The last city by Logan Keys.
Sixteen-year-old Liza was prepared to die from cancer, but instead she's been gifted super-strength. Since the undead plague, the world's gone crazy: Evil dictators, mad scientists, sick kids imprisoned on an island, and experiments that have created the stuff of myths and legends.
This was a good read with likeable characters.  I thought this book would be different. And it was. I do like my zombie reads with lots of gore. Looking forward to next book.  4*.

I am a sucker for supernatural stories, dystopian stories, and YA stories. The first book in Logan Keys' 'The Last City' series ticked all three of those boxes when I read the description on NetGalley. So I was very excited when I was able to read the book.

And all of those things are present in the story. In fact, there are traces of 'Twilight' (I'm 99% sure the vampire girl actually watches Twilight at one point), 'Divergent' (the place where the lead girl eventually lives is very much a Factionless sort of area), 'The Hunger Games' (people are banished to decrepit places while the privileged few engage in many cosmetic surgeries), and 'The Mortal Instruments' (there are werewolves and hybrid creature-people and almost magic). Those are the four series that I've read so they are my comparison.

None of this is to say that Keys is unoriginal or copied ideas. That's not true at all. Keys created a world where these things seem to work together, where the catalyst for action is different than in any of the other stories, but where strands from popular culture are woven together in a whole new one.

I originally rated this book three stars out of five but I'm upping it to four stars because, although it didn't grab me right away and when I read the last page I wasn't sure I'd want to read more, I realize that it was the first book in a series. First books are meant to set up a world, to explain the world is at it is, and to make a reader want to know more about a character and a plot. All of that was accomplished in this book.

There were dry places, confusing places, and even possibly unnecessary places but, in the time that's passed between reading it and writing this review... I want to read book 2 as soon as possible!

(I received a copy of THE LAST CITY through NetGalley and Le Chat Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own & my review is cross-posted at Goodreads, NetGalley, and on my blog.)

I really wanted to like this book, the concept was really interesting and something new for me. The beginning was good, introducing Liza and Tommy. However the more I read the more disconnected I felt towards the characters especially Liza, reading her POV I just scoffed each time a character in her arc was introduced. Tommy’s POV was interesting but still not strong enough for me to form an attachment. This was disappointing because the story itself was good. It was written wonderfully, I just really did not like the characters so whenever something story driven happened to them, it didn’t have the full impact it should of.

I am not saying that Liza or Tommy was not strong or have strengths that people could like, and honestly I am not sure what I am looking for as protagonists in this story. I think that is another reason I couldn’t give them book my all, I was entirely unsure of what I wanted. Maybe if I reread the book it can give me a better understanding of what I wanted from The Lost City.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was SO good. I don't often give 5 stars, but it was great. A dystopian, 1984-type, zombie apocalypse told in alternating narratives. One narrative is a teenage girl in remission from cancer, the other a teenage boy in combat training with a special power of sorts. It's just a really good dystopian read but with some fresh and unique plot points. And like any good zombie apocalypse, the author wasn't afraid to kill off a few shocking characters.

Bonus points because the second book was only $1.25 for Kindle (I would've spent a lot more then that to read it, but I'm not complaining).

Here's an idea. Let's write a book that has the potential to be really good. We'll pull in a bunch of different elements, including mutants + zombies, a post-apocalyptic world, and a dystopian city setting. We'll also make sure to fill it with at least a few interesting characters that readers can really root for. ......and then we'll blow it all to hades by injecting an entirely unnecessary and vaguely disturbing romantic element on the female protagonist's part. Because, y'know, we just can't write a young adult novel without having thoughts of true love and passionate kisses involved.

And wa-la! You have The Last City!

Okay, so maybe that was a little over-dramatic because even if you'd taken the hormones out, I still don't think I'd have liked The Last City all that much. While I genuinely do like how the author brought a few different elements together, it's not really anything that stands out. Peter Clines' Ex-Heroes book does the mutants versus zombies premise in a more interesting fashion. All the other elements have been done, and done, and done again. Even zombies aren't quite enough to save it. It took me three attempts to be able to finish the book.

Alright, that's not quite fair. Here's where it really is, and I just figured this out whilst writing up the review. I would have liked this whole book a lot more if we just cut out all the sections with Liza. At least Tommy's story was interesting, and his relationship with Joelle was one I definitely wanted to read more of.


Ooh, there's an idea! Can we have a few more young adult books where there's affection without attraction? Can we acknowledge that not all young adults are boiling stews of hormonal juices and deliver stories that don't at least partially rely on all the mushy feels? Pleeease?

Logan Keys can write. Not even going to pretend otherwise. There was some serious talent involved in writing The Last City. She had so many good quotable lines in here!

"What kind of monster would bash my brains in for being out at night? I know what kind. One who thinks he protects us by stripping away our rights. ... To endure the worst things 'for our own good'."


or even simply:

"It's never too expensive to be a good human being."


Can we just have that one plastered everywhere? We, in America, need to get that through our collective heads. It's NEVER too expensive to be a good human being!!

That's what makes it even more frustrating. That she has this novel that has so many awesome aspects to it, and then she has this ...this...relationship shoved into it. One that really legitimately is vaguely disturbing in the beginning.

The Last City was almost awesome! But..almost doesn't count. However, I do think Logan Keys is an author to keep an eye on. I think she's got the potential to blow us away. Just...not with this book.

Zombies, Vampires, Shapeshifters, Conspiracy, and A fight for the people...you could say this has it all.


Book Title: The Last City
Author: Logan Keys
Series: The Last City #1
Genre: Dystopian, Zombie, YA
Publisher: Le Chat Publishing
Setting: Florida (I think) and Sweden
Source: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

⇝Add to Goodreads

⇝Book Theme Song⇜
(this link will take you to my tumblr post with video)
♫Heroes by Generdyn Music ft. Zayde Wølf -- I seriously don't know how I came across this, nor have I ever heard of this Generdyn or Zayde Wolf...but really this goes with the book really well has all the feels for it. It's very inspiring and quite intriguing.♫




⇝OVERALL RATING⇜3.8/5 STARS or B

⇝My Thoughts⇜

The Last City formerly known as Gods of Anthem reads like two separate stories. One is Liza's and the other is Tommy's. Alternating between the two every so often, not necessarily at chapter breaks. Which maybe made the story more confusing for me, at least for first 2/3rd of the book. Although, I did prefer Liza's story over Tommy's because it was a little less complicated.

Oh yeah…there's zombies in this as well…which I'm usually freaked out by them, because they give me nightmares. These zombies, though, are sorta kept behind the walls so to speak, at least most of the time. The zombie theme is not overly prevalent, which I did like, because, I didn't have any sleepless nights while reading this.

Ultimately, though, The Last City feels more like a prequel because of it's rather anti-climatic ending. I felt like the story only became engaging within the last few pages. I think the series has the potential to be exceptional, I just don't know if the Author can pull it off, at least for me.

⇝Ratings Breakdown⇜

Plot: 3.8/5
Main Characters: 3.8/5
Secondary Characters: 3.8/5
The Feels: 3.5/5
Addictiveness: 3/5
Theme or Tone: 4/5
Flow (Writing Style): 3/5
Backdrop (World Building): 3.3/5
Originality: 4/5
Book Cover: 4/5 My Cover is the one that says The Last City
Ending: 3.8/5 Cliffhanger: Yes, pretty much

Will I continue this series? I already have the arc of La La Land, and I feel like theirs potential for this to be a great story…so…yeah.

Liza is 16 years old living an island with the others who sick. She has cancer and is ready to die. She lives on an island where they send all their sick. Why? Instead of dying, she lives and discovers she now has a super power. She is sent back to live in the city. In the city she will meet a rebel Jeremy and falls for him. The other major character in the book is Tommy who is 17 years old. He appears normal until he becomes angry. The underground has created super-soldiers. Is Tommy one? Tommy feels he is losing himself, will he? He worries as there are too many depending on him.

The novel is the first of a trilogy. The author has the two main characters separate in that each tells their story as they see it. I wasn't sure it would work in this book as in the beginning I found myself confused. As I continued the novel, I stopped being confused. It was nteresting to see how their world appeared to them. It's a fascinating story. I can't wait to read the second novel and of course the third!

I tried really hard with this book but found it difficult to get into and only achieved a few chapters before giving up. The book was slow and the characters never got to appeal to me.

Originally I wasn't going to read this... stupidly as most of you know I have over requested on NetGalley and have a HUGE amount of books to get through in the next couple of months. Originally The Last City was on my TBC (to-be-culled) list, but the byline of A ZOMBIE DYSTOPIAN NOVEL gripped its pointy little teeth into me and wouldn't let go.
It has been about a week since I have finished the books and I am having a bit of trouble remembering what happened. Don't get me wrong... I really enjoyed them at the time, and powered through both in a couple of days. But it obviously says something about the book if I cant remember it a week later.

As far as genre goes it fits the bill. Set at a time where cancer is killing everyone the zombies don't, the majority of the world is under water and two opposing sides are Waring over the dank, grey 'last city' using any and every means possible (including modifying people in the hunt for the perfect fighting machine) however I feel the book could have benefited from a tad more world building, this might just be me being biased as favorite part of dystopia's is the environments and one of the main reasons they interest me so much.

Liza wasn't the most likable character in book #1.for the first half of the book I found her terrifyingly resilient and brave but once she had met Jeremy she turned into the standard love struck heroine influenced so much by their boyfriends opinion. And as for Jeremy.... i didn't like him from day one. As book #2 centered less around annoying Jeremy and more around lovable Tommy (with the addition of some GREAT new/old characters in a side story line) I found myself getting more into the book and more invested in the characters, although the story was slower with regards to story line progression I indefinitely enjoyed this more than the first.

GoodReads says...
"The Last City is a young adult zombie dystopian tale that faces all odds in a post-apocalyptic world. Fans of The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games, and Divergent will devour this thrilling series."
... and honestly it couldn't be more correct.

And as for the ending...
We all know that book #3 will be good winning over evil after an epic battle and an inspiration speak from Liza... and I can't wait!!

“Those eyes, they were my own kind of madness.”

Last City, formalmente llamada Gods Of Anthem, es una novela juvenil de distopía sobre zombies. Personalmente, no leo muchas novelas de este género, ni tampoco me llaman mucho la atención los zombies (de hecho, creo que esta es mi primera novela sobre zombies), pero para ser la obra debut de Logan Keys, ha sido muy impresionante y la he disfrutado mucho.

Trama: Es emocionante. Cuando leí la reseña por primera vez, me llamó la atención de inmediato. Me pareció interesante, llena de suspenso y hasta un poco tenebrosa. Y no me defraudo. Muerte, monstruos, revolución, villanos, libertad, sacrificios, lealtad, amor. La trama es original y atrapante con elementos muy positivos como: el apocalipsis zombie, la descripciones del mundo y los personajes geniales. Además el libro está bien escrito y la forma en que está narrado, con los diferentes puntos de vista, es acertada.

Personajes: Son geniales y están muy bien caracterizados. Liza es mi personaje favorito. A pesar de todas las locuras y cosas terribles que ha vivido, ella es una protagonista femenina muy fuerte. Por otro lado, Tommy también es un personaje muy, muy interesante. Ambos son elementales para la historia por la complejidad de sus personalidades y sus luchas personales. En cuanto, a Jeremy, también ha sido agradable, él tiene sus propios objetivos, una misión, pero aun no he desarrollado un criterio concreto sobre él.

Romance: No es un elemento central en la historia, pero es bastante lindo. Liza y Jeremy son adorables cuando están juntos. Por otro lado, no es exactamente una relación romántica, quizás solo sean amigos en el futuro, pero me gusto como la autora escribió la historia de Liza y Tommy al mismo tiempo y como ellos se encontraron al final. Me hubiera gustado que aquello no tardará tanto, pero tampoco es algo negativo.

Final: Fue genial, lleno de tantos giros inesperados. No es exactamente un final inconcluso, pero estoy deseando leer la secuela.

Como conclusión, The Last City es una historia increíble en un mundo perdido lleno de oscuridad y monstruos. Tiene acción, romance, un apocalipsis zombie, personajes geniales y un estilo de escritura agradable.

This is my first dystopian post zombie apocalypse novel. And my first Logan Keys novel. Is it strange that this book made me anxious from the very start? I couldn't enjoy the journey, I wanted to understand the reasons behind the experiments. The novel is fast paced and highly descriptive. Told through two perspectives, Liza and Tommy, both have been experimented on to have super human strength. I found the switch in narration choppy. Mixed into the drama of fighting zombies, being test subjects and living in a strange militarised society with little snippets of teen romance. The novel moves quickly through scenes and I found myself going back a few pages to check if I missed something major. I have so many questions after finishing The Last City. Who is the Pretend Man? Where is Joelle? What happened to Jeremy? What started this whole crisis? How are the Skulls, UG and scientists connected? I hope my questions are answered in LaLa Land.

The last City By Logan Keys took me completely by surprise. It was one of those stories that I started to read and thought I'm not going to like this! why? you may ask, well I usually find that within minutes of starting a new book I can usually surmise if the writing style is one I'm going to like.
strangely with the last City, the first couple chapters didn't gel with me at all and I thought oh ow what a shame, it sounded so epic sigh.
Then BAM!!!! I don't know what happened but I couldn't put the bloody thing down, It was like my kindle was permanently attached to my hand, where I went so did it follow and my poor family was second best to this amazingly addictive unique Tale that I was on a mission to finish.
How to adequately describe The last city to do it justice mmmm, well I will start by saying this novel had a bit of everything, it wasn't really a romance or dystopian or even futuristic, it wasn't quite a supernatural or science fiction it had a mash up of everything and didn't concentrate on any one specific genre.
It really shouldn't have worked but it did.
Now to give a brief summary of this story here we go.
The last city starts originally by skipping between two character's stories, Liza and Tommy.
Liza is sick and is practically a prisoner and has been sent to the island to die.
shockingly she is the first ever to recover and is shipped back to the mainland to live in Ash city.
Tommy is a young soldier, he is a special, which basically means he has been experimented on and has been changed into something else. think the Hulk without the green tinge, you don't want to make Tommy mad he's liable to tear you limb from limb.
Their tales unfold separately all having a part to play in the final shocking picture and believe me, I was gobsmacked and also heartbroken for Liza when we get to the final distressing scenes.
As our saga reaches its final curtain the stage has been set for book two with Tommy and Liza placed strategically together, it's almost like the perfect checkmate ready for act two.
I've tried to give a sense of this book without giving anything away, take my word for it this is one book that is gonna grab you by the throat.
There something for everyone, We have Zombies, Vampires, super humans all set against a backdrop of a corrupt government, where the world's gone bat shit crazy and everyone's just trying to survive the best they can.
In conclusion, this was an unbelievably fascinating read and I relished every morsel and crumb it had to offer. I really can't think of any negatives, Logan Keys Did a brilliant job creating this post-apocalyptic read. This is the first book I have read by her it definitely won't be the last.
I received a free copy of this e-book from NetGalley and this is my unbiased honest opinion.

So much going on in this great book! I was so excited to come across Gods of Anthem.

Liza has a death sentence of cancer and is imprisoned on an island where other children/adults are kept who also have the same death sentence. After been given a second change (through very questionable methods), Lisa is sent back to the mainland (America) angry at the visible lies and confused at her new lease on life.

Lisa meets Jeremy Writer, the leader of the rebellion against Anthem and she realizes her purpose in life - to take down the Gods of Anthem.

Hatter, in a different country, part of the UnderGround movement/Army against Anthem is being prepped to fight and take back the US from the undead as an advanced soldier.

Both characters are amazing in their depth and their passion for this new world. I don't want to give to many spoilers, but Liza is just a brilliant teen who's intelligence oozes through each page. She's most-definitely an adult trapped in a teen body given her experiences and so is Hatter.

I can't wait to read more and highly recommend those to like intelligent zombie books :D