Extinction Edge: Extinction Cycle, Book 2

I have been called an aficionado in the zombie genre for the sheer number of books I've read and reviewed, and now written. The one thing many will here me say over and over again is that I prefer a traditional zombie. Mutations, aliens, and a strong sci-fi theme has never been my thing.

So I really have to hand it to Smith for taking me well out of my comfort zone and earning my five stars.

Smith's zombies are terrifying. Multifaceted genetic mutations crafted by the callus hand of man where the only thing you can count on with these abominations is that you have no idea what they'll do next. Smith continues to up the ante with his second book in his bestselling Extinction series and I'm left hungry for more.

A successful z-book for me must have ample gore, and Smith doesn't disappoint. Buy this book. Tell your friends to buy this book. For those who say zombies aren't trending anymore, i dare you to read this series and reevaluate that statement.

And now, to nag the author on social media to write faster!

I love this author's take on the whole zombie apocalypse genre. Character development has been great despite the fact the little is provided about the characters. They are all so likable. Fitz is absolutely my favorite. The book leaves you with a BIG cliffhanger, so make sure you already have Book 3 in your queue!

I'm now on to #3, and I know that Book 4 cannot come soon enough.

It was good, but the use of 'pucker' and 'bulging lips' gets repetitive. But that's my only real negative about it. I liked it.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and this one didn't disappoint. The story moves forward and their is a lot of action. The author does a good job of providing good visualization of the battles. If you like military based Zombie books you will enjoy this series.

Just a reminder to listeners: The Extinction Cycle is serialized so that the books must be read in sequence in order for the story to be understandable.

This series seems to appeal to people who like zombie books and movies, but the bad guys here are variants rather than zombies. I hate zombi books, but love this series.

This is an exciting book. I'll give him that. I call it junk food book, because its definitely not a Pulitzer or something like that, but its exciting, and I keep buying the next one even though I am trying to conserve credits. I've got some gripes about the book and since I have no one to talk about this book with, I'll throw them out here. t's like watching a Transformer's movie- or other Michael Bay movie. The acting sucks, the plot is non-existent, and there's not much depth, but its still a great time that keeps you engaged and rooting for the good guys. A lot of fun to listen to. So like I said, junk food.

It is very formulaic. Some area needs to be entered. It all goes well for a while. Then they are attacked by hordes and hordes of variants. And some minor character will die. The word "gore" will be used 30 times; Usually 5-15 guys will go in. They will fail at their mission. between 20-90% of the people will die. They will save 1-6 civilians. They will consider that a great victory with a heroic rescue. Cheers all around. Stupid. You lost 60% of the (fighting!) men to save 3 people.

I have some other gripes to. Doctor Ellis' accent suddenly changed this book from the previous two. He sounds like a dimwit, its annoying. I guess it fits better though. The change was weird though. I imagine Kate as the sexy doctor, but the narrators voice for her is very, very wimpy and too masculine (though the latter can't be helped). It takes away the sex appeal.

These guys are stupid. You just want to shout at them, "Be clever, just this once" When attacked by mobs of bad guys and they have a tank or bunker, they never seem to realize they can just hide inside. And don't walk into a building that's "too quiet", if you have ever seen a horror movie, its so predictable what happens next. And they just don't seem to learn. Hmmmm...I wonder what will happen if I just walk into this bunker full of supplies where everyone disappeared. I wonder whats on this boat that no one seems to respond. Some books make you like the main character because he is clever and comes up with a great way to achieve something that even the reader didn't think about and it gets you going. These characters can't see the obvious 90% of the time. It never occurred to the highest military leader- effectively a 5 star general- that the variants might be underground? How the hell?

Next, the variants are too strong. The rest makes sense at least remotely (more on that in a second). But a shot through the chest would still kill them. They would bleed out and have no heart. They feel no pain. They smash their heads against thick glass and it doesn't knock them out, let alone phase them, however we are constantly reminded that only head shots kill them, so they are using their brains. They are burning calories at incredible rates, but don't starve to death when they have nothing to eat for a month. There are finally hints of starvation in this book. And many more things. I could go on and on on this topic. I'm waiting for the next book when they evolve lasers out of their eyes, and farts that propel them like rockets.

With all the weapons the military can bring to bear, where are they? They use a grenade once or twice. Maybe I'm basing my view on video games, but where the hell are the explosives. Mobs of bad guys= grenades, or grenade launcher attached to the rifle, or whatever. Where are the drones. They walk right by a tank and don't use it. I would be in that tank all day. Flamethrowers? Don't those still exist?

And then there's the military brass. We all hate them, but some of them are just a little too evil to be realistic. Corporal what's-his-name is facing near extinction of the human race, and still sees this as an opportunity to let everyone die but the Americans (our enemies); so he finally achieves his objective, even though a full 95% percent of all the people and probably animals on the planet are dead. How the hell would letting Europe die benefit us- there's nothing left. No one will be a threat to anyone for generations. And hes just so evil. Ugh, I want to punch him.

Now lets talk about the science. I have to as I am an MD and biochemist by trade- The author did a good job of making things semi-plausible. But obviously, some of it is pretty far out there. I could go on and on about how nearly every concept he has is actually impossible or doesn't make sense if you even know a little of the science, but there has to be a certain degree of "suspending our disbelief" as my old drama professor used to say. I started to list all the factual impossibilities, but then reminded myself of the above. He did a pretty good job of keeping things semi-legit and seems to know at least more than most people about Biotech. Well researched. Frustrates the hell out of me given my profession and the fact that its so far fetched.

So lots of gripes, which keeps this a 3 or 4 star book. It is still worth the listen however. I

This book was amazing. The storyline is intense. I feel like I am at the movies, thanks to the narrator who does a brilliant read. I can't wait for book number 3.

Even better than the first one. I am very excited to read number 3. It is fast paced, action packed, and full of suspense! Action scenes usually don't feel right in books, but in this book it just works. Great book!

better than book 1. cannot wait for the next book! Hopefully it won't take long.

The narrator does and excellent job of portraying the emotions of the characters. All the characters are at this point extremely well developed. The plot is great and the situations keep getting worse and it seems less and less likely that humanity will pull through. I loved this book.