One of the things we imagine often is what the world would be like in the future whether it is space travel, dystopian worlds and/or the zombie infested post-apocalypse. personally, I have thought about both and usually it just ends up very strange which is why I’ll likely never write stories about zombies. They would probably just end up being some sort of deep space monsters trying to eat your brain or some such right before Christmas and no doubt still be wearing their ugly sweaters or at the very least what’s left of them as they aimlessly ambling around a defunct spaceship. Yes, that sounds like a terrible story in the making that you’ll just have to forget I ever mentioned. Instead I have a better idea – how about I just write about a book I recently read.

During January I read The Raid by Keary Taylor which is a short story within the Eden Trilogy. When I picked up this book on Amazon to be totally honest I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect other than I knew that it was post-apocalyptic in nature. Even though this story is short you really do get the sense of danger and setting of abandoned buildings that you would expect from this genre. Right away you realize that the title of the story, The Raid, is aptly named as a small crew makes their way through a decaying city to get the supplies that they need to survive in a world that has been over run by the Bane. In a way this book reminds me of a walking/running app that I’d forgotten was on my phone until recently called Zombies, Run! that has you in a similar situation collecting supplies for your outpost coupled with a well done story as you count your steps.

One of the important things that this story does is that it sets the stage for the first book in the trilogy called The Bane. The short story also is a means of introducing the character named Eve whom I believe is one of the central characters throughout the trilogy itself. I very much appreciate a prequel story such as this one that doesn’t try to be something that is not. It accomplishes both of the goals that it needs to well while giving us a good suspenseful story that I might suggest can stand out on its own right.

I have to admit at first that I wasn’t sure exactly what the Bane were other than something that were bad for the surviving humans. However, towards the end of this short story there is a more full explanation of why that is. Something I’ll leave to The Raid and have Eve tell you more should you pick it up since you really can’t appreciate what they are otherwise. I will say this though – they aren’t exactly human and they aren’t true zombies either. They are science gone wrong with a slight twist. One that definitely reminds me of two other major players in the dystopian realm. The way I see it and I may be wrong, however, TorBane would seem be the evil child of Umbrella Corp (Resident Evil) and Skynet (Terminator) if they got together.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would suggest picking it up before reading the Eden Trilogy even though it’s probably not totally necessary. One thing I’m a bit uncertain about is how far the love interest aka romance is taken into account. I don’t mind it, but I truly hope that Taylor doesn’t use it as a distraction from the bit I saw suggested in this story. I have the first book and will probably read it at some point this year in that the concept of the Bane is intriguing and I do like strong willful female leads such as Eve.