I loved the level of action and plot twists here, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Book 2. The characters are well defined, and what we do learn is just enough to want me to keep reading on. The artwork, as you can see from the preview, is appropriately energetic and creepy. This book is a fantastic introduction to this fictional world. Such as, what happened in North Korea at the exact same time as the incident? Why doesn't Lexa ever talk? What's up with Lexa's weird doll Vespertine? And biggest of all, what was the cause of the incident? All of these questions drive a well plotted introduction to this world, and happily (for those wanting a sequel) almost none of them are resolved. Her trips into the city bring her into contact with many dangers, and in the course of the book we are also privy to a great many mysteries. Not that she is just some civilian documentarian, she is selling the photos on an art black market. She ventures out from time to time, illegally, in order to explore the city and take pictures. Now she lives in isolation with her little sister Lexa. Just outside of this town lives a young woman named Addison, whose parents were in the city when things went down.

There are places that turn living things into two dimensional figures, places where people are animated as 'meat puppets' that float around with glowing eyes, places populated with cats who constantly cry out in what sounds like the word 'wrong.' And the rats, don't even let me tell you about them.

The set-up of the plot is that three years ago, something strange happened that transformed this city into something hazardous to humans, where the living things are mutated and beyond dangerous. Spill Zone is a compelling work of science fiction that features quite a bit of mystery and intrigue. There is a part of me that is fascinated to see a place I know be ravaged by a destructive force and made into a wasteland. I must admit part of why I read this book is because it is set in Poughkeepsie, New York, which is right across the river from where I grew up.

Spill zone book 2