This first issue of DIE: Loaded is well-paced, setting up events deftly, and it’s full of hooks (and, no doubt, foreshadowing that will pay off down the line). Some of it you certainly have to have read the previous series to fully appreciate, but not all I would guess, and as a die-hard DIE-hard, I certainly wasn’t bothered by the callbacks.
Hellisen’s work is shot through with mordant, often wry humor, especially from Aleks. This does leaven and lighten the mood and tone at points and primes the reader for the next dark twist and turn.
If one wanted to characterize the high concept of this audio drama as “an audio version of World War Z, except dragons instead of zombies” you would have the general gist of what Proehl is going for, here.
My favorite stories from September and October featured aliens, impossibilities, migration, and death, in varying combinations.
For anyone who enjoys Westerns with a strong science-fiction background, or vice versa, with compelling characters and an intriguing plot, and a lot to say about memory and how someone is remembered, this will be great.
It’s a book full of anxiety, dread, and suspense, but also a thoughtful exploration of war, negotiation, and potential ways of being.
