Siege: As the World Dies, Book Three [Paperback]

The one star review was unfair and uncalled for since it does not review the work itself. That being said I loved this book. After months of watching Rhiannon's blogs in mouthwatering anticipation, I am sated even though I was sad when the book was done. I could not put this work down. Rhiannon did her homework when it came to researching the zombie genre. I am very fussy about my zombie books and I have read a lot of bad zombie books. I see a lot of work where the author attempts to freshen up the genre and give zombies some special powers. You cannot freshen this genre up by changing the mechanics of a zombie. Flesh-eating zombies should never have supernatural abilities or be driven by some unseen force. It takes the horror out of the monster when you mess around with zombie traits. They should stink, be gross to look at and have a vacant relentlessness. It just is not scary if a zombie is driven by more than insatiable hunger for living human flesh. You will not find supernatural zombies here. They are the perfect decaying corpses we love to read about. Some are fast and some are slow, but all are deadly hungry.
This work is also evidence of Rhiannon's growth as a writer. Her style has matured so much from the first installment. It is evident that when she said she was spending painstaking time to make the third and final entry to "As the World Dies" she meant it. It is a polished plot line focusing on the struggles of our heroines in the last stand between man, man, and the dead. The writing is vivid and imaginative and results in believable characters you cheer for and characters you hope will be on the menu for the next zombie horde. True zombie afficienados will appreciate this work for what it is and if you have not had the chance to read the first two installments you will be just fine due to the excellent character development, however, you will be cheating yourself. If you are looking for a paper version, check her blogs or talk to permuted press. This is 5 star work.

Having previously read David Moody's brilliantly harrowing Autumn series and David Wellington's Monster Nation trilogy (which I felt ran out of steam by book 3) I was keen to get my teeth into another committed relationship with another worthwhile author.
But what was this ?
A female author of a zombie trilogy ?
And the main characters both women also?
I was slightly concerned that I might have to dig into my feminine side to have any kind of affinity with these two hellcats as they slew their way across the Texan wasteland that Rhiannon Frater so evocatively bought to life amidst the living dead.
But you know what?
She hooked me in from the very first chapter, the urgency of those opening chapters did not let up and the neither did the ever expanding cast and narrative.
I think for me the true beauty of this trilogy is the ability to be able to identify with such a large cast of characters and to find an empathy for most and even a hatred for a few.

I loved the fact that Rhiannon Frater has created two such rich literary characters in Jenni and Katie and that to me, as a male reader, to bond with them, to even feel protective toward them speaks volumes for her writing style.

I found it a refreshing change that the story doesn't take the usual assumption that all power and running water along with the internet vanishes within the first 24 hours of the plague starting.
Indeed I emailed the author those very thoughts and was not anly surprised to receive a reply but to be told that she had researched that fact and had been assured that that may very well be the case that power could survive along with a percentage of the population.

The concept of the of the varied and colorful occupants of the fort town that eventually becomes home and the efforts taken to defend same kept me spellbound throughout all three volumes.
The cool headed Nerit, the ex Isreali army sniper is another fantasticly strong narrative and Peggy, Katarina and host of bit players make such a strong ensemble cast.
I enjoyed that whilst the main characters are female there was careful consideration not to make the male leads ineffectual and simply additions to their female heroines.
They sprang to life on the page, Travis with his can do commonesense approach to fortification of the town and Juan the TexMex sidekick and major facilitator of getting things done in the most efficient manner.
Bill with his beergut and calm cool and sweet Ken the haidresser all keep you hoping for humanitys' survival and that is the main magic involved in this trilogy
Even Crazy Calhoun has you rooting for him until the very end.

All in all the most satisfying Zombie literature, let alone trilogies, I have ever read.

Ms Frater hints at the end that she may revisit the fort and the survivors in a post "As the World Dies" book, I for one would love to know where these characters go and what they achieve in the years ahead.

An amazing end to an amazing trilogy! With AtWD:Siege and the trilogy finished, Rhiannon Frater has firmly and permanently etched her name at the top of the list of zombie genre masters. The only bad thing I can say I about AtWD:Siege is that it ends this beautiful masterpiece of a trilogy.