Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Dead in the Water (Zombie Season 2) by Justin Weinberger

What worked:

Zombies have been attacking for years and humans have been forced to relocate to protected cities. They call themselves ZDPs, zombie displaced people, and are always on the lookout for zombie hordes. HumaniTeam is an international company that’s developed weapons to fight them off with water and cold seeming to stop zombies in their tracks. However, the Prologue describes a giant zombie rising from the ocean, and later, a zombie breaks free from glacier ice. It appears the zombies are now drawing strength and power from the weapons being used against them! Regina knows more of HumaniTeam’s secrets and one of them involves her “friend” Nix.

While zombies are the obvious danger, HumaniTeam is cast in the role of antagonist. They are more concerned about maintaining profits than the safety of humanity, which explains Regina’s determination to expose them. Sky Stone is the new CEO of the company and he comes across as a smooth-talking manipulator. He tells the public how his company is protecting humans and they’re on the brink of a major invention that may allow everyone to go back to normal lives. However, beyond public eyes, he threatens, bribes, and coerces anybody who might try to undermine HumaniTeam.

The subplots follow four main characters as they battle zombies in different ways. Regina is busy collecting evidence against HumaniTeam but keeping it secret from her parents, who both used to work for the company. Oliver wants to do all he can to save his hometown of Redwood but Regina gives him the task of becoming Nix’s guardian. Joule’s father is killed by zombies and she tries to locate and recruit other kids to join Regina’s team. Anton is coerced into helping Sky Stone which finds him on the same ship as Joule. These four subplots tackle the zombie problem from different angles and their separate stories begin to converge as the book nears its end.

What didn’t work as well:

The chapters jump around to follow different characters so the reader's attention is drawn to various subplots. This allows the author to cover a variety of topics and stories but it also means readers must recall details from several chapters in the past. It takes some time and mental effort to remember what’s happened when from earlier subplots.

The final verdict:

There are a lot of moving parts to the story that require readers’ attention. The author creates a dystopian-like world where stopping the zombies seems futile but hints that something more terrible may be rising. Overall, this book offers a new, innovative twist to zombies and I recommend you give it a shot.

2 comments:

  1. Zombie books aren't circulating as much as they did in the past. I bought book one, but have held off on book two. Thanks for the review!

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  2. It's a new twist on zombies but it might be a hard series for young readers to jump into.

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