The SF Site Featured Review: Plague World: An Ashley Parker Novel (original) (raw)


Dana Fredsti Dana Fredsti is an actress whose credits include the cult classic Army of Darkness. Her favorite projects, however, included acting alongside Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and Josef Pilato (Day of the Dead). She has been a producer, director, and screenplay writer for stage and film, and was the co-writer/associate producer on Urban Rescuers, a documentary on feral cats which won Best Documentary at the 2003 Valley Film Festival in Los Angeles. Dana Fredsti Website ISFDB Bibliography

Dana Fredsti Dana Fredsti is an actress whose credits include the cult classic Army of Darkness. Her favorite projects, however, included acting alongside Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and Josef Pilato (Day of the Dead). She has been a producer, director, and screenplay writer for stage and film, and was the co-writer/associate producer on Urban Rescuers, a documentary on feral cats which won Best Documentary at the 2003 Valley Film Festival in Los Angeles. Dana Fredsti Website ISFDB Bibliography

A review by Sandra Scholes

As the third and last title of the series, Ashley is stuck in the middle of a zombie plague. She and her wild cards have to kill off the enemy in San Diego. There, they find another faction called the Dolofono tou Zontanous Nekrous who want to make a weapon from the plague itself. And just when Ashley thinks she might be getting further in destroying the evil zombie plague, another disastrous problem stands in her way -- the plague has become airborne so there is no contact needed, anyone and everyone will contract the plague at some point.

As Plague Town was one of the top ten zombie releases of 2012, there is a lot riding on this being a big hit too. Starting with a prologue and a quote from Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China, London, England is one of the locations for where the zombie plague hits, other meaningful locations are India, America and France. Let's face it, the whole world is at threat of zombies infecting everyone, and Dana Fredsti gives readers a chance to see how everyone in her novel copes with the virus as it spreads. We see what happens through the eyes of almost all the characters and that makes for a wider reaching impact. Ashley tries to settle in with her friends, Simone and Jamie but it isn't easy when a zombie threat looms in the shadows. Jamie is a far cry from the person she used to be. Tinkerbell's Goth twin as she is nicknamed used to be a frosty type who had a deep crush on her teacher and thought Ashley a rival. The both of them help Ashley get the answers they need to end the zombie threat and they can get some of their much needed answers from Dr Arkin.

The everyday lives of the characters seem to keep them sane before the zombies came to them in droves. They haven't found a cure for the epidemic, and as you can't bring the re-animated dead back to healthy life, their plan is to make everyone immune to it, more like wild cards, but it will take all their minds to come up with a cure and fast. The problem for them is staying alive in such dangerous times. As Ashley is a wild card, a person who is immune to the virus, she has enhanced speed, senses and strength when she goes against the threats to her and the lives of her friends. As someone unknown unleashed the virus on purpose, Ashley needs to find out who this culprit is, but as they have kidnapped Gabriel, Ashley's one true love, she could by rights feel as though her world has come crashing down on her. Luckily for her friends and the whole globe, she is much stronger than that. This makes her far more determined to find the culprits. And she has to get them fast. Something readers will find out is that the characters sound like they have a very strange sense of humour, New York's very own Chris Anderson with an "o," not an "e," owns a novelty pig-shaped clock on his desk.

There are several heart-in-your-throat moments in this novel, but the general feeling is the characters have to pull through no matter what. Ashley is one of the stronger characters with her being a wild card, so if horror, zombies, fear and dread is what readers are looking for, this novel is one to get, but only to be read after they have read the other two.

Plague World is the last part of the Ashley Parker novel series by Dana Fredsti; the first being Plague Town, the second Plague Nation.

Sandra has been progressing with her huge stack of novels to review and has come to the conclusion that she has been reviewing mixed genres for quite a while now. Published in Hellnotes, Albedo One, The British Fantasy Society and Fantasy Book Reviews and Love Romance Passion and Rainbow, she can say she gets to enjoy her job.