En esta entrega Paffenroth cierra su trilogía "Dying to Live" y en general me ha dejado un buen sabor de boca, no obstante lo recomendable es leer los tres libros, para entender los ejes que forman la proto-filosofía que el autor expone.En este volumen, los personajes William (Popcorn), Rachel, Truman y Lucy, son obligados a establecer relaciones con una ciudad ('New Sparta') en la cual son segregados acorde a su tipo de 'vida' (vivos y zombies).Los Zombies, Truman y Lucy son separados de Will y Rach y son puestos en una patrulla de defensa y conquista (Lucy) y en un circo de fenómenos zombies (Truman) donde sufren de todo tipo de humillaciones y abusos mientras que Will y Rachel, son seducidos por los lujos de la vida en la ciudad. Nueva Esparta envenena poco a poco la mente de Rachel quien es víctima del consumismo y de Will que -como en el grupo de Jonah en el desarrollo del segundo volumen- no puede encajar y no entiende los mecanismos de esa sociedad.Paffenroth retrata los sin-sentidos del mundo moderno (la economía, la política, la moral, etc.) mediante sus arquetipos representantes de la razón (Truman y Lucy) y cómo la humanidad se subyuga ante estos sin-sentidos (Rachel) no obstante el 'gozo' de ellos nos sumerja en depresión y solipsismo (Will).Con este cierre, Paffenroth ha descrito tres de los ejes fundamentales que componen una filosofía: La relación del hombre con su mundo (En el primer libro de la trilogía), la relación del hombre con él mismo (en el segundo volumen de la trilogía) y finalmente en este volumen la relación del hombre con los otros hombres.Si existiera un cuarto volumen donde se tocara el punto de la relación del hombre con Dios me parecería sensacional.
Know that this is the third in a series. You don't HAVE to read the other two first, because this story stands well alone, but you should because it's a great continuation of the story.In the first book the zombie event happens and people scramble to survive. In the second book, communities are set up and thriving and the world continues, albeit drastically differently.In this book, time has passed, things are what they are, and the story picks up where the second one ended. Humans Rachel and Will, and zombies Lucy and Truman are living on a boat. Things are not perfect, but they are peaceful. Rachel becomes ill and Will is forced to dock in a city to seek medical treatment for her. Because of the nature and perils of the big bad city, they are stuck there for a time, and the true nature of these characters is revealed.Anything else goes into spoiler territory, and I won't travel that path, but the story is full and complete and very well done.I am definitely NOT a fan of books that attempt to humanize zombies. They are DEAD. They are ZOMBIES and I don't want to care about them or what happens to them because they are flesh eating dead former people. Mr. Paffenroth has gotten it right, and can actually make you care. I do have to say that the Paffenroth Zs are not the usual mindless, shuffling, fleshmongers, but you need to read the first two books to find out why.A great contination of this series.
Do You like book Dying To Live: Last Rites (2012)?
CONTAINS SMALL SPOILERSWhen i first started reading book one of the Dying to Live series, i was excited because i love zombie books. I was expecting to be greeted wth gore and bloody deaths. This series was a major disappointment. There weren't any major character deaths in these books, just the deaths of small background characters. I like to get to know a new character in one chapter and then have them die a bloody death by a vicious zombie 3/4 chapters on. I only gave this 1 star extra than the previous because there was more death featured in this one, but i feel it may have been to make up for the lack off in the last two. The two 'smart' zombies from the last book Truman and Lucy became even smarter in this book, which not going to lie, i didn't like. Zombies are not supposed to be compassionate to those they are about to kill, hell they shouldn't even be talking. They shouldn't be killing humans with guns, like Lucy did in this book, it didn't feel right. The smart zombies in this book, i feel, are more like people with a disease, granted a disease where they are dead, but they didn't feel like zombies.This series is great if you want a zombie series with a twist, but i have already read a few zombie books with a plot like this and this was nothing in comparison to how great that series was. The covers are however really great..
—Jade - Louise
First line: Lucy loved killing. It was the only thing she found exhilarating, the only thing that made her feel vital and real, as though she still mattered and wasn’t just a spectator to all the sorry, broken-down things and people—including herself—that surrounded and buffeted her every moment.3 1/2 rounded up to 4 stars. Paffenroth is an amazing writer, and he does a bang up job in "Last Rites," set a decade or so after the zombie apocalypse. Two humans, Will and Rachel, and two sentient zombies, Truman and Lucy, are outcast and living in the wilderness, until they are forced to seek out others for help when Rachel becomes sick with malaria. In the seemingly civilized town of New Sparta, the party believes they have found respite, as the town has most of the modern conveniences they hardly remember. The houses are air conditioned, the women wear bras and make up and get their hair done, goods and services are bought on credit which needs to be paid off. (It's nice to see that consumerism and conspicuous consumption survived the apocalypse. Egads.)But as cheery as things might be for Will and Rachel, the zombie pair are by necessity turned over to the authorities, and they are quickly put to work - Lucy on patrol outside the city walls, and Truman to work for Doctor Jack, who runs a carnival side show where zombie entertainment is the main attraction. Although Paffenroth continues with his bold themes of the nature of life and death, and life after death, many of the religious elements that were so important in his first two books are missing. However, this is still an excellent read, a must for any series fan of zombie literature. Highly recommended.
—Netanella
