SCIENCE-FICTION/HORROR REVIEW: Dog Blood - David Moody

BOOK BLURB:

The world has suffered a catastrophe of unknown cause, dividing humankind into two: the Haters and the Unchanged. Each group believes the other to be the enemy; each group is fighting for survival. Only by working together can the enemy - whoever that enemy is - be defeated. There are no other choices. Danny McCoyne has managed to break free, and after days of indiscriminate fighting and killing, he is determined to make his way home, to recalim the only thing of any value to him in this strange new world: his daughter Ellis. Unlike his wife and son, Ellis is like him, and he knows, in his heart of hearts, that she is not dead. His dearest wish is for Ellis to be fighting for the world at his side - but Danny soon discovers his daughter is worth far more than just another fighting body. Others like him have discovered that children are absolutely vital to the cause. They are strong, small, fast, and they have no inhibitions. They are pure Haters ...


REVIEW:

A sequel to David’s original novel Haters and one, that I’ll let you know now, has to be read in sequence. IE Do not try and pick this up without first having read the original or you’ll be pretty scuppered.

Danny McCoyne returns as the principle protagonist searching for his missing daughter Ellis who is also afflicted with the same disease as himself, ie she’s an Hater too. Not wanting to get involved with the whole war between Haters and Unchanged he finds himself drawn into the fray. Whilst the first was pretty darn good, this novel however felt a little flat due to it feeling like more of a novella that could have been added onto the original rather than drawn out over the course of a secondary title which made this pretty tedious at times and felt more than a little padded to hit required length.

The Fight sequences were pretty much identical, the subsequent cast members were forgettable and to be honest it was pretty depressing and not up to par of the original. Had I not been asked to review this book I’d tell you now that it’s a title that I’d have quit quite early on and with the titles blurb pretty much explaining what happens you could save yourself a lot of time and cash by just getting that gist. Add to the mix a pretty poor twist at the end (which at this rate I suspect will make the author a third title) and I suspect that this once great idea is about to sink fast.