Unraveling: The Immune Part One.
I love eschatological narratives – you know, end of the world doomsday books. Films too. I don’t know what it is about them but maybe it’s the guilty pleasure and frisson that a good book or film can provide as the reader/viewer remains safe while the world they know unravels in print or on celluloid. Stephen King had a theory that this was why people love horror books and movie – that they’re revivifying; remind them of life by representing death. Whatever the reason, I enjoy this genre and Unraveling, the first book in the four part The Immune Omnibus is a really good, solid addition to the genre.
The premise is the unleashing of a highly virulent disease by a mysterious group that wipes out the majority of the world’s population. Like many books in this oeuvre, the author chooses to focus on select but diverse individuals who, for some reason, are immune to what can only be described as a plague. The reader thus experiences the catastrophic consequences of this on their personal and professional lives, as society as they know it collapses and all they have loved and worked for and towards quite literally dies.
Well written with strong characters replete with flaws, this is a good start to what promises to be a tight series. Already started the next one.
Void The Immune Part Two
The second book in The Immune Omnibus, Void, is a fabulous sequel to the first book, Unraveling. Starting where it left off, Void follows the adventures of the survivors from the first book, namely the obstetrician, Adam, former footballer, Freddie, and soldier Sarah among others as they unite and trek across the USA, in search of Adam’s daughter, Rachel as well as answering the call of the CDC who, before the world went to hell in a hand basket, asked for anyone immune from what’s now known as the Medusa virus to come forward.
As they travel, they meet others who have also lost everything. Joining together, the group learn not only how to survive and forage (including empty houses and abandoned businesses and vehicles) but about each other. Worst of all, they learn just how fragile the veneer of civilization is; how when there is no-one to enforce laws and common decency, there are those who will take advantage of the situation, regardless of the consequences.
While the book is about a world in chaos, it’s also very much about the humanity or lack thereof of those now populating the planet and how survival isn’t just about nourishing the body, but also the heart and mind.
Some good twists in the book and believable character development as well as fine writing made this reader buy the next book as soon as the last page of this one was finished.
EverGreen. The Immune Part Three
In this novel, Evergreen, our survivors of the Medusa virus, after another tragedy that shakes them to the core, settle in what appears to be a Utopia, the experimental township of Evergreen, a place that runs on solar energy and is fundamentally self-sufficient. Though ravaged by the virus, the remaining citizens welcome the travellers and it seems that Adam, Sarah, Freddie and Max have found a place to call home. But one person’s paradise is another’s hell and while some of the characters determine to grasp what happiness they can, there are those determined to destroy it, regardless of the cost or who they hurt in the process.
I thought the pace might slow in this book with the primary characters finding a safe haven, but nothing could be further from the truth. Kazzie uses the static location as an excuse to explore the leads’ inner demons as well as expand the search for Adam’s daughter, Rachel. So we have on the one hand the physical difficulties of trying to start afresh while everything lost is still so raw, but more importantly, the psychological tensions the juxtaposition between the old world and those this new, stark and dangerous one create. How can anyone “move on” when the world as they know it has stopped?
A page-turner that had me buying the next one immediately.
Citadel: The Immune Part Four
The final instalment in this post-apocalyptic series is a doozy. The tensions and various narrative threads started in the other books not only come together but explode with shocking consequences. Just when you thought our intrepid and flawed characters had endured enough, Kazzie inflicts more pain on them and demands they rise to the occasion and show their resilience and instinct for survival.
I don’t want to say too much more except that in every way this was a fitting end to the series and even if it doesn’t answer all the questions it raises, I think this is appropriate as well.
Well-written, fast-paced and action-packed, it was a great read.