Annie WallsBesprekingen

I almost gave up on this book in the beginning because of the narration (listened to audiobook). Glad I didn't as the overall story was great but still the narration sounded low budget and was hard at times.

Not very well written, yet somehow hard to put down. Definitely more of a romance of the multi-page, lovingly detailed descriptions of half-naked men variety than I was expecting.

I am going to start off with saying I am not a zombie book reader, well I wasn't. I am a fan of the Walking Dead, TV Show I cringe after every show knowing I have to wait another week to get my fix. What to do ? Well, smart me asked some friends if they knew of any Walking Dead type reads they'd recommend. This was the book I got, by an Indie author I've not heard of before. Cool beans, I love to read 'new' authors. Honestly I didn't have much faith that it would be very interesting to me. I'm a TV zombie fan not a zombie reader. Hah, My good friend Lori, pushed this book and proved to me I can love zombie books. Thank You Lori !


Kan, short for Kanas has survived the zombie uprising. She survived her parents, her love and her neighbors. She learned most of what she knows from her survivalist father who most thought a bit crazy. Her strength is amazing, what she has to do to continue to live has been horrendous. Life is on a schedule, everything done at a certain time. Her isolation complete for over 3 years, until a group of humans comes needing her rescue and everything shifts. She must adjust, survive and learn to rebuild her trust in her fellow humans again. It's not easy when many of the humans still alive don't have all their mental faculties anymore.
Why did this book take me completely under its spell ? The heroine, she is amazing. She is young in body but so old in her heartbreaks. She has to do the unthinkable, and still keep from going mental. She is adaptive, and cautious, and shy. She is a very believable character. The world is far enough away from reality I felt taken away but similar enough I could relate to it. The supporting characters are complex, with interesting stories that made them so entrancing. It's not a pretty book with prancing unicorns. It has darkness, horrors and violent moments. They are balanced with amazing bits of sunshine that had me smiling with tears in my eyes. This is a full spectrum emotional read.
Great News, this is a trilogy, book 2 is out ! I'm off to buy, buy, buy.

I loved it from the start. The introduction of the zombies was exciting and the pace was breath-taking. The action was non-stop and the writing drew me in. I didn't even mind Kansas joining the group so easily after so long on her own. I was enjoying everything until....slam.... she was kidnapped by the Mormons. I was so confused and the story tone changed so much I felt like I was reading a whole new novel. The wheels came off at that point and I just couldn't save myself from the wreckage. I love zombie novels but this one turned into a romance triangle tinged with Deliverance. I wanted to love it all but I just didn't. The first three quarters of the book was exciting and interesting and the final fourth was just blah. It doesn't mean I won't read the next novel because author's improve and this is her first. The potential was there but I was put off by the erotic drama. The ending was a busted mess. I ended up being disappointed.

I shared a recipe with you in honor of this book last week on Monday and today I am sharing my review! I know we are buried in our NaNoWriMo WIP, at least many of us are (including me) but this is a great review for a nice break if you are looking for a wonderful set of stories including the latest published on October 27th. A great group of goo filled bottles of zombified awesomesauce.

Controlling the Dead is the second in the Famished Trilogy and I am thrilled to finally have gotten this in my zombie goo covered hands! Mind you I had to stalk the author some (coughing, a lot) and found out a secret minion group! (All hail the Minions of the Famished)!


Having read the last one on a whim last year. Honestly, I was attracted to the cover and the fact that it had some really compelling reviews. Notice I did not say, awesome reviews because (yes I can going to use this as a soapbox about reviews, deal with it). The author has managed to get a great balance of honest, strong reviewers and regular readers who have become fan-girls and boys! It was great! So I grabbed it, read it overnight and sat there with my mouth hanging open. Of course the reviews are also awesome!

What is so compelling about this particular zombie book? It isn’t because it is the “best” written book out there, don’t get me wrong it was more than great and I loved it! (It is really hard not to fall in love with Kansas right away). It did not have the most original story, I mean zombies right? How original can you be in with zombies, it is stretch no matter what? Granted, she did have a pretty interesting one, and her world build was very different from most because this was not right or during the outbreak after but years after the outbreak. Seriously what could this writer do to drag a person who is an avid zombie and post-apocalyptic story reader? What new hook? I am not sure there is one particular one exactly, and by this second book she is working on a few. However what she can do is use that ever so talented brain of hers to create an incredible group of characters.

In this oversaturated zombie industry you have to make the story original by creating compelling and believable characters. Author Annie Walls has them in spades and they are believable, flawed, horrible, lovable despicable, disgusting… and all of them blended together created this ride that crept along at fast, slow… sleeping, neck-breaking and nail-biting speed! With the world build so strong it was a perfect marriage of beautifully designed story elements.

The main character, Kansas, or Kan, is still the character I fell in love with during the Taken by the Dead. The people around her are true supporting “actors” in the tale. Her story could not be told without their balance. Their loss could not be had without her there to complete the circle of life, even amidst a world crawling with the undead. It was lovely and horrific, and bloody and just awesomesauce (grin)


Why should you grab this, the first in the series Taking on the Dead and the find the rest of the short stories in the series? Why read this zombie story in comparison to the others, other than I am telling you too ?. Because it truly is a grand story. It has everything you want in a story. Inner struggles, conflicts, romance, death and disappointment and even a bit of hope. There is not a real happily ever after but there is a window of opportunity, and that is what makes it a great series book. When you get to the end you are left satisfied but still yelling and wanting to next one now.

For those who read the first story, this one takes not so much in a linear forward motion but kind of SE (haha well it doers start off in New Orleans) and goes into the realm of Voodon. Oh, ya no……… this is not a zombie story where voodon is the cause of zombies, but …. Well read the title… CONTROLLING the DEAD? Oh no you can’t get away that easily! This book is much more than shambling and occasionally running zombies caused by some virus Miss Annie brings in Voodon and the added aspect of this with book two really brings this up to a new level of awesomeness!

The book is getting a 4 out of 5 and that is because it took way to long for the second book to come out. I had to re-read the first one. I started reading Controlling the Dead and had to stop about 30% through to read Taking on the Dead. I read a lot and this was over 200 books ago. With a break that long and no back story at the beginning even fans were lost. Which would have been my only suggestion if I was a beta-reader. Kind of like a preseason recap!
Make sure you check out my Vegetable Soup inspired by Kansas and her crew!

Life for Kansas was perfect until the day the world changed.

She has been hiding out for four years in solitude. It's the only way to survive. The only way not to draw the living dead. Helping a small group of people, she learns the new world might not be what she assumes. Venturing out of her refuge and comfort zone, she meets Rudy, who helps her find a greater purpose. She realizes that the world has moved on without her. Only it's not what she expects. Her knowledge of the living dead grows and only makes her more curious as humanity continues to hang on by a thread. While on her search for answers she finds comfort in new friendships and love, but her past seems as if it will haunt her forever.

Kansas takes it upon herself to help other survivors, which would be easy if the famished were the only obstacles.

In a trilogy plot thick with twists and turns, this adult dark fantasy is emotional as much as it is horrifyingly gripping.

*Not intended for a young audience. Mature content.*
Paperback, 312 pages
Published September 20th 2012
ISBN13
9781478276258
edition language
English
series
The Famished Trilogy #1
characters
Kansas City Sunshine Moore

You know when you find a book that you just can't put down - a book that causes you to ignore all other things in life; kids, laundry, eating, etc. and you don't do anything but read? Taking on The Dead was one of those books for me. And even weeks after reading it, I catch myself daydreaming about what might happen next. I'm obsessing...truly.

Annie Walls throws the reader head first into the downfall of Kansas' great life. The zombie infestation takes away her mother, her smart but paranoid father, and the love of her life, leaving her to survive on her own in a bleak and terrifying world. She uses the skills her father taught her and the knowledge he left behind to build a small sanctuary for herself, where she lives in relative isolation for four years.

When a small group of people stumble upon her little haven, Kansas takes pity on them, and in return her outlook on life and the world she thinks she knows crumbles. With her safe house no longer safe she is thrust into a new world of horrors. Not only will she battle zombies, but also rapists, religious zealots, cannibals and people that would use her for things she really does not want to be used for.

Kansas is one total bad ass, zombie-slaying chick. It has become so ingrained in her that she gets excited by the mere thought of killing the infected. Yet she's lost much in the process of becoming this lean, mean killing machine.While she doesn't shy away from the monsters she encounters, she has an extremely hard time with anything remotely warm and fuzzy.

Rudy enters her life by rescuing her from a zombie attack. Like Kansas, Rudy too is socially inept. Yet, the pair finds something kindred in each other and form a strange sort of solidarity. Rudy is, to put it bluntly, f*cking hot! Or, as Kansas calls him, 'sex on feet'. The sexual tension between the two is an ooey-gooey, sticky, sweet mess. But many things stand in the way of either of them being able to just give in to the attraction.

As Kansas grapples with learning to survive in her new situation she finds she is able to trust and care again. She finds friends in a wonderful cast of unique characters. Some you love, some you hate, some you may love to hate, but all are creatively well developed.

Kansas is plunged into a raw, gritty world and takes it all head on. She's a 'warrior princess', a battle maven, a little sex starved hottie, and underneath it all, just a girl trying to survive.

So much takes place in Taking on The Dead, there is hardly time to come up for air. Which I love in a book. Walls never lets you want to set the book down, you are constantly in need of finding out what sort of horror or bedlam happens next. It is a non-stop ride from start to finish. Taking on The Dead is not just a smash and gash zombie book, it's a journey of learning how to truly live in a world of so much death.

I could fangirl over this book for days but instead I think I will assume the position of Annie Walls' new stalker as I wait for details on Controlling The Dead, book two in The Famished Trilogy

The first thing that we all need to stop and appreciate about this book is the cover. Yes, the cover. Why? Well, because it is pretty much awesome. Seriously. You have a chick with a deadly weapon.. what could be more awesome than that?! Count.Me.In. I've recently become a huge fan of Zombie books, (I mean really, who DOESN'T want to know what the word is eventually going to come to?!) & I couldn't be more happier without the outcome of Taking on the Dead. From just the opening alone, I knew I was going to love this book.

Let's start with Kansas.. Kansas Sunshine to be exact. I am completely and totally in LOVE with this name. Kudos to Annie for taking the unique route with this one. (: Given her current state of affairs, Kansas is one strong willed, determined, epically awesome Cross Bow Wielding chick. Yes. Cross Bow. Every girl should earn one. Now. After all, when you are pretty much trying to save yourself against the ever present Zombie People - you would have to have her frame of mind.

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“Blood is pounding in my ears. Lingering smoke and tequila fill my nostrils as adrenaline courses through my veins. My lips curl into a smile. The only thing that would make this night more perfect is if I had killed some zombies.”

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Years after she has gone into hiding, Kansas goes and ventures out into a world that she is no longer familiar with & like the synopsis states, it is nothing like she expected it to be. It's then that she meets Rudy. (I also feel the need to mention that I totally love his name too!) With a heart the size of Texas & a demeanor that just screams "I will take care of you," I instantly like him. Like any normal person, he has his own past & he is full of his own secrets. You couldn't help but instantly be drawn to him. He's the type of hero that your inner cheerleader JUMPS into action to cheer for.

The flow of this book seemed almost effortless, each transition more smooth than the last. I loved how this story was a "keep you on the edge of your seat" kind of story. Just when I thought I knew were things were headed, Annie changed it up on me! One thing I do feel that I need to mention is secondary characters. Everyone book has them, but not every book can shine with them. Let me get you familiar with the name of Mac. If you haven't read Taking on the Dead yet, when you do, be sure to watch for that name.

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“My neighbors have long since left, or they are dead. Some I killed. It was either kill or be eaten alive, which is not on my top-ten list of ways to die.”

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The fact that this is a Trilogy completely rocks my life. I have some questions that I am hoping the next books answer && I am eagerly awaiting to see where Annie takes us with this Zombie Adventure. If you are a fan of Zombies & over all awesomeness; then you should def pick up Taking on the Dead.

I have things to say about this, but I don't have the patience or the time to do it right now. Soon. DNF.