Zombies, vampires, and strange medical experiments: Review of Pembroke Sinclair's 'Edge of Humanity'

Title: Edge of Humanity

Series: Saving Humanity (#2)

Author: Pembroke Sinclair

Genre: Zombies

Pages: 112

Buy Edge of Humanity

What Goodreads has to say:

Does being immune to becoming a zombie still make a person human?

Caleb tried to live a normal life after the uprising. He moved into the city, found a home, and worked a job. He yearned for days full of tedium and schedules. Instead, he discovered he was immune to becoming a zombie, and his life was turned upside down.

Fear and uncertainty have replaced normalcy. Caleb no longer knows if his immunity makes him human or something else … something monstrous. He knows who is after him, but to find out what his captors want and what he is he'll have to play their game and give up his freedom. His sacrifice may or may not lead to the answers he desperately craves.

What I have to say:

Edge of Humanity continues the story that started in Humanity's Hope, which, by the way, has an incredibly killer ending. So needless to say, I was only too eager to read book two in the series.

This one also had a killer ending, so looking ahead to book three.... yeah, you can count me in.

But let's return to the present.

It's apocalypse now, and Caleb may or may not hold the answer to saving humanity from the zombie scourge. Sadly, a lot goes wrong and by the end of the book, he still doesn't know whether or not he holds the key to saving humanity (like how I worked in the series title there?). One thing he does know is that his life really sucks.

Caleb is kind of a cool character, and he's easy to get behind. He's got a troubled past as the only survivor of his family and a guy who's been running from zombies for a long, loooong time. He's a suicide survivor and has a lot of anxiety. Not too good with people, either--though I think he has a good heart. He's basically a traumatized action hero.

To complicate matters, there's the issue of his apparently being a vampire (I know--what?). Seems like he's survived a zombie bite only to become a monster of a different kind. And that brings me to something we should get out of the way.

This book is gross. As gross as you'd expect a book about zombies, vampires, and strange medical experiments to be. So don't read it while you're eating. OK, end of side note.

Book 2 didn't quite captivate me like the first one did--maybe that's because there was more of a mystery element in the first one (who's targeting Caleb? Which of his friends can he trust?) But Edge of Humanity was still a wild ride, and one that I enjoyed.

I especially liked it when the story takes an unexpected turn, like when Caleb runs into a civilization of humans outside the city. (True--the girl he meets there--might have been my favorite character.) It's also interesting when we find out the relationship between Samuel and Dr. Maudaus.

And I enjoyed the flashbacks to Caleb's family. That makes his story more heartbreaking and more compelling. We can only pray that his future holds hope--and not just for humanity, but for Caleb himself.

Rating:

Until tomorrow.

Humanity's Hope by Pembroke Sinclair

Title: Humanity's Hope
Author: Pembroke Sinclair
Publisher: Stitched Smile Publications

[I love the tagline, because in what YA novel does the fate of the world not rest in the hands of a teenager?]

What Goodreads has to say:

Caleb, a 17-year-old boy, survived the zombie uprising, but he didn’t come out of the ordeal unscathed. He’s been scarred—both mentally and physically. The rest of humanity is trying to rebuild, to make the world normal again. Caleb is trying to return to a normal life also, but after all he’s seen, after the loss of his family and friends, the transition is difficult. The darkness that led him down a path of self-doubt and self-harm keeps trying to creep back into his mind.

Things only become worse when he discovers he’s immune to whatever makes a zombie a zombie. Fighting zombies was predictable. He knew what to expect. Fighting humans is volatile. They are malicious and treacherous. They won’t stop to get what they want, and Caleb has to figure out exactly what that is.


*Trigger warning: attempted suicide

What I have to say:

There are A LOT of zombie novels out there (I even wrote one myself once). If you're a fan of the undead, you've probably picked up at least a few zombie books that turned out to be very disappointing.

Humanity's Hope is not one of those books.

This young adult zombie thriller is intense in exactly the right ways, keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through, and is just what you're looking for in a zombie book.

Caleb, the protagonist, is an interesting, multi-layered character. He's competent (read: kick-butt) but also deeply unstable. The delving into Caleb's psychology makes the story that much more absorbing and gripping. I was just as eager to find out what happened in Caleb's past as I was to discover who's targeting him in the present day. 

The supporting characters are equally interesting. Each of them seemed to have their own backstory, and in some cases we didn't get the whole thing: just hints of it. I love that. It made them more compelling somehow, maybe because the reader is left to imagine the rest, and one of the first rules of storytelling is that events are usually more awesome in our imagination than they are when the author spells them out for us in great detail.

Sinclair is a good storyteller in more ways than one. The intensity in this book is real. At various points in the story, Caleb finds himself running from the police, eluding the government, hiding out in a zombie ghetto, and having an all out battle with - let's be honest - just about everyone, The plot moves fast and is not for the faint-hearted, as you're going to be holding your breath along with Caleb while he hides in plain sight and comes increasingly close to being discovered (or killed).

Can I talk about the ending now? Without giving anything away, the last few pages involve a pretty crazy twist - like flip your brain upside down and slam dunk it in a swimming pool of exploding lemons kind of crazy twist.

This image accurately sums up what the end of the book was like:

You're getting close to the end of the book - like so close there's approximately two pages left - and you're like "This can't possibly get resolved... noooooo!" And then it's just over.

At first I thought, "Well that was stupid."

Then I thought about it, and then I thought about it some more, and now I'm thinking, "That was awesome."

The ending felt abrupt at first, but then I realized it was the perfect note to end on. I don't know if there's going to be a sequel or not, but either way, it's kind of cool because the book has been this roller coaster and then it's just over all of a sudden. It worked.

Also, kudos to the author for getting zombies and pizza in the same book. I appreciate it.

Rating:

Anyone out there have a favorite zombie book? Or a favorite pizza? Or a favorite zombie pizza? Comments?




Until tomorrow.