This book is about a post-apocalyptic world where a plague turned humans into zombies.
I have to say that I love the cover. I don't know why I like it so much though.
With that being said, the cover was probably the only thing I liked about this book.
Let's start with the characters. Abney, the main character, was twelve years old and I didn't care for him. His mother was probably the only woman in the book and was mostly irrelevant to the plot. Quinn, the knight, was supposed to be this mysterious and badass character but just came out as one-dimensional.
The plot wasn't that great either. Most of the book was boring. It focused entirely on Abney, Sarah, and Quinn's journey to a distant city and nothing interesting happened until they got there.
The only action in the book happened 70% in and it was nothing really mind-blowing.
The writing was nothing exceptional. It didn't help the lack of plot and personality of the characters.
This book disappointed me. I started reading without knowing much about it but expected something.
I won't be reading the sequel.

The Emperor's Railroad is all about the world-building. Because, to be honest, not that much happens in this novella.

In our future, after some vague war brought about by creatures known as Angels, America is divided into Kingdoms and Dreaming Cities. Virginia. Pittsburgh. Columbus. These places have Knights, who do the bidding of the Angels and rulers.

And Quinn is a Knight. Of where, I won't say. Because it's a spoiler, and it's COOL. He's got two swords, and a gun. And he needs them, because of the zombies. Did I mention the zombies? Well, the book starts out with a zombie fight, and you think it's going to be just another zombie book. But it's not.

It's about Quinn helping a boy and his mother reach the "safety" of a new home. The boy, Abney, is a old man, relating the tale from when he was 12. And as he does he slowly pulls back the curtain on this world. It's done in a natural way. He's telling this to people who live in that world, so he'll leave out details that anyone would leave out if they were telling this to a contemporary. That's so real, and it makes the narrative feel alive.

We never find out who or what the Angels are--we don't even see them! But Haley's built this world so well that I want nothing more than to read the next book to see if we'll find out.

It's not perfect. I found the dragon (and that entire scene) to be goofy. I found the character of Abney's mother to be full of fascinating potential, but then underutilized and minimized. Abney talks about how remarkably well-spoken Quinn is, but in the telling of this tale Quinn never uses verbiage or language other than what the other characters use. They're small things. And as I said, I'll be reading the next novella. Haley's world of the Dreaming Cities is terrific.