Carole (Carole's Random Life)'s Reviews > The First Days

This review can also be found at Pure Textuality PR.

I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding this book. I have heard great things about this book and the description really appealed to me so I was excited to dive into this one. The book opens right in the middle of some rather heartbreaking zombie action and I was sure that I had made a good choice. There were some things that I absolutely loved about this book but there were other things that bothered me. It was a book that I didn’t want to put down even while I grew more annoyed with each page.

At the start of the book, Jenni is trying to get away from her husband and two young children who have recently become zombies. The imagery was very well done and I could envision those tiny toddler fingers reaching for his mother. Katie happens upon the scene in a truck and rescues Jenni. The pair has no idea what is going on or what they should do. They eventually head out of town and eventually meet other people who are just trying to survive as they are.

I thought that the zombie scenes were very well done. They were descriptive enough that I could picture everything quite well and I found them to be rather exciting. I thought that the confusion regarding the situation that some in the community seemed to have kept things really interesting and felt authentic. I liked the survival aspect of the story and enjoyed seeing the characters adapt to their changing environment.

I did have some pretty big issues with this book. I didn’t care for one of the main characters at all. I thought that Jenni was okay at the start of the book but as I read I disliked her more and more. I think that the book would have been a lot stronger without her and I have to admit that I kind of wished that she would be eaten by a zombie before everything was over. She wanted to be the only person to be close to Katie and had some rather unreasonable behaviors if Katie was in any danger. Jenni also seemed to be very focused on finding a new relationship when it seemed like she probably had a few other important things to think about.

I also had some major issues with the fact that Katie’s sexuality seemed to take over the story at times. Katie lost her wife, Lydia, at the start of the epidemic. She loved Lydia and thought that the way she mourned her was very well done. I just got so sick of all of the other characters talking about the fact that she is into women. She was doing all of these amazing things but the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was her sexuality when she just wanted to be left alone to mourn her wife. Katie’s sexuality does end up being a bit more complex which just added more unnecessary drama.

I am glad I read this one and do think a lot of readers will like it a bit more than I did. I found this to be a rather exciting zombie story with enough action to keep me turning the pages. I don’t think that I will be reading any further in the series because of the issues that I did have with the story.

Initial Thoughts
I don't know how I want to rate this one...3 stars....4 stars...2 stars. I just don't know. There were some aspects of this book that I LOVED and there were other aspects of this book that annoyed me to no end. I liked one of the main characters at the start of the story but there were times during the book that I kind of hoped she would be eaten by a zombie. There were characters that I really liked a lot though. I loved the zombie action and the survival aspect of the story. I hated the fact that romance started to take over the plot before the book was over. I would have appreciated less talk about the characters' sexuality and more zombie action. I am glad I read it but I don't know that I will read any further in the series.

Book source: Library