Siege (As The World Dies, #3) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jan 22, 2010 Steph rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-all-years, series-i-love, series-ended, year-read-2010, author-웃, author-favorite, favorites-2010

ATWD: Siege opens with a letter from Dr. Pus (seriously?!) of the Library of the Living Dead Press and Podcast. He warns the reader right away that "'Seige' will answer all the questions you've been wanting to ask since you read 'The First Days' and 'Fighting to Survive'. Rhiannon addresses them all, but you won't like some of the results. That's because she is such a talented writer that her characters are ones you have come to love, care about, have empathy and sympathy for. Her characters ...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Literary Ames rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, read-in-2011, death-reapers-zombies, dystopian-or-post-apocalyptic, kobo, interracial-multicultural, series-continue

I’ll admit right now: I couldn’t stop myself from reading the ending. I needed reassurance that the people I’d grown to respect and care for would survive. Of course, not everyone did. In fact, my favourite character had died. I was devastated so I put the book down until recently when I gathered my courage and soldiered through. There are many deaths from differing causes: a common one was suicide (committed for varying reasons) which was sometimes preferable to the alternative.

The diverse natu I’ll admit right now: I couldn’t stop myself from reading the ending. I needed reassurance that the people I’d grown to respect and care for would survive. Of course, not everyone did. In fact, my favourite character had died. I was devastated so I put the book down until recently when I gathered my courage and soldiered through. There are many deaths from differing causes: a common one was suicide (committed for varying reasons) which was sometimes preferable to the alternative.

The diverse nature of the population of survivors created much conflict. They were of differing ethnicities, religions, morals and sexuality. I loved this aspect. Intolerance and political (and social class) aspirations and the resulting manipulations were the source of many problems the survivors had to contend with. The thinning of the veil between the living and the dead was understandable when there were more corpses than living, breathing people.

My Favourite Bits
The discussion of whether a zombie was male or female until we see their naked groin. Ick. Ick. Ick.
The head in a flower pot.
Using toasters to decapitate the dead.

Overall
This was a brilliant trilogy showcasing the very best and worst that humanity has to offer. Every character has a unique personality. I cheered when they triumphed, grieved the losses of life and felt frustration at conflicts and failures. I was happy when new loves were found and sad when they felt guilty for surviving and living their lives when their loved ones were dead. However, survival meant that even good people did things that logically may be wrong but in the fight to live and breathe and protect those you love makes these acts were justifiable. Despite emotional breakdowns and moments of weakness I admired the strength and resourcefulness of them all, although a couple of characters had crazy on their side (like Calhoun) and we learn that they weren’t as crazy or as paranoid as we first believed. Even the loonies proved they were useful and needed.

Every aspect of society were represented: the old and the young, the disabled, politicians, the social classes, disaster relief agencies, the criminal justice system, the military as well as personal characteristics: the selfless, the honourable, the brave and the weak, and the list goes on.

All of this makes me I wonder how I would do their situation. Would I commit suicide? Would I seek safety in numbers or be a loner? How selfless would I be? Could I sacrifice myself for others? I don’t know.

I laughed and I cried throughout this trilogy. It all felt so real. I highly recommend everyone with a strong stomach to read these books so they can experience this vivid reality for themselves. ...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Rachel-RN rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2013

Wow! This was epic. I liked the conclusion even though characters I really liked died in this book. Not everybody ends up with the ones they love because of all the death in this one. But that's expected and this book wouldn't have packed the emotional punch it did had things been done differently. ...more

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