Book Review: After The Wind by Lou Kasischke

Near the top of Mount Everest, on 10 May 1996, eight climbers died. It was the worst tragedy in the mountain's history. Lou Kasischke was there. Now he tells the harrowing story of what went wrong, as it has never been told before - including why the climbers were desperately late and out of time. His personal story, captured in the title AFTER THE WIND, tells about the intense moments near the top. These moments also revealed the love story that saved his life.

My Review: 
I have always been interested in reading more about the Everest disaster of 1996, ever since I read Into Thin Air. I've hunted down books by the other survivors to get their thoughts on the disaster and to see what all the survivors seem to agree on and where their accounts differ. I think that's the best way to get a true picture of what was happening in the disaster. This book was an excellent read, right up there with Into Thin Air.

On one previous climb, Lou kept details about a dangerous incident from his wife and when she found out, she made him promise to climb safer and make better decisions. It's advice that saved his life on Everest. Lou details the climb and the decision to turn around and retreat to Camp Four just as the storm was gathering, which got him to safety just in time. He is very critical of some of the things that happen and lists his reasons for the disaster and what mistakes were made by who. I liked that he was being direct about it and his story was very compelling because of it.

The mistakes:
-lack of oxygen-each climber was assigned enough oxygen for their climb without taking into account those needing more to get up certain parts and not taking account of delays which proved fatal on the day.
-turnaround time was set too late in the day to make it slowly and safely to camp before dark and it was not stuck to anyway.
-dissention in the teams over whether or not to make the summit bid-bad weather had come in every afternoon at the same time and would catch them returning from summit so some wanted to wait an extra day to see if things improved but Rob Hall said the climb was on and nobody wanted to contradict him. Other teams decide not to go and Anatoli Boukreev was vocal in his opposition. Did he do his super fast climb so he could rest for a few hours in case he was needed for a later rescue? I found his opposition very interesting.
-an hour of warning was given that the climb was to start and several people were unhappy at not being consulted and Lou himself was reluctant to go.
-the oxygen units used by this team never seemed to work
-Beck Weathers decides to turn around but instead of sending a guide or Sherpa to help him down he is left alone for many hours in the cold waiting for someone to help him down when he should have been safe at camp hours ahead of everyone else.
-the most inexperienced guide led the climb, who had never climbed Everest with Rob at the back so everyone had to stop and wait each time Rob was needed to deal with something, delays which used up oxygen.
-nobody on the two main teams followed through on the plan to get ropes fixed before the climbers reached where they were needed, leading to a couple of hours delay and a bottleneck.
-Rob Hall did not turn his team around on seeing a 28 climber bottleneck, lack of oxygen supply and turnaround time approaching.
-Rob Hall waited 90 minutes on summit for Doug Hansen to complete a 15 minute walk to join him and Doug was too exhausted to get back down, killing him, Rob and Andy.

The first man to turn back had been a vocal critic of the decision to climb-Frank Fischbeck, one of the strongest on the team. Next was Doug Hansen who was feeling ill and planned to retreat but changed his mind and continued. These decisions saved Frank and killed Doug and Rob. At the South Summit John Taske and Stuart Hutchison decided the bottleneck of climbers ahead meant no chance of summiting and getting back in a safe time so they turned around. It saved their lives. Lou decides to follow not long after. Only two of the six on the team who continued up came back alive and they had been way ahead of the others so had plenty time to summit. Those who turned around made it to camp with visibility dropping as the weather came in. Those still on the mountain who reached summit early only just got back in safely and everyone else was trapped in the storm.

Most of this book concurs with what Into Thin Air says other than a debate over the South Summit and Hillary Step ropes. Lou says Anatoli used old rope at the former to get to Hillary Step but Jon says Anatoli and others fixed new rope there. I need to read Anatoli's book to see what he says he did but it isn't a major issue. The fact remains that it was left to Anatoli to offer a solution to the missing new rope which smacks of bad preperation. He did have to fix a new rope on the Hillary Step. It is easy with oxygen running out and exhaustion for a slight mix up in geography.

It is scary to read the accounts of those trapped in the storm who thought they were going to die and even those who got back safe were exhausted and snow blind, unable to assist in any of the rescue. But the really shocking thing here is that if both team leaders had followed their own safety advice then nobody had to die. I don't like to speak ill of the dead but the leaders were at fault in poor decision making all through the disaster. Ropes not fixed, oxygen not working and not enough spare, turnaround time not enforced, sick climbers pushing on instead of getting back to camp and business decisions being put ahead of safety.

If you have read Into Thin Air, you should like this book. Lou does not hold back when he thinks that somebody made mistakes and it is an excellent account of a personal climb in the middle of disaster.
Read June 2016. 

Book Review: Twice Dead by George Magnum

Within forty eight hours, it had become a global pandemic. There was no explanation. The dead were rising, returning to life, and devouring the living. Commander Peterson, leader of the most elite fighting unit in the U.S. armed forces, was assigned one, last final mission.

In his worst nightmares he never could have imagined this apocalypse, or that he and his team were to become the one last hope that remained…. 

My Review: 
I'm still not sure if I actually liked this book or not. There were elements of it that I enjoyed but there were other things that really annoyed me and made me want to bite the book.

Lets start with the good. I liked the overall plot of the book. If you want to be picky you can say that there is nothing new in it but it is still entertaining for zombie fans. A military team are to escort a smug scientist on a mission to collect another scientist and his data for a cure from a secured location. You are always going to get zombie action scenes in that kind of plot which is what attracted me to the book to start with, so I was expecting it to be quite fast paced. I would say that it was what I expected it to be so that was fine.

As an MC, Peterson is a no nonsense soldier who is calm under pressure and you would expect that in the leader and for more time to be spent developing his character. However, I can't say that I actually liked him. He had previously been in a relationship with Sharon and was being really vile to their team mate Tag because Tag was interested in Sharon. ooh what a crime, fancying the ex of your team leader. I felt Peterson's attitude was unprofessional and nasty, and that it greatly affected how well the team worked together. He was even blaming Tag for mistakes made by other team members-the actions of a pure bully and not a hero. He NOTICES that a soldier is limping after a zombie encounter yet does not challenge him over it and then blames Tag for the guy turning and attacking others in the helo!

The rest of the team I had mixed feelings about due to their stupid actions more than their actual personalities. They have no discipline and seem to choose which orders they want to follow. When told to stay somewhere to cover a team mate, the other guy wanders off leaving his colleague unprotected. Cash is an arrogant showboater whose dangerous actions keep putting the team in danger and he never obeys the orders given. The pilots didn't check the helo for damage from the first zombie attack before flying off in it. JB questions every order given. If these donkeys are the best military unit available, the world is doomed. Is this how you expect an elite unit to behave? Not in my opinion.

So the original mission cannot be completed thanks to the idiot behaviour of the team and they have to crash land and make a run for it towards a barricaded parking lot where other survivors are. Cash yet again is ignoring orders and acting like he is playing Resident Evil or some similar game and behaving like a total moron. Bite him already! The survivors and Peterson's people now need to get to the hospital which has a secure basement and supplies while where they can regroup. I'm not sure that this was the best plan in the world but the run for the hospital and the action inside was exciting. Between Cash and Peterson, man management skills with the civilians are sorely lacking.

Peterson continues to disappoint as a leader. He allows a small group to go their own way in the hospital on a virtual suicide mission, then from the safety of the basement, and AFTER the zombies have flooded the hospital, he decides for some bizarre reason to go and rescue the idiots. I just lost interest at this point. The fact that he still plans to complete the original mission with no helo or plan while trapped in a zombie filled hospital shows that the plot idea was rapidly going downhill.

The idea for this book was good and the zombie action scenes were well written. It was the characters and the lack of realism in the actions of the military unit that just destroyed my enjoyment of the book. There was seriously good potential in the actual writing and that is what frustrates me with this. I found that I wasn't greatly caring about the characters and who lived or died, and I don't have much interest in reading on with the series.

Read April 2016.
2.5 stars.

TV Review-Game of Thrones series 5

I've had these box sets for a while and had never watched a single episode until I watched season 1 last month. This review of season five will be free of plot spoilers and will only contain vague general thoughts about who I like and dislike so it will be safe to look at if you haven't watched the series yet.

My favourite characters in series 5:
Tyrion Lannister
Daenerys Targaryen
Jon Snow
Margaery Tyrell
Olenna Tyrell
Jorah Mormont
Samwell Tarly
Varys
Davos Seaworth
Brienne 
Bronn

Podrick 

Tormund Giantsbane

Next are the ones I still wanted to see die a horrible death:
Cersei Lannister
Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish
Balon Greyjoy

Melisandre
Stannis Baratheon
Ramsay Snow
Walder Frey
Roose Bolton
The Mountain 
Meryn Trant
Janos Slynt
Alliser Thorne
Olyvar
Myranda
Pycelle
Sons of the Harpy
High Sparrow
Ellaria Sand 
Olly

Urgh...hurts...I'm still shocked by the events of series 5. I'm not sure how many tears I have left in me. Episode nine was frankly horrific and I can't quite believe that happened. I kept thinking that it would be stopped somehow. *sobs* And then the last scene of episode ten was just heartbreaking. *blubbers* A few people got what was coming to them but my hate list is getting very long...

Book Review: End by Jason Kristopher (Dying of the Light #1)

“I didn't see Rebecca die the second time.”

The United States military hides a secret: the completely real existence of one-bite-and-you're-dead zombies. An elite Special Forces unit has known they exist for over a hundred years, and has been quietly and expertly keeping the monsters at bay… until now.

The sole survivor of the massacre at Fall Creek joins this elite unit to combat the single greatest threat our world has ever known. Even as victories over the walkers mount, true evil still lurks in the hearts of men, and at the last, only a brave few may survive. 

My Review: 

For hundreds of years the US government has been covering up small zombie outbreaks but now larger outbreaks are happening and special zombie killing military squads are being set up and put on call for when they are needed. David was the sole survivor from his town Fall Creek and he joins as a civilian consultant, able to share his experiences to help in training. But as the situation deteriorates, the teams face more danger and the possibility that they might not win this war.

Isn't that just a great book cover? As soon as I saw it I knew it was about zombies and that I wanted to read it. The book follows David as he struggles to survive a zombie outbreak in his town, losing his fiancee' Rebecca. It is only the intervention of an armed military unit that saves his life, prompting the setting up of elite zombie fighting units. With nothing left in his town, David agrees to be a consultant on the first team, helping them to adapt their fighting skills based on what he saw and experienced.

We follow the progress of the team as they get to know each other and train, which is good for character development as we soon learn to care about these people. It makes things very tense when they start being sent out on small missions that often turn out to be more complicated and deadly than first thought. Zombies of course are not predictable in real life circumstances and the group soon witness this for themselves. They also have to face in fighting on the base when a prejudiced man on one team starts to cause problems when he discovers that another man is gay. I didn't enjoy seeing Reynolds, my favourite character, being verbally abused by this scumbag but this kind of prejudice is sadly too common in society as a whole.

The romance part of the plot is probably going to divide opinion. Those of you who follow my reviews know that I don't really like seeing romance in my zombie apocalypse when we could instead be focusing more on the zombies. Personally I didn't mind the romances in this book as I liked all of the characters. I think it was to be expected that this team who train together every day on base and then fight together, are going to have very strong emotional bonds to each other that sometimes flow over into physical relationships. I get that and I accepted it in the plot only because I liked the characters. It is very much a story about people, who happen to be doing a pretty extraordinary job.

There is an element of Day of the Dead about this, with a captive zombie being kept to assist in the training and research, something that very much divides opinion. We can see a bit of mad science going on and not everyone on the base is putting the welfare of the soldiers first. Would you like to be secured in a base where an actual zombie was being held? You know that these things never end well! The reader can also tell quite quickly that certain people involved in the military program are not to be trusted and that there is more going on with this plot than meets the eye. What exactly is going on and who is involved?

The teams become aware that each mission is getting more dangerous and the commanders indicate that they are going to lose control of the overall situation. All the teams can do is try to kill as many zombies as they can while the government prepares military bunkers for the chosen few to hole up in until it is deemed safe to come back out and deal with the aftermath. And as the ordinary people realise what is happening, they are getting ready to rebel. The element of a sort of countdown clock to oblivion adds a whole new element to the plot.

This book was a bit more complex than the usual gory zombie plot and I liked that it had a bit of depth, and that we really find the time to get to know the squad before they are sent out to tackle the zombies. That said, the zombie scenes are of the standard you would expect with a nice mix of tension and horror. There was plenty to like about this book and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Read August 2015.

Book Review: Red Hill by Jamie McGuire

For Scarlet, raising her two daughters alone makes fighting for tomorrow an everyday battle. Nathan has a wife, but can’t remember what it’s like to be in love; only his young daughter Zoe makes coming home worthwhile. Miranda’s biggest concern is whether her new VW Bug is big enough to carry her sister and their boyfriends on a weekend escape from college finals.

When reports of a widespread, deadly “outbreak” begin to surface, these ordinary people face extraordinary circumstances and suddenly their fates are intertwined. Recognizing they can’t outrun the danger, Scarlet, Nathan, and Miranda desperately seek shelter at the same secluded ranch, Red Hill. Emotions run high while old and new relationships are tested in the face of a terrifying enemy—an enemy who no longer remembers what it’s like to be human.

Set against the backdrop of a brilliantly realized apocalyptic world, love somehow finds a way to survive. But what happens when the one you’d die for becomes the one who could destroy you?

My Review: 

As the zombie outbreak hits the US, Scarlet leaves the hospital to collect her daughters who are with her ex husband in another town and take them to the house that she cleans part time for Dr Hayes at Red Hill. Joey has taken his dying girlfriend Dana to hospital, hoping that there might yet be a chance for her. Nathan is trying to rescue his autistic daughter Zoe just as his wife decides to leave him. Miranda, Ashley and their boyfriends flee to their father's home at Red Hill. Their paths will take them through the same towns, dangerous people and swarms of deadly zombies as they try to reach safety. Who will survive the journey?

I love zombies. I don't quite know what it is about them but I never get tired of good zombie books and this one was excellent. I admit that when I read the blurb, the mention of love and romance almost put me off reading it because I'm not a fan of that in apocalypse books so it says a lot about the author's writing that I actually found that these emotional storylines added to this zombie story. It doesn't happen often for me but I loved the mixture of emotional turmoil and zombie tension in this story so don't be put off if romance isn't your thing. There is plenty of zombie fun to be had!

The first thing I loved was the zombie story. It doesn't go in depth about how it starts but that is not really needed. We instead follow a few characters as they find the zombies suddenly appearing in their lives and their instincts all tell them to run. It is all about these characters as they try to reach the presumed safety of Red Hill where there are supplies, and a defendable place to ride out the epidemic. The problem is the lack of routes to Red Hill, meaning their journey takes them through or near some very populated areas, exposing them to the full dangers of multiple zombies as well as criminal civilians. It's just what you want to read about if you love the zombie genre.

I liked the range of characters in the book. Scarlet has a single purpose and that is to rescue her daughters Jenna and Halle. Being seperated from them at a time of crisis clouds her judgement and she makes a few very risky decisions when she finds her husband's town has been quarantined because an important politician is there and nobody can get in or out. She is determined to do anything it takes to save her girls even if it means risking herself and her friends. Nathan is a caring father to his autistic daughter and is trying to keep life as normal for her as he can while trying to survive the zombies and his wife leaving him. I really liked him. His brother-in-law Skeeter and pregnant wife Jill live in Fairview and are preppers-exactly the kind of people you want to link up with in the zombie apocalypse. Skeeter was certainly my favourite character.

I had mixed views on the Hayes girls at first. Miranda was the smarter girl and her previously happy relationship with Bryce suddenly comes under threat in their new survival situation when another man shows interest in her. Her sister Ashley comes across as a bit of a whiny airhead when we first meet her and you can't help but wonder why a great guy like Cooper is interested in her. But that selfish side of her soon starts to vanish when she realises that she needs to start working with the others for their combined safety. In the end I actually liked Ashley more than Miranda.

The way the stories all connect was really well done. Every one of our characters chooses to drive through the main street of Fairview, their stories briefly intersecting in a very clever way. That whole plotline was so full of tension and fear for the characters that I was totally hooked. That town was not the place you wanted to be as events unfolded. There was some really good zombie action here as well as the tense stuff and I very much liked that. The scenes involving the church were pretty nerve jangling. You have no idea what is coming next or who is going to be in grave danger and that is something I enjoy about zombie fiction.

There are quite a few unexpected things happening in the book which for me added a lot of emotion and entertainment. I liked the way the story was being told, with the POV changing between Scarlet, Nathan and Miranda. It allowed the reader to be right there in each situation with each character or group as they all tried to find Red Hill. I very much liked the plot and the human angle. Overall it was entertaining and I'm pleased that I gave it a try.

After reading this, I suggest you read the follow up novella which is a companion read to this one. 
Read December 2015.