to be fully inflated to the appropriate size. Yes that means some depotentiating with the lead characters some.
Good plot twists... I didn't see the end coming as it did.
Room to grow. I still want to know how it ends. I'll read the second book.
Overall good fun read. The problems, in my opinion are overstated by the books detractors but they are there just as the high points are over emphasized by the books fans, though there are good fun parts to the story. Worth reading, lots of potential that is not completely fulfilled in the first book. Not enough character development but well written enough that they next book can still fill some holes.
Warnings
Gorey violence, sexualy oriented threats and violence towards women by some of the minor villains and scenarios. Nothing that gets into the "gratuitus" or "glorifying" violence range but not suitable for young readers and questionable for sensitive people.
Generally, this is a story about two manly men doing manly things with various forms of weaponry and explosives, accompanied by Barbie inspired female characters with republicanesque famly values and morals to go with useless college degrees, as they adventure through Ghoul infested East Texas after the zombi Appocalypse.
That said, it was still a fun read for me.
I read through reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and I agree with them in principle. Where I see what the reviewers were talking about, I don't see the flaws as agregious as some nor do I see the high points as consistent.
The knocks:
Mysognoy- Yeah, I get it. The female characters were set up well, but they were never allowed any level of importance in the story that allowed them an equal role. So it may be more of an overall character development issue, that left them with a primary duty of child-care, looking hot and gracious "my-hero" sex in the slow parts. It's not fair to say they were all written as damsels in distress. The 3rd year med student did save one of our heros from certian death in the big climactic battle with quick thinking and a good dive or two. The other most developed female became involved in a fairly interesting plot twist with potential for more development in the next book. It's also not fair to say that the female characters were any more dependent on the two main heroes of the book than the other male characters. I've taken to calling them "cubes (A.K.A. Red Shirts)" or maybe "Spear Catchers (no explanation needed)." So the issue is more a Barney - Sue thing than a mysogony thing. The med-student acting as a doctor could have been made more important to the story as could any of the rescuees. The real truth is that nobody was as brave, strong, smart, or effective as the two main characters.... nobody.
Yeah, I did read the part about the survivalist, leacherous rapist thugs in the woods kidnapping or trying to kidnap, the afore mentioned Barbie inspired female characters with useless college degrees, with ill mannered intentions. This is a common meme in post-appocolyptic stories. It is also in keeping with real world horror stories in Cleaveland and upstate New York and other places as recently as last year.
Is it a necessary plot device? No, but it's also not something that is necessary to leave out either. It's just a plot construct. When put with the general lack of importance of characters, other than the main two characters, it does give the sense of objectifacation where female characters are concerned. The writer also doesn't seem to believe that men are capable of complex thoughts that do not begin with "she's hot" or that men are capable of setting goals greater than, fight or flight, can I eat it, or Damn, it would be nice to get in bed with...." Survival is the top goal on everybody's mind. And, yes, apparently survival involves sex.
The simple fix is to let the female characters have more valueable, roles, traits and skills than just being "the hot ones." This means the writer makes what they do and who they are more valuable to every character in the story. Doctors heal people. Creative thinkers solve problems. Mothers protect and defend as well as care for and nuture and on that note, mothers are some of the most creative problem solvers and survivors on earth. A good idea should be followed through to a helpful conclusion rather than forgotten or left useless. Valuable, lovable people, come in all shapes and sizes, not just Barbie and Rambo-Ken size. If all that is written is an object focus conflict centered on the pretty girl between villains wanting sex on a leash and male heroes to save them then those scenes quickly take over a story. More depth and breadth and these become just some of the bad things that happen in the world that the characters deal with.
I'm not talking about making female combat monsters, but hey, maybe the doctor could be a doctor once and a while, or a good idea could be a good idea and game changer? Generally if Will or Danny did not think of it in this story then it didn't count. The general lack of developed supporting cast rendered good supporting characters to cube/red-shirt status if their male and sexy female characters (there were no other female characters) to babysitter and cheer-leader, and sex object status, regardless of their potential value to the plot and story. It might also have helped if the two leading characters were less important or at least not the answer to any and every problem. Come on man, share the love.
High-Schoolish romantic relationships--The surest way to devalue a strong female character is to have her fall in love. Surely this can be managed without the calf-eyes and, oh-golly-gosh-gee-whizz, Kate, do you think he likes me?" or having her go from emerging potential supporting cast to damsel in distress whenever the "L-word" is uttered. On the otherside of the coin, doesn't the dating game always feel high-schoolish...with more legal sex and minus the father with the shotgun standing guard at the girls bedroom door?" Why is it that authors write about love as if love makes male characters stronger (more to live and fight for) and female characters weaker (less decisive and able to focus)? Surely somebody can figure out how to balance this scale better...even in post appocolyptic Texas. This is not like real life. In real life Love screws everybody up and makes everybody stronger or weaker at the same time. it's not a gender specific-trait development process.
Frat-Boy humor/banter. Yeah, stuped, juvenile, immature and I laughed. I can live with it.
The Good Stuff
Action - yep, lots of battles and running gunfights with all sorts of baddies. Fun read, tests the limits of plausability but within the range of the old "just press the I believe button" mode. They were fun, good not great but they got close and enjoyable.
Good imagry of post-appocolyptic Texas. It was likely inspired by images on the news of Iraq after the war and that's fairly artistic writing to connect the two.
Good Villains - The writer did a good job of making his own zombie-vampire-ghouls for the story rather than relying on the other vessels in the story. They were like what we know, yet unique in their own way.
Huge potential to develop the plot and fix the flaws already mentioned. The problem is at the point I thought the plot was rising to it's potential, the book ended and never made the connection between what should be part of the discussion and what actually was valuable to the plot and story. The clues from early events were not emphisized enough (or were too singular to be emphasized effectively) early in the story. Even the female roles have potential to be fully inflated to the appropriate size. Yes that means some depotentiating with the lead characters some.
Good plot twists... I didn't see the end coming as it did.
Room to grow. I still want to know how it ends. I'll read the second book.
Overall good fun read. The problems, in my opinion are overstated by the books detractors but they are there just as the high points are over emphasized by the books fans, though there are good fun parts to the story. Worth reading, lots of potential that is not completely fulfilled in the first book. Not enough character development but well written enough that they next book can still fill some holes.
Warnings
Gorey violence, sexualy oriented threats and violence towards women by some of the minor villains and scenarios. Nothing that gets into the "gratuitus" or "glorifying" violence range but not suitable for young readers and questionable for sensitive people.
January 2, 2016
The Purge of Babylon is a testament to the power of the growing e-book market. It has over 600 reviews in Amazon, and over 400 of them are 5 stars. Most aspiring authors could only hope to reach numbers like that (at least among the books I typically read) and the book spawned 3 sequels and a spin off so far. After reading the description, I figured I would give it a shot.
The book opens with a massive blackout engulfing Houston as a horde of monsters quickly engulfs the city. Several groups of insiders including two SWAT officers, a medical student, and an ad exec all manage to survive and make their way out of the city.As they try to survive the increasing number of monsters (who hover somewhere between fast zombies and vampires) they not only discover new survivors (both friendly and not so much) as well as the fact that the dead are adapting to hunt down the remaining humans.
Firstly, this book is long - nearly 500 pages. While I don't have a problem with this, this can be a big bite to take for some readers. The writing is so-so. I would not call it bad, but it was a bit bland for my taste. I never really got a great sense of what the characters looked like and the descriptions of scenes were okay. The plot moved along at a good enough clip and there is plenty of action throughout. A reader who enjoys a fast zombie story won't be disappointed by the desperate battles for survival against both dead and living opponents and there is a minimum of focus on the "hard" aspects of survival (where are we going to get food, water, ammo, etc.) The lightning collapse of society explains this away neatly and satisfyingly enough and having seen the foraging aspect of survival novels being dealt with in mind-numbing detail in other books, I was happy not to sit through it here. The author does spend a lot of time on the ins-and-outs of military equipment, but for those with even a basic understanding of it it's unnecessary and detracts from the story. It's definitely geared towards military novices.
On the other hand, the dialogue and characters were not what I was expecting from a book this well rated. Firstly, there is a lot of repetition in the characters thoughts (Plan Z, dead not stupid, Captain Optimism, etc.) that reinforces their mindset well, but invites the reader to just skip over them after a while. There's the difference between character affectation and simply repeating things that can be a fine line to walk, and PoB lays it on a bit thick at times. The book also commits the cardinal sin of horror novels: forced sarcasm. There's a lot of it here (Gee, thanks a lot for example) and it drives me nuts. The characters all use it and it made it harder to differentiate between them as they talked at times.
Another cardinal sin of dialogue here was the Never-Ending Joke, best shown by the two military characters, Will and Danny. They especially are always joking around, making cracks no matter what the circumstances in a way that also feels artificial. One character, Danny, is always telling a joke of some kind or another, and unfortunately they just weren't very funny. There's nothing wrong with humor - even in serious novels - if it feels genuine, but here it did not and I would have liked if had been left out entirely.
Furthermore, I am hardly an expert on military affairs and the psyche of the "typical" serviceman, but I've hung out with a fair number in my adult life. These two guys, who are supposed to be combat-vet Rangers turned SWAT feel more like college frat boys than mean MF'ers. This isn't to say that they're unlikeable, they just felt less-than-believable.
This all leads to the other characters. Many people have complained that the females are 2D contrivances to get the males into bed on page. While there is a modicum of portraying them as strong women, but the men do most of the saving and most of the thinking. As a CIS hetero privilege-blind dude, this doesn't really bother that much, but it's not really helping you appeal to female readers. A lot has been made that one of the male characters pretty much dumps a female character in the middle of the apocalypse because she "can't deal" too. That didn't bother me - not because it's not a shitty thing to do, but because it gave his character a little texture.
All in all, this is a good pleasure reading book. It's not one that made me feel ripped off, but it failed to make me want to pick up the next book which is critical in a series. If you're looking for a popular book with a decided apocalypse zombie horror bent, knock yourself out, but I'll have to pass - I've got too many other series to give a chance.
http://apocalypseyarns.blogspot.com/
The book opens with a massive blackout engulfing Houston as a horde of monsters quickly engulfs the city. Several groups of insiders including two SWAT officers, a medical student, and an ad exec all manage to survive and make their way out of the city.As they try to survive the increasing number of monsters (who hover somewhere between fast zombies and vampires) they not only discover new survivors (both friendly and not so much) as well as the fact that the dead are adapting to hunt down the remaining humans.
Firstly, this book is long - nearly 500 pages. While I don't have a problem with this, this can be a big bite to take for some readers. The writing is so-so. I would not call it bad, but it was a bit bland for my taste. I never really got a great sense of what the characters looked like and the descriptions of scenes were okay. The plot moved along at a good enough clip and there is plenty of action throughout. A reader who enjoys a fast zombie story won't be disappointed by the desperate battles for survival against both dead and living opponents and there is a minimum of focus on the "hard" aspects of survival (where are we going to get food, water, ammo, etc.) The lightning collapse of society explains this away neatly and satisfyingly enough and having seen the foraging aspect of survival novels being dealt with in mind-numbing detail in other books, I was happy not to sit through it here. The author does spend a lot of time on the ins-and-outs of military equipment, but for those with even a basic understanding of it it's unnecessary and detracts from the story. It's definitely geared towards military novices.
On the other hand, the dialogue and characters were not what I was expecting from a book this well rated. Firstly, there is a lot of repetition in the characters thoughts (Plan Z, dead not stupid, Captain Optimism, etc.) that reinforces their mindset well, but invites the reader to just skip over them after a while. There's the difference between character affectation and simply repeating things that can be a fine line to walk, and PoB lays it on a bit thick at times. The book also commits the cardinal sin of horror novels: forced sarcasm. There's a lot of it here (Gee, thanks a lot for example) and it drives me nuts. The characters all use it and it made it harder to differentiate between them as they talked at times.
Another cardinal sin of dialogue here was the Never-Ending Joke, best shown by the two military characters, Will and Danny. They especially are always joking around, making cracks no matter what the circumstances in a way that also feels artificial. One character, Danny, is always telling a joke of some kind or another, and unfortunately they just weren't very funny. There's nothing wrong with humor - even in serious novels - if it feels genuine, but here it did not and I would have liked if had been left out entirely.
Furthermore, I am hardly an expert on military affairs and the psyche of the "typical" serviceman, but I've hung out with a fair number in my adult life. These two guys, who are supposed to be combat-vet Rangers turned SWAT feel more like college frat boys than mean MF'ers. This isn't to say that they're unlikeable, they just felt less-than-believable.
This all leads to the other characters. Many people have complained that the females are 2D contrivances to get the males into bed on page. While there is a modicum of portraying them as strong women, but the men do most of the saving and most of the thinking. As a CIS hetero privilege-blind dude, this doesn't really bother that much, but it's not really helping you appeal to female readers. A lot has been made that one of the male characters pretty much dumps a female character in the middle of the apocalypse because she "can't deal" too. That didn't bother me - not because it's not a shitty thing to do, but because it gave his character a little texture.
All in all, this is a good pleasure reading book. It's not one that made me feel ripped off, but it failed to make me want to pick up the next book which is critical in a series. If you're looking for a popular book with a decided apocalypse zombie horror bent, knock yourself out, but I'll have to pass - I've got too many other series to give a chance.
http://apocalypseyarns.blogspot.com/
dnf
May 9, 2016It had a great potentialand I think writing was great, but around 60% - 80% the story made me so pissed I had to remove it from my kindle. I couldn't understand what was wrong with all the characters. There were no emotions, just descriptions. Kids reacted inadequatly to things that were happening, they never mentioned lost parents, never cried... Adults were so concentrated on getting to the bunker, that when they finally got there they spent 3 months basically doing nothing (what about silver bullets? I would make myself a silver katana, really). They knew the direct sunlight killed ghouls - why not gather some useful things to decimate ghoul population around? Why not set some UV traps around having excess energy? What about mirrors, UV lamps, even spiked holes... What about clearing the area of tree and foliage clusters, to force ghouls to retreat? What about destroying all the buildings in the area to prevent vampires from nesting? Nah, let's sit in the vault and wait for disaster...
The only character that seemed to be realistic was Kate and I happened to skim the pages to find out what her fate was. I was not surprised at all to see her react the way she did as she got no support after the bank night - friends that let her separate from them, the so-called medic didn't even try to fix Kate's heavy case of PTSD, probably being busy stealing Kate's boyfriend... I was dissapointed, because being veterans, both Danny and Will should have recognized Kate's condition as extremely dangerous. But they didn't, busy getting laid. Which was the ultimate thing that made me angry - Will and his attitude towards women. So ok, I get it, when somebody likes beautiful blondes, why not let him dump his suffering companion and push him into the wonderful Lara's arms... It's frakking disgusting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2019
Right forget my old review. I don’t know what I was thinking 😆
Reading this for a second time, knowing how the series progresses, really changed my view on this book and the characters. I actually didn’t like Kate this time at all and Lara, I really liked - a complete reversal!!
But Will ... still my favourite ... closely followed by Danny.
———————————————————————-
3.75 stars
I loved and hated this book. Nothing wrong with the story - it was good - but there were a few things that niggled me.
Firstly the humour between Will and Danny - it was great fun!
Also an interesting "creature" although it took a while to get "I am legend" out of my head at the beginning.
Kate - she started off scared but toughened up immensely so I was disappointed at how her story turned out and she was reduced to a traumatic state. It was such a shame.
I also liked her relationship with Will so, again, I was disappointed with how that panned out.
But her transformation is interesting and I want to see where that will go.
Lara - couldn't stand her from page 1. I don't know why I didn't find her sympathetic after everything she went through and when she and Will got together, I started to dislike his character too. Guess I was "team Kate" LOL. I really hoped Lara would be bumped off!
I've downloaded books 2 & 3 so we'll see how things go.
Reading this for a second time, knowing how the series progresses, really changed my view on this book and the characters. I actually didn’t like Kate this time at all and Lara, I really liked - a complete reversal!!
But Will ... still my favourite ... closely followed by Danny.
———————————————————————-
3.75 stars
I loved and hated this book. Nothing wrong with the story - it was good - but there were a few things that niggled me.
Firstly the humour between Will and Danny - it was great fun!
Also an interesting "creature" although it took a while to get "I am legend" out of my head at the beginning.
Kate - she started off scared but toughened up immensely so I was disappointed at how her story turned out and she was reduced to a traumatic state. It was such a shame.
I also liked her relationship with Will so, again, I was disappointed with how that panned out.
But her transformation is interesting and I want to see where that will go.
Lara - couldn't stand her from page 1. I don't know why I didn't find her sympathetic after everything she went through and when she and Will got together, I started to dislike his character too. Guess I was "team Kate" LOL. I really hoped Lara would be bumped off!
I've downloaded books 2 & 3 so we'll see how things go.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2014
I'm utterly puzzled at the top reviews of this book. It's not terrible but it's not even borderline original plot.
This is basically a total ripoff of "The Strain" and it's vampires but less scary...but also I found it annoyingly written especially all the faith comments and increasing reference to god and his mysterious ways and how science was wrong.
*** SPOILER WARNING ***
Worst it was painfully predictable, every step of the way. The whole section with Elise screamed set up from the first second to anyone with a brain. The "what's the point section" with Kate was so ridiculously obvious too. As was the ending. And of course the hero's survive, the fact that nothing was written about Ted or Luke made it clear they were going to die.
Why were there not silver knives for all? Why wasn't more sliver bullets made? Why not explore the simples from of vampire defence (UV) light for a start instead of 'surprise' with this saviour idea in the Green Room? How did the worlds power and the Internet go down entirely?
I won't be reading the rest of the books.
This is basically a total ripoff of "The Strain" and it's vampires but less scary...but also I found it annoyingly written especially all the faith comments and increasing reference to god and his mysterious ways and how science was wrong.
*** SPOILER WARNING ***
Worst it was painfully predictable, every step of the way. The whole section with Elise screamed set up from the first second to anyone with a brain. The "what's the point section" with Kate was so ridiculously obvious too. As was the ending. And of course the hero's survive, the fact that nothing was written about Ted or Luke made it clear they were going to die.
Why were there not silver knives for all? Why wasn't more sliver bullets made? Why not explore the simples from of vampire defence (UV) light for a start instead of 'surprise' with this saviour idea in the Green Room? How did the worlds power and the Internet go down entirely?
I won't be reading the rest of the books.
July 6, 2016
So, again all the reviews have let me down. I do believe that this series has/had a lot of good elements/ potential but for the most part it needs work! The story starts off very odd, basically no real beginning you start reading and at first I thought that the main characters were in a crack house. And then all the action begins, I love action but the author should have put a little more thought into how to begin this tale. The 2 main characters Will and Dan of course are x military and of course are bad asses to the 1000th power. However, both characters dialog is like 2 high school hormonal boys. I would suggest that authors do some research on military before they start writing. I say this because Sam isn't the only author that makes this mistake over and over again. The gun knowledge is something else that should be polished. I heard about the same 2 guns over and over again. Why? I have no idea! I know people are like this is entrainment and I get that but at some point I like things to be somewhat realistic.
August 25, 2017
Will and Danny are SWAT team members who spend all their time telling crude jokes and making noise before entering the target room. Inside they watch all but one team member getting ripped apart by vampire ghouls and as they carry an injured teammate down the stairs while being chased, they are still joking and laughing. WTF is that all about? Total disrespect to their fallen colleagues! They can't work out why crosses are effective weapons against the momsters either. Doh! Then we have dumb Kate who runs to aid a dying colleague as she leaves her office. He tells her countless times to hide back in the office but instead she just hangs about, getting covered in his blood, then drives endlessly around the levels of the garage, attracting more creatures to her car engine and hoping, in her own words that if she does it often enough the cars blocking the exit might vanish. Seriously the characters in this book all need to be eaten, it was dreadful!
May 30, 2014
Excellent book!!!! A must have!!!
Excellent book!!!! A must have!!!
I was looking for a good zombie book and stumbled across this gem! First thing I noticed about the book was the interesting title, and it caught my attention. So I downloaded the sample and made it halfway before I said I am HOOKED!!!! I immediately bought it and it was definitely worth it. Even though it's not about zombies it is definitely a creature feature, and the characters are great! Do glad I found this diamond in the rough!
Excellent book!!!! A must have!!!
I was looking for a good zombie book and stumbled across this gem! First thing I noticed about the book was the interesting title, and it caught my attention. So I downloaded the sample and made it halfway before I said I am HOOKED!!!! I immediately bought it and it was definitely worth it. Even though it's not about zombies it is definitely a creature feature, and the characters are great! Do glad I found this diamond in the rough!
June 16, 2014
If you want a high adrenaline fast paced male junkie thriller with a post apocalyptic theme, then you'll like this book.
As for me, I felt very detached from the story because it lacked the emotional human side. When the end happens, it seems loved ones and missing family are unimportant. The female characters were flat and unrealistic, serving only as potential sexual partners for the male characters. Again, for readers who enjoy immersing themselves in a story about killing, guns and senseless action without the emotional baggage, this story will definitely entertain.
As for me, I felt very detached from the story because it lacked the emotional human side. When the end happens, it seems loved ones and missing family are unimportant. The female characters were flat and unrealistic, serving only as potential sexual partners for the male characters. Again, for readers who enjoy immersing themselves in a story about killing, guns and senseless action without the emotional baggage, this story will definitely entertain.
August 15, 2015
I know, this book is very far from perfect, and to be honest I guess it doesn't deserve more than maybe three stars. The editing sucks. However, the story overshadowed that, and when I normally would have cringed and cursed the editors (if there were any) to Hell, I actually managed to forget that and just enjoyed it. Because this is more than a book, it actually is a show. And as readers we have the front row.
August 15, 2015
I loved this book. Addictive, freaky, edge-of-my-seat, couldn't sleep after reading it... Yup, that good. I'm not a big fan of zombie-type apocalyptic books (too many, most not great), but this caught me and kept me. I loved the characters - especially Will and Danny; what a great duo. I loved them and their hilarious dialogues. I'd highly recommend this for anyone who wants a fun, fast, breathless ride into the darkness.
March 29, 2014
If you like zombie type of stories and don't expect it to be a masterpiece, I say go along for the ride. The storyline has a lot of things that have been done before with a few twists. The characters are likeable even when things get cheesy. This is the first book in the series and it moves at a fast pace which I liked. So for a fast and easy read I say enjoy.
July 1, 2015
Fun but a little simple
May 20, 2018
this book again had great potential I was so into it for the first couple chapters I love the first two characters and then I love the second character the girl who was in advertising. and then bam there out of the city and they're in a relationship? What happened why did they fall into a relationship where did this come from not that I wasn't happy cuz I love the two together I just wanted to know what happened.
and they finally get it to the safe house and all of a sudden my favorite character starts going crazy. Why this is coming out of nowhere she was a bad a and now she's a crazy a. And then they bringing this other girl and all the sudden he has feelings for her although for chapters ahead of you said this was the girl for him what the crap is going on. I had to end it I couldn't finish this book I I finished that 50% and I just couldn't take it anymore I gave up and that is so unlike me. I was really disappointed that I couldn't just finish it but I really just couldn't stomach what was happening. The blood and guts does not get me the more the merrier for me give me a bad a princess girl looking forward to demolishing anything in her path but then make her go crazy. What did with the way the world is today with with feminism this should not have happened.
and they finally get it to the safe house and all of a sudden my favorite character starts going crazy. Why this is coming out of nowhere she was a bad a and now she's a crazy a. And then they bringing this other girl and all the sudden he has feelings for her although for chapters ahead of you said this was the girl for him what the crap is going on. I had to end it I couldn't finish this book I I finished that 50% and I just couldn't take it anymore I gave up and that is so unlike me. I was really disappointed that I couldn't just finish it but I really just couldn't stomach what was happening. The blood and guts does not get me the more the merrier for me give me a bad a princess girl looking forward to demolishing anything in her path but then make her go crazy. What did with the way the world is today with with feminism this should not have happened.
April 1, 2020
If you liked The Strain
If The Strain was less Nazi (or none) and more apocalypse, this is what you’d get. For me it was a fun read that isn’t like every other zombie/apocalypse book. A little predictable but still entertaining.
If The Strain was less Nazi (or none) and more apocalypse, this is what you’d get. For me it was a fun read that isn’t like every other zombie/apocalypse book. A little predictable but still entertaining.
August 22, 2016
I rate this 3 stars if just for the fact that it's an ADULT apocalypse novel. I absolutely hate reading young adult and it seems like when it comes to apocalypse/dystopia, it's YA 99% of the time. I need more adult books like this, please.
The Good: The story is fast paced. A lot happens within the first few chapters which was enough to keep my interest. The male characters are well done, especially Danny and Will (and most especially when they're together). The descriptions are great. Certain things are described so vividly and with such a fresh perspective. I love reading in depth about survival elements in an apocalypse themed novel - there was plenty of that! Exploration, supply gathering, holing up in abandoned places, even having to move cars to the side of the road in order to pass through. The survival aspect is very believable. Additionally, there are some good twists and some unexpected plot elements I didn't see coming.
The Bad: Admittedly, there is a lot of bad. The female characters are obnoxiously one sided. They all share the same personality and they all exist solely to "get with" a male character. I can't even use the word date or romance because it's literally like "Oh hey, I'm a lady and it's the end of the world, we should be in love." The romantic relationships are so superficial. In fact, most of the emotions are superficial. Except for the aftermath of the occasional death, no one really gets that emotionally involved with one another. They joke with one another, help each other, get sarcastic, have sex, but they never really do anything deeper than that. And when the author attempts it, it falls flat and feels clunky.
The gun talk is over board. I get the use of weapons in an end of the world scenario but I do not need gun descriptions and specifics as to what gun goes where and when every single chapter.
Some of the dialogue is SO cheesy and tired. I saw the description "fiber of his being" more than once and winced every time. Also, please for the love of God, stop talking about how good women smell. You're in the apocalypse for god sake and no one has showered for weeks. The women in the this book do not smell good. No one should smell good.
Despite the bad, I bought the second book. I hope to see some character growth and some deeper relationships. If I don't, I won't be buying the third.
The Good: The story is fast paced. A lot happens within the first few chapters which was enough to keep my interest. The male characters are well done, especially Danny and Will (and most especially when they're together). The descriptions are great. Certain things are described so vividly and with such a fresh perspective. I love reading in depth about survival elements in an apocalypse themed novel - there was plenty of that! Exploration, supply gathering, holing up in abandoned places, even having to move cars to the side of the road in order to pass through. The survival aspect is very believable. Additionally, there are some good twists and some unexpected plot elements I didn't see coming.
The Bad: Admittedly, there is a lot of bad. The female characters are obnoxiously one sided. They all share the same personality and they all exist solely to "get with" a male character. I can't even use the word date or romance because it's literally like "Oh hey, I'm a lady and it's the end of the world, we should be in love." The romantic relationships are so superficial. In fact, most of the emotions are superficial. Except for the aftermath of the occasional death, no one really gets that emotionally involved with one another. They joke with one another, help each other, get sarcastic, have sex, but they never really do anything deeper than that. And when the author attempts it, it falls flat and feels clunky.
The gun talk is over board. I get the use of weapons in an end of the world scenario but I do not need gun descriptions and specifics as to what gun goes where and when every single chapter.
Some of the dialogue is SO cheesy and tired. I saw the description "fiber of his being" more than once and winced every time. Also, please for the love of God, stop talking about how good women smell. You're in the apocalypse for god sake and no one has showered for weeks. The women in the this book do not smell good. No one should smell good.
Despite the bad, I bought the second book. I hope to see some character growth and some deeper relationships. If I don't, I won't be buying the third.
May 22, 2020
If your a fan of zombie movies you should like this book, although this is not a zombie book, there ghouls. The story is good but the character and relationship building is lacking and i didn't find myself caring at all when people died or believing that any of the relationships were meaningful. All in all it was a fun story and I'll probably pick the next one up at some point.
October 4, 2015
An interesting, albeit somehow predictable, post-apocalyptic story. The title is awesome and it's probably one of the best elements the story has. Each book of the series bears an awesome title, even though they have little to do with the stories.
Spoiler alert: some plot elements will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
The plot follows several characters on the night—and the months to come—when hell broke loose and people turned into zombie-like creatures who overtook the nation. Their development is deep enough to allow the reader to connect with some of the characters, but not with all of them. A coupla characters are tri-dimensional, the rest are bi-dimensional. The story is fast paced, but with so many zombie, post-apocalyptic TV series on the cable the events result somehow predictable.
These zombie-like creatures suffer severe, vampire-like photophobia. Direct sunlight—even artificial sunlight—simply evaporates them into thin dust. However, they cannot be killed unless you use (guess what? Drumroll…) silver bullets! Not exactly a novelty, I should say. Conversely, they can also be stabbed to dead using a silver knife or any blunt or sharp silver object. Otherwise, the creatures are bullet-, grenade-, TNT-, etc-. proof—nothing is mentioned about nukes.
There’s a believable romantic secondary story, and the main character is a Chuck Norris whose hair doesn’t even get undone when he blasts the whole place a lá Silvester Stalone Demolition Man. A much unexpected plot twist at the very end opens the door to Book 2 because the haven where our heroes have set their dwelling is suddenly raided by the creatures en masse (every human being hiding there is killed except our hero and the group of main characters who are, of course, saved by our hero!).
If you like the zombie, post-apocalyptic genre, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book and maybe the rest of the series. If you are not very much into this genre, but you're looking for this kind of reading, then you may prefer some other book with stronger, worth-memorable characters.
Kiss,
Gacela
Spoiler alert: some plot elements will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
The plot follows several characters on the night—and the months to come—when hell broke loose and people turned into zombie-like creatures who overtook the nation. Their development is deep enough to allow the reader to connect with some of the characters, but not with all of them. A coupla characters are tri-dimensional, the rest are bi-dimensional. The story is fast paced, but with so many zombie, post-apocalyptic TV series on the cable the events result somehow predictable.
These zombie-like creatures suffer severe, vampire-like photophobia. Direct sunlight—even artificial sunlight—simply evaporates them into thin dust. However, they cannot be killed unless you use (guess what? Drumroll…) silver bullets! Not exactly a novelty, I should say. Conversely, they can also be stabbed to dead using a silver knife or any blunt or sharp silver object. Otherwise, the creatures are bullet-, grenade-, TNT-, etc-. proof—nothing is mentioned about nukes.
There’s a believable romantic secondary story, and the main character is a Chuck Norris whose hair doesn’t even get undone when he blasts the whole place a lá Silvester Stalone Demolition Man. A much unexpected plot twist at the very end opens the door to Book 2 because the haven where our heroes have set their dwelling is suddenly raided by the creatures en masse (every human being hiding there is killed except our hero and the group of main characters who are, of course, saved by our hero!).
If you like the zombie, post-apocalyptic genre, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book and maybe the rest of the series. If you are not very much into this genre, but you're looking for this kind of reading, then you may prefer some other book with stronger, worth-memorable characters.
Kiss,
Gacela
April 10, 2015
Sam Sisavath’s breakout hit, The Purge of Babylon (Book #1 in the Babylon series) was enormously popular (it made #1 on best seller list last year) for a good reason. It’s a damn fine read! It’s fast-paced and before you know it, you’ll be done with the almost 500 pages wanting much more. And more there is: five additional books in the series, at current count.
I love apocalyptic fiction that is big—It needs to be global and affecting everyone. I also love unique stories, even if a similar tail had been spun before; I want to be surprised. I also love stories that pull you in and put you into one or more of the character’s places, forcing you to squirm with each of the characters. This book hits the meaty part of the target perfectly on all counts.
If any of you have read and enjoyed The Passage by Justin Cronin (one of my favorites), then you will love this one. In fact, you’ll find many similarities in the apocalypse and its cause, although this one has the population go down in one night. I found the Purge more readable and more exciting than Cronin’s Passage.
Science and believability are also big issues for me with sci-fi novels. I found The Purge’s storyline and science far more believable than the scampering hordes of zombie apocalypse books now swarming virtual bookshelves. With most every sci-fi novel, you must take a leap to accept the central premise which often turns science on its head so as to be fit into the narrative. You won’t have to leap very far for this one.
I strongly recommend this book and as of this moment, it’s only $0.99 (bit.ly/purge-of-babylon).
I love apocalyptic fiction that is big—It needs to be global and affecting everyone. I also love unique stories, even if a similar tail had been spun before; I want to be surprised. I also love stories that pull you in and put you into one or more of the character’s places, forcing you to squirm with each of the characters. This book hits the meaty part of the target perfectly on all counts.
If any of you have read and enjoyed The Passage by Justin Cronin (one of my favorites), then you will love this one. In fact, you’ll find many similarities in the apocalypse and its cause, although this one has the population go down in one night. I found the Purge more readable and more exciting than Cronin’s Passage.
Science and believability are also big issues for me with sci-fi novels. I found The Purge’s storyline and science far more believable than the scampering hordes of zombie apocalypse books now swarming virtual bookshelves. With most every sci-fi novel, you must take a leap to accept the central premise which often turns science on its head so as to be fit into the narrative. You won’t have to leap very far for this one.
I strongly recommend this book and as of this moment, it’s only $0.99 (bit.ly/purge-of-babylon).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 351 reviews