Ed's Mini Book Review - The Morningstar Strain: Thunder and Ashes

Continuing with my zombie-fest mood of late, I decided to read book two of The Morningstar Strain series, Thunder and Ashes.

For some background on the story, Morningstar is the name of a uber-fast spreading virus that turns you into a feral, ultra-violent, disease carrier along the lines of those infected by The Rage Virus in the 28 Days Later film. The added twist here is that after you die, you rise from the dead like your run-of-the-mill zombie from the Romero flicks.

This book picks up where the last one left off, following two groups trying to meet at a research facility in Omaha. The first group contains Dr. Ana Demillio who was studying the virus at the time of the outbreak and subsequent pandemic. The other group is a group of Army soldiers who are headed by a friend of the doctor, General Sherman. Sherman is travelling from the West Coast and Dr. Demillio is travelling from the East Coast all the while total chaos is all around them.

This book is more of a survival horror book than a zombie book. The main threats are not the undead, but the survivors of the initial pandemic and to what depths have they stooped to survive in a law-less, dangerous world. What I liked about this installment of the series is that it could have easily focused on the horrible things that people do to survive and I have read too many survival horror books that went down that road but this one didn't. It kept it classy so to speak and focused on the story and driving it forward. On the flip side, I felt that some of the character development was weak and even at points, I would struggle to remember who was who, especially with the Army group.

All-in-all, a good entry in the series and I look forward to the next book.

B+