Futuristic setting, zombies, and lesbians. What more do you need?Regan Grier finds herself in a city infested with technologically driven zombies. She survives on her own for years, until Captain Alisia Terone comes to rescue her. Regan then falls for the inconveniantly straight Alisia, which Regan is convinced that Alisia only "thinks" she is straight. Together they hunt for a solution against the ever advancing intellect of the zombies. Hilarious dialogue as Regan will inappropriately hit on Alisia no matter the situation or danger. A quick read that leaves me laughing every time. Excerpt: Alisia was having such a nice dream. Of what did she dream? Nothing. No zombies, no nanites, no Regan and Kris making nasty faces at each other in the hall. Nothing. Then, a sound. Wait, was that part of the dream? She felt a weight press down on the mattress near by. No, the dream was over. A weight came down gently on her hips and as she opened her eyes she saw Regan's hand about to brush her cheek. Regan was straddling her, gazing into her eyes. "Hey, Alisia, you asleep?" "No, I always snore while I inspect my eyelids. Get out!" Alisia's voice came cranky, but soft. "We need to talk." Regan sounded upset and serious. "Ugh. Do I have a choice?" "No." "In that case, what's on your mind?" "Get rid of Kris, please?" Regan's voice teetered like that of a little girl who'd been crying. "Is it really that bad?" Alisia slowly had to face the idea that she was now wide awake. "....please" Regan pleaded, barely audible. "You can defend yourself from her just fine." "It's not me I'm worried about- it's you. She'll steal you from me." Regan's eyes focused down where she was tracing little circles on Alisia's night shirt her finger. "You don't have me, I'm not a lesbian!" "Yeah...." Regan said concerned, "We need to discuss that, too." Alisia rolled her eyes. "By the way, I'm much relieved to have woken up with your hand on my face this time." She looked down at Regan's finger wiggling on her abdomen, and moved it aside. "Hey, do you wear those nylons to bed or something?" "Just when I plan to come visit you in the middle of the night." "So.. always then." "Yeah. So.. can you get rid of Kris?" ".... She's doing a good job so far. I have no concrete reason to get rid of her." Regan considered telling Alisia about Kris and Parker's little encounter. No, it might damage Parker's standing with Alisia, and that wasn't fair. "Fine. I'll.... just promise me.. if you have a change of heart about girls in general... you'll come to me, not her...?" Alisia rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, whatever. Fine." "No. Not whatever. I'm serious. If..." Regan's eyes were wide, and welling. She grabbed Alisia's hand. "Fine." Alisia said, grabbing Regan's hand with both hands, patronizing her in an exaggerated manner. "I will. IF." Regan seemed very relieved. "Now can I get to sleep?" Alisia asked bluntly. "Okay!" Regan flumped down on top of Alisia and began to get cozy. "Get out!"It's not very long, but I loved what was there. This is the first time I have tried to review something, so I don't know how and I'm not sure if I actually helped :/
Let me first say that, overall, I enjoyed this book, though I do have some mixed feelings about it. More on that later. I shall first say what is good about it.I could just say that the writing is good, and though true, I must also say that I loved the ambiguity of the setting (I get the impression that this isn't Earth), I loved the occasional Biblical symbolism, I loved the imagery, and I loved the technology present. Though nanites aren't the freshest of sci-fi tropes, Picard still makes them magical, and all the other technology is either scientifically plausible or awe-inspiring, and frequently both. Zombies are pretty done-to-death in this day and age, too, but Picard's zombies can be alternatively funny (they really seem to like lawn flamingoes, for some reason) or disturbing. They never really pull off "intimidating," but that role falls instead to the villain.With that, I must discuss the characters. The villain is great. He's exactly how I'd expect a HUGE NERD to act upon discovering super powers, while simultaneously coming across as evil and insane from casually causing wanton death and destruction, mostly just because he can. The main characters, however, are the source of my mixed feelings. The main protagonist, Regan, is a lesbian with a huge crush on the other main protagonist, Alisia. Regan survived the first zombie-outbreak, and Alisia is a soldier, the first normal human Regan saw after two years living in the zombie-infested ruins. The problem is, Alisia is straight, and Regan is extremely forward with her advances. So forward, in fact, her advances would probably count as sexual assault.There were times in this book that I thought the overt sexuality was about as tasteless as one of those Japanese harem animes, but then we'd get a look at some of the motivations behind this, and we see that Regan's not quite right. After losing her brother and living alone amongst zombies for two years, she bears some significant emotional issues. There were scenes involving her emotional frailty that were heartbreaking in their poignance. Over all, I suppose the two extremes kind of balance each other out, but it still gave me a nagging feeling at the back of my head.One last nitpick: while the pacing is generally good, there were a few slow spots. Particularly, the middle part seemed a bit lacking. That's usually where I'd expect a major disaster, but what we got instead was sort of a minor victory and a really quiet disaster. Oh well. Things would always pick up sufficiently later, making for an over all satisfying read.
What do You think about Lifehack (2012)?
On first starting Lifehack, I was inclined to feel a little disappointed - yet another zombie apocalypse, yada yada, I thought, despite the traditional science fiction origin of the zombies rather than the more overdone paranormal. But as the story developed I quickly realised that it was far from 'yet another' anything.In a world gone crazy, its very existence threatened by a mad scientist, a traumatised young woman and a toughened combat veteran find the seeds of a great love. The development of the love between Regan and Major Terone builds slowly and comes gracefully to fruition just as they save the world. It's a charming and delicate love story, not marred by salaciousness or by over-sentimentalism, and providing a lovely counterpoint to scenes of violent action worthy of an Arnold Schwarzenegeer film. The characters are well developed, and the different points of view well handled. Picard avoids the trap often seen in science fiction of boring on and on about the technology, and love scenes are handled with grace and restraint. There's a little spice of humour, and all in all Lifehack is a most enjoyable read which will appeal to science fiction afficionados and romance readers alike.The book comes to a satisfying and definitive conclusion, avoiding the sin of the cliffhanger ending that is all too often perpetrated nowadays, but leaving enough doubt that the way is open for a sequel, and in fact I note with pleasant anticipation that two sequelae exist.
—Tabitha Ormiston-Smith
