INTO THE DEADLANDS Book Review

Into the Deadlands¹ (book 2 in The Kara Mason Story) by Jill N. Davies, audiobook, 11h 56m

Synopsis from Audible: “No one else was supposed to die…” The laboratories are gone, the ashes of the dead drawn by the wind into frozen nothingness. Former government scientist Kara Mason knew the risks when she agreed to escape the laboratories and destroy the DDC’s greatest weapon. But she never expected to be responsible for the harrowed band of escaped volunteers and a cure that could save the world from the grips of the Zoribiatus virus. “It had to be done.”

In the middle of a wilderness, traumatized and adrift, Kara knows it’s only a matter of time before the search begins and the DDC sends out their trail of near-dead. To get the cure into the waiting hands of the dissenters, Kara will have to navigate a world she’s never been a part of to do what her father couldn’t. Eli Cain spent his life on the outside and seems to have the answers. Kara wants to trust the enigmatic mercenary, but his refusal to follow the rules might tear the group apart.“We don’t kill the living.” The dissenters have always existed with some level of invisibility, but things have changed. Supplies are running short and tension threatens to tear apart what little family Kara has left. Orman’s out for more than revenge and someone in the group is harboring a terrible secret.“Out here, there’s a lot more to worry about than the near-dead.”

Into the Deadlands is the heart-pounding, thriller-packed sequel to Due North (see related posts for review).

BOOK REVIEW: This is one of those times when I had to reach out to the author to ask a question because I wasn't sure if I was interpreting something correctly. Turns out I was. I would love to share with y'all what I asked, and I thought really hard if it would be a spoiler, but I ultimately decided that it might be considered a spoiler and opted not to share. This is another great novel in this author's world. I still love her descriptions of the "near dead" instead of calling them zombies...which if you haven't read the first two then why are you reading this? The only thing I wish I had done was listen to Hearts of a Vanishing City (see related posts for review) again before Due North and then roll into this because I was forgetting names and was trying to remember from the prequel who some of the characters interacting with Kara were throughout book 1 and 2. That's on me and doesn't take away anything!

This story picks up exactly where book 1 ended which was great. However that puts me in a difficult position of trying to figure out what I liked best because the whole story was great. We do get a little bit of detail about where we are at. It sounds like The Northern Laboratories are in a remote location in what we would know to be Alaska. I am not entirely certain how far South they moved and where The Institute would be. In book 1, Kara travels to the Northern Laboratories by government transport which I assumed was some kind of bus or train or something but when they head south in this book they take a ship. We at least know that we are on the west coast which brings me a little bit of joy because I'm from the PNW.

It's a 5 star for me. I absolutely love the author and her writing style. From the first time I read Hearts of a Vanishing City, I loved how she describes in the best and grossest way how the near dead look and sound. I definitely love listening to this because at first I had no idea how to pronounce Zoribiatus. I scoured the author's social media and watched tons of her videos trying to hear her say that word and I could never remember where she said it but the narrator does a great job and know I will never forget how to pronounce it. The narrator has done a great job again bringing life to the author's characters. With simple inflections in her voice she is able to really convey all the emotions that all characters feel. It isn't cringy to hear her voice male characters and she makes every character just a little different than the others.

5/5 Stars

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