I took the time to read quite a few passages and some whole stories aloud to my partner, and kept pausing so we could share our enthusiasm or dread or other feelings. It’s not a collection to rush through, but to savor.
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.
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.
