Crusade (Eden #2) in Zombies!

Apr 20, 2012 Thee_ron_clark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: zombies, action, post-apocalyptic, pulp-fiction

After reading the first Eden novel and loving it, I was amazed when I realized two more books had followed in the series and I had been completely unaware of both. How often does that happen? Anyway, being a fan of the first Eden drove me to order copies of the other two immediately.

Crusade follows a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse in their trek north. I know it sounds a bit vague, but I am intentionally being that way to avoid giving up much of the story. Five survivors from the first After reading the first Eden novel and loving it, I was amazed when I realized two more books had followed in the series and I had been completely unaware of both. How often does that happen? Anyway, being a fan of the first Eden drove me to order copies of the other two immediately.

Crusade follows a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse in their trek north. I know it sounds a bit vague, but I am intentionally being that way to avoid giving up much of the story. Five survivors from the first novel are traveling north. Two of them happen to be my favorite two characters from the first novel; Bear and Buddy. To be honest, I barely remembered the other three. It happens.

Bear has become the leader of the group and Buddy is left struggling with some severe mental issues that leave him catatonic at times. On top of Buddy's problems, Julie is pregnant with the child of the first novel's lead character and Mickey has symptoms of a plague. What makes matters even worse is that the landscape between Eden and their destination is littered with flesh-eating cadavers, human scum, and harsh traveling conditions.

At first, I felt the novel was being over-descriptive. Instead of telling me the exact nomenclature and model of boots a character is wearing, I wanted the author to be a bit more general. This turned out to be a slight issue that only occurred a few times and did not affect the novel in the long run.

Monchinski continued to do something I love in his writing; leave things blank. Why should we know what becomes of a passing character or an explosion in the distance? The main characters do not explore it and are left at the same questions we are. It is only fair that we are left with the same insight then.

Although Bear is a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of zombie-killing, we still come to understand his shortcomings, depressions, and feelings of failure. With Buddy, a number of questions are answered about him from the previous novel if one uses critical thinking. I suppose Buddy would make a great topic of discussion in a zombie thread somewhere.

This novel turned out o be a super fast read once I got through the first few pages. Dark, hopeful, depressing, anxious, and exciting are all ways to describe this novel at any given time.

The ending also left me with a nice little shocker. Kudos for that.

Fans of the zombie genre absolutely need to read this. The same goes for fans of post-apocalyptic literature. They need to read the first Eden first, of course. ...more

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Sep 01, 2010 Felicia A Sullivan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teotwawki, apocalypse-of-some-sort, zombies

Very good contiunation of Eden, MUCH better proofreading and editing in this one. There were still some mistakes, but all in all, considering the condtion of the first book, they were barely noticeable in this one.

I liked the characters, I liked the story, and I liked the continuity. Great effort from this author.

I did NOT, however, like the jumping around in time periods. I found myself having to go back and reread certain parts to ensure that I continued with the story. The first book was the ...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Girly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalypse-fun

I really liked the first book but I found this one to be confusing at times. If I hadn't skipped most of the first chapter I doubt I would have finished the book. I'd say halfway through the book was when I started enjoying the story and getting into it.

I was really excited about reading this second installment and was a bit disappointed. But not enough to deter me from reading the third when it comes out. ...more

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Jul 31, 2010 Kevin Walsh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: zombie-novels, kevin-s-top-ten-favs

http://www.buyzombie.com/2011/01/31/r...

above is the link for the review I wrote for Crusade on Buyzombie.com

what a great read! one of the best zombie novels in circulation. great sequel for Eden ...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Ralph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent second book in the series. While it took a different direction from Eden the ending was in the same style as Eden. I am looking forward to the third book to see how the story concludes.

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