Born Trilogy, Book 2
Survival
2013-04-08
252
Ten years ago when the world ended she ran for her life. Five weeks ago the world she'd hidden from came knocking on the door of her secluded cabin. Ten days ago she found salvation hiding amongst the dead. Yesterday she went back for the living. Today she wonders if she will live to see tomorrow."--P. [4] of cover.
Review:
In an effort to be fair, I am going to begin with the good parts. There is a part of the plot about a government-run facility that I really enjoyed. The entire idea of the place was horrifying, the author provided great details that cemented the place in my imagination like it was real, and it really provided great insight into how the world was falling apart. It meshed well with the back story and experiences we learned about Emma in “Born”.
I also enjoyed the comic relief of Emma having absolutely no social skills whatsoever. Sure, she was rude, and she often knew it, but it was still fun to see how other characters reacted to her. When people who are rapists, live with zombies, and/or are part of some strange commune in the woods think someone is uncivilized, you know that the person has some issues.
Now for the bad. I think we all need to take up a collection to help the author find a good editor. There were entire paragraphs repeated, misused words, misspelled words, and an ever-annoying tendency to have a scene with multiple characters having a conversation that includes no names. It would simply be denoted by “he said” or “she said”. Who is he? Jake? Will? The dog? Casper the friendly ghost? The entire process of decoding large parts of the book was an exercise in frustration.
Since we have a good and a bad, it seems fitting to have an ugly. The ugly in this is the completely contrived and horrific love triangle. Firstly, one of the love interests is barely in the book, and although an altogether decent human being, this seems to be some sort of sin in the mind of those around him. Granted, I know he is a liability to survival, but at least he is not violent.
Which brings us to the next love interest, Will. He is an abusive jerk of a person and he knows it. It is like he was made to fit the list of “signs of an abuser”, and the main character keeps thinking that he is one, and yet the author portrays the entire thing as some sort of excellent antagonistic love story. The entire thing makes me so angry that I am literally shaking. Younger women may read this and take it as healthy and romantic. Why is it ok to know someone makes you feel bad about yourself and hurts you, but you still forgive them? It is not. Not even a little bit. Romanticizing it is absolutely irresponsible and reprehensible on the part of the author.
Strong words? Yes. I don’t regret them.
I will read the next one because I’m worried about the wolf.
Content Warning:
Language, Violence, Sexual Situations, Romanticized Abuse
