Review: The Zona

The Zona by Nathan Yocum

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Post-apocalyptic
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: fans of dark post-apocalyptic fantasy
Trigger Warnings: religious persecution (by which I mean the persecution of people by religious dogmatics), torture, murder, killing, violence

My Thoughts: I decided to go ahead and read this book after reading Automatic Woman and liking the writing style. This is a very dark book, but a most engaging one. I was impressed by the author's ability with description; each scene was sharp and distinct in my inner eye. This would make an amazing movie.

A lot of this book is basically about man's inhumanity to man, about what happens when power-hungry dogmatics take control and continue to live by the old memories. The destruction of the peaceful people by religious nuts who remember how things used to be and use those old memories rather than learning if things have changed made me furious.

There's some interesting ideas put forward in this book. Like this one:

“Church and God ain't the same thing. From what I know, God's perfect. The Church makes mistakes... God's about order, Church is about power, as best as I can figure, to be against one is not to be against the other.”

Then also: “Good people will outlast the rule of the Church. No rule of law lasts for long, and there is nothing that can wholly destroy the good and evil that lives in man. It's ours to own for the duration of time and whatever exists beyond.”

A common problem with all Curiosity Quills publications is a problem with editing. I have yet to read a CQ book that is well edited, which is a shame because they put out some really excellent books and stories that some people will refuse to read due to the haphazard editing. In this book there was a lot of problem with homonyms, such as “shown” for “shone”, and missing and extra words. I would recommend CQ find some good freelance editors to supplement their editorial staff, which should improve their overall reputation. If you aren't bothered by editing errors, if you're willing to look beyond that and enjoy a really good story, you really can't go wrong with a CQ book, however. This one I would recommend to anyone interested in post-apocalyptic dark fantasy, especially as relating to how religious zealots can make things that much worse. I really enjoyed the book, but it was a downer. I need to find something light and cheerful to perk myself back up.

Disclosure: I picked this book up for free on Amazon. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: The Storms came, and with them disease and blight like mankind had never experienced. Most died, and those who didn't were quick to scramble for weapons, wealth, and control. Petty lords gave way to new societies, and from the ashes of old came the Reformed Arizona Theocracy, or simply put, the Zona. The laws are simple, all sins are punished swiftly and violently. The enforcers, otherwise known as Preachers, roam the lands hunting disgraced men and women. But what happens when Preachers stop killing? What happens when men of honor take a stand against their rulers?



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