Ashley Parker is a wild card, infected by the zombie virus but immune with some enhanced abilities. She and her team of others like her have been fighting zombies, but rival organization bent on spreading the disease has kidnapped both her boyfriend Gabriel and Dr. Albert, the doctor close to finding a cure for the zombie virus. Her group follows the bad buys to San Diego in an effort to get their people back, but the virus has gone airborne. Zombie outbreaks are happening around the world and it seems like no corner of the world is safe.
Dana Fredsti is amazing and I will now read anything she writes. This whole series has been an amazing ride. I read this book in a couple days because of the breakneck pace. Just as with the first two books, the pop culture references abound and include everything from Firefly to Doctor Who. Although the poppy dialog is the Buffy-like humor throughout the novel, this installment is much darker than the first two books. Ashley is still snarky and fast witted, but more subdued and introspective due to the losses she's experienced. While Ashley is tough and kickass with her swords, she sympathizes with people and will go above and beyond for her friends. Her friends and even her enemies are also portrayed well. Lil has bipolar disorder and no longer has medication. Her behavior is erratic, but she isn't insane. The disorder isn't overexaggerated or treated as something she can just get over. The team (mainly Ashley) gets her the medication she needs and works to help her instead of dumping her or dismissing her mental illness.
Plague World ventures into some very dark territory. Interspersed with the story are vignettes of zombie outbreaks around the world. Each one is different and they vary in how detailed and long they are. The zombie virus is now airborne, so it spreads much faster. These little mini-stories gave the reader a good idea what the rest of the world outside of Ashley's story looked like without taking away too much of the tempo and momentum of her story. A very creepy character from one of the previous books comes back and it's frightening. I still get chills thinking about that part. The ending is not completely shiny and happy and I appreciate that. It would be out of place and unrealistic if it were. However, if it's the end of the series, it's not super satisfying. It's a bit rushed and definitely still open for more books should Dana Fredsti choose to revisit it. I really hope this isn't the end for Ashley and I would devour every book. Regardless, Dana Fredsti has made me a fan for life.
My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins
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