Laura and the Shadow King Volume I

Laura and the Shadow King was a strange read for me. It is a book that straddles many different genres without sticking a full toe into any of them. For me, that can be good and interested or leave me feeling unanchored as a reader. I think in this situation, it was a bit of the later rather than the former.

The world that Soares creates is a world reeling from a devastating outbreak that leaves countries and governments in ruins. It has also left most of the population a sort of zombie type creature. Alive, but full of incredible aggression with an infectious bite. The apocalypse is all background and setting for what the real narrative is, that of JJ Berger. the leader of a military outfit called Shadow Troop and a woman named Maria. Maria is a woman determined to save her young daughter from the Russian mafia that has taken control of them. The story is shifting perspectives between these two individuals as their lives, as their destinies slowly become intertwined. I think the issue I had with the story was the military jargon. Soares did an excellent job with the dialog. The character's personalities are clear and concise; it felt like hearing actual conversations between individuals rather than what we think a discussion should sound like. But the amount of military jargon juxtaposed against maria's chapters kept knocking me out of the story. At times I found the dialog difficult to parse and keep up with.

I do, however, recommend this story if you are a fan of military fiction type stories interspersed with a bit of apocalypse and fantasy elements. It is well written and interesting but left me cold.