Luckily I picked up and read The Rising just recently. So I knew there was a part 2, `City of the Dead', waiting to be read when I put down the first book. I would have been tearing my hair out if I hadn't known there would be a part 2 after reading the ending of The Rising. What a great way to end a book, cliffhanger or not. Thankfully, for me at least, it was a cliffhanger.
`City of Dead' picks up right where Keene left us; Frankie and Martin waiting for Jim to hopefully find his son and bring him back to the Humvee. Shots are heard inside the house...and a neighborhood of zombies are coming for them. I could actually feel the intensity and bewilderment that Jim and Frankie were going through while trying to fend off the zombies from coming into the house. Zombies dying left and right, while the two are backing up a stairway. Enough Zombies dead that more zombies had to crawl on top of them to get closer to our survivors. Breathe. A mass of undead shooting through windows. Smoke. Yes smoke. The zombies lit the house on fire. Breathe. BREATHE!
And that's just the first few pages. Keene had me breathless for probably 60-80 pages straight. A relentless assault that seems to never end. In this world of zombies, this would be what I would expect. If I was to be outnumbered millions to one, then I would think there would be no time to breathe. Constant running. Constant pain. Constant paranoia. No sleep.
But then the unexpected happens. A shining light in a tunnel of darkness. A savior is still on this Earth and he tries to save everyone he can. His name is Ramsey and he is the creator of Ramsey towers. A standing triumph in the middle of Manhattan that can withstand terrorist's attacks, power outages, and even Mother Nature herself. Ramsey has created a safe haven for survivors within the city. A city that is filled by millions of the walking dead. But this is Keene we are talking about here. Keene isn't going to let something like indestructibility stand in the way of the smart zombies he's created... hehe. You just know something bad is going to happen.
In `City of the Dead', Keene introduces us to a whole grip of new characters. A lot that are pretty interesting, or at least could have been I'm sure if the book was a lot thicker. I think we were introduced to many characters though because sometimes I would get them confused at times. But then again, it was nice to have a lot, because you still got attached to a lot of them, which made it kind of sad to have them taken away. Bates definitely had to be one of my new favorites of the book. An ex-marine. In charge of Ramsey's security. Was he to be trusted though? I wasn't sure, but the man knew how to take charge and not be a complete idiot in a zombiefied world. And I liked that.
A few gripes I had about the book though was that it seemed like Keene was going to keep this book going into a third book or even a series. It seemed like he set so much up for more books. The brothers of Ob, Ab and Api, who are waiting to take over the world with Ob and are getting impatient since all the humans aren't dead. The constant mentioning of magic, which is the only thing that will be able to kill the `zombies'. The multiple thought out escape plans to get out of the tower and NY in case the zombies take it over. And there were a few other things that have escaped me now that also gave me hope, but there was enough to warrant, in my opinion, at least another. Which leads me to this...
Dead Sea is NOT a third part. Now I'm sure some people knew that, but I didn't. I got into Keene just a few weeks ago and it started with `The Rising'. Looking at the covers of all three books will make you think they are a series of 3 at least. Two hands...coming out of a window (The Rising), a manhole (City of the Dead), and a Ship's Window (Dead Sea). All three are about zombies by the description on the book. I like to read as little about a book as I can until I get to read the book, especially books in a series. If you don't know someone is going live in a book, but then read the back of a book later in the series and you see their name...then there is no suspense since you know they live. FOOLED. Yep. I was fooled.
In the end, I think Keene left a lot of things open. I feel like I was sort of cheated. I hope, for my sake at least, that Keene will continue this series somewhere down the road. But that didn't ruin the book for me. I just can not give it less than 5 stars just because I didn't like the ending. If that's the way he wanted to end it, then that's up to him. It's his story. But the ride to the end was exhilarating and a heck of a lot of fun.
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Top reviews from other countries
Chris Hall
357 pages of blood drenched zombie action!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2006fasbashir
A sequel well worth reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 28, 2020Matt
Possessed Zombie goodness for the whole family
Reviewed in Canada on July 30, 2018