Ranger Martin and the Search for Paradise by Jack Flacco

Fellow blogger Jack Flacco who runs a wonderful blog featuring tons of awesome and entertaining features will be releasing the last book of his Ranger Martin trilogy on October 20th, 2015. I had the privilege to get an advanced reader copy to give it a go and write up an honest review. Thanks so much to Jack for offering me the book! I appreciate it greatly!

If you haven’t seen my review for the first two books in his series, you can check them out here.  They are spoiler free so no worries about it ruining anything for you.

Book 1 Ranger Martin and the Zombie Apocalypse
Book 2 Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion

Now its time to look at the third book! Are you ready? I know I am!

Ranger Martin and the Search for Paradise
by: Jack Flacco

Coming back from the last mission exploring the alien invasion, Ranger Martin, Randy, Matty and Jon decide to head back to their now home in the silo except it is now taken over by three kids: Mark, Silver and Sunglow.  One little mistake and then a bad decision leads them to run away again, except this time right before Ranger Martin caught word that there’s a place safe from the undead.  A place where they can live away from all this.  The only deal is that they need to get there alive.  Will they be able to do it? Is Paradise really paradise?

 This Ranger Martin series has been absolutely strong.  The first two books were page turners full of clever premises in the overused zombie apocalypse genre.  Yet, he is able to bring in some intriguing and fun characters.  Notably, an older man Ranger Martin who is very much full of character that takes care of a younger girl Matty and her little brother Jon and who has picked up a boy named Randy along the way.  In this one, early in the novel we encounter a new trio, Mark, Silver and Sunglow (two boys and a girl respectively).  They are a little less experienced and carry a similar dynamic to Ranger’s crew.  Everyone’s lost someone and we continue to experience loss but in this third book, we bring back some characters from the second book as well.  Its nice to have some connection because it gives it some link.

In this final installment to his Ranger Martin trilogy, we’re back to a zombie heavy novel.  I feel that this third one may be the strongest one of the three.  While the others are still very good, this one brings in a new aspect and focuses on the kids a little more, specifically the personal relationships going on between the teenagers here, Matty and Randy.  We get a little bit more of Ranger Martin’s back story in a little more depth and understand his actions and why he is the way he is and all the hatred aside from the obvious need to survive in this zombie apocalypse thats turned him into a ruthless zombie slayer.  They deal with their feelings and decisions.  While this could have turned lanky and heavy, somehow it managed to steer away from that territory even if there were slight moments of silly teenage drama that seemed to come up.

The action remains the key here.  Jack manages to make each of his action scenes a pleasure to read.  The visualization and description goes very well hand in hand and I can recreate the scene in my head.  There are a good amount of action which keeps the intense reading experience going despite the personal drama to help balance it out a little.  The group travels in this one and the concepts of hope and survival all come into play.  The final scenes concerning Paradise and the events leading up the final third of the book create the most memorable parts of the novel that kept me wanting to know what happens next.  What is even better is that while I did predict what would happen in the final scenes, it did escape my expectations a little and gave me a little surprise.  I always like to have that feeling.

Overall, Ranger Martin and the Search for Paradise was a pleasure to read from its frequent and vivid intense action scenes to the addition of better understanding the more deeper feelings of the characters we’ve learned to know over the last two books, Ranger Martin, Matty and Randy.  It all weaves together into a fun-filled reading experience but still manages to set a smart premise in a rather overused apocalyptic world .  It does hit some silly teenage drama despite the situation they are in but manages to steer away from it quickly.  Definitely one that I’d recommend especially if you’ve read the first two and enjoyed it.  If you haven’t, I’d suggest for you to get a hold of the first two and give this trilogy a go.  Its worth your time! 🙂

Book Review: Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion by Jack Flacco

It is my absolute honor that fellow blogger and author Jack Flacco asked me be part of his review team for his new book that will be launched next Tuesday (October 21st) to be the first group to read and review his new novel, Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion.  This is the sequel of his previous novel launched last year called Ranger Martin and the Zombie Apocalypse.

Jack is a very awesome blogger who has a fantastic blog featuring a few lovely segments like Women Who Wow Wednesday and Freedom Friday and Monday Mayhem. I urge you to check out his blog right HERE!

Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion

by Jack Flacco

I’m not a huge reader of zombie books.  In fact, I only started last year when I read World War Z and Warm Bodies for their movie adaptations.  And then there Jack first novel which dragged me into this lovely zombie apocalypse world when his main character Ranger Martin was extremely entertaining to watch.  He reminded me a little of the free-spirited, going out of with a bang  personality like Tallahassee in Zombieland.  Of course, as a character in a novel, the development is done better.  With the way things ended in the first one, this second one picks up a little while after as the original group separates due to difference in opinions.

In this world, its already succumbed to the zombie apocalypse except now an unknown entity has invaded them.  No one knows who they are and where they are from but they do know that they are causing a lot of pain and destroying the remaining human life that exists.  What is their plan? No one knows.  Regardless, Ranger Martin has to hold up his responsibility for taking care of the kids that sticks with him and while these entities try to track down one of their members, Randy, he also tries to find them and stop their plans before there isn’t anything and anywhere left for them.

Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion never really stops.  Unlike the first where there moments to slow down and breath, despite still being extremely eventful this one is non-stop action for the most part.  It also traces different groups: Ranger Martin and his crew, a new group of kids, the military, etc.  We get a perspective of how things are further than just where Ranger Martin is and that gives the readers a wider perspective of the world that Jack has built with the zombie apocalypse.

I have to say that adding aliens to the equation is very smart.  Its not just zombies but now it gets worse when you add in an unknown thing that has unknown capabilities like aliens.  Its a whole different ballpark and it makes for an exciting adventure.  Thats how I felt while I was reading this novel.  It was really fun and the description of how things went down was very vivid that I could get what was going on. Ranger Martin is still a fantastic character and in this one, he gets a deeper development as we get to see a little more of his history and background here and there.  That helps to connect with the character.

The new additions to the book each were good in their own ways.  Some didn’t get a lot of development and some only showed up near the end, however each had their purpose.  The only thing I felt wasn’t done as well was the relationship from last novel’s Matty and Randy.  Except, I wonder if it could be different because there isn’t much time to think about having something more.  Its just sometimes the actions a bit irrational and that was just one part where I felt that way so the impact wasn’t huge.  Plus, it is considered young love as they are just 15 years old and never really quite encountered feelings especially in the situation and environment they are in.

Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion has a clever premise, doubling the danger of zombies and adding in another layer with aliens, while keep Ranger Martin a memorable character who isn’t going to back down from any situation.  The action is consistent and frequent making this an exciting and at times, intense read.  The characters from the previous books each have a little more development and growth in this one and we learn a little more about them. Although there are little parts that could be polished, it is a step up from the previous book which felt lengthy at parts, which never happens in this one and if it did, I wasn’t frequent enough for me to notice it.  Definitely a great read and I highly recommend it.  Its fun, entertaining and full of action! 🙂

If this interests you, remember to take note that it comes out on October 21st.  Also, remember to check out Jack’s site (which I linked above)!

Zombies, Vampires, Owls and Food!

This week’s personal post is totally going to be *almost* all about Halloween! Almost, ok? A few key events has happened this year which makes me somewhat excited about.  We’ll try to do this in as chronological order as possible 🙂 Lets get right to it since I need to head out for some overtime at work REALLY soon!

First up, earlier this week, on October 22nd, a fellow blogger, Jack Flacco launched his novel about the Zombie Apocalypse and used a very witty and smart character called Ranger Martin.  I got to awesome chance to review it last week. If you didn’t get a chance to read my review of it, you can check it out HERE! If you think only my opinion isn’t enough, then you can check out the words of the rest of the review team HERE! Jack’s a great supportive blogger and if you need some reading material to go with the Halloween mood, this one is definitely a great choice for you and even your kids.

Second, on Wednesday or Thursday, I came home to a cute little package sunk into my mailbox and it turns out the Kickstarter project I had supported for a movie called Lord of Tears arrived in the mail.  I had took the pledge for the Signed DVD Collector’s Set with the soundtrack, I think.  It looks like this 🙂

Cool stuff, right? Its going into the Halloween marathon! I have a lot of stuff for the marathon coming up.  Maybe a few days of double reviews for Monday to Thursday.  Just a quick heads up for that! I’m on horror overcharge.  I’m going to try and kick up the intensity at the same time.  We’ll see how that goes 🙂

Next up, I’m going to talk about a campaign right now for a giveaway in Tribesports to win some tickets for the Run For Your Lives race and some other goodies.  That looks totally cool although they don’t have it here in Montreal.  Closest for me is in Toronto.   They do have locations all over the place.

You can comment below with your best kickass zombie-training plan, Tweet @Tribesports with the hashtag #zombiesurvival, or comment on the Facebook post.

The instructions are over HERE. If you are into working out, Tribesports is an awesome supportive community and they even have some workouts targeted for the whole Zombie Apocalypse preparation.  How about it? I’m definitely getting some in and I’ll talk about it soon in my workout post.  Its never too soon to prepare for running away from some zombies, right?

Last thing that actually happened was last night, my friend got these certificates to eat at the Casino of Montreal for the buffet and all four of us feasted in a crazy way.  We almost had to roll down 5 flights of stairs and to the car.  Believe me, it was painful over potholes and the uneven highways.  It was some really delicious stuff.  Here’s a mix of my plates and some of my friends (especially dessert and crab legs for them).

My first plate

Second Plate

My 4th and dessert plate

I just realized that I didn’t take my 3rd plate which had Fried Shrimps, Lobster Claw and Garlic Shrimps and probably something else but I can’t remember.

How about a little update for my TV watching! The only thing I watched this week was Vampire Diaries and I find it pretty good.

Don’t click on that picture.  This was taken from the Hollywood life site.  I just liked this poster a lot for the Season 5 Vampire Diaries.

Okay, I’m really late already! Apparently, writing posts are time-consuming.  Who would have thought that, right?

Lets end with some awesome music! Nothing Halloween though, I haven’t found it yet, but there was a really cool Disney Medley from two very talented artists on Youtube.

Not the end yet! I just remembered that my boyfriend took some awesome vids of last weekend’s excursion.  One is at the pet store.  Our conversation is hilarious since it was the first time he used his new phone to record a video.

Kim = smartass…yes, I know 😉

Then, later that day, we had my piano practice and my cat getting all excited.  Its pretty cute!

Hope that put a smile to your face! I know I had a good laugh out of it!

Have a great weekend everyone! Stay awesome! 🙂

Book Review: Ranger Martin and the Zombie Apocalypse by Jack Flacco

As weird as there’s only two book reviews that stand out in that section according to my WordPress stats, I was given the opportunity of reviewing the advanced copy of fellow blogger, Jack Flacco’s debut novel, Ranger Martin and the Zombie Apocalypse. It will be launched on October 22.  As late as this review may be due to some technical difficulties on my alarm not ringing, I had to read this over the last two days.  I love the world of zombies and even though, I don’t read a tremendous amount of it, I do enjoy watching zombie flicks a lot. Very much like Jack in THIS POST, I may not have hated zombies (unlike Jack) but my love for zombie flicks did start with 28 Days Later also.  Over the years, I’ve watched Dawn of the Dead (remake), 28 Weeks Later, Zombieland and the most recent World War Z. The list goes on but those are some of my favorites.

Ranger Martin and the Zombie Apocalypse is about an Oklahoma shotgun wielding man who is determined to figure out what started this zombie apocalypse and how to end it.  He is teamed up at a military silo with a teenage boy he saved that he nicknamed Wildside.  Wildside is not ordinary either, he has some very nifty skills, one in particular that could be very useful but also extreme.  Along the way, he picks up siblings, older sister Matty and her younger brother Jon who had been wandering by themselves.  Later on, another teenage boy joins them in the attempt to save the world from the zombie apocalypse.  This boy, Randy, is special as he escaped from a prison where he was possibly put there for a specific reason due to the belief from the military that he is the saviour. However, nothing can be sure as when he woke up in that prison, he had also lost his memory prior.  As each have their own reasons to join together to figure out how the apocalypse started and why they want to end it, they all know one thing for certain, it was going to be one where they had to fight to stay alive.

I’m quite inexperienced when it comes to zombie novels.  The only ones I’ve read prior to this one is Warm Bodies, which I reviewed earlier this year.  There is nothing to compare to for me however, Ranger Martin and The Zombie Apocalypse is an engaging read.  There were some parts that felt a bit lengthy here and there but the down times were never long enough to make it slow.  Its a good debut for Jack.

There are a few things that I liked about the book

First of all, I liked a lot that its beginning wasn’t overly descriptive in a way that it was a drag (which happens a lot).  It was a fun way to introduce us to all the characters and what generally brought them together.  Because its from a third person, we see how everyone interacts and their reactions instead of just one person’s view and that works really well for how the story pans out.

Second, we get a good idea of the contrast of the personality and the value their abilities have to make this a good team.  Definitely its a team with their own sets of problems and kinks they need to work out but with Ranger Martin’s over the top entrances powered by his anger towards the situation, the tough and protective Matty who protects her brother Jon from growing up before he actually has to amidst the situation and the two teenage boys.  We get emotional clashes and bonds that develop and that brings on character development.

Third is what I mentioned on the top, the book has quite a bit of intense action especially in the last few chapters.  However, aside from it being very much action, in a way that you feel like you are reading a movie.  Jack’s writes in a way where I had an easy time picturing and seeing in my mind what was really going down.  Its a pretty fun experience for the most part and especially in most situations, we always have Ranger Martin bringing in some witty smartass comment to loosen up the intensity sometimes.

How about it? Halloween book review featured a novel written by one of our very own about zombies.  Jack does a great job in this first novel and I urge you to grab a copy when its released on October 22 (thats next Monday!).  I promise it’ll be fun! I read this over 2 days and there were many times I didn’t even want to put it down, not because of time constraint to get this review up but because it just had so much action going on. I loved it and totally recommend it! 🙂