Really good sequal to the first book. Author really sicks to the rules he set up in the first book. The story ties everything together in the end. I cannot wait for the next installment.

All I can say that this is a great addition to the story and I can't wait for the third!

I finished Thunder and Ashes a while back and I've struggled since then with just how exactly I felt about it. I won't dive too deeply into a synopsis because others have done so elsewhere and the story is a basically just the continuing struggles of the two different groups from the last book trying to survive in a zombie infested world.

So, was it well done?

eh...Not really, but at the same time, it wasn't terrible. So where did it fail? Where was the breakdown? Where does the fault lie?

The easy answer is the author, but I don't think that is entirely fair.

Because while yes, Thunder and Ashes is more than a bit amateurish, make no mistake on that and populated by characters that are mostly wooden and interchangeable (the pure transparency of the "red shirt" minor characters is dumbfounding, they almost cross the line into self-parody), none of it is bad... at its core.

Most of the characters are classical archetypes, just like the quest nature of the story itself is classic. Basically all of the elements involved within the story are correct and familiar, they all do what they're supposed to when they're supposed to. The right moments are all hit, plot wise. Sure, the book is predictable in that way, not to mention somewhat two dimensional and heavy handed, but my point is, the basic necessary elements are all present and accounted for. To me, the author shows that he is well versed both in the minutiae of this genre AND the tropes of classic story telling. Its all there...

Where he fails is in his window-dressing, his details, his finer points, his character moments. The dialogue is... ugh, for the most part. Often times characters stand around in a circle and talk amongst themselves, explaining whatever silly and somewhat obvious crap they're going to do, (while we, the readers, wait patiently for them to catch on so the story can move forward again) but since they all lack a distinct voice, it just seems like each one is only given a chance to speak merely to remind the reader of their presence. At other times, the dialogue is so stiff and unrealistic, its just painful. I mean really, who hasn't heard of an Ostrich before and the action that they are famous for? It doesn't need to be explained, man, we all get the metaphor. And to compound the amateurish nature of the story, when all these characters are chatting away, making their Casper-Van-Diem-ian level jokes, not once, NOT ONCE, is there a single character moment revealed about them. Who are they, where do they come from, what was their life like before this, what are their hopes and dreams, how do they feel about each other, are they worried about family and friends? Nothing. Nothing is revealed and as a result, the characters remain, for the book's entirety, as nothing more than simple 2-D archetypes, classic archetypes sure, but flat, spare and a complete enigma to the reader. I mean... I don't even know what any of these folks even look like. To be fair, the Author may have mentioned some details once a while back in the first book, but hey, how about a refresher detail or two every now and then? And the town defense, while fun, in its way, its basically nothing but a time waster, story wise, its nothing but padding and if you haven't read the first book... don't bother starting here.

As for the "tense" situations, they are anything but, most of them are so contrived as to be just stupid. Its all bad horror cheats of the worst stripe. "Oh no, my foot is caught! Ah! Zombies!" or even better: "Hey, there are zombies walking around, so I'll just TURN OFF my Walkie Talkie despite the fact that my buddies in the tower could be using it to guide me... AH! Zombies!" Come on, dude, you don't need to cheat for the tension, the situation will supply it naturally just be its very nature and setting.

Despite all of this, though, I still feel the book and the Author has potential. Every bit of this just reeks of earnest, honest effort but the simple fact is, this version isn't ready for publication yet. This book is a first draft, plain and simple.

And that's where I've decided the problem lies.

I've said it before and its plainly evident here yet again, Permuted Press's company line must be: Good ideas told poorly. My meaning being, so far, of all the mostly disappointing books I have faithfully supported from Permuted Press, (this, most likely being the last, as I'm only slightly masochistic...) the authors have all shone ability, if a somewhat rushed and pedestrian one, and each time this little glimmer has consistently been undermined by the fact that the editing on each book was completely and unequivocally lacking. Now, most of the time, its been as basic a thing as just a normal read and critical response in preparation for a second draft, but sometimes it's been a massive mishandle like missing the typo that stated Africa was to the East of the Suez Canal. (That still floors me... its for an entire chapter!) Now, while there's nothing quite so large in this book, this lack of support is pervasive and it is most definitely this utter dropping-of-the-ball that is what truly trips this book up and boy does it.

Bottom line: This book needs work, it needs honest critique and it needs a rewrite, maybe two. The Author needs a firm hand of unbiased help and he can only benefit from such attention as he is both disciplined and imaginative and requires only focus and help realizing what is needed and what should go. Permuted Press, on the other hand, needs to fire their editors because once again, due to their complete and total inability to do their job even marginally well, another otherwise decent book penned by a somewhat imaginative and talented author is instead sent out as a half done and amateurish effort.

All in all, this book was a disappointment. Sadly, save your money.

I was a bit lukewarm upon completing my reading of Recht's Plague of the Dead. It now looks like that Recht has learnt -an awful lot- from the shortcuts of its prequel... Unbelievable! The type of book you can't put down easily, in spite of its flaws. Yes, the scientific explanations are still weak, bordering on naive. Yes, some of the characters' behavior is sometimes stereotypical (Krueger, Mason, Thomas or Sherman). Yes, the end of the story is quite predictable. Yes, there are still some pretty upsetting typos... But boy, ain't the tempo of the whole story great!! The story has the reader follow three separate groups of survivors, all motivated by the same objective: find the place where they think they might be able to come up with a vaccine to fight off the infection.

The balance of gore Vs action is perfect. The idea of coming up with an isolated haven of safety is perfectly rendered. The action scenes are so visual, they tend to look like a movie in the reader's mind. And still, this top notch idea of two types of infected -runners Vs shamblers- is real great! Add to this that Recht got his lessons from his previous book and seriously enhanced his depiction of military/combat scenes, and you've got a book that, if it does not carry a lot of weight in terms of underlying social message, is a pleasure to read for its action scenes. Great fun to read. Almost a 100%-ready scenario for a movie version of it!

I'm one of the few people on here who didn't like the book. I ended up reading this middle book because the first book still hasn't shipped from Amazon. I don't know if that is influencing my opinion of this book. I wish I had waited to read the first book before buying this second book.

I like zombie stories and I like military adventure fiction so I should had liked this, but the dialog was absolutely terrible. The characters were barely developed and flat. Maybe they were better developed in the first book?
What bothered me the most and had me rolling my eyes every other page was that most of the characters had the same 'voice'. They had the same manner of expressing themselves, sometimes in longer than necessary complete sentences. 'Clever' responses in the middle of a firefight? Yeah right, that didn't break my suspension of disbelief.

The plot development was pretty standard, almost like a TV movie. Not many surprises or new ideas that make you think.

Honestly, some of the prose in the book comes off as 'articulate redneck' who is cool only in comparision to the company he keeps. Nothing personal against the author, but I didn't find it entertaining.

I hadn't really read any zombie books before this series. Great book/series! Easy to follow the story line. Can't wait for the next book. Scary, action filled & easy to believe this could really happen.

OK look it is as good as deathday by me, eugene bruce; actually in all honesty its better but that shouldn't stop me shamelessly trying to plug my own book at the expense of a small quotation on Amazon here in the states as im from the UK and you know what us Brits are like - Be a good citizen and buy Deathday by Eugene Bruce (23rd in the list if you type my name in) I love you America!

Maybe I shouldn't have read it at night. This is a swashbuckeling, gory tale that keeps a poppin'. Just the names zombies, sprinters, shamblers make my hair stand on end. Conflict, there's plenty of it and if you're into this horror adventure genre, the plot doesn't disappoint.

After reading the first book, I was really looking forward to the second. Still a good read, but I was disappointed. Some of the characters didn't match up from the first book to the second. (ex: Mitsui was an international contractor who spoke several languages and whose English was excellent. By the start of the second book he had somehow forgotten how to speak English and was getting by with a translator and hand gestures) Some of the action I couldn't follow. (ex. first Stiles is trapped in a dead end ally, then he walks out of the ally onto a different street.) And most importantly, the infected didn't do much damage in this book. I guess everyone had figured them out by now, but it seemed all the damage was done by rouge government agents and bandits.

I still enjoyed the read and gave it three stars. I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully the conclusion is more like the first one and ups the infected and bloodshed.

I really enjoyed this book. While I prefer the classic slow moving zombie, this author has a clever way of having both slow and fast zombies. They're fast while alive & infected and return as shamblers after they die. So you have double the danger as you have to put them down a second time if you didn't get a clean headshot when they were alive.

The characters are enjoyable and towards the end of the book I found myself wishing the book was much longer. This is not a criticism, the mark of a good book is wanting more. You find yourself caring about well drawn characters and would like to hang out with them longer. The science behind the pandemic is very interesting. Post-apocalyptic atmosphere is well done and believable. If I had to nitpick, maybe there would have been more car wrecks and obstacles along the road that one set of characters sped through to get to their destination. But it's a minor point and doesn't detract from the story.

Without giving anything away, one major plot point within the epilogue and the odds that this person is a friend of the other characters seemed a little convenient. However, I guess there would have been many others with the same condition of a certain character. But most of those people would have been killed off because they didn't have the training to survive. Or they're in hiding. So that makes the plot point plausible and takes nothing away from the story.

Fast paced, well written and kept me up late reading for a few nights. Five stars.

The writing is not superb. But the characterizations are fairly good, and the story rockets along. All in all, a fun read for Zombie fans. There's even some hope.

This is a great sequel to "The Morningstar Strain". As a big fan of zombie books, I've noticed most sequels are tired old re-hashes of the same material. This book is a great suprise. Just enough zombie attack action mixed with great back story. I will be eagerly awaiting the next chapter of this series. Pick this book up; it is really a great summer read!

The continuation of the story is awesome, focusing more on the survival of man vs. man, as opposed to man vs. zombie. It's captivating and exciting and has tons of action and strategy. I feel that the decisions and situations made in this story are realistic and valid. Amazing characters that you'll like and root for are aplenty and to see how a group of surviving military and civilians interact and work together is great. With an awesome ending and room for one more book I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes zombie stories. It's the best I've read, and I've read a few (Autumn Series, Down the Road, Dying to Live, World War Z, Zombie survival Guide, and Reign of the Dead series)

Wow, I just put this book down and I gotta say I loved the bajesus out of it. Of Course I know it's gonna take way more than one ecstatic line with the word "bajesus" in it to convince you all to check it out, so let's get into the nitty gritty of the post apocalyptic zombie treat that is Thunder and Ashes, shall we?

To put it simply, author Z.A. Recht has managed to take everything that we all love about the zombie genre on film, and transplant it into print. Now I don't know Recht and I haven't had the pleasure of interviewing him or anything but it's very easy to tell that he's a film nut because Thunder and Ashes reads like a John Carpenter written novelization of the 28 Days series. That is, the story contains all the classic overtones and movie homages you would expect to find in a Carpenter film with all the modern panache and boundary pushing of a Danny Boyle film. Plus, the very nature of Recht's style is cinematic in that he allows story movement to drive his writing, not the other way around. This makes for a fast paced and thoroughly convincing read. But onto the story.

Thunder and Ashes is the second part in Recht's ongoing Morningstar Strain saga, a series that started with Plague of the Dead back in 2006 and which will continue into a third and final installment called "Survivors" in the next couple of years. As is popular to the Zombie tradition, the story basically revolves around the world going to pot when a filovirus dubbed "morningstar strain" is unleashed upon the world, turning ordinary people into blood thirsty brutes. Through the aftermath and into the apocalypse we follow two groups of survivors; a small rag tag band of soldiers intent on finding a vaccine lead by General Sherman, and a group helping Dr. Anna Demilio, perhaps the only woman alive who can truly understand the virus. Recht colors each group by writing great characters, witty dialog, and some tough as nails action that doesn't hold back. But the best part is that he totally gets the zombie genre right.

We talk a lot about zombies around these parts and while we love the sheer fun of zombie hordes lusting after brains, we've always maintained that, to get the zombie plot right, you really have to let intestine munching take a back seat in order to create a compelling and human drama. Conceptually, an apocalypse serves you best if it exposes the roots of our nature and Recht covers the gamut very nicely. Since Thunder and Ashes begins only months after the events of Plague of the Dead, the remaining world population has moved on from the shock and panic of the initial attack and carved out a new life amid the sick. Of course, not everyone plays nice in the apocalypse. Raiders, mercenaries, and all around bad guys litter the landscape making some of the book's tensest moments about human to human conflict not about making that ever important head shot. I really don't want to give any plot points away here but suffice it to say that some of the book's finest moments of both theme and action come from shades of both Seven Samurai and The Road Warrior that pepper the tale.

Of course, that's not to say there aren't any zombies. In fact, between "sprinters" and "shamblers" there are zombies galore in this gory tale; they just have a tendency to show up at the most inopportune moments, when that ever important human conflict is reaching maximum overload. This is how you use zombies people.

Okay, so was there anything about Thunder and Ashes I wasn't fond of? This is a tough question I pose myself but I suppose a necessary one as I gotta try and stay objective here. Some of you who've already read the first book might find the opening chapters of Thunder and Ashes a bit heavy on the exposition. I get that questions like, what is Morningstar Strain? And, who are these characters? are important to hooking in new readers, and Brecht does a good job explaining the finer details of his world amid the action, but I can see it stunting the power of the opening for followers of the series looking to get right back into the throws of the story. And then there's an interesting ending which I believe will polarize readers. Sorry though, this isn't the place to get into why, you're just gonna have to figure that our for yourselves.

At the end of the day, Thunder and Ashes is a quick read and a hearty book that does a good job of balancing certain genre expectations with new ingredients. It contains well drawn and enjoyable characters, a truck load of well handled action, and one of the most thoroughly believable PA worlds in print. Bring on part 3 baby!

Look, just buy this book. It may be hard to believe, (because part 1 was awesome) but Thunder And Ashes is better than the first part!

Was very excited to see the book come out, had trouble with the first chapter, having to read it many times to just get going. The book lacked everything that it ws suppose to be, even tried reading it again but could not finish it, needed more zombie action, some character developments of new characters was not really needed, some more develoment on central characters would have been nice, needed more zombie action and further explanation about the virus, how it affected other areas of the world, etc...just purely disapointed!

This is a rare exception of the sequel being better than the original. Thunder and Ashes is awesome, the morningstar strain is as contagious a read is a virus!!!

This is the second in a series of three books in the Morningstar Strain. This is a good second book and an excellent zombie genre novel. If you have not read the first book, parts of this novel will be a little hard to follow, but manageable.

The book is easy to get hooked into from the start, and the story line holds your attention, I read it in one sitting. It jumps around a little, following a couple of story arcs at once, but the author makes the task of keeping up easy to accomplish. The book ends rather bluntly, setting the stage for book three. I found certain parts of the story predictable but no worse for the wear. The series is well worth reading, more than once for hard core zombie-a-philes like myself.

Over the last few years I've picked up a Zombie habit. I've been an avid gritty fantasy reader (and a few SciFi) for over 30 years and finally gave in to my Z-fascination, reading many of the offerings from Permuted press, Keene's works, DbDA, Autumn (series) and most of the others that pop up on the Amazon "who also bought this" listing. Some were good, some rotting like the subject matter contained within their pages.

Z.A. Recht stands out among this genre of zombie self-starters. What started and grabs your attention in Plague of the Dead, continues and draws you closer to the story and characters in Thunder and Ashes. It is a Zombie book, so getting picky about a few small details is like arguing on the internet... It is a good read, entertaining, fast-paced and stands out from the crowd that it falls in with. Definitely a recommended read if you are a fan of the genre.

Now I have to wait for 'Survivors'. Hurry up, Z.

The second book, Thunder and Ashes starts where Plague of the Dead ended. The book follows several key characters in their attempt to reunite at Omaha, Nebraska in order to find a vaccine for a virus that causes man to turn into a cannibalistic killer. The book combines many elements of popular movies such as Romero's Dead series and 28 Days Later. The formula works well and Thunder and Ashes is a magnificent book. It is a combination of a viral thriller, zombie epidemic, and an action/adventure like you've never read before. I couldn't put the book down. The book ended well enough to set up for the final book to conclude the series.

I highly recommend reading this book if you like the zombie genre. As I stated it combines many elements of popular zombie films and put them wonderfully well. It's a multi-character story: you got an Army general, a rogue NSA agent, a doctor, and Navy personnel each desperately trying to reach each other. So you'll never get bored and you'll always be wondering about the characters. The author did a fantastic job in getting the reader attached to some of the characters.

I was a bit skeptical of the book at first since I thought perhaps the author lost touch after the first of the book. However, I was proven wrong and after the introduction, I was hooked. Get this book now!

Excellent follow up to Plaugue of the Dead. The author does a good job of answering left over question from the first book while spinning new ones for the next.

Plague of the Dead and Every Sigh, the End are the 2 best zombie books out there in my eyes. 'Plague' however, is one of the only zombie books to deal with an infection from a Global perspective. That was what drew me in so fast; Zombies creating a human bridge across the Suez Canal, taking over ships off the coast of South Africa. Thunder and Ashes is much smaller scale, and a very different story than the first one. This book is more Mad Max than World War Z. Raiders and Bandits become the bad guys and the zombies are more of just a nuisance in this sequel. I definitely recommend this book if you have read the first one, and I will definitely read the third installment, "Survivors", but I'm not as excited about that one. I hope Z A Recht has some surprises up his sleeve for next one. The prologue ruined it. Too convenient.

I've read both Plauge of the Dead and Thunder and Ashes. These are spectacular books. They explore(as realistically as possible) a zombie outbreak. I'm a tough cookie, by the way. I usually nitpick every book I read and find something that spoils the whole experience for me. These books will not let you down, especially if you are a fan of apocalyptic literature. Highly Recommended! I can't wait for the third installment!

I could not wait for this book after reading The Plague of the Dead. Now I cannot wait for the next novel. Thunder and Ashes takes up just where Plague of the Dead ends. You are reunited with all your favorite characters and introduced to new ones also. However, the dead are still among us and so are some of the "governmental" bad guys. I went through the book in an entire weekend only because I was very excited about it. Z. A. Recht is a great writer and I hope he continues to enthrall us with such great books.

Thunder and Ashes starts out where the first book left off in this trilogy. We have the split story, one of General Sherman and his team of army men and civilians making their way from the west coast towards Omaha, hoping to meet up with Anna Demilio and her much smaller group coming in from the east coast. They are racing towards a facility where they hope to hatch a vacine for the Morningstar virus, the plague that has swept over the world creating two forms of plague victims, one still alive, fast, and brutally violent, and one undead, slower, but just as dangerous and canibalistic.

I could have given this story a full five stars, it does rate that based on the action in the story. General Sherman's march was far more interesting to me, especially his pit stop in a little town in Kansas, than the more brief excerpts from Anna and Mason's more silent trek, but their stories tie together nicely, with plague victims, raiders, and rogue government agents all nipping at their heels. The story is cohesive and written with a certain amount of zip to it.

I am no military expert so I have no reason or desire to punch holes in the author's use of various terms and equipment. Again, the story and its use of military armaments are smooth and seamless. We are provided with an action packed zombie thriller as two sets of people are racing against the clock, not even sure what they are racing towards will mean anything in the end, but they are determined to do whatever it takes to get there and try to spare humanity any more agony from this brutal virus, if at all possible.

Where I would be critical of this book is in more or less minor details that unveil themselves towards the end of the story and I hesitate to spell them out because I have no interest in revealing plot points. Suffice it to say that there were two key things that happen that I did not feel were specifically needed to advance the story. One scene simply felt redundant, an echo of a scene from the first book in the trilogy having to do with one on one combat...almost laying the groundwork for a very similar scene in book three. The other issue I have lies within the epilogue and what I would deem an incredibly convenient story element revealed that will play a huge part in the final installment of this trilogy. I suppose I am just not a fan of something that the odds of happening are one in a billion revealing themselves so conveniently. Please understand, these are really minor issues for me and as such do not want them to be considered deterents for anyone interested in picking up this story.

The writing is fast paced, the characters are entertaining, and the story is fun. Perhaps some of the characterizations are a bit exagerated, but when you are dealing with an end of the world type plague, I can certainly understand how some folks would seem a bit over the top. I found myself growing attached to quite a few of the characters and really look forward to finding out what happens in the final chapter of the Morningstar Trilogy. This was a genuinely fun and exhilerating zombie romp.