Publisher: Tor Books
Publish Date: November 8th, 2011
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Rating: 5/5 Zombies

Synopsis: Picking up where The First Days ends, Fighting to Survive features the further zombie-killing, civilization-saving adventures of a pair of sexy, kick butt heroines and the men who love them. A hundred or so survivors of the zombie plague have found tenuous safety in the walled off center of a small Texas town. Now the hard work of survival begins—finding enough food; creating safe, weather-resistant shelter; establishing laws; and fighting off both the undead who want to eat them and the living bandits who want to rob and kill them. -Goodreads

Review: Like the first book in this series, Fighting to Survive focuses more on the act of surviving the zombie apocalypse (no easy task) then on an overarching plot. There are plenty of smaller story-lines that bring all of the characters together and go a long way towards keeping readers invested and the action nonstop, the zombies do the rest of the work.

The first chunk of the book focused on the massive task of clearing the undead out of the local hotel so that the survivors could relocate and enjoy a bit more luxury and privacy. Every floor brought its own challenges and the plan definitely didn’t go down without a lot of things going horribly, horribly wrong. There are close calls for everyone and not even the best characters are guarenteed to make it out in the end. I felt like I had a fist wrapped around my heart throughout this entire part of the book.

We’re also once again faced with the vigilante who had decided to take the forts justice into his/her own hands. This seems to the one of the few plot points (not relating to character relationships) that will carry through the entire series and I’m not sure how I feel about how it’s being handled. I’m kind of hoping it’s an established character and the reveal will be this epic, shocking moment, but at the same time I don’t think there are very many characters whose reveal would actually shock me. We’ll see.

The characters continue to be the driving force in what makes these books so fantastic. The scars of the incredibly traumatic first days still live on for everyone which makes everything else seem that much more real. Just because your children being eaten alive by their father in front of you  happened in book one definitely doesn’t mean you’re over it by book two. Progress is made though and all of the main characters are slowly making peace with their new lives in their own way. Of course, the relationship between Katie and Jenni is still the highlight of the book and it’ll give you a case of the warm and fuzzies seeing how they are still a source of strength for each other.

While the overall tone and style is the same, Fighting to Survive is still a different kind of book reading experience than book 1. Everyone is now faced with the challenges of starting a new society, in addition to surviving the zombie threats that seem to just keep coming. The politics of the fort get really juicy and more than a little complicated and that makes for a great read. You know, just in case I haven’t mentioned yet that I’m really enjoying this series.

There are ups and downs throughout this entire book and it’s the emotional roller-coaster that is really going to get you hooked.

You can visit Rhiannon Frater on her website or on twitter.

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Second Opinions:
@Pure Textuality
@Blood, Sweat & Books
@Bad Ass Book Reviews