Life After: The Void is the sequel to Life After: The Arising, a zombie novel about a somewhat irritating teen who teams up a group of others after a zombie outbreak occurs in his hometown. Despite my misgivings with the main character, and the over the top verbose way he narrated the story (with it all told from a first person perspective), I still really enjoyed this more sedate version of apocalypse survival. This was followed by three short stories, only one of which (Life After: The Basement) has any bearings on the sequel's plot. I was pleased to discover The Void is a better book than the first, especially when it comes to pacing and character development. There will be unavoidable spoilers for both The Arising and likely the spin-off stories to follow, as a warning.
It is around three months after the end of the first novel, and the group of zombie apocalypse survivors holed up at a school are not doing too bad, despite frequent arguments between them. They are led by Jeff Grey; a former student who is still struggling to deal with the loss of his girlfriend Julia, Anderson; a National Guard soldier and best friend of Jeff, and Rich; a former homeless man. With evidence that society has survived beyond their base, the group must make a hard decision, whether to stay where they are in relative safety, or to go and seek out one of the fortified government controlled safe havens.
What I loved about The Arising was how comparatively bland the survivor's journey was to the typical zombie survival story. This can even be seen with how the story wraps up on itself, Jeff's journey both begins and ends in his former high school. I was happy to see that for the most part this follows a similar format, with over half of the novel taking place within the walls of their base. This gives time for Way to focus more on the characters, in a The Walking Dead type of way the zombies almost take a backseat to the struggles of the group, who are more concerned about possible human antagonists finding them than the undead.
Characters felt so well developed, with a few in particular really standing out. Anderson had moments in the first novel where he appeared almost reckless, and here that is expanded upon with more definite character flaws becoming apparent. Grey was always a character I struggled to like in The Arising, he came across as arrogant, immature, and needlessly angry, and I could never place if his wordy first person account was a result of the character or the author. This time around the writing felt more measured, and I see that as a result of the character himself growing as a person, making plenty of awful mistakes along the way (a real low point was when he aggressively dismisses Anderson's pain at witnessing the deaths of his National Guard colleagues). There was one particular moment where Grey spots his ridiculous bowler hat on the ground (that he insisted on wearing in the first novel) and decides not to retrieve it, instead stating something along the lines of that 'being a part of the old him'. I appreciated that, even if he does keep up with his painfully 'cool' trench coat and toothpicks. I also appreciated how his arrogance and anger is constantly being challenged. The novel doesn't try and make him an amazing person, instead he is someone full of flaws, with several pivotal moments (especially towards the end) that solely occur because of his cockiness, and on occasion cause him to make a real fool out of himself.
Melody was one of my favourite characters in the first book, and here she has become my firm favourite. Turning who initially appeared to be a vapid stereotype into a legitimately fleshed out character, this sequel continues the trend, I lived for the one on one conversations she would have with Grey, with their increasing closeness happening so slowly that it came across as natural, rather than a forced romance.
Outside of the many arguments and reconciliations that occur within the walls of the base, there are a few key moments, the best of which happens nearly exactly halfway into the book. Thanos would be pleased as this story felt almost perfectly balanced, with some superb pacing. It is near enough the beginning, the middle and the end where characters get to leave the comfort of their base. The middle part in particular was stunning, my heart was in my mouth for that entire section. Without going into too much detail, an event happens when the group are at their most vulnerable, with many of the characters even being drunk at the time. It results in a whirlwind of violence which echoes throughout the rest of the novel, with several characters certainly suffering PTSD from that key moment. Later parts even retroactively shed some shade on the events, making them appear not as black and white as they first appeared. The only problem with this fantastic middle is that The Void never really achieves those heights again, it comes close during a thrilling roadtrip in the final third of the novel, but by the end, which includes a confusing few pages of stream of consciousness babble, it nearly drops the ball. It does bring it all back for a satisfying conclusion, which has a nice idea of a desperate battle taking place in the distance rather than being front and centre. The commitment to a first person account from the one character (who isn't always where the action is) was still something I appreciated.
With the short stories trying different ideas I had been concerned this book would build on some of those deviations. Thankfully the mean-spirited feel of The Basement isn't present here, nor is there any more about the shady government controlled company that possibly caused the zombie outbreak in the first place. Life After is at its very best when it is telling low-key stories about normal people just trying to survive.
I was looking forward to Life After: The Void, but I was impressed with how much better a book it is than before. This felt better written, it was certainly better paced, and a lot of effort went into developing characters, making them into well rounded people. While the end may be a little bit meandering, all in all I really loved reading this. Reading the novel made me late back to work from my break on more than one occasion due to being unable to put it down.
SCORE:
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