What’s Mad Swine Dead Winter About?
Mad Swine Dead Winter is the sequel to Mad Swine The Beginning.
Three months after the beginning of the Mad Swine outbreak, the residents of Randall Oaks have reached their breaking point. After surviving the initial outbreak and a war waged with their neighboring community, Providence, their supplies are severely close to depletion. With hostile neighbors at their flanks and hordes of infected outside their walls, they have become prisoners within their own community. When new allies arrive with an old friend, the brave men and women of Randall Oaks will be faced with the decision to stay within the confines of the community only to die of starvation or to leave the safety of their walls in pursuit of a promise land, the survivors must make their choice—and face a new enemy unseen. Will the remaining members of Randall Oaks continue to survive the apocalypse or will it be a Dead Winter?
Our Mad Swine Dead Winter Review
Mad Swine Dead Winter is the second book in the Mad Swine series by Steven Pajak. Dead Winter picks up after the major conflict between Randall Oaks and Providence. These are two housing developments that border each other in case you haven’t read the first book in the series. Randall Oaks is a gated and walled community and Providence is the development that the residents of the Oaks had to pass through to get home. The events that take place are after the major conflict. Danzig and his brother Brian have had a bit of a falling out due to the circumstances of the outcome of the battle. Brian has left Randall Oaks to seek out other survivors.
Randall Oaks is now in the middle of winter. There are shortages of everything. Fuel, Ammunition, food, and firewood. The power is no longer on meaning the main grid has collapsed in the aftermath of the Mad Swine infection. Its interesting to note that even in a situation as described, the characters attempt to go on with life as they knew it prior to infection. Some tried to retain a level of normalcy by having the streets and sidewalks cleared of snow using powered snow blowers until the fuel ran out. Others even after all that has happened, do not want to accept that their world has changed. Danzig, the troubled hero/warrior character is having issues dealing with all the people that were lost during the battle with their neighbors and the loss of his family to the infection. He’s trying to keep the community together while balancing that loss and the potential loss of his brother who is overdue.
The established characters from Book 1 are all present. Kat, Sam, and Ray along with Ravi and a few others so the reader can relate to what has happened since the battle. What makes this book stand out from the first is the way the lack of supplies is depicted. There is only so much space you have for storage and when supplies start running low, you begin to rethink your options. Fuel for the fireplaces and wood stoves are at the top of the list. In the middle of winter with freezing temperatures, you need something to keep warm with and to cook with. Danzig has to face the possibility of going outside the walls to gather wood ad other supplies. That increases the potential for contact with Providence patrols and the infected. With the shortage of ammunition from their previous battle, the use of firearms is limited to direct action and the threat of imminent death. Improvised melee weapons are the course of action for those inside the walls being backed up with designated shooters in case the infected swarm.
Faced with a severe rationing option, the residents of Randall Oaks are working on a plan to survive winter when Brian returns. Only he’s not alone. Brian has found other survivors, survivors willing to work with the residents of the Oaks and take them in. The only problem is that they would have to travel several miles, on foot, through the snow and infected.
Mad Swine Dead Winter is an awesome continuation to the series. It takes the reader deep into the survival aspect following an infectious event by adding in nature along with a man-made outbreak.
