Book Review: Fighting To Survive by Rhiannon Frater (As The World Dies #2)

It’s time to clear the hotel.

The fort has grown crowded as survivors of the zombie apocalypse have found safety between its walls.  Winter is coming; soon it will be too cold to live in tents and other makeshift shelters.  The leaders of the survivors—Katie, Jenni, Juan, Travis, and Nerit—decide it’s time for an assault on the zombie-occupied hotel that looms over the town square. 

A pitched battle in the banquet room is the start of a harrowing, room-by-room struggle from Reception to roof.  As the sun sets, the people of Ashley Oaks gather in the hotel’s rooftop ballroom and gazebo to celebrate their survival.  Gazing out over the beauty of the surrounding Texas countryside, it’s hard to believe that death and danger lurk around every corner. 

The fort’s search and rescue teams have attracted unwanted attention from bandits who see the fort as competition for food . . . and as a ready source of women.  The first attacks are minor, but everyone knows there is worse to come. 

And beyond the fort’s walls, the zombies shamble, moaning, eyes fastened hungrily upon the living.

My Review: 
I read the first book The First Days back in 2015 and put off reading the rest of the series, despite loving the story, because I really disliked Jenni and her behaviour. In fact, I really wanted her to get eaten! I finally decided it was time to complete this series so I made that a target for my summer reading-and I'm really glad I did. This is actually one of the best zombie series I've read. It was meant to be a trilogy but I now hear that the author has written a fourth book due out this year due to the fans begging for more! Now, I'm really keen to read the new book and hopefully more Untold Tales novellas!

There are two plans for expansion of the Fort that the survivors now need to get on with. They have decided to extend the wall to include another street with a big discount store that they can use for supplies but the down side is that it could be full of trapped zombies and volunteers will also be needed to clean it after it has been made safe. The second plan is to move the survivors into the nearby hotel and out of the makeshift tent city. The plan needs to be moving to get the people inside before winter, and to protect them from the weather. When another survivor camp is wiped out by a tornado, Travis puts aside his reservations about the dangerous mission and gives the green light to clearing the hotel of the zombie staff and guests. A team of volunteers are split up for the dangerous mission and it doesn't take long for disaster to strike and several team members face the real prospect of dying.

There are always zombies to fear on the outside of the Fort too, as rescue missions to pick up survivors and supplies continue, putting those volunteers in danger every time they leave the Fort. It has also brought them to the attention of dangerous bandits who want the Fort for the supplies and the women that are there. The bandits are slowly targeting the survivor groups scattered around Texas and the Fort people are determined to go out and rescue as many of them as possible. The Fort also have to address the latest activities of the Vigilante, who decides to bring their form of justice to someone who they feel did not perform well on the hotel mission. A second intervention has the leadership very concerned about who the Vigilante could target next and opinion is divided on whether this person is right or wrong to take the law into their own hands.  

Jenni and Katie have now settled into life at the Fort. Katie tries to stay away from Travis, feeling guilty that she has feelings for a man so soon after the tragic death of her beloved wife Lydia. Jenni has happily settled down with Juan, despite the disapproval of her stepson Jason, but she is struggling with post traumatic stress, having nightmares and flashbacks to the children she was unable to save. She feels that she is being haunted by her abusive dead husband and coming close to a breakdown. Both women are also having to deal with the unstable Shane who is certain both women are gay and hates them for it, along with the grudge he holds over Katie killing his zombie brother. However, they are unaware of just how dangerous he really is.

There are new characters to enjoy and to hate in the book. I loved Ken who ran his own beauty store, and who is constantly depressed over the lack of gay men at the Fort. His long suffering friend and work colleague Lenore is always at his side and I loved their bitchy but affectionate banter. Nerit gets involved in security and I enjoyed seeing more of her. We start to see more of the personalities and opinions of characters like Peggy, Curtis and Bill. Jason was trying to be part of the community and progress his relationship with Michelle. Then there was the dreadful rich bitch Blanche, wife of the developer of Ashley Oaks who thinks she is superior to everyone else. Oh that bitch is riding for a fall for sure! There is also humour with the arrival of Calhoun, who is a crazy conspiracy theory guy who plagued Peggy and the Mayor before the apocalypse and thinks the zombies are alien clones. I liked that this book was looking at the emotional dramas of more than just Jenni and Katie and their men.

I really enjoyed this book on so many levels. I love the whole set up of the Fort and hope that I can find somewhere like that if the zombie apocalypse comes! I like reading about how it is expanding, evolving and getting stronger every day. I very much like the characters that we are following and I'm so pleased that my issues with Jenni from the first book have been resolved and I do like her now! I even quite like the various relationships and potential relationships that are happening, which is strange for me, as I normally hate any kind of romance in my zombie books. But here I feel that the author tries to build up emotional connections between characters and the readers, to make you love these people. That makes it more natural for the readers to then root for two people to get together. It's a human story, exploring the complex relationships and is about way more than sex.

There is lots of zombie action to enjoy. The very idea of going in to the hotel to clear out the zombies is scary but the reality was so exciting to read. There was tension as we follow each group along creepy corridors and wonder what is behind every door. There is the fear of the relatives and friends waiting for news of those inside the hotel and the heartbreak for those who get bad news. There is the crazy full on attack from the kitchen that has everyone in peril which has a shocking conclusion. There is also interaction with the bad guys who want the Fort, which keeps the nerves going through the book.

Overall I loved the development of this story from the first book.

Read July 2019
5 stars.