Pros: 1 – The story is phenomenal. It’s funny, keeps you on your toes, and the plot kept me wondering which way it would go because Bobby knows how to switch things up. Usually I prefer when there’s character development but I like that Zed didn’t change. The whole “slow burns don’t age” thing makes Zed (and the other slow burn characters) not changing make sense so I really like that. Bobby’s stories are always interesting.
2 – My favorite Murphy line was “Can you do me without my head exploding?” because I ship him and Zed, they’re my OTP in this series.
3 – As a Coloradan who lives in CoS, it was really neat to have my city mentioned at the end. I’ve been to the top of PP and know someone who worked on the new view house so that was pretty neat.
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Cons: 1 – The use of “f*ggot” and “r*tard” was extremely disappointing. I thought we, as a society, discussed this and learned that using slurs is a big NO-NO.
2 – God, the CONSTANT abuse against women in this book and the previous 9 is just… He has some bad-A** ladies – ones that definitely kicked better A** than Zed and Murphy on many occasions, but every other woman in this book (and the previous 9) is either being r*ped, held hostage, used, s*xually harassed, ogled, eaten alive by men, or murdered (by men) after experiencing extreme brutality (again, by men). There’s even a “skank house” where virus-fried women are subjected to s*xual torture by, yup, men. Cmon, Bobby, I know it’s the apocalypse, but, bro, lots of books/series in this genre (ie: The Walking Dead) keep it balanced and recognize that the apocalypse isn’t going to discriminate against just one gender, bro. We know these villains are bad, we don’t need to be reminded why in every chapter.
**I was telling a friend about this book and they even asked me, “Does this guy even like women?” I shrugged because again, Bobby, you’re very “YAY WOMEN” but also “ew, women, get back under my boot, wh*re.”
3: Zed was almost gang r*ped, but unlike the women in this series, he was saved before it happened. I get that r*pe culture has made ppl feel like it’s not a big deal, but it is. Regardless of gender – victim and perp. This book made it clear that r*pe is a big no-no and I appreciate that, but it’s the fact that it was so constant and was only ever committed by men to women – it was uncomfortable to read. This book gave off the impression that male s*xual assault is not traumatizing, that it’s “funny” and “not a big deal.” It’s a huge deal, especially to actual male victims who just get laughed at instead of heard. We can do better here.
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Overall: Bobby, you’re extremely talented and there’s so much potential in this series. I really enjoy Zed, Murphy, Grace, and Jazz – they’re such bada** characters and you do a great job at balancing out their roles: Zed is unhinged but skilled with a machete while Grace is level headed and skilled with a gun. You didn’t have men be better than women and you didn’t have women be better than men – they were balanced and were each better at their own thing (can’t wait for the non-binary or Agender character to come in and be the best grenade maker in the group lmfao I know that won’t happen, but a queer can dream). I don’t get why women are so abused in your books though. It’s a little weird, bro.
I really enjoy your stories, but there’s just some stuff that you can either tone down, balance out, or do without and that all been listed above.
Again. There’s no use for slurs, ever – especially not in the context these were being used. You don’t even have LGBTQ+ characters but even if you did, using f*ggot in any sense isn’t acceptable and neither is using r*tard, especially when referring to a situation or person as being stupid. Just say someone is stupid or dumb or a situation is ridiculous. It’s just insulting to your Queer and Neurodivergent fans (me, I’m one) and hearing those slurs in the same chapter was shocking and hurtful. Don’t do that. Be better.
The violence is tolerable – zombies getting gutted is why we all read these stories. Characters getting hands chopped off or punched or stabbed or whatever is also tolerable, but some of the violence is just way too gender specific for an apocalypse, lmfao. So… maybe chill a little with the s*xual violence against women?
Otherwise, I’m going to give your other books a try because I love your storytelling, but please – for the love of the universe and humanity, in your future books – if there’s one thing to take from this review, it’s to just not use slurs. Please 😭