Angel is having problems. She took the zombie drug V12 originally
to help her in a mission for the Tribe. Then she kept taking it because it
helped with her studies and her dyslexia – and then she kept taking it despite
the side effects
It’s a major hurdle to overcome, but she can’t focus on it alone – there’s a threat to expose zombies and the Tribe has its hands full with Sabaton’s plotting.
And there’s murder on her doorstep – which may be related
to zombie hunting. It’s a lot to handle and there’s only Angel free to step up.
Have I mentioned how much I love this series? Because I
really love this series. More surprisingly, I love this series for different
reasons to why I love Diana Rowland’s Kara
Gillian series (though both series are in my top 10 list). I love Kara Gillian because I love the
world, I love the setting, I love the awesome, epic plots – I’m not saying I
don’t love Kara as well, but the world and plot is amazing. While the White Trash Zombie Series I love
primarily because of Angel – again, not that the world or plots are lacking,
far from it. But Angel is such an excellent character and this book just
continues Angel’s story
I think the first thing to emphasise about Angel is that
she isn’t super. She’s a zombie, but no more powerful than the average zombie.
She’s not stupid, but hardly super intelligent either. She’s physically capable
but doesn’t have super strength or move in a blur of speed. She can handle
herself, but don’t expect her to pull our ninja moves or shoot with deadly
accuracy over vast distances.
Yet, despite that (or because of that), she is one of the strongest characters I’ve come across who has accomplished more and overcome more than most I’ve read. The very lack of epicness about her underscores just how awesome our White Trash Zombie is.
At the end of the last book I predicted Angel was going
to have some problems with the zombie pharmaceuticals the Tribe is now
producing – more, that she should have problems with them. She managed to
overcome drug addiction when she became a zombie simply because she became a
zombie – and with that became immune to the drugs she used to take, forcing her
to quit. Now there are zombie pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals she uses, which
are helpful and useful to her – and are addictive
Reading this can be painful. Because you know she’s
making terrible decisions. You want to yell “no, Angel, nooooo!” but this is
very much in character. One thing she’s been clear about from the very
beginning of the series is that addiction is a terrible thing to wrestle with
and she knew she dodged the bullet. Seeing her actually struggle with addiction
this book is excellent – including how Dr. Nikas responds to her (excellently
and with great understanding compassion and no small amount of guilt because he
realises that by having Angel use the performance enhancing drug without any
real thought of the consequences or her history he set her up to have addiction
problems), how she has to work rough this problem, how hard it is and how proud
she is of herself when she does succeed is all excellent.
I also like how Angel falls back into addiction – it
isn’t a simple case of “oh yeah I want it.” She takes the drugs to both calm
her anxiety and to help her control and manage her dyslexia while she goes to
college. Like many people who become addicted to drugs, Angel begins by
self-medicating to deal with low self-esteem, to treat her mental illness and
treat her dyslexia – I like that this is included because we often miss some of
the causes of addiction, preferring to present it as more a “moral failing”
because judgementalism is always more popular
I also love Angel’s growing confidence in herself, now
happier to go to rich people’s parties, happier to challenge Pietro with her
own ideas, confident that her ideas do have value and are worth listening to.
When people try to talk down to her and make her feel small, she is confident
enough in herself to let it roll off her – because she knows her worth and
doesn’t believe what they tell her.
There is also a big difference in the plot here – in that
all the plot is Angel driven. She’s not being pulled into a plot line because
she was attacked or targeted (or not exactly), nor because she’s following
orders or following instructions from the Tribe or part of a larger
organisation, nor is she struggling to survive. She could hunker down. She
could wait for advice. She doesn’t – she takes control, she acts on her own
initiative, she takes what help she can but also recognises her own abilities.
This isn’t loose cannon charging off on her own, spraying Spunky Agency
everywhere, this is a capable zombie recognising that they are very low on
people at the moment (there’s a lot of things demanding the Tribe’s attentions)
so she needs to step up and do her part. This book shows Angel stepping up as a
member of the Tribe and making it clear “I’m a valued member of this group.”
The plot itself is fun, action packed and full of Angel
making good choices and smart decisions, not getting everything right and
having to adjust her positions several times but still rocking, moving with
confidence and generally being awesome. I especially like her taking the initiative
to trust and include people and having the confidence to do so, even though it
meant stepping far outside the Tribe’s usual methods.
We have some POC in the story – Coy, one of the people
caught up in Angel’s ex’s murder story is Black man. Rachel, one of the
enforcers for the Tribe is a Black woman. We have a movie star present who is
acting in a zombie film who is an Asian woman and one of her co-workers is
Derrel a Black man. I mean, they’re there and they’re not stereotyped or trope
laden… but that’s about all you can say about them. They’re just not there in
any real meaningful or story changing manner. And the same applies to pretty
much all women in the book (and I’m disappointed that Rachel is so antagonistic
towards Angel because she may be the only female zombie I can think of).
Justine (the Asian actress) and Angel get on and maybe they’ll build a
relationship in future books, but at the moment Angel moves through a very male
world and a largely white one – Allen, Dr. Nikas, Jacques, her father, the
humans she allies with pretty much most of the main actors are all straight
white men (and, yes, everyone in this book is straight).
It’s the part of the book review that always saddens me.
Because I don’t want to do this – I don’t want to poke the lack of LGBT people
or meaningful POC or female interaction because I want to just revel in the
awesomeness that is Angel. I want to love this excellent character, her issues
with her disability, class, addiction and how she has grown and developed and
is just so very awesome and one of my favourite protagonists in any series I’ve
read – yet that absence of meaningful POC and LGBT characters in a relatively
large cast is not something I can ignore
I’m still going to fanpoodle the awesomeness that is
Angel, that is this series and that makes Diana Rowland one of my favourite
authors, I just wish I didn’t have to throw in the caveat at the end
