Extinction Level Event: The Beginning by author K. J. Jones
Thank you so much to author K. J. Jones for providing me with a copy of their book in exchange for this honest review.
Apocalypse novels have always been popular. Anything about zombies, a world ending class war, asteroids impacting earth, and generally anything about a dystopia has been entertaining us for decades.
It seems that the whole COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t slowed down this craze in the slightest. I think a big part of it is that people want to see everyday heroes changing the world for the better. Zombies aren’t killed with superpowers, they’re killed by normal folk with household weapons.
Extinction Level Event: The Beginning is the first book in a series that follows a group of survivors fighting against a horrific strain of rabies. This virus can jump from species to species and causes a fatal rage that has quickly destroyed society as we know it.
An extinction level event is more than the end of all humans, it’s the end of all life on Earth.
The group of characters working together to face this threat is predominately made up of ex military individuals. These men and women are exactly like I’ve known ex military people to be. Crass, brash, arrogant, alcoholic, brave to the point of self destructive, and loyal as heck.
These are the friends that will bully you, call you names, playfully hit you too hard, but never ever leave you behind. Due to conflicts in politics I don’t have a ton of these people in my life anymore but you can definitely find worse company. The main thing to keep in mind is that these characters are real, even if you don’t have them in your own circles.
The part that is possibly real but felt a bit forced is the diversity. All of these characters are various races and backgrounds, all speak different languages, and all came from different parts of the world all to end up on the East coast. That’s all fine, just feels a bit clumsy to describe everyone by their race and use it as a sole defining feature.
For a book that focuses on a bunch of macho military characters Extinction Level Event has some marvelous female characters. Some are strong and badass, others are smart and badass, all are useful in their own way and don’t sacrifice their feminity fully in order to be one of the boys. In fact, the females are so well written it makes some of the male ccharaacters seem underwirtten by comparison.
It’s hard to stand out in a sea of zombie books, movies, and tv shows but Extinction Level Event attempts to set itself apart with an interesting premise for the virus itself and just by being damned entertaining. It may not be totally different from every other zombie thriller but it is a fun read.
I hope that the next books in the series take some bold risks to make it more memorable. It’s easy to feel like you’ve had enough zombies for one lifetime but there’s always the chance that a new favorite could come along.
4/5 biohazards ☣☣☣☣
If you like Extinction Level Event you may also like Deadheading
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Buy it here: Extinction Level Event, Book 1 (ELE)
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