Kirsten Reviews: Survivor by James Phelan
Survivor by James Phelan
Alone #3
Jesse is alone. His friends are gone. His supplies are gone. And the chasers, the zombies, are getting bolder. So when he starts to see signs of life, of other humans, he can't believe his luck. But in post-incident New York, the only thing more dangerous than the chasers, are the survivors.
Survivor by James Phelan continues the Alone series that began with Chasers. While at the beginning of Chasers, Jesse had friends, by its conclusion he was on his own and unsure of who he should trust. The airborne virus that has affected so many people and turned them into Phelan's equivalent of zombies. However, the military aren't any help either, and Jesse ended up on his own. The reason for his friends abandoning him? The twist at the end of the last book was the Jesse's friends were actually figments of his imagination.
He now has to cope with the Chasers, who are evolving from relatively easily avoided antagonists, to predators who actively hunt humans down to drink their blood, or any other liquid they can consume. With this obstacle, Jesse is trying to find other survivors and maintain some kind of positive outlook on what is obviously a terrible situation.
The issues of the first book continue in this installment. Jesse is a teenager in a post-apocalyptic world and should be easy to connect with, given the magnification of typical feeling of isolation and being different. But, it's difficult to connect with him as a protagonist. New characters, such as Rachel and Caleb are more personable for some reason.
In addition, the uneven pacing makes it hard to settle into any kind of groove with the story, as it's packed with action and then seems to meander without direction. While the action-filled scenes are enjoyable, that's offset by the rest of the book, and it feels like more than a little bit of a letdown in comparison.
What the series does have going for it is an uncommon take on zombies and a post apocalyptic world where there are a great deal of twists. With that in mind, there is one more book in the series, which may tie everything together more neatly than the second book.
(Received a copy from the publisher)
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Other Reviews:
Reading in Pajamas
Jeanz Book Read N Review
Tome Tender
Previous Books:
1. Chasers (Kt's Review) (Kirsten's Review)
