April 06, 2018

Review: Family by Frank Tayell

Family (Surviving The Evacuation #3)
Author: Frank Tayell
Publisher: Createspace
Publication Date: June 5, 2014
Pages: 216
Format: Kindle/Bought

Billions died.
Civilization collapsed.
Zombies rule the Earth.

But there is safety, so Bill and Kim are told, in a small village on the Irish coast.

If they can just cross hundreds of miles of undead wasteland, to a rendezvous on a Welsh beach, there is a boat willing to take them there. But first they must travel back into London to rescue Annette and Daisy.

If they can find and rescue the children, and get them somewhere safe, even then Bill’s journey will not be over. It can’t be, not until he’s confronted his past and chosen between his old family and his new one. 

Review: I definitely think this is my favorite out of the series so far! There was so much happening in this book! We got lots of action, both in dealing with the undead and the living alike. We also got to see some interesting story twists and shocking new information. One thing I really liked that was that like Kim in book two, Annette now wants to make sure her story is written down in Bill's journal as well. It's so neat seeing them all want their stories written down in case something were to happen.

So I was incredibly happy Bill, Kim & Sholto went after Daisy and Annette! I have to say, Annette was really crafty in leaving clues for the trio to follow to find them. Leaving a pamphlet to where Barrett was taking them, Daisy's hat at a place they stopped, the subtle towel on the side of the building to signal them they were in there. For a 13 year old girl, she is incredibly smart! We even see just how well she's observed others. She knew how to subtlety get rid of supplies in a way Barrett and her group wouldn't notice. Annette knew they weren't paying serious attention to their supplies and used it to her advantage to get them to stop and bail from the boat. In the end, her sabotage, clues and signals really helped in getting them found and saved by Bill, Kim & Sholto. And I really don't feel bad for what happened to Barrett and her slimy little group. From what Annette told everyone when they were rescued, they had planned a lot more of the sleazy actions we saw then realized. I had a bad feeling about them in the last book and it was proven right in this one.

I was surprised by the horde they encountered while escaping the one they helped form saving Annette and Daisy. But it wasn't just a horde like we've seen, a few hundred here, a few thousand there. No, this horde had hundreds of thousands if not millions of undead. It was as if a majority of Britain's population was a part of this horde. It destroyed literally everything in its path, only leaving destruction and barren land behind. The group came across it and had to find some serious shelter to hide from it or they wouldn't have made it. I have to admit, I still wouldn't have had as quick of thinking as Bill did with finding a place strong enough to hold up to the horde. I guess it was good his job took him all over Britain or else he wouldn't know about some of these places to hide out in. You have to wonder if there's more of those huge hordes though.

I have mixed feelings about how the characters in the last third of the book acted. There was so much deceit and lies going around. The first being how the old man got Bill to go up to the other group of survivors, which just happened to have the last few members of government, including Jen. He lied about where the village of survivors on the Irish coast was actually located, how many people were actually there and then got Bill to do his dirty work to protect the place. I really felt had the old man just been honest with Bill, he still would have done it because he wanted to protect the place he was sending Kim and the girls, but also because he would have wanted to see Jen again. There was absolutely no need for the lies. But I also couldn't hate him since he helped set up some safe-houses. Remember the house with the flags Annette saw in book 2? Yeah, that was one.

Bill does get to Jen's family hall where they built their safe area. He finds Quigley, who he knows was part of causing the outbreak to happen, surrounded by people he brainwashed. The amount of lies he had going and how many people believed them. I was amazed. From claiming terrorists caused the outbreak to claiming he has a new queen for the country and everything in between. Every word out of this mans mouth was a lie. It was also amusing how they claimed they'd rebuild the government and the country, but didn't even venture out far from the hall see what was really going on in the world. These people had no idea some survivors could be immune! I have to say, with how smart Jen was made out to be, she seemed to be pretty easily won over by Quigley's lies. I also thought if/when Bill and Jen got a reunion it would have been much bigger and meaningful than it actually was.

I have to say, I think it was so sweet how Bill really started to look at Kim and the girls like they were his family in this new world. He cared so much about making sure they were ok even if it meant them possibly having to leave him behind at times. I can't wait to pick Bill's story back up in book 8!