Thursday, November 15, 2012

Review: The Becoming by Jessica Meigs

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The Becoming
Jessica Meigs
Series: The Becoming, #1
Publication date: November 12th 2011
by Permuted Press

 

The Michaluk Virus is loose.

In the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, the Michaluk Virus has escaped the CDC, and its effects are widespread and devastating. Most of the population of the southeastern United States have become homicidal cannibals. As society rapidly crumbles under the hordes of infected, three people—Ethan Bennett, a Memphis police officer; Cade Alton, his best friend and former IDF sharpshooter; and Brandt Evans, a lieutenant in the US Marines—band together against the oncoming crush of death and terror sweeping across the world.

As Cade, Brandt, and Ethan hole up in a safe house in Tupelo, others begin to join them in their bid for survival. When the infected attack and they’re forced to flee, one departs to Memphis in search of answers while the others escape south to Biloxi, where they encounter more danger than they bargained for. And in Memphis, the answers that one man finds are the last answers he wanted, answers that herald a horrific possibility that there may be more to this virus than first suspected.

*A copy was provided by Jessica Meigs for review purposes*

Starting a new zombie series is always bittersweet. Because a good zombie story is not about the zombies, it’s about the characters. Characters that you will shortly begin to know and love, characters that you truly care about, but… you know death will eventually come knocking to at least one of their doors. However, this is exactly why I love zombie books. It’s not for the gore, and I’m not very impressed by those who try to romanticize them nowadays; zombie books are about surviving! They take you into the lives of families and friends after the world has gone to hell, and you get to root for them, and hope against all odds that they will survive, because thinking of losing even one is torturous. If done right.

Jessica does! She brings to life many characters that become the heart of this story. We visit them pre-zombocalypse. We see them live very happy, normal lives before the end of the world is upon them. Then we see them grow into fierce survivalists that they have to be, or become, making you question how you would fare in their situation. Would you collapse over the loss of a loved one and get yourself killed in the process? Or would you accept that they would want you to fight to survive–literally to the death? I loved how we saw different ways people deal with grief, especially in such high stake situations. We visit all the emotional effects such a disaster can bring; anger, loneliness, paranoia. We also see loyalty, relationships grow, a hint of some brewing romance, as well as a whole heck of a lot of adrenaline pumping moments.

Told from several perspectives, we first get to travel with the characters as a group and see how each one is coping, but eventually, we also see what happens to each perspective after some of them separate. This creates even more suspense as you’re constantly worried about what’s happening to the others, while you’re never wanting to leave your current characters. Each journey is filled with action and terrifying situations that I love to see in my zombie books. We also meet new people along the way that join the already fantastic cast of original characters.

As in any such apocalyptic situations, the characters don’t always know exactly what has happened: what caused this virus and how it works. In this case we do get some initial hints on how it all started, and while some of these speculations are basically just that: speculations, It’s fascinating, I love speculating about crazy happenings that could very well be occurring in those secret hidden CDC labs under China right now! (this review is now flagged). We also learn some very interesting facts about these zombies that make them a little more unique than your traditional mindless undead flesh eaters–which are impossibly scary in of themselves if only for the fact that they never EVER stop, and numbers are clearly on their side. Jessica’s zombies however… these will chill your bones. I predict a very epic showdown in the end of the series that could possibly be ridiculously awesome!

For the likeminded zombie fans, this is one series that I would not hesitate to recommend. It has the perfect mix of zombie action, character building, and suspense, all wrapped in a completely badass cover!

4 Hot Espressos

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Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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19 Responses to “Review: The Becoming by Jessica Meigs”

  1. Amy

    Well, hell!! Now you have made me add another series to my forever growing pile of books I want to read! This really sounds freaking awesome! Thanks for the fantastic review babe!!

  2. Jenni @ Alluring Reads

    This sounds awesome! I agree that I like zombie books because they are about the survivors and their story. The ones that romanticize zombies, I just can’t get into that. Have you seen the trailer for Warm Bodies? No, go watch it! Then text me your thoughts.

    This sounds like a really good one! I like that it is told from varyng perspectives and you come to care about them so much that you worry about the other people when you are reading about a different one. I’ll have to grab this one. I love the new covers too!

  4. Jac (For Love and Books)

    I’ve never been much for Zombie books – I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to End of the World stuff… But after reading Rhiannon Frater’s stuff (at you recommendation) I think I’m hooked!

    I’ll definitely have to give this a try – Thanks for bringing yet another AWESOME series to my attention!

    -Jac @ For Love and Books

  5. Silverlight

    First, lets talk about that amazing kick-ass cover-love it! She looks ready to kick some major zombie ass!! It seems I just added another book to my pile, thanks for the fab. review!

  8. Mel@Thedailyprophecy.

    Zombies are always good. I agree that those stories are mainly about the characters. You have to feel something for them, otherwise it’s not interesting whether they live or die. I like the several POV’s, because it seems to work great here. The zombies sound scary and I like that she used some new facts to make them more unique 🙂

  10. Christina

    Bahaha, I do like that zombie books have a higher rate of killing main characters. Shit gets real in them, amirite?

    Hurrah! I’m glad this not only has a cool cover but turned out to be good as well! I will definitely plan to read it. 😀

  15. Candace

    This sounds INTENSE! I’m not good with such intense books, especially with zombies, but the characters and how people deal with things is definitely fascinating! Yay for it being a winner for you!

  17. Alexa

    Wow, this soounds pretty interesting! I haven’t read very many zombie books, but for some reason, this one really intrigues me. I like that the characters are easy to like and become invested in — that’s always a bonus in my book!

  18. Kat Balcombe

    Ah i have a good feeling about this one, particularly when you mentioned part is set before the zombapocalypse – win. And dual perspectives can work really well. Must get hold of this one!

    Great review my felow zombiephile 😉