Review: Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone

Zero Day (The Hatching #3) by Ezekiel Boone
Publication date: February 27th 2018
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
My rating: 4 Stars
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In the finale of Ezekiel Boone’s Hatching series, the United States goes to war against the queen spiders that threaten to overtake the human race forever.

The world is on the brink of apocalypse. Zero Day has come.

The only thing more terrifying than millions of spiders is the realization that those spiders work as one. But among the government, there is dissent: do we try to kill all of the spiders, or do we gamble on Professor Guyer’s theory that we need to kill only the queens?

For President Stephanie Pilgrim, it’s an easy answer. She’s gone as far as she can—more than two dozen American cities hit with tactical nukes, the country torn asunder—and the only answer is to believe in Professor Guyer. Unfortunately, Ben Broussard and the military men who follow him don’t agree, and Pilgrim, Guyer, and the loyal members of the government have to flee, leaving the question: what’s more dangerous, the spiders or ourselves?

My Thoughts:

I’ll try and make this as non-spoilery as possible given that this is the third installment in The Hatching series.   

The human species is under threat by spiders overrunning most of the earth on a grand scale. Our survival tenuous at best, and dependent on outsmarting the spiders who are fast, coordinated, and deadly.  They run on instinct and seem to keep evolving! Just normal everyday spiders scare the hell out of me, so these spiders would give me a heart attack on the spot!

I was on the edge of my seat through most of these books, and rooting for several of the characters introduced through the series!  Zero Day was thrilling, fast paced with lots of action, and we get to see the impact of this global attack through the eyes of several characters located all around the world.  I loved the overall story arc through the series, and there was even a wee bit of romance! Two I was really hoping would pan out eventually, and I got my wish on both accounts!

I love stories where the survival of the human race is at risk, and the characters involved must fight with everything they have to survive!  Zero Day was a superb ending to a thrilling series, and everything I hoped for! 

 

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Review: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Collapsing (The Interdepenency #1) by John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: March 21st 2017
My rating: 4 Stars
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD | Audible

 

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible -- until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war -- and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal -- but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals -- a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency -- are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse. 

My Thoughts:

The book description best describes the futuristic world of The Collapsing Empire. The main POVs are the newly crowned Empress of the Interdependency, Cardenia, Lady Kiva of the trade house of Lagos, and Marce, Lord Claremont, a scientist.

Empress Cardenia: She never thought she'd become Empress being the bastard child of the Emperox, but with the sudden death of her older brother she was next in line for the throne. She inherits the throne when, unknown to the majority, the space pathways ("The Flow") that connect her Empire are failing, potentially cutting off planets and space habitats from each other, and dooming the human race. Each of these habitats or planets depend on each other to replenish goods and items necessary for life in outer space.

Lady Kiva of House of Lagos is kind of a cut-throat business woman, but you need to be to survive the House politics. From her take-no-shit attitude, to her constant swearing (she loved the F-word) I liked her, a lot! Her House business takes her to End, a planet at the farthest ends of space currently in civil war. Her business doesn't go well, but Kiva, with smart, ruthless maneuvering makes up the losses. Her path collides with Lord Marce Claremont in the course of her dealings on End. I won't say anymore.

Marce Claremont is a physicist, and one of the few who know exactly what's going on with the Flow. He comes under the eye of the Duke's "advisor" Lord Ghreni Nohamapetan, of the House of Nohamapetan who figures in prominently in the story, as well.

The House of Nohamapetan is an ambitious, and not particularly principled lot, and it was entertaining to see their plans thwarted here and there.

The prologue grabbed me! But I will say that it took a while to get into the story after that. The beginning chapters with Empress Cardenia were a little slow, although necessary to lay the foundation for the story. Her chapters become much more interesting as the plot progresses. The chapters with Kiva and Marce were my favorite and much of the action happens with them in the beginning. All of the characters stories come together by the end. The story is at times funny and sarcastic, but pretty riveting as the plot thickens.

It's a race for human survival, but power plays and cooperation from the complicated Empire will probably mean major road blocks ahead. I can't wait for the next book! I can't believe I have to wait until 2019!

I listened to the audio version and Wil Wheaton's performance was superb!

 

Review: Skitter by Ezekiel Boone

Skitter (The Hatching #2) by Ezekiel Boone
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publication date: May 2nd 2017
My rating: 4 stars 
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD | Kobo

 

Tens of millions of people around the world are dead. Half of China is a nuclear wasteland. Mysterious flesh-eating spiders are marching through Los Angeles, Oslo, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, and countless other cities. According to scientist Melanie Gruyer, however, the spider situation seems to be looking up. Yet in Japan, a giant, truck-sized, glowing egg sack gives a shocking preview of what is to come, even as survivors in Los Angeles panic and break the quarantine zone. Out in the desert, survivalists Gordo and Shotgun are trying to invent a spider super weapon, but it’s not clear if it’s too late, because President Stephanie Pilgrim has been forced to enact the plan of last resort: The Spanish Protocol. America, you are on your own.

My Thoughts:

Skitter picks up pretty much right where The Hatching left off.  Spiders have come, overwhelmed and taken out large portions of the population on the globe.  Did I mention that spiders scare the HELL out of me? Oh, my goodness, yes!! And let me tell you, the last book was terrifying for anyone with a spider phobia, but the events and plight of some in this installment made my skin crawl in horror!  The world is up in arms wondering if the worst is over, but with new egg sacks, hot and pulsing to the touch, that scenario would be too good to be true.  Now the world has to wait and see what is coming next, and let me tell you, it is BAD!

While on one hand I thought the story would’ve benefited from eliminating some of the many POV’s, I get it was a way to give a window, a vivid picture into what was happening in different locations around the world.  Still, IMO I think if the story was more focused on just the POV’s I’ve come to know and care about, it would’ve had more impact.  I’d rather have more page count spent on them.  I wasn’t thrilled with the addition of POV’s that were just few short scenes and then killed off.  I want to be invested in my characters, worried about their survival, because I’ve already been acquainted with them. I was disappointed Melanie and Mike Rich’s connection from the last book wasn’t built upon, because there’s certainly enough room for a little bit of romance if you edit out all the POV’s that came to an abrupt end, ones I wasn’t invested in at all.  I still have hope for them in the next book.  There are a couple of other relationships I’d like expounded on, furthered, as well: Manny and the US President, Stephanie Pilgrim, and Julie and Pierre.  I guess we’ll see how it all shakes out.

Even with all of that, I found the story completely engrossing. At times I was filled with dread and wanted to yell: RUN!!  End of the world scenarios, be it from earthquakes, tsunamis, aliens, zombies, or in this case spiders, have always fascinated me.  I put myself in the situation, wonder what I would do; would I be smart enough, lucky enough to survive while so many perish around me? 

Everything is coming to a head, more desperate and frightening.  The choices made by the President where extreme, necessary, and terrifying! I hope all my favorite characters survive. I hope Gordo and Shotgun come up with an effective “Spinal Tap”, that Melanie figures out these spiders, I hope Mike and his group are able to wait it out in safety.  I wouldn’t say this ended in a cliffhanger, but everything is left up in the air.  I need the next book ASAP!

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