Ex-Communication: A Novel Author: Visit Amazon's Peter Clines Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0385346824 | Format: EPUB
Ex-Communication: A Novel Description
Review
Praise for Ex-Heroes:
"I loved this pop culture-infused tale of shamed superheroes struggling to survive a zombie apocalypse in the ruins of Hollywood. It's The Avengers meets The Walking Dead with a large order of epic served on the side."
—Ernest Cline, New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One
"Zombies? Check. Superheroes? Check. Awesome? Check. Ex-Heroes has it all. You’re in for a treat!"
—Mira Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Feed
About the Author
PETER CLINES has published several pieces of short fiction and countless articles on the film and television industries. He lives and writes in southern California.
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- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Broadway Books (July 9, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385346824
- ISBN-13: 978-0385346825
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Minimal Spoilers ahead...
Ex-Communication, the third novel in Peter Clines's ongoing "Ex-Heroes" series, is engaging speculative fiction, with some clever plot twists and narrative flourishes that will keep the reader interested. Like both of the previous novels in the series (particularly the first), it reads quickly - perhaps a little too quickly, wasting little time with exposition or "what has gone before" narrative, before throwing the reader into the action. The climactic battle royale provides everything a comic book afficionado could want in the way of energy blasts, whizzing bullets and flying fists. Further, the introduction of a new "hero" into the mix, as well as a little expansion of another's backstory, provide alternate point-of-view characters with which to enrich the narrative.
And yet, despite its 300+ page length, the story feels more like a comic book and less like a novel, with a derivative, linear plot at faster than a speeding bullet pace, leaving little room for primary character growth or the expansion of secondary characters. More episode than epic, in a four-color format, the entire story could have been told in an issue or two. While I was caught up and hauled along at breakneck speed, I hoped for a few more sidesteps to better frame the story. And I missed the thematic importance of the ex-human zombies, who are relegated to somewhat dangerous scenery throughout most of this installment.
In a sense, the stakes have never been higher for the heroes and those they fight to protect; but I found myself not as invested in the journey. The various character archetypes have been established previously, so perhaps Clines felt it was less important to explore change or growth.
You might think that Superheroes vs. Zombies would get old. Not if Peter Clines is doing the writing. Instead he just starts to pile on other things to combat with. In Ex-heroes it was the rival gang, in Ex-Patriots it was the military, in Ex-communication it is the supernatural and our Heroes might be over their heads.
St. George threw himself at it. He thought of every Conan and Beastmaster movie he’d watched as a teenager and brought the sword down with a roar.
My favorite chapter in Ex-Heroes was from the POV of Max a.k.a. Cairax Murrain, and he has found a way to come back into the story. I love this guy as a character because you are never quite sure which team he is playing for. He is sorta like Ben was for me on LOST (I know another reference to LOST but Mr. Clines just puts me in that place in my head where anything can happen) you’re not quite sure what to think of him and he always seems to know more than he is letting on. Plus he gets to have a few really great lines.
“Isn’t there some kind of locater spell you can cast or something?”
“Yeah,” said Max, “but gosh-darn-it I missed that day at Hogwarts.”
Besides the addition of Max and the problems that he brings with him the Heroes are still dealing with Legion and he seems to be finding new ways to antagonize the people of the mount. On top of that there is a new religious cult of sorts inside the Mount who think the Zombie apocalypse is the beginning of the end of days. There are plenty of obstacles for sure including a prisoner kept in a secret room.
Freedom and the other military that found a home at the Mount are settling in but even that seems to have some growing pains as not everyone is acting like a cohesive unit yet. We also get the addition of Corpse Girl.
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