This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com
Sigh.

I don’t really know how to review this one. It’s not bad exactly, there’s nothing truly awful about it – it’s readable, pacy, packed with action, has some okay ideas and a reasonable lead. Unfortunately, there’s also nothing that good about it. It’s all just overwhelmingly familiar and shockingly unsurprising. A by the numbers SF/Horror/Action mix that never had enough depth or originality to really engage me. As a result I found myself whizzing through it as quickly as I could so that I could move onto something else. What’s more, it advertises itself as “Mature themes. 17 Rating”, but what that means in reality is that there is a lot of swearing, a fair bit of blood spatter and a couple of pretty dull sex scenes. It ends up reading like a not very good YA novel that’s trying to be edgy and cool.

The setup is simple – an alien parasite is unleashed on Earth (it isn’t explained why, it just happens), lots of people die. The plucky survivors that remain fight the “leeches”, parasitic worms that take over human hosts. There are good survivors (like spunky heroine Bixby) and bad survivors (Ravagers). The good survivors live in a hotel and eat regular food. The bad survivors live in the ruined city and eat people (it’s never really made clear why, just, you know, that’s what some people do after an apocalypse). So basically it’s like a thousand self-published carbon copy zombie novels, only with alien parasites rather than zombies.

The group Bixby belongs to are tough resistance fighter types who go on raiding missions to find stuff. We know they’re tough resistance fighters because when they’re not on missions they play poker and insult each other a lot. One is Bixby’s kind of boyfriend, but she’s still hung up on an old (missing presumed dead) boy, so there’s lots of drama. The rest of them kind of blur into one, and where they don’t it’s because they’re lazy (and sometimes slightly offensive) stereotypes. There’s a sweet old lady, a harsh but fair leader, a hard drinking mom type and a possibly psychic woman with Downs Syndrome.

At times the high level of cheese is kind of fun (lines like “We’ll keep you safe, little Bixby, or my name isn’t Captain John Cooper” made me smile), but it quickly becomes apparent that the cheese isn’t backed up by any substance at all. The plot is incredibly slight – they go on a mission, there is a setback which they overcome, they complete the mission. That might not have been a problem if the characters weren’t paper thin, bland and uninteresting. The author tries to keep things current by throwing in lots of geek references (Marvel, Raider of the Lost Ark), but all these serve to do is highlight the originality and storytelling passion that is lacking in this book.

There are some fun scenes (I quite liked the huge dog character who appears near the end) but these are rare glimmers of light in what is otherwise a pretty grey darkness. If you’ve never read or seen a post-apocalyptic book or movie you might enjoy this, otherwise I’d recommend avoiding it. ( )

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Marnye Young is a new narrator for me. I found I enjoyed her smooth voice and pace from the beginning. My brain didn't fight her voice, but instead instantly fell into pace with her narration. The characters felt to be true to the feelings she gave us in voice.

The first chapter is how the world ended and what happened to the people. This could have easily been boring, but it was well done! I got to know Bixby and what happened to the world. We see what the threat is and what they will be fighting. We also get hints as to weaknesses for the creatures. All this was well written that it kept my attention with being filled with a faster pace.

We have people who were not infected by the alien spores and are now fighting to survive in the world of people who are zombie like with the alien in them. Why are these people not infected? We get that answer as the story goes. I like that there are reasons for how and why things are the way they are. It puts my mind to ease, and the author does that. She gives me these answers so I can focus on the characters and what they are fighting for, and the romance that is present.

The story also has a romance to it. Bixby has a current lover, but she doesn't want love involved. Her heart still has a strong hold on Sam, who left a year ago and hasn't returned. Bixby starts to learn that she needs to open up her heart again, and this man is a perfect match for her. This is something Bixby thinks on through the book and finally accepts. (Although, after the ending, I think there's going to be heartache.)

It's been eight years since the first infection. They know what they are fighting and how to fight it. Though, there are changes seen. It's looking like the leeches are evolving and becoming a new, more dangerous, threat to the dwindling human survivors. Now, how do they stop this new threat from birthing and destroying what's remaining of humanity?

This is not a new story. The idea of the aliens and even the love relationships are something we're familiar with. But the author did a wonderful job of creating her own characters in the world. They are their own individuals and felt to stick out in this world for me. That's what makes the story for me.

The blend of hard personality to prevent feeling the hurt of lose in this world and growth of love along with an infected world one has to fight to survive was something that I slipped into and enjoyed. The book held my attention and I enjoyed Bixby's hard personality. Though, I can see some readers not liking Bixby's harsh personality. But, in her defense, it's her way of protecting herself and her heart. I really felt to understand why she was the way she was. And loved seeing her come to a realization in the end.

This book has an ending for what they are working to achieve. However, there was a comment made in the end that had me curious for the next book. Then, we get the last chapter which goes with the comment and REALLY has me curious about what will happen in the next book - with threat and love sides of the story. ( )

I received a copy of Strain of Resistance from the author for an honest review and I am so glad I did. It was awesome!

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked this one up to start reading it. I was hoping I would enjoy it, but for some reason I wasn’t expecting to really like it. I think I’ve just been let down by so many books this year, that I didn’t go into this one with high expectations. So needless to say, I was blown away.

Strain of Resistance was such a fun read. There is so much action and I don’t even know how many times I laughed out loud. I couldn’t put it down and flew through it in a day. I actually got slightly annoyed anytime I had to put the book down for a bit and I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again.

The only negative thing I can say about this book, and the reason I had to give it four stars instead of five, is there are a lot of typos. Other than that, this book was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Just before writing this I saw that there is a prequel, Grand Escape. I don’t normally read e-books because they give me migraines, but I might need to buy that one and give it a read. I also hope there will be a book two soon because of that ending. I need more. ( )