Review & Free Book Alert! Blood Soaked & Invaded by James Crawford

Blood Soaked and Invaded
by James Crawford

Genre: Zombies, Free Book Alert!

After listening to the first audiobook in this series I found myself wondering how could James Crawford come close to topping and continuing the story line and immediately purchased book two. I have said many times that sequels sometime have a hard time living up to my expectations of what they should be. Here I expect a gruesomely entertaining and hilarious zombie carnage. I am interested to hear where Crawford is able to take is cast and where the story is going to go.

 Blood Soaked and Invaded: Blood Soaked, Book 2 picks up right where Blood Soaked and Contagious left off, which is a good thing as we were left with a bit of a cliff hanger and Crawford had some explaining to do. It is somewhat slow in the beginning, and very amusing as Frank had to deal with recovering from the seeming debilitating head injury. Personally I found the genre combining a bit tedious, I mean was it necessary to have the aliens? And where and what is going to happen with the governmental agency that showed up? There was a whole lot more talking and plotting and less action than I expected, also several new characters introduced, hope that it was just simple plot building for the next installment. I really enjoyed it, however I was able to let my mind wonder as I wasn't fully immersed as with book one. As I said, sequels seem to be very difficult for authors to pull off well and this was a pretty good attempt, as I will be waiting for book 3, as I am sure there will be, as there is a lot of new avenues to cover.

David Stifel delivers another quality performance with impeccable timing. Elevating the cast of quirky characters to a level that would not have been achieved with the written word alone. I believe that the pairing of Crawford and Stifel will go very far, similarly to Tufo and Raunette. To find a narrator that seems to be able to get inside the authors head is truly something special.

Review originally published at Audiobook Reviewer
The Bookie Monster's Rating:

Zombies were bad enough, but now we're being invaded from all sides. Up to our necks in blood, body parts, and unanswerable questions….As soon as the realization hit me, I lost my cool. I curled into the fetal position in a pile of blood, offal, and body parts, and froze there. What in the Hell was I becoming that killing was entertaining and satisfying? I don't know how long I was on my side in the remains of my opponents, but the mess was coagulating and getting cold…to say nothing of the smell of sliced-open bowels. There were periodic noises suggesting violence around and about where I was glued to the ground by noxious goop, but I couldn't even raise my face to take a look around. My brain spun around and around, propelled by unanswered questions and abject horror. The person I thought I was - a guy who does what he has to do when the chips are down - had been replaced by someone I didn't know and it made me terribly afraid.

"Frank." Bajali's voice came from behind me after a period of no screams, gunshots, epithets or scrambling feet. "Would you like me to help you get up?" "What have you done to us?" I asked him that because they were the only words I had. "I made us able to survive a world like this one." "Did you think about what it would cost us?" "No, my friend, I only thought to keep everyone alive. I had no time to debate morality."…."I'm not human," I asked, "am I?" "No, Frank. None of us are." "Am I still me?" His breath caught, and I felt the words moving around in his mind, stirring up a miasma of emotions before he said, "I am sorry. I do not know."

©2011, 2013 James Crawford (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

James Crawford is a writer, editor, artist, amateur bladesmith, and subversive suburbanite (when no one else is looking). He has a passionate dread of writing biographical material, and periodically subcontracts to his characters to do it for him. Back in the mists of 9th grade, he wrote a short story. It was a suspenseful little thing, and it creeped out his entire class, teacher included. That was probably when the writing muse first nibbled on his earlobe.

He went to Washington College, and followed a different muse: fine art. From there, like a cheap date, he followed many muses into various jobs and careers. In 2010, the writing muse struck back, annoyed at being denied for so long. Almost before he knew it, the first draft of “Blood Soaked and Contagious” appeared.

Now there are two books in that series, and a third yet to be published. The muse has him, and it doesn't look like she's planning to let go.

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Website: www.bloodsoakedandwriting.com/ 
Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
Published by: Audible Frontiers
Publication Date: November 27, 2013

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