a "genesis" of sorts to its final "revelation", it's difficult not to read both books as an abstract of Biblical fiction, seen through the actions and eyes of a young man who was given the gift of life before he may have really understood the gift of living.
Calling Zebulon Aaron Finch a protagonist is a stretch, but antihero seems to fit, Maybe a noir hero. The antagonists, they are a plenty, What saves our hero is the goodness that he encounters in other people, He completes that understanding of living with each lesson of these good people and, to be fair, from the bad ones,
What's life without balance, right
The two books really should be read together, Anyone reading this and asking the question about reading volume one or two independently you're going to miss out of chunks of story if you do.
Both books belong an omnibus edition,
I make no exaggeration that I was angry at moments, and then smiled, and often cried, Zebulon never seemed to grow older than seventeen, Life got in the way, maybe The parable storytelling is SpotOn, I will definitely be finding my way here again, I was so sad to see him go, But, and I am not religious person either, was pleased to see our hero find the "O", sans slash,
This next bit contains a spoiler from another book by this author: SCOWLER, I was heartbroken though, not really surprised to read Ry Burke succumbing to the powers that served to save his family in his own story.
Not only that, but to see him die, Too often the damaged shouldn't have to die, They shouldn't be punished either, That is the razorthin line that Zebulon Finch walked from the beginning of this wonderfully powerful and emotionally charged story, to its heartbreaking and heartwarming close.
READ. THIS. BOOK.
I enjoyed Volume One more, but there were definitely tableaus in this volume that I really, really enjoyed, particularly suburbia and, later, the Savages.
I still don't think this book is for teens despite Zebulon's perpetual youth, The themes and horror are quite adult even if Zebulon himself displays juvenile behavior,
If you don't mind being in for a long haul and covering a widerange of time periods and tone shifts, this book the two volumes together is quite fascinating and wellwritten.
You definitely feel for Zebulon when it's appropriate and hate him when you should, He's a multifaceted and welldeveloped protagonist, and he keeps things interesting for thepages of his story, The supernatural elements are just icing on the cake, really,
Zebulon Finch has faced more violence, lust, and heartbreak than any other seventeenyearold in history, But nothing can prepare him for what is coming next,
Half a century has passed since Zebulon Finch was gunned down and then inexplicably resurrected to suffer a second life, Picking up his tale where he left off, Zebulon heads to Nazi Germany on a topsecret mission, From there he escapes to the shiny new world of the suburbsa tidy neighborhood hiding dark secrets, He will exchange the pains of this world for what he believes will be peace among the, He will march for social change all the way to Woodstock, go raving mad in the desert, and finally exit from humanity the only way he knows how.
We first met Zebulon sealed in a tomb beneath the World Trade Centermight he yet crawl from the rubble to discover a different America I described the first Zebulon Finch book as "Eighteen separate layers of awesome drizzled with a liberal helping of amazing.
" The second and final book of the series receives almost equal praise, Although I would only grant this book sixteen layers of awesome, that is still a significant portion of awesome, and well above the dailyrecommended amount.
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch continues to be one of the best young adult series that I have ever read.
With a writing style reminiscent of "Johnathon Strange and Mr, Norrell" and an intensely dark and creepy story,
The second volume follows Zebulon as he continues in undeath from WWII until the late's, While I find the time period less interesting than the first half of the twentieth century, it still grabbed me right from the first sentence.
I found this second volume to be much darker and more pessimistic than the first, which made me happy, but could scare off some more easily bothered readers.
TLDR : The second book was amazing, but more intense and disturbing than the first, Grab it if you loved the first one,
Vito Okay, this is my first Goodreads review, and I don't really know what I'm doing, but I need to write about this book.
This book and the duo as a whole is beautiful and horrifying and gruesome and sweet, In other words, a literary masterpiece, Having just finished it five minutes ago, I'm still reeling, My thoughts may be a bit scattered,
This book was not my favorite book, but it struck something within me, I have never come off from reading a book feeling the same way I do now, I can't quite express it in words it feels although I have been enlightened, but I don't know what of, If I had to pick a book to say changed me as a person, I would pick this one,
At first, I was nervous about reading The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Voldue to the reviews I read about it being gory and gruesome.
However, the premise was fascinating enough that I picked it up anyway, Let me add a disclaimer: I amyears old, and this series did have several graphic scenes, but they were bearable and added a needed layer to the story.
Also, the language is advanced quite frankly this book should be shelved as Adult, but not too bad, Don't let the macabre scenes drive you away from this series, It's worth it.
Now onto the real review, This is sort of a combination of the first and second book, This series follows the life or death, rather of Zebulon Finch, Zebulon is a flamboyant richkid turned mobster with an affinity towards violence, He immediately hooks the reader with his tone and sarcastic language, On one fateful day in, he is killed at age, but wakes upminutes later, His heart doesn't beat, he does not feel pain, he does not eat, He is dead in every aspect, save for the fact that he can still walk and talk, Zebulon is a very flawed character, and it is one of the reasons I love this series so much, He does villainous things, gets himself into trouble with his mouth, and wreaks all around havoc, but this just makes it a greater joy to watch him develop as the series goes on.
And let me say, the character development is spot on,
The second novel picks up where the first left off with Zebulon plunging into WWII, Rather than follow a similar storyline as the first book, where Zebulon fought in the trenches during WWI, Kraus shakes it up a bit, putting Zebulon in a secret mission to assassinate Hitler.
I'm going to keep this review relatively spoiler free, so I won't go into much more detail,
The one part of this book that I didn't love was the chapters spanning, which just didn't live up the mastery of the previouswhich were probably my favorite chapters in the series.
The ending was heart wrenching and beautifully written, However, the excitement picks back up with the next section, spanning the years, These chapters are the most morbid and gruesome of the book, and there were a few times when I had to put the book down to collect myself.
Despite this, the horrific scenes Kraus depicts adds to Zebulon's character, showing how, despite trying to reform himself, he is easily mislead, A major reveal at the end of this section leaves both Zebulon and the reader reeling and emotionally spent,
Now to the ending, What a magnificent thing. It is emotional and heartbreaking, At this point, Zebulon has gone from a bloodthirsty member of the maleficent Black Hand to a man who wants to redeem himself for his sins, and to not inflict harm on others.
He throws his everything into saving another character from a dark fate, and the reader sees the fullhis character has achieved, I absolutely loved the last pages of Zebulon's written memoir, where he addresses his relationship with the reader directly, making it feel like he is really talking to you.
And then the very end, Confusing at first, but as you read on, the pieces fall into place, The book keeps you on the edge of your chair until the end,
As for the very last page of the novel, I had it spoiled for me, unfortunately, but that didn't make it any less powerful.
A perfect way to end a near perfect series,
I would recommend this series to anyone willing to forge through the loooong books filled with slightly difficult language, You have to have dedication for these to be enjoyable, If you love history, like myself, then this is definitely a good read, It spans about a century of history, going into detail for each decade, The history was just as fascinating to me as the actual plot, Lastly, I wouldn't read this if you're really young, just because of the style in which it is written, and some of the more graphic scenes.
This book touched me like no other has, and it should be read by everyone, I highly recommend it.
Okay, well, there's my first review, I hope it's helpful to anyone reading it, : I had been reading this book for nearly a year and I don't regret one second of it! Volume II is as dense and full of detail as the first one.
I held my breath, laughed out loud, gasped, and felt a whole range of emotions while reading, The ending was unpredictable, cryptic, and intriguing, A fitting end to such a long, suspenseful story, I only wish there was more to learn! See the full version of this review and others at sitelinkOdds amp Ends
Empire Decayed is the kind of book that exposes fundamental truths about humanity and forever shifts your perspective of the world, the kind of book that you can never forget because it imprints
itself on you and your thoughts.
Its the kind of book you wish everyone would read because of how incredibly brilliant it is but also because of how important it is.
Its by no means an easy read, Empire Decayed is heavy, intense and complex, Much more so than At the Edge of Empire, Id say its thought provoking, but that seems too overused a phrase to describe such an outstanding work of literature, So much is packed into its pages, and there are so many interesting trains of thought, and so many metaphors to untangle, that it requires time and patience to unpack.
But, if you stick with it, you will be rewarded not just with a sense of accomplishment, but with new knowledge, perspectives and insights.
I remember inhaling volume one, reading itspages in record time, Volume two, however, is slower paced and significantly darker, Id argue its more rewarding too as you learn about everything that went wrong with America and finally reach the end of Zebulons tale.
If you loved the first one, Id recommend reading this directly after because the two books are only separated only by the fact that they were bound and sold as halves the narration is continuous.
Empire Decayed continues Zebulons relentless march through history and there is something new to be learned at each and every turn, I am in awe of the amount of research that must have gone into this duology for it covers such a wide swath of history in such rich and accurate detail.
I learned more from these books than in most history classes at school,
Kraus is remarkable in his ability to bring facts alive and truly make you care about history, For Empire Decayed is never so much about the history itself, but how history affects the people experiencing it, The characters always take centre stage, and history plays out across their lives, making it tangible and relatable, The characters personalities are reflections of the eras they inhabit, acting as an important reminder that humans are the same across time and space, and that differences exist only due to changing societal and political pressures.
Yet, at the same time, the characters are never chosen at random, nor are they similar each is distinct, presenting a different facet of humanity.
Zebulon, works on two levels as well, both as character and as metaphor, He is a lonely boy thrust into an adult world and the burden of immortality but also a personification of America, As he rots, so does Americas heart, Empire Decayed turns a critical eye to America, peeling back the layers of romanticization and idealization that we often apply to the past to present the darker reality.
This is what the title refers to the decay of America from the moment it dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Zebulon, the upper class, white, handsome teenage boy, is the obvious personification of America, He continually tries to help others and is arrogant enough to believe that he can, yet fails miserably each time, His ego is often to blame, but other times, even with the best of intentions, things go terribly wrong, He commits many evil deeds but does some good too, and as a reader, it is left to you to weigh the scales, To decide whether he is god or devil or neither, Perhaps hes just a boy stuck in impossible situations, perhaps our lives would look just as repulsive if all our choices were scrutinized as closely.
He is so achingly human, that I cant help but feel that hes just a lonely, lost boy searching for fame and love, and in desperate need of guidance.
I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to live forever, to watch all those you love die, to watch your body rot away before your eyes, to never be able to know for certain that one day there will be a release from your pain.
He tries to give his life meaning but fails, He tries to hide himself away from humanity and at that fails too, A rotten corpse may receive some respite, but can never stay hidden for long, Right to the end, Zebulon never manages to attain the redemption he seeks, You are left feeling terribly sorry for him, yet never quite able to fully sympathize with him,
The epilogue was the weirdest piece of writing Ive ever read, and Ive read some strange things,
Zebulon Finch, quite frankly, defies any categorization and attempts at simple analysis, It is a brilliant work of art that will leave me wondering at it for years to come, .