'The sequel to Dread Nation is a journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.
'After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother. But nothing is easy when you're a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodermus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880's America.
'What's more, this safe haven is not what it appears - as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her. But she won't be in it alone.
'Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by - and that Jane needs her, too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not. Watching Jane's back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it's up to Katherine to keep hope alive - even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.'
A follow up to last year's Dread Nation was always going to be a hard book to do well. I was massively impressed with not just the fun zombie apocalypse alternate history presented in Justina Ireland's novel, but the social commentary that it made and the focus on racism and intolerance that was at its core. Any book that came next in the series would have a challenge in trying to meet the standards that book set. Thankfully, Deathless Divide seems to be the perfect sequel.
Picking up immediately after the events of the first book, we're thrown into a fight for survival straight away as Jane and Katherine try to save a small band of survivors from the massacre at Summerland. These early chapters, where the group race against an oncoming horde of the undead, trying to find a safe haven, immediately sets the tone for the book. It's a story where survival is the main drive for these characters, where they're constantly on edge, where attack can come at any time, and death can come for any character.
The first half of the book feels a lot like this, full of tension and an increasing sense of dread as you're waiting for things to go wrong constantly. And as invariably happens in stories like this, they do. There are some truly horrible moments during the story, moments that manage to pack more of an emotional impact that the first book managed, where characters that you've come to care about really suffer. It's hugely impressive that not only is Ireland able to continue on this story in a wonderfully satisfying way, but is able to make it feel more engaging and impactful.
The book takes something of a leap half way through, where events jump forward a year and a half, and we get to see how the characters evolve over a longer period. Honestly, at first I was a bit annoyed by this. I wanted to see what happened to the characters in these intervening months, and felt a little cheated that I didn't get to see this. Even the small hints we get at these events failed to fill that itch. Why would I just want to hear that Katherine travelled through the zombie infested forests of South America when I could read that adventure?
Despite this, it does feel like the more important, character driven story takes place after this time jump, and if I had to choose which I'd have I'd go for the characters stories first every time. The changes that they've been through during this time jump feel completely natural and create even better versions of them. Jane is damaged, completely broken by the world she's living in and the things that she's been through. She's skirting close to losing herself completely and needs the friendship she has with Katherine to bring her back. Katherine, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength, and getting to see a character that was always capable, but perhaps a little naive in the first book go on to be so strong and confident is a genuine treat.
Many of the themes that Ireland had front and centre in the first novel continue here, especially the role that racism played in America at this time period. That being said, it feels less a focus than in the first book, with the characters taking more of the limelight than the social trials that they face. One of the things that was only briefly touche upon in the first book, but is given a lot more focus here, however, is sexuality. It was briefly mentioned in Dread Nation that Jane was bisexual, but here we actually get to see her in a romantic relationship with another woman. There's quite a few same sex relationships that are either obvious or hinted at in the book, all of which are treated quite casually.
I love the fact that in a world where people are having to fight just to survive against the undead that relationships and sexuality aren't considered a big thing. Who cares who someone sleeps with then you have to worry about zombies ripping you to pieces? The same sex relationships are never made out to be anything more unusual that heterosexual ones, and I absolutely adored that.
Katherine's asexuality is also given more of a focus here, and the chapters that are written from her point of view make mention of it more than once, and she takes some time to explain how it feels for her; how she's never had the inclination to settle down into a romantic relationship with someone. With asexuality often being misunderstood and underrepresented it's wonderful that Katherine and her sexuality are given an opportunity to take centre stage, without a big drama being made about it.
Deathess Divide manages to bring many of the plot threads and story elements left open by the first book to a satisfying conclusion, and feels like it could be the last time we have with these characters and this world. If it is, it feels like an appropriate ending for them. However, I adore Jane and Katherine, they're wonderful, strong women, and I kind of want more of them. Thankfully, Justina Ireland ends the book in such a way that it's totally left open for more. And I really hope she does do more with them.
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