Book Review: Enemy Rising

Enemy Rising by C.J. Fisher has twists that keep coming to the last page. This YA post-apocalyptic, zombie, multiple POV novel is full of outstanding characters, all of which could, or could not, be your enemy at any given time.

Title: Enemy Rising (The Cursed Chronicles Book 1) 
Author: C.J. Fisher
Release: December 2019
Genre: YA, Post-Apocalyptic
Goodreads Link: Here

In a world turned upside down, four unlikely heroes find their lives intertwined in the struggle for survival. An orphaned half-caste. A young Brit soldier. A fierce Princess. A clever Prince. Destiny pushes them together in unexpected ways, but enemies from within threaten to tear them apart. Together can they form a united front and save the world? Can they form a united front and save the world?

Oh boy, the plot of this story is pretty darn smart. The idea behind the world of Enemy Rising seemed simple enough: zombies, royals, military, conspiracies. However, Fisher wraps this book in so many layers of deception, even the good guys seem bad sometimes. The amount of lies told could have easily become annoying but Fisher did a fantastic job creating intrigue from these lies, which many authors fail to do. I’m rooting for everyone, then I step back and think, “wait, what are they up to?”

For characters, I am not crazy about books that switch POV (point of view) from section to section or chapter to chapter, but I found myself very excited to get to the new POV each time there was a change. I liked all the characters, but my favorite was Badri. I love the intellectual characters and I felt he was the most pure, even thought with his father, the king, at his side, who knows what those two are up to… The characters are very multifaceted. All of them have deep personalities, all of them have hidden strengths and talents, all of them felt real. I found myself yelling at some of them like I knew them whenever they made dumb decisions!

I think more could have been added to the descriptions on the locations in the book. Here is the thing though: This book is 371 pages on Kindle and that’s a chunk. The characters really shined and their development took a lot of space in the book. Describing every sunrise and sunset in the beautiful kingdom is a plus but it would have definitely taken this book well over 400 pages. Although I would have liked to “see” more, I wouldn’t want this to take away from the experience we have with the characters.

This book has a major theme of trust and deception. I fell in love with how Fisher fleshed out these themes through her characters actions, and lack of actions even. Some people in the book really have to learn to trust, but the level of corruption is so high from start to finish, how can our characters form bonds? Through desperate means! and sometimes dumb luck. Fishers writing style is smart, and easy to read which made it easy for me to keep up with the POVs and tricky characters.

Overall, I would recommend this book. It is a very interesting take on the zombie sub-genre written in a way that any post-apocalyptic fan can appreciate.

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