Review: Those Who Remain by Priscila Santa Rosa

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Hide your children, lock your doors, and load your guns because zombies are real and they are coming. Danny Terrence knows this better than anyone. He spent months preparing for the inevitable moment the disease would reach his small town. What he didn’t prepare for is the fact that nobody really believes him.

Luckily for him, an old classmate and bully just happens to be the first one bitten. The bad news is that the family with the biggest arsenal of guns just packed up and left town, leaving them defenseless from an oncoming zombie horde. Being a leader isn’t turning out the way Danny imagined.

Yet four other survivors easily have it worse than him. Between a thirteen-year-old girl on a road trip from hell, a family of paranoid hunters having to deal with their feelings for the first time ever, a stubborn doctor butting-heads with a cold-hearted sergeant and an amoral British professor carrying the fate of humanity in his hands, Danny has it easy. Unless, of course, they all end up in his town, messing with his already messed up life.

Follow these five people as their paths cross and their lives and hopes are challenged in this thrilling novel with brain-mushing humor and heart-breaking action. Those Who Remain: Book One is part of a trilogy.

 

 

My Rating

 

4

 

 

 My Review

 

I'm starting to think that the day in which I stop loving zombie novels will never actually come. Especially if zombie novels continue to be as wonderful of a read as Those Who Remain. There are so many things I loved about this novel, and highly recommend it, especially for those looking for a creepy read.

 

When multiple POVs work in a novel, it creates something really incredible. We are able to gain so much insight into the story, from different perspectives. Some novels can't even make two perspectives work, yet Priscila Santa Rosa was able to master five. The characters are all unique enough, with voices true to their personality, that it makes for brilliant transitions. I was never confused as to who was talking or what scene I was reading. All of the characters in the novel have equal weight in the story. It's not often that books have an all-star cast. Through these character's narratives, we are able to get different realistic reactions to something as insane as a zombie outbreak. Some of them are prepared to handle it, while some have to make a very quick transition.

 

The character work really is spectacular. Not only is there a strong female lead. There's three of them. Plus, they are strong in a way that's realistic and true to their characters. I absolutely loved how realistic the actions and dialogue were. It makes these personalities seem like real people, instead of words on a page. I really enjoyed how intertwined all of the stories were, in some cases, even from the very beginning. To me, that's some of the most realistic writing, as it's very true to life. There are so many different paths we cross, not even realizing how important it will become. The characters really make the novel.

 

However, that doesn't stop it from having all the action and gore necessary for a zombie novel to really be enjoyable. There's plenty of it. And it's wonderful. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the ending, but it is enough of a cliffhanger to get me excited for the second book. Fans of zombie apocalypses should not be disappointed.