ARV-3 is the first book in The After Light Saga.
In case you were wondering, ARV-3 stands for Anti Radiation Vaccine. Anti Radiation Vaccine. Just to show how idiotic that sounds I'm going to repeat it once more ANTI RADIATION VACCINE! I'm not sure if you could tell, but I've really been wondering how one would create a VACCINE against radiation. IMHO I'm pretty sure some antibodies (against radiation, how is that even supposed to work?!) aren't going to save you. </rant>
Okay, sorry, I just let myself go a bit, and I should tell myself 'This is SF, everything is possible, even if it makes no sense at all.' In the book's defence, they never really claim they thought it would work, but still decide to inject it into quite a number of people. Seems legit.
Some people escaped however, either in government bunkers or in smaller so-called family hives (made by doomsday-preppers). These people have been living in these bunkers for 15 years! How much food was stored in there? 15 years is a very long time to stay in a bunker. And then, all of a sudden, they want to leave, even though there is still a certain amount of food left to keep them alive for some time (at least months) they can't wait to leave the bunker. Even though there are all kind of signs that things aren't safe up there. Thanks to the ARV-3 and the radiation, the world is now infested with cannibalistic zombies. Hooray! (The Arvies actually remind me of the monsters from The Passage; also some kind of 'vaccine' gone terribly wrong).
(I would have stayed in my SAFE bunker), but the gang including elderly people and a few teenagers decides this is the moment for a month long stroll through the country side. And even though their plan backfires almost immediately, they decide to keep going. Sure. But will rescue mean safety?
Important question, I would think. But, not for Abigail and her sort-of boyfriend Finn. They are mostly worrying about each other. Because now they found more people, who's to say the other won't find someone they like more. Indeed, the most important question in times of zombie attacks and trying to survive...
Besides these things that just really don't make any sense to me, especially the forced romance subplot, it was quite enjoyable. The first part in the bunker was very nice to read and I really liked the idea. I'm still hoping that the decisions the people in this novel make will be a bit more logical, but actually I'm kind of curious to find out what will happen to the group (partly because they really don't seem fit for the task of surviving).
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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