BOOK REVIEW: The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater
Publication date: June 12th 2012
Genres: Adult, Horror, Science Fiction

Blurb

As long as the undead hordes of the Inferi Scourge howl outside the dying city, the last remaining humans struggle to survive inside The Bastion. Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her entire life within the towering walls. Her only refuge from the overcrowded streets, rolling blackouts, and food shortages is in the arms of Officer Dwayne Reichardt. Then Maria is summoned to meet with a mysterious representative from the Science Warfare Division and is offered the opportunity to finally destroy the Inferi Scourge and reclaim the land and resources in the valley beyond the wall. If she succeeds, the city may be saved.

Add to Goodreads

GOODREADS

*My Book Review*

DISCLAIMER: This book/eBook being reviewed was provided free of charge in return for an honest review.

Ever since I did the book blitzes for The Last Bastion of the Living and its follow up novel, The Last Mission of the Living, I have been ITCHING to read this series. Right from the very first page I was dragged into the action and didn’t want to put this book down until I had consumed every last word on the page.

For starters, the main characters – and especially those of Maria and Dwayne – are rich with detail and the reader instantly becomes enthralled in their battle. None of the characters in this story are perfect, some of them come close, while others are fantastically flawed and keep the reader guessing as to what their true intents are, so there is a rich diversity maintained throughout this book.

Rhiannon Frater has bought a despondent post apocalypse to the pages of this novel, and it is certainly something to be relished. While plenty of dystopian novels manage to portray a certain amount of hardship to their characters, none I’ve read so far have hit home quite like Frater’s work. There is an honesty to her post apocalyptic world that is refreshing to see and makes their struggles for a better world much more plausible.

There were a few moments in this book where I start off thinking a concept or action is completely unbelievable. However, Rhiannon’s gift for storytelling soon has me believing every damn word. So kudos to the author for this!

The only real gripe I had with this novel was the term ‘scrag’. Rhiannon uses it the way Robert Kirkman uses ‘walkers’ instead of zombies. To me, personally, it just never quite feels like a word that fits the description properly. And, honestly, I think this might just been a sentiment inflicted because I am Australian and the term scrag is used constantly to describe a woman who is akin to a slut.

Overall, I am giving The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater 5 out of 5 stars!

Make sure you check back next week for my review of the next book in this series, The Last Mission of the Living.

Purchase

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES

About the Author

Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of over a dozen books, including the As the World Dies zombie trilogy (Tor), as well as independent works such as The Last Bastion of the Living (declared the #1 Zombie Release of 2012 by Explorations Fantasy Blog and the #1 Zombie Novel of the Decade by B&N Book Blog), and other horror novels. Her next novel for Tor, Dead Spots, will be published in 2014. She was born and raised a Texan and presently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and furry children (a.k.a pets). She loves scary movies, sci-fi and horror shows, playing video games, cooking, dyeing her hair weird colors, and shopping for Betsey Johnson purses and shoes.

Author Links

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST

Alternatively, you can email Rhiannon: rhiannonfrater@gmail.com