Ex-Communication: A Novel Author: Peter Clines | Language: English | ISBN:
B00CCPIISC | Format: EPUB
Ex-Communication: A Novel Description
The third novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series.“All of us try to cheat death. I was just better prepared to do it than most folks.” In the years since the wave of living death swept the globe, St George and his fellow heroes haven’t just kept Los Angeles’ last humans alive—they’ve created a real community, a bustling town that’s spreading beyond its original walls and swelling with new refugees.
But now one of the heroes, perhaps the most powerful among them, seems to be losing his mind. The implacable enemy known as Legion has found terrifying new ways of using zombies as pawns in his attacks. And outside the Mount, something ancient and monstrous is hell-bent on revenge.
As Peter Clines weaves these elements together in yet another masterful, shocking climax, St. George, Stealth, Captain Freedom, and the rest of the heroes find that even in a city overrun by millions of ex-humans...
…there’s more than one way to come back from the dead.
- File Size: 1737 KB
- Print Length: 354 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385346824
- Publisher: Broadway Books (July 9, 2013)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00CCPIISC
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,657 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #34
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
- #34
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
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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