Published in 2012. Emma, a 19-year-old girl, who has lived alone in a hut
in the woods for a decade since her father passed away, was taught the basic
rules of survival and how she should hide and protect herself from the infected.
Up to this day she has followed the rules as she was instructed and avoided any
contact with other human beings; she only has her faithful wolf Leo as her
sole company.
But one day she hears the chilling knocking at her hut’s door; a crack she
had feared all these years and now the panic confirmed that the time had come.
For a few seconds she tries to make up her mind on what to do, and then
takes her gun and decides to pull the door ajar.
My score:
Born is the first book of the trilogy, but it gives the impression of being
the second one. Apparently crucial events occurred ten years ago, such as the
end of the world, just to mention one; but the author does not give many details
about it. The lack of background gives the feeling that we missed an essential
part of the story, or that we simply opened the book at a random page and have
started reading from that point. Ten years ago many people died and many others
got infected, of what? We do not know. And only a small percentage of the
population survived, and our heroine of course, belongs to that percentage.
The argument takes place in a rural area where the characters must supply
themselves with very meager resources and sometimes of their own invention: such
as the manufacture of bows and arrows. However, incidentally the use of phones
and other technology is mentioned which suggests that the story unfolds in
present time or at least not far from ours.
The beginning of the work is a little slow; we do not know what the
characters attempt to besides surviving in a rural sector and with limited
means. Only halfway through the book begins the action and the plot takes an
interesting twist. There is a site whose purpose is to reproduce healthy humans
in order to preserve the species. Unfortunately this episode is temporary so
the narration falls back into the camp life, meetings in the evenings around a
campfire and songs accompanied by strings.
I found the scene frankly boring, it struck me as tiresome. Though there
was a time when the protagonist comes to town and it seems she will find more
adventure there, but she just decides to turn back to the monotony of the field.
Emma is a teenager who knows how to take care of herself; however, her heroin
role is magnified to disproportionate levels. With no more preparation than
hunting animals, making arrows and living alone; Em achieves to dismantle an
organization with the help of a group of people that operates under her
leadership. When did she acquire such a skill? We do not know. It's a kind of
tall tale the fact that this girl who clearly doesn’t know how to manage a
relationship with a guy actually has the guts and the wit, essential elements to plan and execute a massive rescue.
The appearances of zombies are sporadic and their role in the plot is
unclear. I imagine that this point will be further discussed in the next
volumes of the trilogy.
In conclusion the book aims at a teenage audience, whith sensual scenes where guys are willing to have fun while girls fall in love are frequently described. In
my opinion it is a monotonous narration with a point of interest, but nothing
really compensates for the weaknesses pointed above. However I must admit that I had
the bad sense of reading a poor Spanish translation (the price we’ve got to
pay for free stuff) and this failure certainly took its toll since I didn’t
have the chance to know the writer’s style; therefore, this circumstance has
also contributed to the fact that I found this work unattractive.
If I decide to read the second part, I hope to find more precedents that
explain a little more what happened ten years ago as the first book left many
loose ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment