[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author and/or publisher. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own]
When the author of this book contacted me about doing a review I was hesitant at first as I am starting to think the zombie book genre is about played out. I mean, how many variations on brain eating zombies in a post-apocalyptic world can there be. After exchanging a few emails with Mr. Ryan I agreed to read it and I am certainly glad I did. This volume is the fifth zombie book by Nicholas Ryan and it is indeed a stand-alone book.
Brink of Extinction is not your typical zombie book in fact, zombies themselves play an ancillary role at best in this book. The real monsters hear are humans whose hearts still beat. This is ostensibly the story of reconciliation between a boy and his father 20 years after the zombie war that brought on the dystopian world in which they live.
It actually took me a while to figure out what the main plot line was because I initially thought it was something entirely different than what it turned out to be. The descriptions get a little wordy in places but I found that it was easy to skim over the more breathless scene setting without disrupting the story.
This is not a long book at roughly 200 pages but the copy I have does not have page numbers which I found a little irritating after I put the book down in a hurry and then had a blast finding where I left off before being interrupted.
That aside, this was an excellent story and I am now considering buying the other books in this pseudo series. If you like dystopian fiction or zombie fiction then this is the book for you. There is plenty of action and plenty of deep thoughts as well. I highly recommend this book.