Official Review: Stage 6 by Dylan James

[K08nr01]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Stage 6" by Dylan James.]

Stage 6, by Dylan James, follows seventeen year old Jack through a post apocalyptic United States, as he tries to survive in a new hostile world. A virus has been unleashed upon the country that turns the living into enraged zombies that possess an undying taste for human flesh. As Jack travels across the country in search for a safe haven, he allies himself with a diverse group of ragtag survivors. Jack and his new team must do whatever it takes to stay alive, in a world where the infected want to devour them at every turn.

Reviewing this story was particularly difficult for me, because of the amount of zombie material that has surfaced in recent years. Being a huge fan of the genre, successful new zombie stories are either original or are a fresh take on classic motifs. Unfortunately this story accomplishes neither of those things. The overall concept is relatively derivative, but with some fresh new ideas. The story starts with a stereotypical laboratory catastrophe, resulting in the release of a ravenous rage virus. The addition of the virus being zoonosis (ability to transfer species) in nature, added a refreshing element to the story. The vision of infected animals is absolutely terrifying, but it was not enough to overcome the immense problems with character development and pacing.

The biggest flaw in story was its little to no character development. Character development is an absolute necessity in zombie thrillers, because readers need to be punched in the gut every time a pivotal character is killed. The story is written from a first-person perspective and we are given full access to Jack’s thoughts and emotions. Unfortunately, the story gives almost no insight into Jack’s mental state or how he is coping with the new world. The story reads like a hollow video game plot, where the protagonist is simply giving us a laundry list of everything that happens. Instead of taking time to reflect on events, the story jumps into non-stop action sequences.

To be honest, I felt absolutely nothing for the characters in the story. All of the characters were not even remotely relatable and were way too comfortable in a world infested with zombies. Jack does not resemble a normal seventeen year old boy, but an action hero who learned all of his moves from video games. Jack and the rest of the characters kill their way across the country and in my opinion, never show true fear. The mentality that the characters possess, would be understandable if they had lived in that environment for years; but, only 15 days from the viruses release pass throughout the entirety of the story! You cannot expect too much realism from a zombie novel, but readers at least expect the characters to have a healthy fear of cannibalism.

A lot of the problems with character development could be salvaged by changing this story from first-person narrative to third-person. First person narrative is successful, when the author wants to show what is mentally driving a character’s actions. Since the protagonist was not responding emotionally to the events that occur within the story, it would have made sense for the reader to see him from a distance. A third-person viewpoint would have also eradicated the laundry list feel of the story. There is also quite a few proofreading errors that need to be addressed by the author.

The story is a fast paced, run and gun zombie thriller, that fell flat in key areas. I give Stage 6, 2 out of 4 stars, because of my lack of emotional attachment and proofreading errors. Being a self published novel, I truly believe that this story is unfinished. A lot more could be added to the story, seeing as it is only a mere 170+ pages long. Stage 6 shows signs of potential and can be reworked into something really special.

***
Buy "Stage 6" on Amazon

[Megan Young]

Great review, thank you!

[Stage6]

Awesome review! Thank you. I can tell you spent time on it and I appreciate that. I'm writing a short prequel to this book, and I will take your input into account.

I'm outraged that you had to deal with so many "proofreading errors," as I had the book professionally edited. I will be sure to go over it and force them to correct any mistakes they missed. I apologize for that.

[K08nr01]

Sorry I have been away from the forum for a little while. I truly believe that this story has a ton potential and I really hope you continue to work with it! Thanks for allowing me to read your work!

[milyjohnson37]

This is a great review. I don't really like reading zombie books, but I did enjoy reading your review.

[Stage6]

Just as a matter of curiosity, do you think the book would be better received by Young Adults? A group of my kid brother's friends are reading the book now, and I'm gathering that in general Young Adults require less thought behind a story and more action and zombie slaying

[K08nr01]

To answer your question in the most vague way possible (sorry), I would say yes and no. There will be a niche of YA readers that will read stories for violence, but the most successful will have a combination of the two.The Hunger Games is a great example of intense content ,fantastic character development, all the while managing to stay inside of the YA framework. In-depth character development is why there were young girls (and sadly adults) screaming, "Team Edward/Jacob." The only thing more intense than zombie slaying, is a well developed character being devoured by one! I wish you the best of luck and I am excited to read your future work!