Zombies are everywhere you turn. Television, Movies, memes on Facebook, and in stories. I don’t normally read this genre. Do you read zombie stories? If you do, I have a recommendation.
I read the first episode of Rhonda Hopkin’s Survival series. If you like zombie stories, if you like fast action, strong female characters, and a good story, you’ll like this one.
The Amazon Description
When Sarah escapes from her brutal abductors, she promises to return to rescue her twin sister, but with the dead walking the earth she is forced to rely on a coworker who made her work life hell for years. With her coworker weakened by cancer treatments, her sister still imprisoned, and the dead looking for an easy meal, Sarah’s only plan, if she can pull it off, is Survival.
The First Page
The first line hooked me but wouldn’t have been strong enough to keep me reading. The main character and her desperate plight kept me going.
The Characters
The protagonist is Sarah. She’s real. She faces an impossible situation from which many would run away.
You care about Sarah and what happens because she fights for her sister and for people she knows need her. Her worries are real and her concern runs deep. That propels the reader through the story.
Most of the other characters are three dimensional and worth caring about. In a short piece, there isn’t always space to flesh-out (pun intended) all the characters.
The Storyline
Most of the action is believable… if you can say that fighting zombies is believable.
I don’t know how much blood and guts a typical zombie story has, but there’s enough in this story for you to get the horror of it. And not so much that it feels gratuitous.
Writing Style
Hopkin’s writing style is clear. There are some strong, evocative lines. And she includes enough description to ground you, the reader. At least one location in her story is real, though she admits on her Acknowledgments page that she took a few liberties.
The Author (from her website)
Rhonda Hopkins is an award-winning author of Apocalyptic Science Fiction, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Romantic Suspense and Nonfiction for adults, teens/young adult, and middle grade. She uses her past experience as an investigator to craft characters that are diverse and full of life, along with situations that include the dark and the light side of humanity. Rhonda especially enjoys finding that light—the hope and spirit of survival in everyday people.
Read more about Rhonda and her books on her website.
In Conclusion
I received a free copy of this story as part of a promotion by the author. (It has been in my to-be-read pile for far too long. Sorry, Rhonda!)
This is a short read and part of a series, but Hopkins made the story feel complete.
There were one or two instances where word choices threw me temporarily out of the story. YMMV.
All-in-all, it was an engrossing read (or is it a gross read when speaking of zombies?). I give this story a 4 out of 5 stars.
Did you like this review? Check out my Going to Mars Word-by-Word series of book reviews.
Do you read zombie stories? Have you read Survival? What did you think?