The zombie apocalypse has hit the world. Humans are
surviving, but barely. Fifteen-year-old Amy lives with her
mother who's on the front lines, more like a security
officer to keep the zombies out of their town and destroy
them if they attack. One day her mother suddenly leaves
without any warning and Amy is all alone. Around this time a
new plague has started. People became sick with a disease
that can't be diagnosed. People grow hungry for no reason
and eat anything and everything. Even the undead have the
same symptoms and soon no one can tell the living and
zombies apart. With no plan, Amy strikes out on her own,
knowing she may not survive.
Along her travels she meets Lisa, who is known as an Ex.
Lisa is a zombie, but is still human in her thoughts and
feelings. She doesn't have an insane hunger and doesn't want
to eat human flesh. Plus if she's hurt, she recovers, as Amy
learns when Lisa cuts herself and there's no scarring or
bruising. Amy doesn't trust Lisa, but since she's all alone,
she goes with her.
Mother Nature isn't on their side either because a tornado
rips through their shelter and destroys all their food and
items. And then a man and woman in a car drive by. They
force Amy and Lisa to come with them to a compound run by
Exs, where they make the humans, known as Frails, work the
land, cook for them, and keep everything running. Amy wants
to escape in the hopes of locating her mother and finding a
safe place away from all the horrors that have taken over
the world.
FRAIL should appeal to fans of zombie apocalypse fiction but
there's a great deal of confusion within these pages.
There's a lack of world building and things are just
thrown out as if the reader will be fine with it and take it
at face value. There's no reason given why this plague has
happened and why it affects everyone, even the dead. The
writing here lacks an overall sense of cohesiveness.
Amy comes across emotionally stilted, which I guess is
understandable because of all she had been through, but
she's so unresponsive to the world around her, as if she has
become one of the mindless undead.
Joan Frances Turner's fans may enjoy FRAIL, but with some
reservations.
Being human is a disadvantage in post-apocalyptic America...
Now that the Feeding Plague has swept through human and
zombie societies, it seems like everyone is an "ex" these
days. Ex-human. Ex- zombie. Except for Amy, that is. She's
the only human survivor from her town-a frail. And if the
feral dogs, the flesh-eating exes, and the elements don't
get her, she just may discover how this all began. Because
in this America, life is what you make it...
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