Patient Zero Part 3

This section of the book is by far the best part. Everything that was built up in the beginning and middle all come down to this last section at the end. While I was reading this part of the book, I literally could not put my hands down. I had to finish the book, no matter how tired I was from reading I just could not stop. The descriptions of the fight scenes and the environment are very detailed and it made the book just that much more addicting. The climax of the book occurs when the main protagonist meets the antagonist and also finds out the identity of a traitor amongst them. He ends up fighting them in a bloody battle that is nothing short of exciting.
Also in this section of the book, the author goes more in depth with the different characters and their behavior, a romance blossoms and a new twist is added at the end. The author never ceases to have a boring part in the book, which makes it highly addicting.
During the fighting or action scenes with the book I felt excitement rushing through me, waiting to see what would happen next, or what the outcome would be. At some points of the book I was worried that a lot of the main characters would die off, so the author did a good job on creating suspense too. Another aspect that is interesting about this book is that it tells the story from the antagonists' point of view also. So I read about Joe Ledger, I also got a feeling of what the enemy was up to. Towards the end, the antagonists end up fighting each other, and one of them makes a brave choice to save the world. The ending was typical, but what surprised me was that it leaves no opening for a sequel to follow up on. Overall this was a very good read.

Rest in Beats Nujabes.

Jun Seba, a Japanese producer and DJ has passed away in late February. Confirmed by his own record label on March 18, he has died in a car accident upon exiting the Shuto Expressway late at night. He was only 36 years old.

More commonly know by the name of Nujabes, he produced beats with a strong jazz influence, adding in his own mix of saxophone, guitar, piano, and flute in order to produce a warmer, more mellow track. The death of Nujabes struck a blow to the underground hip-hop scene. The first time I listened to one of his tracks it was completely different compared to anything that I have ever heard before. I would just feel so much emotion from his beats. No matter what mood I was in, there seemed to be a track that would match it. Whatever the mood was I could always turn to Nujabes. I would rely on his music to focus when I did homework, or when I had a headache and needed to relax. His music was just always there for me, always soothing. The mellow beats would always paint pictures, memories, scenarios in my head. There's only a few artists that I can never seem to get sick of no matter how many times I listen to their work and this man would definitely have to be one of them.

Listening to his music not only helped me emotionally, but it has also influenced my taste in music. Before listening to him, I was stuck in the same overall genre of music. No variety. No change. Everything was the same, snares here, bass here, and a mix of fast paced lyrics. Nujabes' music was different. You can't really predict the type of tracks that he will produce since each one of them has it's own uniqueness. From listening to him, I've expanded my playlist of music past the common mainstream music of the radio, or general hip-hop and rap and started to progress into instrumentals from such producers like J. Dilla.

Man, now that I think about it, J.Dilla died really early in his life too. So many young and talented people seem to die at an early age. It only leaves the rest of the world to wonder what they would have become, and what else they could have contributed. Nujabes touched the hearts of countless people across the world. His work has changed the lives of many and his presence will truly be missed. He brought a new style of sophistication into his work, accompanied with nostalgic undertones, he's put out some of the most beautiful tracks to emerge from the underground scene. He brought with him a real taste of hip-hop in a world of rappers talking about money and drugs. This just makes me believe more strongly that we really have to appreciate the type of people who are contributing to the world while we still can. Whether it's in music, sports, politics, etc. Before we know it they won't be with us any longer and only then will their work be honored. He was truly one of the geniuses of the music industry. You will forever be missed and always loved. Your music is just that much more meaningful to me now that I know you won't be putting out any more new tracks. Rest in peace Nujabes.

Patient Zero Part 2 (Chapter 41-71)

During this section of the novel things really started to pick up. Jonathan Maberry goes into further detailing about how the whole zombie thing works and at some parts it gets really scientific. I try to get the overall understanding of the situation, but sometimes it gets too complex for me. However, I do enjoy how seriously the author is taking his novel to go this far into detailing. An example of this would be when Dr. Hu explains his theory on how the zombie disease works:

"Prions are neurodegenerative diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies...sometimes you see it occurring as a result of cornea or dura mater transplants, or in the administration of human-derived pituitary growth hormones...they are not compatible according to what we know of modern transgenics---or they've found a way to alter the chemistry of the body to cause artificial hibernation...Once the victim is in hibernation this disease cluster reorganizes the functioning matrix of the body. It somehow uses fatal familial insomnia protein to wake the victim up again and keep them awake."

Not only is the fine attention to detailing a factor that keeps me hooked onto the book, but the fast-paced action scenes as well are described incredibly. It takes a person with a great deal of creativity and imagination to create such a fictional story, like a zombie invasion and turn it into something that can be relatively believable. From the author's comments on my last post (which is still shocking) I'm excited to find out that he's made this book into a series. This book is a really exciting read with a blend of action/thriller and science based horror. I am well ahead of the schedule of the pace that the class should be reading at and I don't think it'll slow down until I finish the book. I can't wait to see how the plot unfolds and thickens even more, and most of all see how it all accumulates into a climax.