One thing that surprised me in the the final disposition of Brant Kettering. I was surprised to see a character that I deemed so central to the story end up like he did. I was hoping that he, Peg Culler, and Tom would come out at least physically unscathed, although with a crisis of that magnitude, I suppose such hopes were unrealistic.

I too was waiting for the thread and did not see it until now. The 'show all new posts' browser does not always pick up everything. I would definitely be in favour of announcements on the front page.

I think it was appropriate that Peg did not survive---she can join Annie in whatever afterlife---but I was very disappointed Brant did not. I know it's cliche, but he was the hero and I was disappointed with such a grim ending for him. Plus I thought Tom was kind of a brat, so if I had to choose among the two of them to be the sacrificial half of the hero duo, it would have been Tom. I think it would have been a cool ending too if Annie's illness had somehow deux ex'd her out of dying for good when Seth was killed and if she and Brant had been the lone survivors. If Peg had turned herself to save Annie and then died in the end, that would have been interesting.

I don't think there are lines that should not be crossed in fiction, but I see where you are coming from on that. I wrote a fanfic once where a main character describes a past event of a bad guy hurting his dog, and I got more feedback on that than anything else I had written for that story. People were very affected by dog :) Kids are like that for many people. My stepmom will not read stories involving child abuse.

I kind of expected Brant and Peg to come out at the end. I was anticipating that Tom would put him self between his sister and his mom when sis tried to "convert" mom. Of course the Epilog would be that Brant was found and killed by the mob after they caught up with him which would turn him into the next "seth" for a sequel.

BOb

Peg did survive....

Yes.. I recall...

I meant.. I expected Peg and Brant to survive it rather than Peg and Tom.

(why does peg always get to live though, I'm not sure. ;) )

BOb

Sorry, I should have made it more clear I was responding to ficbot, who was wondering why Peg did not survive. Can't see the quote button at work and am far too lazy to do it manually :p.

I was hoping they would all survive to become a family. I was rather dismayed at Brant's death. I was also hoping that Annie's coma would somehow thwart Seth's influence and she would awaken and be able to carry on with her young life. I really got caught up in these characters and wanted to see the best outcome for them. Although we never got the chance to really know Annie, I wanted to see her survive for her mother's sake.

@Quake - you could just do the twitteresque @ sign and name thing.

BOb

Yes, I know she did. I was saying that to me it would have been a better ending to get Annie instead of Peg.

I have to admit, I was thinking the same thing.

So I was bummed. But I do enjoy a twist at the ending, so it was nice to see something unexpected.

Yes. Disappointed that Brant died. I didn't see that coming, and it was bit painful to take, but I was well entertained. It was a really enjoyable book.

The question I keep having about the story is: What if Seth succeeded? So everybody on Earth is dead but is now Risen, and nobody dies...wouldn't that be a good thing?

Since Seth had been defeated at least twice that we know of, we have no idea if any "good" would come from being brought back by him in the long term. He wasn't going around bringing back people who died of natural causes. He wanted everyone to die in some horrible way which does not make me feel positive about the outcome if he succeeded.

Would people grow older and be good/better citizens (don't think so, Duffy hit his non-dead wife after his rising, Gaylen was still mean and even coma kid Annie was evil)? Would people work or just hang out? Would they procreate or would the population stagnate?

Is living forever enough and can one appreciate life without the possibility of permanent death? I'm alive and not "risen" (I swear :)) but if I had the choice, I would say "no" to Seth.

Finally finished it....it ended with some surprises....like everyone living. I was really hoping that everyone would become Risen. But it went against the cliche of Zombie books that always end in depression, at least there was a winner...kind of.

I was REALLY hoping Peg would bite the dust that's for sure, I got tired of her character.