So. Good.
It’s a sequel, which means I expected it to be a let-down. Sure, there’s Empire Strikes Back and Godfather 2, so we know that a sequel CAN be better than the first. But we also know that’s an extreme exception, right? (Seriously, every time this comes up in conversation, the only examples people have are Empire Strikes Back and Godfather 2, which means there hasn’t been a notably better sequel since the 80s.)
A fair number of zombie stories are written as trilogies: the Day by Day Armageddon series, the Hater series, the Monster Island series, the Newsflesh trilogy (links to my review), and that’s just off the top of my head. I don’t read a whole lot outside of the zombie / survival horror genre (except to read what my children are reading, so I’ve read more current young adult fiction than most thirty-somethings), so I can’t really speculate as to whether this is a trend in fiction right now (Hunger Games, anyone?) or if it’s something in the way the zombie author’s head works. I mean, the end of the world is a pretty epic thing. I can see why it might not fit in just one novel-sized book if done right.
Either way, I’ve been disappointed by some sequels, and I’m sure you have, too. (Please note: The above list of trilogies is not meant as a list of disappointing sequels.) And I can definitely see some of the difficulties of a sequel, especially in a zombie survival series. It’s a d***** if you and if you don’t situation: the audience liked the first one, so the author can’t do anything too different, but on the other hand, if the second is just like the first, why bother? Then, in survival horror, there’s a very small set of characters. Any romantic or sexual tension probably got solved in the first story. Antagonistic characters probably got dealt with… so then is there a new villain, or does the story get bigger (like conspiracy theory kind of stuff)?
But enough of my holding forth on sequels. That’s not why you’re here, right?! You want the skinny on Dark Days. I just wanted to point out that sequels are difficult to do well, so I was all the more pleased when Loureiro pulled it off so well.
What:
Apocalypse Z: Dark Days (But you already knew that)
Who:
Manel Loureiro, whom I no longer have a crush on because it turns out he’s married and I respect that. (:
The nitty gritty:
The second book in the Apocalypse Z series. (Read my review of the first book, The Beginning of the End.)
It’s really good. Read it. (Ahem, I mean the book, not my review, but hopefully that’s good, too…)
I’m not going to say it’s better than the first one necessarily, but Loureiro deals with the sequel issue well. His writing style is different in this book, in a good way. This book is suspenseful, in a way the first one wasn’t. There were times I literally thought of skipping ahead in the book to find out what was going to happen, and I’m not sure I’ve experienced that sensation since I was a kid. Seriously, not just once, but multiple times during the book I had to remind myself I hate wrecking the story by peeking.
And it’s a nice balance between having completely new material in the second book and including some of the tensions from the first book. Loureiro gives enough of the good stuff from the first book to quench my thirst for more of it yet enough new stuff that it doesn’t feel like a cheap rehash.
Just a quick note that I’m truly impressed, again, by the translator, Pamela Carmell. To stay true to someone else’s voice and vision for so many pages into a different language… wow!
Argh, can’t wait ’til the next one is available in English!
An Owl in the Sun 