Let me start by saying that I DID enjoy this book, I thought it was a good premise, and I love zombies.



With that said, there were a couple of things about the book that bothered me and as a result, as much as I liked it, I just can't give it a 5 star review. (If I could give it 4 1/2, I would!).



First, this is probably a style thing for Thonas Rand, but it drove me insane. Random use of italics throughout the book. Just about every page had something italicized. I got to the point where I actually cringed when I saw italics. A little over used, and just my nit-pick. Feel free to ignore it.



Second, one other reviewer complained about the lack of character development. I thought it could have started earlier in the book, simply because there are readers out there who will be turned off by every character they meet for the first 30-40% of the book dying. I was a little troubled by it, but it wasn't enough to make me stop reading. I know that Thonas Rand reads this reviews (hi Thonas...thanks for the book!) and just wanted to suggest to him, more than anything else, that he may want to consider starting that sooner in his next book, along with developing some of the characters who were left largely undeveloped in this book. I'd love to know more of their back story. You learn to love your characters and care about them when you know more about them. I'd also like to know a bit more about the group from the hospital and their back stories as well.



Third, I wasn't crazy about the abrupt ending and sudden shift to a new location. I found it to be a bit sloppy and frustrating. I was waiting to see if they were able to get our of their stronghold safely and on the way to Oregon, but suddenly, we're not with them anymore. Just a frustration for me, and that type of abrupt ending will turn off some readers.



Over all I really did like this book. The things I didn't may not have bothered other reviewers, and they may have bothered the heck out of people who chose not to write reviews. I don't often write reviews, though, on occasion I will. There was one particularly horrible review of this book (ironically, the one that prompted me to down load it an read it!) that I found a bit harsh and over the top. The book wasn't that bad. There were some things I would like to see done differently, but I sure couldn't sit down and write a book. So I say thank to Thonas Rand for the book, I did enjoy it. Take my 3 things that stopped me from giving a 5 star review as my personal notes and move on. I would absolutely recommend this book to someone else (and have). I'm waiting for the next one now. I'm hoping Amazon notifies me when it's available.