likes: the continuity over 8 books was good. The character growth was good and most things made sense. I really appreciated that there was just enough of an explanation for the creatures to be believable. Also, I loved how people who didn’t function “normally” in society excelled when the world came down for different reasons. I work with special needs kids and found this to be a nice addition to the book. One character had adhd tendencies and was overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of every day life while the other one was mentally stunted, but was able to be a better human than his non disabled peers when left to make tough decisions.
dislike: how many things will happen to one group of people any given moment. The main characters are the only ones who really get kidnapped, but never killed. With 8 books it is tough to make something new happen and at some points it felt repetitive. Also, not sure why one character (Atler) was able to do what he did (trying to not spoil it) with the monsters. The explanation was weird and vague, especially with what happened to the rehabilitated drug guy later on. It was conflicting. Atler is a violent man and the drug guy was more like a hippie, so aligning with why the monsters are attacking it just doesn’t make sense to me.
overall: good books. if you like zombies/ monsters you will like it. The books are really about family and survival with lots of monster o. human and human on human violence. The main characters are separated throughout most of the books and are dealing with the physical and mental strain of not having eachother (farmermother doing more physical jobs husband usually did not knowing if he is alive or not while raising their daughter; military father sent far away on training mission when lights go out must fight to get home not knowing if his family will be alive). It touches on the cruelty and selflessness of our humanity. Each character represents an aspect of our society (deep thinking) and the good and bad each one brings with them.