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“The Judas Syndrome” review

// March 13th, 2011 // BookReviews

Joel and his friends are on the verge of graduation and excited and optimistic about their futures. But when they return from a camping trip in the remote woodlands to find themselves faced with a post-apocalyptic world, their daily lives acquire burdens and terrors hitherto unexperienced.

3 out of 5 stars
This is a good story that is worth reading. I would give this a higher rating if not for a few flaws.

It is believable that a group of teens in a post-apocalyptic world would do lots of drugs. It is believable that a group of teens that already know how to shoot, camp, and garden could survive in a post-apocalyptic world. It is also believable that teens can be mature and intelligent, and that even teens that seem immature can show their maturity when it counts. However, when all these things combine, things become a bit unbelievable. I think in real life things would begin falling apart rather quickly, as teens would argue that others were doing more than their fair share of drugs, argue about who should be in charge, etc. I think at least one person (most likely the leader) would say that all the drugs need to be stopped completely by everyone. So it is a bit hard to believe that there are no arguments about leadership and few problems resulting from drug usage.

The other flaw is that the characters are all underdeveloped and unremarkable. This is written in a first-person narrative, but even if Joel did not know the others deeply beforehand, surviving an apocalypse together should have made them all get to know each other very well. However the characters mostly remain interchangeable.

I hope these flaws are not present in the sequel, because as I said the story itself is good, and I am eager to read more.