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Donners Of The Dead (2014)

by Karina Halle(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Metal Blonde Books

review 1: I'm a big historical fan, so when I saw that Karina Halle was combining Historical with Zombies I was super excited! This book was such a fun, scary, sexy read & I devoured it (no pun intended).Let's start with the heroine, I adored Eve & loved how strong she was. Even though her life wasn't easy she never let it get her down or expect someone else to pick up the pieces. The prejudice she faced was rough to read at times but she handled it really well & it made me respect her more. Jake the Hero was hard to warm up to at first. Before you learn of his past you hate the way he treats Eve & want to slap him many times. But once his heartbreaking past comes to light you can sympathize with him and your heart goes out to him for all he endure. I still didn't like the things he... more would say to Eve though and a good smack would have made me feel better ;) This book is categorized as "Romantic Horror" & let me tell you it fits them both perfectly. This book really scared me at times, and had me hiding behind my hand worried what would jump out next. It kept me on my toes and was a wild ride. The descriptions of the zombies were so vivid I could picture them with such clarity I was nervous I would have nightmares come bedtime. The author definitely knows how to write scary! The romance was an added bonus & just made me love this story more. Like I said before Jake was hard to like at first but once his heart came through I fell hard for this rough, gruff man. The things he would say to Eve had me melting & I was so happy they both found their perfect match. The story did include an epilogue which I was very happy about but because I loved this book so much, I was greedy for more. I really hope we get more of Eve & Jake in the future. That would make this bookworm very happy!!So to wrap this up, if you love scary zombies, strong heroines & hard as nails heroes with heart then this book is for you! My advice, don't read right before bed!! 4.5 Zombie Stars!
review 2: (There are some spoilers in my review.) I think the book could have been so much better - there were many problems, both in the proofreading and with the content. Zombie stories are chillingly fun - the idea of setting a zombie story in the years soon after the disastrous Donner party expedition seemed intriguing and fresh. I tend to be a stickler when it comes to historical accuracy, however, and although this book is meant to be a fictitious zombie novel, I wanted to see the content accurately reflect the history of the time. Historical accuracy would have made the story that much scarier, because it would have made it seem terrifyingly real. Think of the historical horror novel Eaters of the Dead (original title) by Michael Crichton - he did a beautiful job staying true to the time in which his tale was set (time of the Vikings), and this accuracy added to the horror by giving the story "legitimacy". Donners of the Dead contained several anachronisms that I felt were distracting to the story. For example, concepts and terms such as natural selection, testosterone, first aid kit, and calories (as in energy from food) were all mentioned in the book, all of which were yet unknowns in popular culture in 1851. Another example involved the character Avery and his rather high level of education. A poor farm hand probably would not even have known how to read, let alone write and speak French and have a thorough knowledge of world history. I thought it was unrealistic that Eve wasn't fluent in her father's language, given how close they had been and that he had taught her so much about his way of life. As far as that goes, how likely was it at that point in history that he would have met and fallen in love with a white woman and left his people for her? That aspect of the story seemed contrived. At the end of the story, the characters load up and leave in a carriage. A wagon would probably have been the case. As far as the romance angle between Jake and Eve went, I didn't feel that the sexual encounter in the cave was necessary to the story. More restraint in the physical aspect of the romance would have kept up the sexual tension and lent a sweetness to the relationship that would have been, well, more romantic. Plus it would have been more true to the time period. Anyway, how likely was it that those two people, exhausted, wounded, and terrified, would have let their guard down long enough to have sex when there were monsters out in the dark woods wanting to feast on their hides? And how idiotic not to take turns on watch throughout the night, preventing the theft of their horses! A savvy Texas Ranger like Jake should have known better!I wanted to like this book - it had a cool premise. Unfortunately, the author didn't research the history as much as she should have, and consequently, the numerous contrivances detracted from the story. less

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