Rating:

Space Zombies of Bordom

Author: Erin Bowman

After barely escaping from space-zombies on the inhospitable planet of Achlys, Thea, Coen, and Nova have left behind a burning station and what remained of their reanimated crewmates. They did the right thing, the save-the-world thing, but each is haunted in their own way. Oh, and Thea and Coen are infected, having turned super-human instead of being zombified, thanks to their youth. They are still carriers though, and if they accidentally infect someone else, they could start the entire cycle of violence and killing again. This time, it might not stay contained either.

When the flagging survivors are captured by the Evil Company, the memories of blood-soaked corridors on Achlys are superseded by a new fear. Evil Company is ready to spread the plague for profit. If Evil Company can fully figure out what Thea and Coen can do, and why the infection was benevolent instead of violent with them, they can create their own breed of super-solider and end a galaxy-wide war in their favor. Because if you’re an evil company, the zombie virus is no biggie and world domination is totally worth risking the haphazard annihilation of all mankind based on a few poorly run lab tests. Makes sense.

And so, the enemy here morphs. Whereas Contagion had us terrified in isolation, fearful of a virus that naturally exists in the waving black seaweed of an unexplored planet, Immunity attempts to take us into a B-movie political blame game that goes from absurd to outlandish. We have the one-dimensional Evil Company scientists and representatives torturing Thea and Coen to discover the extent of their capabilities (how much damage can they heal, how does their telepathic connection work, how fast and strong are they, etc.) It’s endless sequences of these lab tests with Thea and Coen falling in love based on the weird bond that the virus has created.

While Contagion was a fast-paced horror/thriller, Immunity has an entirely different vibe. It is torturously slow paced. The focus is divided between the developing, forced, zero-chemistry love story between Thea and Coen (which was NOT a focal point of the first book) and a silly attempt

Image by Fran Soto from Pixabay

at setting up Evil Company world-domination political shenanigans (add requisite evil laugh here.) The zombies come in very, very late, and by the time they finally show up with some high octane and risk, we’re too stultified to care. Just eat them all, space zombies, and save us from this torpid plot.

One thing that does remain consistent is Nova and her stupid love interests. While Thea and Coen are mentally speaking to each other and super in love / connected throughout various torture/science experiments, Nova is not a super strength human. She’s taken some damage and is slowly recuperating in a med bay with the help of a dippy young intern named Amber. Cue another dumb love story. Amber and Nova hit it off, but, of course, they need to be slow and awkward about it and not have even one single adult conversation.

*spoiler*

Amber is much younger than Nova, and so when she gets the zombie virus, she becomes super-human. But if she gets with Nova and say, kisses her, then Nova will pick up the virus and go full psychopathic zombie. This, apparently, is not a relationship problem. Like, what??? How does that work then? And also, why does Nova fall in love with every dumb woman she meets? Can you hold out for someone with some sense please? Or, you know, wait to have a big, angsty, teen crush after the zombie apocalypse is over???

While Contagion certainly had its logical faults, it did have pulse pounding action and some imagination. Immunity, on the other hand, is just a total flop. It’s a different story entirely with a different feel. It concentrates on everything that DID NOT WORK in the first book without pulling in any of what did work. No more for me. If a third book pops up in this series, count me out.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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