Rise of the Fallen

In a very cool and vivid opening, an explosion and a strange storm afterward cause those caught in it to fall dead only to reanimate later as blue-eyed zombies later named the Fallen.

Our main character Ryan Pendleton, or Rye as his friends and family call him, (also the many women that are always hitting on him probably) tells us the following fall of order and society. I liked this part as it seemed a realistic sequence of events that would actually happen. We have to get through a large information dump to get into this one but it was interesting at least.

Rye who was not only a lawyer but also incredibly rich due to selling a website he developed for two hundred million dollars used his wealth to secure a lot of supplies and a fortified position when he saw the way things were going with the Fallen. He is also handsome, a hit with the ladies, looked towards as a leader by everyone instantly, a skilled fighter, and picks up new skills with ease. Yes, quite the relatable everyman.

Initially, he hides out with just his wife whom he wooed with some truly cringy pick-up lines that he relates to us with pride for some reason. However, she becomes frustrated at the lack of power and running water and really wants a hot bath so she melts the snow. The same snow that fell due to the storm that created the Fallen. Yep. Sigh.

While trying to get meds to help her, Rye meets up with another group and they become fast friends. Rye finds he likes having others around and decides to build a community and works to secure it and find others to survive this apocalypse...

So while usually, I want things to move quickly, this moves TOO quickly. In a short period of time, the characters have a conversation, fight something, get supplies, and get back home. I would have liked these scenes to be slower and more fleshed out as they just end up without a lot of weight attached to them. This is problematic when a character dies and they just build a little grave for them and move on without any real impact on the group.

There is was also a ridiculous scene where the two ladies who end up in a relationship want to enjoy a hot tub with one another. That is all well and good but what is the problem here? The water! They even say that it isn't safe and still they do it. Rye himself even has thoughts that this was how his wife died and he shouldn't do it. But when they invite him for a threesome he, of course, joins in readily. Well, they don't die and then declare the water safe, plot point solved!

However, there is a lot of action in this I enjoyed and zombies are just always fun. (Well maybe not always but close enough!) The building up the community scenes were intelligent and thought out. I simply wasn't into the main character, but the supporting cast was fine even if very undeveloped.

Book two will switch to someone else's perspective so I'm all in for that. This still has some mystery going on and the stakes get quite high at the end so I'm still interested in seeing where it all goes.