The Raven (Jane Harper Horror)

by Jeremy Bishop

A battle to the death with six-hundred-year-old zombie Vikings in the frozen far North was just the beginning…

Undercover activist Jane Harper and father-and-son whalers Jakob and Willem Olavson thought they sent the walking corpses to their graves for good, but the intelligent parasites controlling the dead flesh lived on to keep fighting—and infecting.

Now Jane’s Nordic allies and a motley crew of mates are shoving off on a new monster-killing ship to take the battle to the insidious creatures before they take over the world. This time, though, they’re up against more than just a handful of ancient zombies on an isolated island. Even if Jane and her crew can conquer an army of the swimming dead—murderous and cunning zombie whales—they’ll still face a floating graveyard of ghost ships packed stem to stern with the next wave of the ravenous undead…who are hungry to settle the score with the last hope of humankind.

• ISBN10: 1611099153
• ISBN13: 9781611099157
• Publish Date: 13 August 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 6 December 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: 47North
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 302
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Second Book In Series Picks Up Weeks After First Book And Raises Stakes. This is one of those second books where we get direct (if a few weeks later) follow-up to the story from the first book - so absolutely read The Sentinel first, or wait until March 2025 when The Sentinel: The Complete Jane Harper Trilogy will be available, as you absolutely need that context to understand much of any of the insanity happening in this book. As has always been the case in a Robinson book, the New God of Science Fiction - a moniker I gave Robinson long after the original release of this book over a decade ago - takes a somewhat common concept in scifi (zombies, here) and makes it 100% his own while creating utterly wild action sequences that you'll never see anywhere else. And boy do this book have a lot of those. Wow.

 

The one issue with this particular book - soon to *finally* be rectified - is that it very clearly sets up a sequel and likely conclusion to the trilogy... that Robinson then waited *over a decade* to deliver on. Though he's still faster in concluding his stories than a certain famous "Game" / "Song" writer. ;)  

 

So read this one now if you haven't, to get ready for THE HOST, available in the aforementioned THE SENTINEL: THE COMPLETE JANE HARPER TRILOGY in just about 3 months as I write this review. Or pick up that book when it comes out in March, because I guarantee you that by the time you finish this book, you'll be glad THE HOST begins on the next page.

 

Very much recommended.