Deadly Dee's Review of "The Harvesting"

The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak.

Book Summary

"The world, it seemed, had gone silent. It was something we knew but did not talk about. We were alone."

Champion fencer and Smithsonian historian Layla Petrovich reluctantly returns home to rural Hamletville after a desperate call from her psychic grandmother. Layla never could have anticipated the horror of what Grandma Petrovich had foreseen. The residents of Hamletville will need Layla's cool head, fast blade and itchy trigger finger to survive the undead apocalypse that's upon them. But even that may not be enough. With mankind silenced, it soon becomes apparent that we were never alone. As the beings living on the fringe seek to reclaim power, Layla must find a way to protect the ones she loves or all humanity may be lost.

This exciting new dark fantasy/horror hybrid blends the best of the zombie genre with all the elements a fantasy reader loves!

It's all fun and games until someone ends up undead!

Deadly Dee's Review

So... I recently read The Harvesting, written by Melanie Karsak.

It's actually taken me awhile to write this review because I just couldn't figure out why I was feeling so "blah" after reading it. The premise of the book was really cool, and I was totally prepared to love it. I really wanted to love it. It had all the "stuff" in it that I usually love in a book - zombies, end of the world as we know it, kick ass female protagonist, etc., etc., etc. But while I found myself reading through to the end, (if I really dislike a book, I discard it before I finish) I never found myself truly vested in any of the characters. I really didn't care who lived or who died - there wasn't any point where I found myself nervous about anyone, or even rooting for anyone. The editing was well done (5 stars for that - 'cause I hate when you have to come to a screeching halt to edit in your head) but the story never really gelled for me in the way I was hoping it would. 

At one point in the book Karsak introduces some "strangers" and the story got a little too weird too fast for me, and quite frankly a bit too unbelievable (I know - odd thing to say when you're reading a zombie novel...) and at times hard to follow. There just wasn't enough "set up."  It felt like she had a lot of good ideas, but maybe she could have fleshed them out into several books instead of just one, and spent more time building her characters.

This wasn't a book I got lost in - it was more like a book that lost me a few times...

Liked it... didn't love it. Hopefully she'll grow as an author and her writing will reflect that with her next book...

With all that said, however, I would give Karsak another try if she writes another book. She's got a good imagination, and I can see where given the time she could definitely become a more polished writer. Hopefully my next review will be full of accolades ;)