Friday, April 27, 2012

Review: Beginnings (The Plague): Book 1 by Danielle Blanchard Benson

Thank you to Making Connections(a group on Goodreads) and the author for allowing me to review this book!

Beginnings: Book I (The Plague)
Genre
Apocalypse/Zombie

Publication Date
February 5th, 2012

Publisher
Midnight Engel Press

Available At

Format
Ebook
Paperback






June, 2012: A couple of small bombs are exploded in a Rio de Janeiro favela and Tijuana, Mexico; few casualties but riots and looting follow.


July, 2012: A mysterious plague which turns normal humans into flesh-eating cannibals destroys Central and South America and decimates large swathes of Europe and Asia.


August, 2012: Governments worldwide collapse, chaos ensues and the plague mutates into something much more than anyone could have anticipated.


Join a group of survivors from Europe and the Americas as they search for a way to patch their lives back together while dealing with personal issues from their former lives which continue to haunt them. Nothing lasts forever, not even the beginnings of the plague.  


Review
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars


When I first started reading Beginnings, I have to be honest and say that I couldn't get into the story. I found the bouncing around from each different person too distracting, never giving me a connection to any of the characters. I set it aside for a couple of days then picked it back up determined to finish and find something that I liked. I mean, zombies? Yes! I will forever be a fan of zombie books, so when I say I was determined, I was determined!


I must have been able to switch my brain off and just let the story lead me, because once I picked it up again, I became a fan. The multiple POV's became insightful and needed with so many different characters coming and going. The zombies, of course, were a huge plus and the mystery had my interest piqued.
 I'm not a huge fan of political reads, there's nothing wrong with them, they just aren't for me. Beginnings delves into politics and conspiracies. Oddly, it never bothered me, it made the story and continued to add to it. I did find it a little odd that every single character was well versed in the worlds politics. Each character comes from different backgrounds (American, Brazilian, Irish, French, and many mixed) yet they ALL knew soooo much about the politics of most continents, nations and governments. This never subtracted from my reading experience, just something that I found odd. 


There are so many characters in Beginnings that I can't and won't talk about each one. I'll highlight: they were all well-developed. I never found them lacking in any major way. I did have some issues with the dialogue, it was good for the most part, but some conversations just didn't roll out naturally. Mostly, it was when someone would talk about love or their feelings, it seemed forced and took a little bit away from the story, but not enough to greatly disappoint me. Just mildly. And along those lines, the most natural character (in my opinion) was Rousin. Everything about her just flowed in such a natural way, she quickly became my favorite.
I'm excited to continue the series! The ending will have those wheels in your head spinning as you try to decipher which way the story will go. Reader discretion: There are some scenes that might make some readers uncomfortable. Definitely an adult read, but one that shouldn't be missed out on!

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