Overall review: TEOTWAWKI, zombies, raiders, cults, addicts, serial killers, average people just trying to survive, and mysterious guys wearing bags over their heads—the Scattered and the Dead has something for everybody. It's one post-apocalyptic thrill ride you don't want to miss.
Individual reviews:
Book 0.5
shut-in vs. the apocalypse
I love this book. It's grim, dark, and visceral. While society falls apart, Decker, a guy who sealed himself off from the world at the very beginning of the plague is trying to make a connection with the girl across the hall.
This is a smooth, seamless read. I finished it in one sitting. I couldn't stop turning the pages. I had to find out what Decker would do next, how he would cope with this dark new reality, and whether he would finally give the letter to the girl across the hall. The ending gave me this sense of finality and loss, of irreversible changes—not just to the world, but to Decker himself. I realized I'd been clinging to the old world and the old Decker as tightly as he had been. In the end, that was the hardest part to stomach—watching helplessly while Decker became the man he had to be to survive.
If this is any indication of things to come, then the Scattered and the Dead Book 1 can't come out soon enough. I can't wait to spend some more time in McBain and Vargus's grim and gritty post-apocalyptic world.
Book 1.0
it's the end of the world as we know it
One of the coolest things about the Scattered and the Dead Book 1 is that it combines everything post-apocalyptic enthusiasts love about the genre--death, fighting, TEOTWAWKI, the struggle to survive without modern niceties like electricity, and oh yeah, freakin' zombies!--with the contemplation of why humans cling so hard to The World As We Know It in the first place. Why do we fill up our lives with products and meaningless entertainment? What problem does a large Number 5 with cheese solve? How is being ironic on Instagram or Twitter enriching our lives? What lessons are we imparting to the next generation by spending our time in front of a television, ereader, computer, or phone screen? How much time and energy before and after The End are we going to expend trying to keep ourselves numb to the world around us?
Zombie plagues and food for thought. Pretty awesome, right? And you haven't even met the cast yet.
There's Mitch, the dad at the end of the world, who's turning into a zombie and only has hours left to prep his sons for the apocalypse they never thought would come. Erin, a teenager taking care of an eight-year-old while learning to survive in the world After. Travis, raiding the ruins of the world for all the booze, cigarettes, and pills he can find so he never has to feel again. Baghead, on a one-man publisher on a mission to preserve the memory of the world Before. The slick former televangelist, the lone sadist, the mysterious Five...the list goes on and on. Somehow the all-star team of Vargas and McBain managed to weave all of these story lines and ideas into a single book that takes us into, through, and out the other side of the apocalypse.
The feeling I got as I read was one of all these story lines working toward a singularity, of disparate threads coming together, and without giving away any spoilers, I was not disappointed. The Scattered and the Dead Book 1 is epic on so many levels. It's the first full novel in the series, but I would say it could almost be read as a self-contained story. There isn't any cheesy cliffhanger; the ending is satisfying and awful and just right. I can't wait to see what happens with the characters and the world in the rest of the series.
Book 1.5
zombie apocalypse with a chance of muuuurder
Like the Scattered and the Dead 0.5, I read 1.5 in one sitting because I couldn't stop. I had to see what would happen. The authors know how to write a story that won't let you go. I'm still thinking about everything that went down, turning over how it could all too easily become reality for mankind—just add apocalypse.
The creepiest parts of this story was the isolated characters' slow slide into dark superstitions. Weird little ideas that might have been easily dismissed Before with the distractions of technology start to take on a life of their own After, where there's nothing but cold and dark and time to think. Suspicions grow and twist into obsessions, and those morph into horrific actions. It was inevitable and awful, and McBain and Vargus never give the reader a chance to look away. The writing is stark, almost painfully clear, and serves to reinforce that this new world is a one without the same brand of hope as the old world, even as one of the characters is offered a fresh start.
The Scattered and the Dead 1.5 is also a volume of Postcards from an Empty World, the collections Baghead has become famous (or infamous) for publishing, and it offers us clues as to why Father wants Baghead dead. When viewed from that angle, it's not just an awesome read, it's an awesome piece of world-building metafiction. Unlike other works of metafiction, though, it isn't alienating or sarcastic. As the reader, you're both completely enmeshed in the characters' accounts and aware of the stories stretching across the Scattered and the Dead series. It's brilliant.
Book 2.0
not your grandpa's zombie apocalypse
Some post-apocalyptic zombie stories are so predictable that the only thing keeping you reading is the zombie-head-smashing action. Some are so full of zombie-head-smashing that you can't see the cardboard-cutout-characters for the blood. Some are so focused on methodical survival that they could be the curriculum for a prepper's TEOTWAWKI course. And some are so dark that you can't imagine anyone wanting to survive in that sick new future, let alone actually thrive in it. But The Scattered and the Dead is not like any of those post-apocalyptic zombie stories. In this series, Vargus and McBain have struck an incredible balance between character, action, story, survival, dark, light, and oh yeah, zombies. It's the total package.
Weaving together strands from the characters who fascinated us from the previous books with unpredictable newcomers, The Scattered and the Dead Book 2 takes us on a journey through the worst of human nature: A sadistic psycho driven to torture and kill. A corrupt community where no one is going to punish a murderer because he has connections. The creation of a cult by false prophets preying on their follower's desperate desire for miracles. The realities of scarcity and the lengths the survivors will go to take supplies from each other.
However, unlike some post-apocalyptic series, The Scattered and the Dead isn't a complete condemnation of humanity. The authors didn't just slap some evil characters onto the page and call it a day. They built real, living, breathing humans out of words, then let those humans interact with the world. What came out was dark, definitely, but there was light in it, too. Book 2 is both a look at how awful humans can be to each other...and how beautiful they can be to each other. While reading, you get a sense of hope, a sense that maybe goodness can even survive a zombie apocalypse. The darkness in these books just accentuates the moments of light all the more.
Of course, there's also a bunch of zombie-smashin', Bind Torture Killin', and revenge-soaked deliciousness in there, too. Even more of the disparate strands our favorite author duo started with are coming together in new, sick, and satisfying ways. If you see this ending coming, then you should probably check with your local psychic, because you might be clairvoyant. It's so inevitable and yet so unpredictable—and that makes it downright awesome. Just read it already!
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- LindaSReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2017
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