The First Days

The First Days - As the World Dies: Book One

by Rhiannon Frater

Reviewed by Gerti

I have been reading Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga’s zombie novels for the past few weeks, so it is with great joy that I have discovered a strong, new voice in the genre – Rhiannon Frater. Her “The First Days” is delightful in a number of ways. First, her writing is strong and clear, and the image she draws in the first pages of the housewife whose zombie baby is trying to reach her – with the little fingers peaking beneath the door – is truly haunting. Second, she has female protagonists, which is something Kirkman and Bonansinga dabble in with their “Walking Dead” novels, but Frater (being a woman!) does it better.

However, that said, there are some rough patches in the novel as well. While I like the storyline about prosecutor Katie helping housewife Jenni out of town when the zombie apocalypse hits urban Texas, I got tired of the constant references to Katie’s lesbian lifestyle. I also wearied of the weaker Jenni consciously thinking about how she can’t be apart from Katie, because Katie is her protector now, taking the spot vacated by her now zombie-fied husband. Those passages seemed either grating or whiny, depending whose brain we were picking, to use a phrase zombies might appreciate.

Ultimately, however, the book is the story of each woman discovering her strengths and through their partnership, accomplishing feats, like rescuing other people, that truly weak individuals would not be able to manage. There is a level of realism, like when she shows the workers at the rural gas station who don’t believe the end of the world has arrived, and the rich idiot who still wants to throw his weight around in a world where money and what kind of car you drive no longer matters. These people all get killed, while our adaptable heroines carry on, first finding safety in a gun shop and then in an isolated, fortified town.

“The First Days” is a thrill ride, and a great first effort from author Frater, who apparently started writing the novel on-line, but has luckily now gotten a contract to publish all three books in her zombie trilogy. Having finished the second book, “Fighting to Survive”, by this time, I can say that it is even stronger than this one, and does not share the “rough patches” that I had trouble with in this initial offering. So I would advise readers who love the zombie genre to pick up this book, put up with its shortcomings, and plow on to Ashley Oaks, the town where civilization is trying to rebuild itself in the midst of a hoard of reanimated dead people. You won’t be sorry that you entered the world that talented newcomer Frater has created.