In my on-going personal quest to tell why I think a book is good (versus just saying that it is good), I have the following comments to offer about this remarkable book. I hope my thoughts are helpful to someone. In particular, I hope that they help support this author's future efforts because we really need more of her work.
1- The writing style is impressive. The POV (point of view), crisp/realistic prose, and short declarative sentences all combine to provide an utterly smooth conveyance of action, dialogue, description, and emotion. The events in the first 2/3rds of the novel are breathtakingly written, exciting, interesting, and (for this reader at least) satisfed a desire to first and foremost read a story of survival against great odds, in this case TEOTWAWKI via a zombie virus produced by an unfortunate mix of an engineered pesticide and a common chemical.
2- The story is clear, interesting and accessible (even if the reader is oblivious to the connections to Dante). The afterword goes into a small bit of detail of the relationship of the novel to Dante's work. If you don't know Dante's work (or look it up), perhaps you won't care or understand the remarkable achievement of this talented writer. While I'd rather the story had diverged from Dante's at certain points (and especially want it to do so should a followup work be written), I found it astoundingly impressive that the author took on the task of paralleling this archaic religious allegory into the modern (and trendy) zombie apocalypse genre and that she did it so well. While this paralleling of Dante's allegory is clearly a gimmick (i.e., intended to draw some attention to the work if nothing else), I have to say that it's also an astoundingly good adaptation.
3- Because of the POV, the characters are not as completely realized/explained as they might otherwise be, but considering the general story arc (which was mostly preordained) and the pace and length of the novel, I felt the characterizations were good enough (i.e., great for Cash, acceptable for the other characters). I will say that I thought the military men (Tyler and Lendt) were written as caricatures, not characters.
4- (Minor SPOILERS AHEAD in this paragraph!) At the risk of being accused of being sexist (I assert that the opposite is actually true), I will say in a positive sense that this story reads like it was written by a man. The author and the main character are both female, but the story's POV, Cash's internal dialogue, and the development (i.e., the plot) of the story convey a sort of androgynous (or perhaps "omnisexual") flavor. While the Cash character is written as a female, she need not be seen as such. Furthermore, the essential setting up of the story is when Mia responds to Clutch's statement that she "will never be ready." The author resolves this conflict by having "Mia" (the female who has revealed in the first scene that she wears "Doc. Martens" shoes) be both willing and able to evolve into a "fighting machine" that Clutch (and, of course, the predestined plot) requires her to be. (I think Sigourney Weaver's "Ripley" would be very proud of this "Mia/Cash" character.) I liked the fact that Cash was written as a female, but I will say that the story and dialogue also work if Cash is thought of as a male (such a redressing of the gender of the main character even works if the one intimate nighttime scene in the national park cabin is retained because the "Clutch" character is so vaguely realized in the context of the plot that he could very well be gay). In other words, the author has created a wonderful "female everyman" character.
[To expand a bit on the above idea, I will explain that my imagining of an alternate version of the two main characters as gay is a logical extension of the fact that, as written, the story is gender neutral (or at least "inclusive"). I will hasten to admit that writing/imagining Cash and Clutch as gay would layer too much of a modern gimmick on the novel considering the paralleling gimmick already in use. I'm just saying that I feel an honest paralleling of Dante's allegory in context with the world of 2013 naturally demands at least the idea that the story could accommodate an inclusiveness in terms of the characters' sexual orientation.]
5- (Minor SPOILERS AHEAD in this paragraph!) The "predestination" of the plot (i.e., the novel is based on Dante's work) does work against reason and logic, at least in a modern sense. Some plot holes are used in order to move the story to its conclusion. For example, while reading I found it hard to accept that Clutch and Cash would willingly engage in the encounter with Doyle which so obviously would (and does) quickly lead to the destruction of all they had worked to achieve.
6- (Minor SPOILERS AHEAD in this paragraph!) I can say that the one real fault of this book (and why I give it 4 stars) is simply that it's just half a story. By remaining true to her goal to parallel Dante, I think the author artificially rushed to a conclusion and she had to rely on too many plot holes (and cliques) to achieve the paralleling. To understand what I mean, think of what happens to the Fort, to Clutch, to Doyle and even to Mutt. I admit that it was particularly hard for me to accept the Doyle character (in the sense of what I think are the "rules of a modern plotline") in terms of what he could/did do and what was hidden/not recognized until too late. However, I will add that I did find the abrupt closing scene to be a poetic opportunity for another plot twist--a followup book that finishes the story.
7- Besides what I've said about the success of the author's explicit attempt to mimic/honor/borrow from Dante, I can also say that she writes about places and people and things that she knows (she's from Iowa, the setting of the story). In so doing, she proves quite neatly one of the oldest adages in writing: "write about what you know." I will hasten to add that I hope that the author "knows" about zombie's isn't at all real!
8- I'd like to compare this book to another recent book that is very similar in topic and writing quality. It's called "Omega Days" by John L. Campbell. (I've written a review here of that book which might be of interest to some.) I mention Campbell because I think that if Aukes and Campbell were to collaborate, I could only imagine the success they'd have! They both write in a natural, cinematic style that has produced two superb stories.
Well, I've rambled on so long that perhaps few (or no one) will read this far. So I'll end by saying that I was very happy to have come across this book from this author. I highly recommend even the most jaded zombie enthusiasts read it (and anyone who admires impressive writing). I hope to be reading more from Aukes soon.
OR
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Top reviews from other countries
Mrs. J. Sandland
Not a bad read at all
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 19, 2013
V. G. Harwood
For Dante's Inferno Fans/Zombie Fans (or both).
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Woodcutterfrog
Better than 5 stars
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Travelling man
Excellent read
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