Mild spoilers ahead
If you did a web search for a generic post virus apocalypse series, you would get this. It has all of the old, tired troupes that have been in post virus series.
You have:
The immune
The recovered
The infected
The rogue humans that betray everyone
The lead character that is invincible
More violence as the books continue, to substitute for a storyline
Happy ending
What do you need to be to survive a post virus apocalyptic world with infected trying to eat you, and rogue military trying to kill you? Do you think being an elite military commando will help you after training your whole life? Nope. You’re dead.
How about being a survivalist prepper that spent years preparing for this scenario? Nope. You are dead as well.
An alcoholic barista with a bad attitude prone to rage? Yes. You will be the king of the post-virus era. Military will flock to you and follow your orders, despite years of training and knowing the mission is suicide. Why? Because you are lucky and full of rage.
What weapon will keep you alive during this time? A suppressed sniper rifle? Meh. A tank? Nope, you are dead. 50 cal machine gun mounted on a humvee? Nope, sorry you are dead. A camping store machete? Bingo! You will destroy all. Did you know a machete from a department store is so strong and sharp that you can cut through shin bone, forearms, and even necks? Easily. Like butter. As long as you have rage and anger that is.
I cannot understand the high ratings for this series. The amount of things in this book series is so overdone and so tired is maddening.
The Infected start off scary. One is almost too much to handle. By the end of the series, you have your machete and take on, and dispose of, a dozen while making snappy jokes. Oh, and you can do this with no training, because you played video games and paintball before the virus. And, you are full of rage from your childhood. At one point, the main character, Zed, is in such a rage that the infected avoid him. The infected will charge at tanks, at 50 cal machine guns, combines, but an angry barista? Nope, they stay away.
The plotline in this series is terrible. Zed is unlikable, treats people like crap, is an emotional nutcase, yet everyone follows him. The author created a main character who has excellence without effort. He becomes the leader over military sergeants, nurses, scientists, all while treating them like garbage. He becomes the greatest slayer of infected with no fighting and combat training. Why? Rage. Rage and a machete.
He goes on suicide quests, and people are like “welp, I am military, trained, and know this is stupid and suicidal. But you need to do this because you are Zed. I will follow you to certain death.” Then Zed proceeds to do stupid things, his group loses people, but yet he miraculously survives.
At one point in a series, he is so obsessed with finding a recovered who killed a girl (that he knew for a day), that he infiltrates a horde of infected numbering over 100,000 (yes, that is what it says) and rages with his machete to take out the horde leaders. No issue because, machete + rage = victory.
Zed is unlikable, childish, annoying and stupid. The fact that seasoned military follow listen to him, follow him into his suicide plans, and have some strange loyalty to him is unrealistic. He treats people like crap, should have died like 100 times in the series, but is invincible.
Have a rage problem and a machete? Time to get on a harley and test your luck. Make lots of noise and rage against the infected. No problem.
As the series continue, the troupe of hordes and mass numbers gets old fast. Every time, a larger bigger horde comes, and creates chaos. Yet, Zed and his machete make it happen. The infected become cannon fodder, and die in the hundreds or thousands.
The troupe of betrayal post virus apocalypse is also so tiring. Seems like every apocalypse, the sane left over people will hate you even when you save their life. Zed saves someone, he is betrayed. Why? Because he is a recovered infected, and despite the fact he talks normal, saves people, he can’t be trusted. Nope, time for betrayal, then that feeds into his childhood issues, then more rage.
Ever wonder how to take on a rogue military with blackhawk helicopters with machine guns and tanks? A machete and rage. That is how. You will outsmart and out maneuver your well trained adversaries every time, because you played video games and paintball before the virus. You manipulate hordes, dodge grenades, helicopter fire, and slash your way to create a horde attack. Then later you sneak over with grenades and blow everything up because you have grenades and rage. Excellence without effort.
How do you endear people to you in the apocalypse? Treat them like crap, have internal rage, make terrible suicidal decisions, and they will flock to you.
What do you do if you find a community that is set up for survival and have real food? You don’t stay. You have rage and need to go find Mark, a guy you met for a day that killed a girl you knew for a day. Food doesn’t matter. You go a week easily with no food, and days without sleep, yet your rage is what you need. Your rage feeds you, and gives you the energy that sleep gives to other people. Throughout this series, there are days Zed doesn’t eat or sleep, yet performs amazing feats of endurance and fighting.
I finished this series because it was rated so high. I kept hoping it would change. It did not.
It is not innovative or imaginative. The things Zed does forces you to suspend reality and basic common sense, that it becomes annoying. The best part of this series is that fact there are plot twists and developed characters suffer some untimely ends. Only Zed is invincible, because rage.
I typically don’t write bad reviews, but I would pass on this series. I do not understand what the high ratings are for. This story is generic with a terrible main character that has trust issues and becomes excellent with no effort. There is nothing unique about it, and it is so unrealistic at times that you get shake your head and get pulled out of the story.