Deathless Divide (Dread Nation, #2)

by Justina Ireland

"Savvy, enlightening, and harrowing" Buzzfeed on Dread Nation

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 has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving. 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. 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.

• ISBN13: 9781789090895
• Publish Date: 4 February 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Titan Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 576
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

4.5 stars

Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.

This is the second book in Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation series. This series is an alternative history of the Civil War. The war ends because the dead rise and both sides decide to work somewhat towards survival instead of against each other. The first book follows Jane McKeene as she is taken from her home to train to be an attendant where she will see to all the needs of an affluent white woman, but also protect her charge from the dead. Jane is a kick ass character who is all about taking the lead on making the dead stay dead.

In Deathless Divide, we get the POV of Katherine Deveraux for the first time. Katherine was a frenemy of Jane’s. Katherine is a very light skinned black girl who can pass for white if she tries. This comes in handy for the two of them as they try to survive in this world of stupid white people who don’t understand the dangers they are facing with the dead.

I don’t want to go into too much detail, but this is a story with wonderful characters. I loved Jane from the moment I met her in book one. And while I wasn’t a huge fan of Katherine, she really grew on me in this story. There are also other characters who I really liked as well, but as with any zombie story, don’t get too attached, because no one lives forever. Lastly, the villain of this story is perfect. I don’t want to give away who it is, because it isn’t always apparent. Talk about a villain everyone loves to hate.

If you haven’t tried this series, I can’t recommend it enough. I will tell you that this series would do AWESOME as a TV series. I’m sometimes very leery of making that suggestion, because books rarely turn out the way you want, but these two books and these characters would be perfect for the small screen. I do think that TV would be better than movie in this case, because it needs more than two to three hours to be told. I really do hope that someone picks it up.

Lastly, that cover ya’ll. I’m all about the covers in this series. It was the cover of Dread Nation that really caught my eye first, then hearing Turpin was narrating the story. Then I read it and it more than met my expectations.

Narration:
I’ve been a huge fan of Bahni Turpin for a while. I remember when I saw that she was the narrator for book one and how excited I was. She does the perfect voice for Jane and all the characters. With the introduction of Katherine’s POV, the publisher has added Jordon Cobb to read those parts. She is a new-to-me narrator, and I’ll admit to being a bit concerned, because I loved Turpin’s narration so much, I wasn’t sure if I would like her sharing the story. I do have to say though, Jordon Cobb did a fantastic job. She was the perfect voice for Katherine. I will be looking up more stories with her, for sure.

**I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Justin Ireland is brilliant. The story unfolds, giving us perspectives from Jane and Katherine. It was fascinating, terrifying and addictive.

Ireland brought this character-driven story to life and pulled me in. Summerland falls but Jane along with Katherine and others survive and make their way west. Before they reach Nicodemus, the next settlement, they will lose some in their party and discover that the horde of zombies is following. I was biting my nails and loved Jane’s inner dialogue.

Jane is bitter, set on revenge and positively kickass. Katherine is kickass but determined to protect those in her group. I loved the different threads and places we traveled, but when the two come together and work side by side, well, it’s awesome. Ireland gave us a villain you’ll love to hate. I wanted to throttle him on more than one occasion.

While I was satisfied with the ending, the author left enough open-ended threads for a third audiobook. Let me assure the publishers and author that I am OK with this!

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

I loved Dread Nation. Loved, loved, utterly adored. And yet somehow, I loved Deathless Divide even more. So that has to tell you some stuff right off the bat! Now, in the interest of not spoiling anything for either book, I shall do my best to do a vague-ish review that still makes you want to pick up this incredible duology, because tbh you need it in your life.

The Awesomeness:

• • The author gives us a reminder of what happened in Dread Nation! This automatically makes her a damn hero, yeah? It's done in a great way too- not at all an info dump, but the perfect amount to catch us up while still staying relevant to the current story. I need a finger-kissing-chef GIF right here because... perfection.



• • More. Jane. McKeene. Good grief, there isn't a better character in any series I've read lately. And I have read about some awesome characters, this is saying a lot! She's flawed beyond measure, but also has so much heart and fierceness and just feels so incredibly authentic. Everything about her personality is well developed, and she feels like your actual friend more than a character. You know, a friend you often want to throttle, and therein lies the charm, IMO.
  

  "Jane is the proverbial bull in the china shop, and while she is highly effective against the dead she is terrible at navigating the intricacies of human interaction."

  
  


• • Oh look, Katherine joins the band! Katherine has a POV in this one, and she is over here giving my girl Jane a real run for her money as my favorite character ever. Katherine, at first glance, is the antithesis of Jane. But the truth is, she's so much more complex. And while I don't want to say much due to spoilers, I will say that I am pretty much as in love with her as I am with Jane.



• • The world-building gets more developed and I am beyond here for it. Sometimes a book/show (I am looking at you, The Walking Dead) focuses on the one little strip they're inhabiting, but this book is so not like that! There's so much more out there, and the author and the characters know it and reference it.



• • Huge plot twists and unexpected directions! Like, you think you might know where a nineteenth century zombie book is headed, but frankly you have no idea. I shan't say anymore because hi, that is the point of reading, and you must.



• • Amazing side characters! Like honestly if the two freaking incredible main characters weren't enough, we are blessed with a veritable gaggle of fabulous side characters to fall in love with. Which of course, makes the stakes even higher throughout the book!



• • My emotions were emoting. Holy feels, all over the place! There's sorrow, no doubt, but also hope and love and laughter. Obviously, it's a dark book, please don't misunderstand. There is a lot of crap going on- I mean, it's the aftermath of the Civil War after all, and things are going extra bad because zombies. And many of our characters are black women who have to deal with a ton of racist, misogynist asshats. Obviously, black women deal with that now as well, unfortunately, but these women have to fight zombies while doing it which is a lot. But, for all the awfulness, there are rays of light. The author does an incredible job balancing the emotional flow of the book.

Bottom Line: If you don't start and/or finish this series, you're missing out. On phenomenal characters, an exciting (and important) story, and old-timey zombies, which if you ask me is the Trifecta of Awesome™