Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone
My rating: 4/5 cats
It was almost completely dark out, which confused Melanie for a moment. It was an airport. It should have been lit up. But then she caught a glimpse of a skittering dark mass and the baseball-size bodies held aloft by eight legs, and she realized that of course it made sense that the airport was dark. There was nobody left to turn the lights on.
this is the third book in a trilogy about what happens after millions of carnivorous spiders hatch and skitter all across the globe. they’re just doing what spiders do, eating, laying eggs, spinning webs, but they are doing it on a monstrous scale, and their food and breeding grounds are … peeeeeeooplllllle.
if you’ve read the synopsis for this volume, you’re all caught up on what’s happened in the first two books, but you’re missing out on all the spice of detail, so go read the books, dum-dum!
this series is structured in alternating 3rd person POVs, and as the books go on, the number of these POVs diminishes because giant spiders do not care if they eat someone who is meant to be providing a window into a particular branch of the phenomenon. they do not care at all. and so characters get eaten or web-wrapped for future munchies or for wifey-queen back home, or have eggs laid in ‘em, or fall victim to the human-perpetuated violence that naturally follows the end of the freaking world. and yet, if i had to make a complaint (and i don’t, but i will), it’s that there are maybe too many characters. and even though that list is further whittled down in this third book, there doesn’t always seem to be much for a recurring character to do. there are a couple of storylines that were more functional in the first or second book, but are now just a bit of thumb-twiddling. i mean, don’t get me wrong – i love mike and leshaun more than any other characters in this book, but they are not strong contributors to the narrative here, although i suppose it would be even less satisfying to not have any closure to their story. and i would have laughed less while reading it if they weren’t there. but if someone can tell me why the aonghas/thuy/padruig scotland storyline was in any of the books, i will give you a dollar.
still, this third part really brings it, particularly in the president’s storyline. so many tough choices and … differing opinions. if shonda rhimes changes her mind and decides to do an eighth season of scandal, i hope it is with an adaptation of this book. i wanna see mellie and olivia pope handle this shit.
all in all, a satisfying end to the trilogy, although i’d be perfectly willing to read MOAR giant spiders, if moar giant spiders wanted to come ’round.
okay, and while searching for awesome spider GIFs, i found these:
attached to this story, which is equal parts genius and horrible accident waiting to happen.
https://www.boredpanda.com/dog-spider…
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i am starting my october spookybooks festival a few hours early.
do not be alarmed.
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MAKE IT RAIN SPIDERS, SON!!!
i am so excited for more.
