Deadlocked 6

Great character development and interaction, with a story line that kept me up at night. I have gotten more or less immune to the "horror" side of this story, but like one of my fave tv shows, The Walking Dead, the sociological/spiritual issues that come with a post-apocalyptic setting intrigue me greatly. Wise keeps using the idea of who are really the "good guys" to highlight the slipperiness of that whole idea in a kill-or-be-killed situation, and to great success, I think. Kim's psychological journey was especially touching to me.
I found myself begrudgingly sympathizing with the motivation behind what the bad guys did, in starting the plague to save the planet, as I am very much concerned with the precariousness of the planet in the face of our rapacious civilization, though I have no sympathy for their methods of trying to save the planet - but what other possible solution stands any real chance of working? We are already like rats in a cage, and one could argue that we are already starting to eat each other.
The conversation between Reagan and his general friend in DL5 had me nodding my head, until he started trying to defend their methods after explaining their reasoning.
Anyway, this series is one of the best times I have had reading recently and I recommend it highly!

I absolutely love this series!!! The characters are realistic and their actions (I think) reflect how a real person would act in situations like these. I really enjoy the fact that there isn't really a "main character," but multiple of them; I like that I could get into each or their heads and see what they're thinking and feeling and why they do the things they do. It seems pretty risky to kill off a main character while writing in first person (nothing ventured, nothing gained), but I think the author pulled it off. I'm very glad that I was able to be in Kim's head in her last moments, and it does exactly what A.R. Wise intended: "bring us to our lowest point." One last thing that needs mentioning is that this particular author lets the characters tell their own story. The author's voice is basically nonexistent and that allows the character to actually become real. Some authors don't do that well and it makes their characters/story lack body and depth.

Book 6 dragged a bit but the ending makes up for it! Love this series!