Book Review: Siege by Rhiannon Frater (As The World Dies #3)

The zombie illness has shattered civilization. The survivors who have found tenuous safety in Texas defend their fort against the walking dead and living bandits.

Katie has made peace with the death of her wife and is pregnant and married to Travis, who has been elected Mayor. Jenni, her stepson, Jason; and Juan—Travis’s righthand man—are a happy family, though Jenni suffers from PTSD. Both women are deadly zombie killers. In Siege, the people of Ashley Oaks are stunned to discover that the vice president of the United States is alive and commanding the remnants of the US military. What’s left of the US government has plans for this group of determined survivors.

My Review: 
Life continues at the Fort but the danger does not let up. Supply runs and rescues continue to end with casualties and tensions between the survivors fester and then bubble over. A tragic shooting leaves a man fighting for his life and it is decided that a raid on a nearby hospital is vital to his survival. The volunteers for the deadly mission are aware that there is no worse place to go to but brace themselves for what they might face. It is in the aftermath of the mission that two of the Fort people are taken by a military unit to a survivor camp at a shopping mall, led by a power hungry senator who wants to take over the Fort and expects to get her own way. But the Fort is determined to stand firm and get their people back.

The trouble in this book is set off by the snotty Blanche who is tired of slumming it at the hotel and demands that her husband takes her back to their mansion, along with a ton of supplies and servants made up by people from the Fort. Her determination to get her way at any cost is going to lead to a loss of life among the survivors that upsets everyone. Her sister Paige is exactly the same-rude, nasty, selfish and self obsessed. She is the senator in charge of the Mall who decides that she wants to take over and run the Fort, using the men as farming workers and the women to breed a new generation of people that she can control. The Fort are determined to get their people away from her and offer those still stuck at the Mall a chance to live a better life in Ashley Oaks.

The situation at the Mall is critical, with the zombies surrounding the entire complex, ready to flood in if the opportunity comes along. Everyone is aware that it will take time to get 400 people out of the Mall and over to the Fort but Paige has other plans for how things are going to happen, regardless of the danger she will put everyone in. To make matters worse, a huge zombie horde is starting on a journey that will lead them direct to the Fort and the leaders needs to start planning how to save their people and ensure that the Fort is strong enough to repel the unwanted visitors. The book also looks at social issues like homophobia, in the form of religious survivors who don't want certain types of people allowed into the Fort, and racism with a well established character showing his dislike of non white christians. We also get a resolution of the Vigilante, who I had identified in book one.

There were great new characters in Rune and Dale. I was amused to see how Ken was vainly chasing after Dale, even though Dale had his eye on Peggy, and I liked the way that Dale was kind enough to let Ken down gently and be his friend. Rune was a brilliant character. He is a tough, long haired biker who is welcomed into the community when he roars up to the gate. He can communicate with ghosts and those ghosts help him to be in the right place on the roads outside to help people, suggest missions he can go on, and alert him to incoming danger. His origin story takes place in Untold Tales volume three and I loved reading about him.There was also Bruce who I was happy to see, and I liked his reunion with family which was unexpected. I've also really grown to love Calhoun and his ways and he gets a starring role in this book.

This book had my heart breaking several times as people that I really care about are killed. There were three deaths in particular that really hit me hard and I was in floods of tears as they were killed. Others were in serious danger, leaving my heart in my mouth for most of the book. The trip to the hospital was very scary and I knew that things were going to go badly. In reality, would a real survivor group have placed those eight people in danger to try to save one man? I'm not sure that they could afford to to that. Anyway, they did, and it was very sad what happened. The horror at the Mall was action packed and nerve jangling as I tried to keep track of my favourites. I was surprisingly emotional about a few things that happened in that plot line and yes, tears were shed.

It gets worse though, when the news reaches them of the huge zombie horde coming their way. There are too many zombies for the Fort to stand up to so a plan is devised to try and lure them off in different directions, cutting the numbers coming to the Fort. This dangerous mission leads to my worst moments in the book and it was so traumatic! The deaths and the effects on the survivors are so well written. The tension was getting to me as I read and it was like having my heart ripped out as events unfolded. 

This has been such a great zombie series, including all the novellas and short stories. I've just found out that another book, the fourth in the series, is due to be published this year so I look forward to getting my hands on it!

Read July 2019
5 stars.