Post-Apocalyptic Reading – Impressions: EX-PATRIOTS by Peter Clines

Description of Peter Clines’ Ex-Patriots[1. This book was provided for review byPermuted Press]

It’s been two years since the world ended.

Two years since the dead rose and the plague of ex-humanity decimated mankind. For most of that time, the superhero called St. George, formerly known to the world as the Mighty Dragon, has protected the people of Los Angeles at their film studio-turned-fortress, The Mount. Together with his fellow heroes—Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth—he’s tried to give the survivors hope and something like a real life. But the swollen population of the Mount is becoming harder and harder to sustain, and the heroes are feeling the pressure.

Hope arrives in the form of a United States Army battalion, based in a complex a few hundred miles away in Arizona. This is not just any base, however. The men and women of Project Krypton are super-soldiers, designed and created before the outbreak to be better, stronger, and faster than normal humans. They want the heroes and all the people of the Mount to rejoin America and have normal lives again.

But can the military be trusted?

And is there even a country left to rejoin? There is a secret at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it have an awesome power that will help them keep that secret hidden. The power of Freedom.

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. I mean, stuff blows up! Zombies get ripped apart! (What’s not to like, right?) But it took me…a while to finish it. This, sadly, says a lot more about what I thought of it than any review I could write.

(I have, on occasion, stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning reading, even though I have to wake up at around 7 to take my kids to school.)

Unfortunately, even though I really tried, I just could not get into the book. I had a hard time keeping track of the characters (there are a LOT of characters). There’s someone who wears something called the Cerberus armor (but is really named Danielle, even though she’s referred to as Cerberus when she’s wearing the armor), someone who’s called the hero (whose name is St. George), and someone named Zzzap, who…can apparently turn himself into a nuclear reactor? Or something.

Needless to say, I couldn’t remember who was who.

And because of that, I didn’t care about the characters. Which meant that I was not engaged, nor was I paying attention to what was happening. Which made me sad.

The book takes place in two different time settings, switching between before the apocalypse and about two years after it. The “before” sequences introduced even more characters, which only added to my sense of detachment (not to mention increased the number of times I read a passage and said “Who are you again?”).

Ultimately, I didn’t finish the book, so I can’t really give it a proper review. This wasn’t the book for me, but it might very well be the book for you. If you like zombies, the apocalypse, the military, and stuff blowing up, give it a try.

Grade: DNF

3 thoughts on “Post-Apocalyptic Reading – Impressions: EX-PATRIOTS by Peter Clines

  1. I’ve read it twice myself, and liked it even more the second time around. It definitely helps to have read the first in the series, Ex-Heroes, to get used to all the different characters and their powers and such. Not to mention that a lot of what happened in that first book has a direct affect on what’s going on in the second, so some of the reveals won’t have the same punch without knowing where they came from.

    I thought both books were really good, and unique in that they’re the only zombie vs super heroes novels that I know of.

    1. I might’ve had better luck with this book if I’d read the first one, then. Maybe I’ll try to find the first book one of these days.

  2. Hello Char,
    Thanks, on a related note, I recently read the road and I found it to be one of my favourite books. Now I want to read another book similar to it. I like scary books, and I always have been a fan of post-apocalyptic things. Any ideas?
    I look forward to your next post

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