by JE Gurley
"For most of the long, cold winter, Antactica is a frozen wasteland. Now, the ice is melting and the zombies are thawing. Arctic explorers Val Marino and Elliot Anson race against time and death to reach Australia, but the Demise has preceded them and zombies stalk the streets of Adelaide and Coober Pedy." ~Goodreads
Ice Station Zombie follows multiple survivors through "The Demise" of civilization from Antarctica to Australia when airborne nanites infect the population and turn them into savage zombies hungry for flesh. I'll admit, the futuristic cause of the infection intrigued me; definitely not your usual, played out origins of flu strains or bio-hazard spills. I commend JR Gurley for his innovative creativity on plot, but I'd be lying if I said this book didn't leave me wanting more. The story line jumps quickly from character to character and back and forth between locations. I had a hard time keeping up with everything and just when I felt like I had a grasp on things, they would jump again. I had high hopes when I began reading because it started off with some good action. I'll be the first to admit that I love the gory, bloody stuff so I was looking forward to an action packed read. Unfortunately, the momentum seemed to wane rather than pick up speed.
Let's talk characters. I never really got a solid feeling of who was the main protagonist of the story. I felt drawn to Alex, the loner survivor, and wanted to know more. He's one of those characters that you just know would be a hottie if you ever stumbled across him. I enjoyed reading his story line, but again, I wish there was more substance to him. I think that may be the theme of this review. Not enough substance all around which made it difficult to get invested in the story.
Then you have the climatologists, Marino and Anson. Nice guys, mildly funny at times, but I found myself drifting during their stories. They come across multiple characters along the way who have, frankly, lost their $hit. I wanted so badly to dig in, but again I felt like the story remained rather superficial.
Don't get me wrong, the book was technically well written, and let's be honest, probably better than anything I could have come up with. I just wish the author dug a little deeper. I wanted more, especially with such a great concept. I will say though...Gurley did a commendable job with his descriptive writing when it came to the zombie scenes.
All said, Ice Station Zombie was an easy read. No overtly bad language or sexual content and it was light on the blood and guts. It has a sequel, Chill Factor, and I'm looking forward to picking it up in hopes that some unfinished story lines will be explained and to read more about Alex.
If you would like to pick up a copy on Amazon, click on the above book jacket. And if you have read it, post a comment below. As always, I'm interested in what you thought and it's great to see opinions outside my own!