[Aptorian]

Just started book 3. I absolutely love this series.

Spoiler

Normally I am not very fond of Zombie stories but the addition of Peasey/Legion is brilliant. He's a practically undefeatable enemy but his tools are weak enough that the heroes can hold him. It's a brilliant stale mate for a story. I want to say that Legion should logically be able to overwhelm them but Legions own stupidity is holding him back, which is a nice classic comic book catch 22. For example he could tunnel under the walls or simply gather enough zombies from the greater Los Angeles area to drown them, but he doesn’t seem to think big.

Legion is definitely one of the better bad guys I have seen in a long time.

How ever I am being driven nuts by the heroes inefficiency. Even if we try to ignore the massive offensive potential of Zap, St. George ought to be armed with iron bars to make destroying zombies faster, it drives me nuts when ever he is shown throwing them away. With his strength and speed he should be able to cut through tons of zombies with ease instead of the pileups he gets into . Cerberus should have similar tools or maybe based on her bulk, she should be equipped with a large scythe she could use for crowd control.
Mostly it is just Zaps lack of use that bothers me. The fact that a zombie is icky to touch is not a good enough explanation for why he hasn’t emptied the city. He’s not dumb, in fact he ought to be smarter than a normal man if he is able to process information while moving at mach 5. Maybe if he was actually a 10 year old child instead and afraid of the zombies it would make sense. For example why did he just hang in the air during the first books attack, instead of taking out Legion? There was no reason why Gorgon had to die in that fight.

[Aptorian]

I’ve got a question for book 2

Spoiler

What was Smith actually doing?
I get that he was creating his own little army but why did he make the retrieval of Doctor Sorensens family fail? Was it a fluke? The brain damage from his suggestions making the soldiers see things or did he intentionally sabotage the transport? For what reason? He needed Sorensen.

Also when the Unbreakables went into the local town several of the soldiers got nosebleeds. Why? It implies something about what they were doing there was “wrong” but what? Did he make them not notice the zombies until I was too late? Was it an attempt to kill the unbreakable? For what purpose?

[Traveller]

Keep reading. I'm pretty sure you get a lot of answers.

Not the Zaap thing though... He does seem chronically underused.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 January 2014 - 11:58 AM

[Abyss]

I Am Brian Blessed Not Brent Weeks, on 20 January 2014 - 10:50 PM, said:

So Abyss, and any others who've read it:

(Spoilers to end of book 4 - you have been warned peasants.

WARNED I SAY!)

Spoiler

In the afterword he mentions that there are hints in here about book 5/ possibly 6.

I think one thing that stuck in my head is Banzai - Firstly, how did they all get to see so much of her when only George knew her (admittedly, possibly covered by Christine's powers - they were dreaming it up together)

But also - HOW DID SHE KNOW THE WORD ZOMBIE????????

So yeah, reckon something's up with that to be honest.

thoughts?

BOOK 4 SPOILERS ANSWERS

Spoiler

That's an interesting point and i do not know.
I suppose we could rationalize that it was another way George's subconscious was trying to tell him what was going on, via an 'ally' who was supposed to be dead.

Banzai's arc in the first book was fairly tragic and i'd like to believe there was more to it, but i doubt it

.

[Abyss]

Maybe Apt, on 29 January 2014 - 11:13 AM, said:

Just started book 3. I absolutely love this series.

Heh... toldyaso.

Other responses w/in the SPOILERS...

Spoiler

Quote

Normally I am not very fond of Zombie stories but the addition of Peasey/Legion is brilliant. He's a practically undefeatable enemy but his tools are weak enough that the heroes can hold him. It's a brilliant stale mate for a story. I want to say that Legion should logically be able to overwhelm them but Legions own stupidity is holding him back, which is a nice classic comic book catch 22. For example he could tunnel under the walls or simply gather enough zombies from the greater Los Angeles area to drown them, but he doesn't seem to think big.

Legion is definitely one of the better bad guys I have seen in a long time.

I've wondered whether Legion even really wants to win. The way he jumped in against Cairax (aside: how much did you love that scene) and then 'honorably' allowed the heroes to go home suggested there was a bit more to Legion than just being too dumb to take advanatage fo what his powers give him.

Quote

How ever I am being driven nuts by the heroes inefficiency. Even if we try to ignore the massive offensive potential of Zap, St. George ought to be armed with iron bars to make destroying zombies faster, it drives me nuts when ever he is shown throwing them away. With his strength and speed he should be able to cut through tons of zombies with ease instead of the pileups he gets into . Cerberus should have similar tools or maybe based on her bulk, she should be equipped with a large scythe she could use for crowd control.

We touched on this elsethread, but i suspect that carrying around large iron bars would just get in George's way. How are they an advantage when his fists are stronger than any readily available bar?
Plus he's perpetually grabbing cars and lamposts to the extent that those are ever useful.

Note that the humans are constantly using pikes and spears against the exes, specifically to keep their distances. George doesn't need to worry about that.

As for Cerberus, the armor was designed for infantry support in a 'normal' war. Not crowd control and not prolonged hand to zombie combat. Throw in the fact that despite the power it gives her, Danielle is hideously afraid of the exes and specifically of being swarmed under by them.

Quote

Mostly it is just Zaps lack of use that bothers me. The fact that a zombie is icky to touch is not a good enough explanation for why he hasn't emptied the city. He's not dumb, in fact he ought to be smarter than a normal man if he is able to process information while moving at mach 5. Maybe if he was actually a 10 year old child instead and afraid of the zombies it would make sense. For example why did he just hang in the air during the first books attack, instead of taking out Legion? There was no reason why Gorgon had to die in that fight.

Zap was engaged by the undead shadow guy in the first book. He wasn't there to save Gorgon, and Gorgon died becuase Peasy played him like a cheap kazoo and he fell for each part...being drawn into the hand-to-hand fight and hesitating when he saw Banzai.

As per elsethread, contact with exes is viscerally painful for him and risks throwing him out of his energy form, plus he doesn't have an infinite amount of energy AND he would have to find each one to fry it and there are a few million. It's not as open/shut obvious as you're suggesting and Clines has taken the time to show why.

Maybe Apt, on 29 January 2014 - 11:50 AM, said:

I've got a question for book 2

Spoiler

What was Smith actually doing?
I get that he was creating his own little army but why did he make the retrieval of Doctor Sorensens family fail? Was it a fluke? The brain damage from his suggestions making the soldiers see things or did he intentionally sabotage the transport? For what reason? He needed Sorensen.

Also when the Unbreakables went into the local town several of the soldiers got nosebleeds. Why? It implies something about what they were doing there was "wrong" but what? Did he make them not notice the zombies until I was too late? Was it an attempt to kill the unbreakable? For what purpose?

responses

Spoiler

My take:
Smith was setting himself up as a mini-Emperor. He essentially wanted his own kingdom.
Since he wanted his set of tools but no extra baggage, AND he was a sadistic sociopath, taking out Sorensen's family got them out of the way and let Smith play his mindgames.
The nosebleeds were reactions to Smith's ongoing influence.

[Aptorian]

Just finished the fourth book. Need more superhero zombie stories now!

Spoiler

I have to say I was not in love with the 4th book. I read that Clines has also worked in TV writing and that is exactly what this books was. I must have watched at least 20 different TV shows that has done this story and I have hated all of them. At least he didn’t go for the obvious “actually in a mental institution because you think you are magical/a superhero/supernatural” plot they usually go with, but I still don’t like these stories. If I didn’t enjoy Clines writing so much and if the characters weren’t so enjoyable I would have given up on the book.

I did like that it became more of a mystery story towards the end though.

I was also disappointed that the mayoral election happened off page. I was looking forward to reading that story. Christian is a very typical “political bad guy” but she is an excellent antagonist. I think I might have liked the story more if the book started out with the elections getting ready and then they were whisked off to dreamland afterwards.

But you have to love a full on superman vs powerarmor fight with St. George getting knocked through buildings and everything.

I wonder what the next book will be about? Clines wrote in the afterword that he has left clues but besides the real Smith being out in Gloomlake nothing really seems obvious.

I am curious to see if he ever picks up on he question of why superpowered people suddenly began showing up all of a sudden. It was specifically brought up as a mystery. Usually, when they have these situations, It’s because powerful tools are being made to face an in coming threat. Was the threat the Zombie apocalypse or is there something else coming?

This post has been edited by Maybe Apt: 31 January 2014 - 03:02 PM

[Imperial Historian]

Go read 14 if you liked clines writing brilliant slow burn mystery.

The junkie quatrain is also a good collection of zombie short stories (a bit short and expensive for the price). Clever use of POV in that they can be read in any order and still make sense. I kind of hope he goes back to that world as when the short stories finished I wanted more!

[Coco with marshmallows]

Regarding one specific point Apt:

Maybe Apt, on 31 January 2014 - 11:07 AM, said:

Spoiler

I am curious to see if he ever picks up on he question of why superpowered people suddenly began showing up all of a sudden. It was specifically brought up as a mystery. Usually, when they have these situations, It’s because powerful tools are being made to face an in coming threat. Was the threat the Zombie apocalypse or is there something else coming?

Spoiler

Doubtful, to me at least, since the superheroes created the zombies. Would be a bit of a grandfather paradox if that was the case, no?

So probably something else, if he is intending to go down that particular road, that is that heroes arose for a particular reason.

[Stormcat]

Reading Ex Com right now. So good. Has anyone read The Junkie Quatrain by Clines? I listened to a chapter free and was intrigued.

[Imperial Historian]

Yeah junkie quatrain was good, the only issue I had was that it was too short.

[Stormcat]

I can't believe how good this series is. I would normally never look twice at something like this. When they revealed who the girl is writing in the diary (Ex Com) I went holy shit yes! This is so brilliant! I bet I finish it tonight.

[Stormcat]

http://thoth-amon.bl...heroes.html?m=1
Came across this while looking up cairax. I was curious to see if he as linked to any Ceremonial Magic or Golden Dawn stuff.

[Aptorian]

Shame that he cut it short, I was hoping to get some information on the dead heroes. Namely Midknight and Blockbuster. A zombie that can knock down buildings sounds fun.

[Abyss]

Agreed. Interesting to get some of the background there. I like that he doesn't over-think a lot of it.
The explanation of Banzai's name and how her parents reacted to it was a fave bit of mine in EX-HEROES.

[Aptorian]

Abyss, on 10 February 2014 - 05:12 PM, said:

Agreed. Interesting to get some of the background there. I like that he doesn't over-think a lot of it.
The explanation of Banzai's name and how her parents reacted to it was a fave bit of mine in EX-HEROES.

Yeah, I also liked the relationship between Gorgon and Banzai.

Spoiler

Kind of pervy for Gorgon to start a relationship with a... was she 16?... a teenager anyway. But then we also see and hear that he really did love her, to the point that the scavengers know who she is and wont kill her because Gorgon still hasn't accepted her death.

[Abyss]

Maybe Apt, on 10 February 2014 - 06:27 PM, said:

Abyss, on 10 February 2014 - 05:12 PM, said:

Agreed. Interesting to get some of the background there. I like that he doesn't over-think a lot of it.
The explanation of Banzai's name and how her parents reacted to it was a fave bit of mine in EX-HEROES.

Yeah, I also liked the relationship between Gorgon and Banzai.

Spoiler

Kind of pervy for Gorgon to start a relationship with a... was she 16?... a teenager anyway. But then we also see and hear that he really did love her, to the point that the scavengers know who she is and wont kill her because Gorgon still hasn't accepted her death.

Agreed. And

Spoiler

how that played out in the finale was brutal

.

[Stormcat]

Just finished book 4. Really excellent.
I really liked that we got some more background on Stealth.

[Abyss]

Book five has a title.... EX-ISLE. No other details, pub date in Oct if accurate.

[Salt-Man Z]

Worth noting Clines also has another book coming out June 2nd. It's called The Fold and the synopsis is below. (I've thrown my name in for an advance copy at LibraryThing, keeping my fingers crossed.)

Quote

The folks in Marco Leland's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's just how Marco likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen may not be much of a challenge to someone with his gifts, but Marco is content with his quiet and peaceful existence.

That is, until an old government friend presents him with an irresistible mystery—one that Marco seems uniquely qualified to solve: it seems that a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device that could make teleportation a reality. But something is very wrong with the project. The personalities of the scientists who work on it are changing. People are dying. And reality itself seems to be...warping.

Marco soon learns that the machine is not at all what it appears to be—and that its creators may have opened a doorway to something horrible that lurks just outside our world's borders.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 09 March 2015 - 03:20 PM

[Abyss]

Salt-Man Z, on 09 March 2015 - 03:19 PM, said:

Worth noting Clines also has another book coming out June 2nd. It's called The Fold and the synopsis is below. (I've thrown my name in for an advance copy at LibraryThing, keeping my fingers crossed.)

Quote

The folks in Marco Leland's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's just how Marco likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen may not be much of a challenge to someone with his gifts, but Marco is content with his quiet and peaceful existence.

That is, until an old government friend presents him with an irresistible mystery—one that Marco seems uniquely qualified to solve: it seems that a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device that could make teleportation a reality. But something is very wrong with the project. The personalities of the scientists who work on it are changing. People are dying. And reality itself seems to be...warping.

Marco soon learns that the machine is not at all what it appears to be—and that its creators may have opened a doorway to something horrible that lurks just outside our world's borders.

Saw that too and promptly pre-ordered.