A solid zombie-apocalypse survival adventure.

Having largely gotten my fill of zombies throughout the 2000s, It's been a while since I've felt the urge to pick up a book focused on such things. Still, the hook of everyday people attempting to survive some sort of zombie outbreak remains occasionally compelling for me and "Stage 3" managed to pleasantly scratch that itch for the most part.

I don't believe there's too much in this one that will outright surprise veterans of the genre but everything is fairly well executed and there are a few fun and noteworthy wrinkles to the typical formula of such tales that I won't spoil here.

I admittedly did find some elements a little rough around the edges or distracting in ways that threatened to take me out of the experience from time to time but the overall effect of the storytelling was compelling and enjoyable. There's also a nice sense of closure by the end of things that makes the book work well as a standalone despite being the first in a fairly long series.

Ultimately, I'd say if you're already a fan of zombie fiction, "Stage 3" is quite satisfying and worthwhile, and even if you aren't, or are simply unfamiliar with this particular speculative fiction sub-genre, you may still find it engrossing, or a at the very least a reasonably high-quality introduction to stories of this kind. 4.25 stars for me, rounded up so as not to underrate it.