On Vox: The Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair
The Down Home Zombie Blues
Linnea Sinclair
Yes I AM reading all the books Linnea Sinclair has ever written. This is the newest one - came out end of last year. And it's about zombies. Unintentional - but I've read three books with zombies in them this year! This is one, then there's Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry, and finally - Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway (which I have to review on here). Are zombies becoming a trend? I thoughtfully stroke my chin.
So basically - what I usually think about Sinclair's books - lasers, spaceships, sci-fi, action fun stuff which I seem to love right now. Space opera, yay! This is totally that. Oh and kissing, as you see on the cover.
In this book the zombies are this alien hybrid created in a lab - half machine, half tenticle-y animal, they move in a pack, guided by the zombie leader (C-Prime), they jump out of portals and suck out people's lifeforces by clamping onto their heads with a big tentacle (braiiinnn). I was a bit confused about the mechanics of the lifeforce-sucking until I figured out they used the tentacles. Liked the alien-zombie angle. Anyway, Jorie Mikkalah is a Guardian Force commander trying to kill all the zombies on the "nil" planet Earth, while Theo Petrakos is a divorced cop who gets caught up in the crossfire, eventually joining up with the Guardians to help save the planet.
I had a good time reading this. There were some interesting dynamics in here (a love triangle and some bad exes), and there wasn't a silly misunderstanding between the two characters - no silly drama, just a real worry about how they are literally from different worlds. I liked the romance (but my favorite is still Games of Command), and it was balanced well with the plot of the zombie invasion problem. I liked how the language differences were overcome (Jorie realizes that English is like the alien language of Vekran) and they do kind of get to know each other as they improve their communications. Still, I was a bit disappointed to find out that some Vekrans were stranded near Earth at some point, because *I* wanted a tongue in cheek reference to the movie "Galaxy Quest". Theo jokingly mentions warp speed and Jorie asks him how he knows what that is and I totally thought of "Galaxy Quest"! But it was not meant to be.
I also liked how Jorie is independent and can take care of herself - she's better what she does than any other guy in the story, so thing that nagged at me was how often Theo would try to save her. He'd throw himself at her while they were shooting in order to get her away from some tentacle. But he's the zombie-killing novice, not her. Yes, he loves her and wants to protect her, but I thought it would be cooler if he didn't feel the need to be all "I am man and shall save you my woman!!". He should be all: "Oh look at her killing things, I'm so proud" and just watch her back, no throwing himself at her to shove her from harm's way. At least she saves him too, but she sensibly shoots things instead of shoving him. Other nit - Jorie thinks to herself about other women who haven't snapped up Theo and wonders if they are "blind and unsexed" like three times at least throughout the book. Nothing against the phrase, but it's unique enough that I noticed when it was reused.
I need to buy more Sinclair books but I must hold myself back because of the TBR. I also want Ann Agguire's Grimspace because it's supposed to be in this genre. I went to B&N and it wasn't there!! WHY.
Originally posted on janicu.vox.com