The Zona-Nathan L. Yocum

So the world ends. Arizona gets renamed to “The Zona” which is ruled by theocracy simply known as “The Church.” Wait, wait! There’s more!

“The Storms came, and with them disease and blight like mankind had never experienced. Most died, and those who didn't were quick to scramble for weapons, wealth, and control. Petty lords gave way to new societies, and from the ashes of old came the Reformed Arizona Theocracy, or simply put, the Zona. The laws are simple, all sins are punished swiftly and violently. The enforcers, otherwise known as Preachers, roam the lands hunting disgraced men and women. But what happens when Preachers stop killing? What happens when men of honor take a stand against their rulers?”

Let me preface this review with this little story:
Now that I have a Kindle Fire, I love searching the free books section. Granted, a lot of it seems to be not so good or mediocre, but free is free and what if I find that one little gem? I mean, I’m thinking of self publishing myself, so I wanna look for what not to do. So scanning through the free books and what do I find? I “The Zona” with its very simply graphic cover. Looking at this, I’m pretty sure it’s not self published. Read the description. Okay. Sounded interesting. Then I started reading and this book turned out to be almost like S.G Brown’s “Breathers”: It was a case of cover lust. I was tricked.

Now, I don’t want to say the writing was awful. It wasn’t. It was okay. I can see where he was going with the naming of titles and how the scenes of the book were broken up, you can tell it’s written by a screenwriter and not a novelist. As someone who has written a screenplay (yes, I have a completed screenplay that I am way to scared to pitch for fear of rejection and insult), I can tell. I know he was probably trying to put a spin on the writing style to make the story of Lead memorable, but all it left me was feeling confused.

Story wise, I was bored. I kept waiting for something action packed and climactic come to Lead. But, really, all I got was one scene where Lead hallucinates and almost dies, and the other scene is near the end of the book where he fights off the crazed Crusaders. Here was my main issue with this book: I did not like any of the characters. I couldn’t get behind any of them. Terrance, maybe. But Lead, there was nothing that made me say, yeah, he’s the hero and this is the guy I should be rooting for. But why should I be rooting for him? He wasn’t the one who made the choice to break from the Church and stop being a Preacher. It was pretty much made for him. All the other characters were fly by night, never signifying much of anything.

I was reading through the reviews on Goodreads, and most of the reviews are glowing to 3 to 5 stars. I gave it two. And I feel like I was being generous…

I really wished I could have liked this book, but I actually was so bored with it, I stopped reading it and managed to knock out 3 novellas (which were awesome! Reviews to come) before I had to knuckle down and finish this book.

I was reading through the reviews on Goodreads, and most of the reviews are glowing to 3 to 5 stars. I gave it two. And I feel like I was being generous. But really, the world ending by some crazy off the chain storm? If there is an apocalypse, I say bring on the zombies.