Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
(Format used for this read: Print–hardback)
This is a sequel to the book Dread Nation…which was PHENOMENAL.
Not very often are sequels equally as good as the first…but dang…this one SURE IS.
The first book blew me away because it was so unique….the author blends real history (post Civil War era) with fiction (a zombie plague taking over the country…the dead started rising at Gettysburg, yall…WHAAATTTT).
Not only was it an interesting and imaginative work of fiction…she deals with plenty of REAL things too…. she tackles racism, oppression, slavery, assimilation, discrimination and privilege.
The characters have multiple forms of survival tactics used in their day to day lives….discussed and addressed on all kinds of levels.
Some are blatant and obvious (not getting bit by a “shambler” and turning into one) and some are hidden and implicit (being identified as only useful in certain jobs). All are equally dangerous.
All of those things continue to happen and are dealt with again in this book….with a whole bunch more tossed in a long the way too.
Here is an official summary:
“The sequel to the New York Times bestselling epic Dread Nation is an unforgettable 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 Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880s 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.”
In this book, the author writes not just from Jane’s point of view as she did in Dread Nation…but from Jane AND Katherine’s viewpoint. Each chapter differs on who the narrator is so you get to climb within BOTH young women’s heads and hearts as they journey across the United States trying to find safety and security.
I love when authors have multiple narrators….I find it to be so fun.
Jane and Katherine are SO different in a plethora of ways…but something that connects them is their devotion to the people they dearly love…and their unique friendship.
I loved being able to hear BOTH of their thought processes as they went thru trials and tribulations…both undead people related and also living people related.🤣
Now…
yall know I do NOT like scary or creepy stuff so you may be wondering why in the hell I read the first book AND THEN WENT BACK FOR MORE with this sequel.
I mean…undead walking around eating people and taking over the nation and girls being trained on how to constantly fight them and kill them?
NOT usually my thing, yall.
You know this about me.
BUT….lemme say that even though yes there ARE quite a few terrifying (and a little gory) moments involving those shamblers…what pulled me into this book were the stories that happened IN SPITE of the zombie situation.
While it is a main detail of the book, it is not the main FOCUS… if that makes any kind of sense.
Like I mentioned above, the author goes deep into important issues…and I feel like THIS book really goes deep into analyzing the value of connection…with friends, with lovers, with community and also with self.
It’s also about SURVIVAL.
The world is literally falling apart into a terrifying mess everywhere they turn, but Jane and Katherine are FIGHTERS…both literally and figuratively.
They are both intelligent, strong, charming, and funny…but they both express these things VERY differently.
This story is about revenge and salvation…all mixed in together.
This book has plenty of “edge of your seat” action sprinkled in the pages…I admit that when I was reading some bits of it late at night I freaked myself out!
I mean also…we are still dealing with a worldwide pandemic of a mysterious super contagious virus and having all kinds of crazy shit like murder hornets popping up too…so I can’t even lie that my mind starting spinning and thinking “OMG…WHAT IF WE ALL TURN INTO ZOMBIES NEXT?!?” 🤣
(But…seeing how 2020 is going so far…would yall even be surprised if that was our next obstacle to deal with?!? I mean FOR THE LOVE, YALL…WHAT IS JULY GONNA BRING US?!?)
This whole book is diverse and inclusive which I truly adore….the story is centered on characters that are people of color of all different backgrounds.
Also, I really appreciated how the author has main characters that are gay and bisexual…but she never makes a big deal about it…she doesn’t scandalize or sensationalize. She writes about the character’s relationships with the same ease, nonchalance and romantic gentleness that she does with the characters who identify as straight.
Which is exactly how it should be yall….LOVE IS LOVE ….and ALL love is “normal” and “right” and should be treated with honor and respect❤
So…. there is a BUNCH of things going on this book…and I SUPER loved it. (even though it has creepy ass walking dead all up in it)
If you’re into YA books or like alt-history stories, DEFINITELY get your hands on this book…but go read Dread Nation first! This one is NOT a stand alone…ya GOTTA do them in order.
“Let’s change the system via the lens of compelling fiction” is a quote from Justina Ireland’s website.
YAS, girl. I’m here for that…and with you 100 percent.🙌
Totes gonna read more of her work!!!!!
You can read my review on the first book here: