Audiobook Review – Ex-Patriots (Ex-Heroes, Book 2) by Peter Clines (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Ex-Heroes series by Clines.  I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was incredibly well done.  They have different actors for the characters and the story is very well done.  I thought this book was even better than the first book, I really enjoyed it.  The third book in this series, Ex-Commincation, is tentatively scheduled for a December 2012 release.

St. George the Mighty Dragon, Stealth, Zzzap, and Cerberus have been doing their best to protect the citizens of the Mount from the Ex-Humans dwelling outside of the Mount’s walls.  Food is growing scarcer but things are going okay.  That is until the military shows up with the supersoliders.  The military claims they want to help the people of the Mount and join forces with Stealth and crew to protect humans and re-build America.  But seriously, have you ever heard of the military being good and helpful after an apocalypse?

This book was even better than the first.  Like the first book it goes between Then and Now.  The Then parts tell the story of the creation of the super-soldiers.  The Now parts tell about the superheroes dealings with the military.  The plot was put together better than the first book, more complex and interwoven, and really action packed which was very engaging.  We get to know our favorite super-heroes even better and I enjoyed every second of it.

What really impressed with this book were the layers of deception.  Stealth and crew encounter so many layers of deceit as they deal with the army; nothing ends up as you think it will and everything is more complex than it first seems.  Even though St. George is willing to give the army the benefit of the doubt as a reader you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time.

Our favorite super-heroes all grow to some extent in this story (as much as can be expected in a pulp-fiction kind of story like this).  Stealth is learning to act more human and Ceberus is dealing with her fear of being out of her armor.  All of them are pushed to the very limits of their powers, yet always seem to be just powerful enough.   A lot of the action scenes were very awesome and it was wonderful to Stealth in full battle-mode…she kicked butt a number of times.

We meet some great new characters.  The Driver is introduced, he can take over machinery and wear it like a body.  We also meet the lead super-soldier Captain Freedom; he was a bit too cookie-cutter Captain America for me…but it worked for the story.  I hope he developes into a more interesting character in future installments.

The story wraps up nicely, as with the first book, and I can’t wait to read future installments.  These books have been fun action-packed reads set in an interesting post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world.  They are well done and just plain fun.