Beyond Exile: Day by Day Armageddon

By J. L. Bourne

Sporadic news reports indicate chaos and violence spreading through US cities. An unknown evil is sweeping the planet. The dead are rising to claim the earth as the new dominant species in the food chain. Day by Day Armageddonand its sequel Beyond Exileare the handwritten journals of one desperate survivor as he battles in the face of global disaster. Zombie fiction at its finest, these books will take you to a whole new level of terror.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Jul 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781849831611

J. L. Bourne

J.L. Bourne is a commissioned military officer and acclaimed author of the horror series Day by Day Armageddon, and the dystopian thriller, Tomorrow War. With twenty years of active military and intelligence community service behind him, J.L. brands a realistic and unique style of fiction. He lives on the Gulf Coast but is sometimes spotted toting a rifle and a Bowie knife in the rural hills of Arkansas where he grew up. Visit him at JLBourne.com before the grid goes dark.

Reviews for Beyond Exile

[S.Dawson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just can't put these books down..one of the best zombie books I have ever read...gotta read these if your a fan of zombie apocalypse...zlol

[revslick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the perfect read after my last book on the history of cancer. This is a no-brainer - zombie joke intended! Fast paced, action filled adventure. It reminded me of those old cliff-hanger, pulp novels. Don't look for something deep just enjoy the ride.

[wifilibrarian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The sequel didn't really work after the first book.

[crazybatcow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Has way more military-detail content than the first one. We get the run-down on aircraft mechanics, guns and ammo, tanks, fuel, and etc...I'm not saying this is a bad thing... it's just more specifically military oriented than the first novel (which was more about one man's survival among zombies). It does stand alone, but you'll probably want to read the first book before this one so you'll know how the main character got to where he's at from the start of this story.It had a very interesting ending too... now I'll have to get the 3rd book when it comes out to find out what the source of the zombies really was!

[megandb_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hmmmmm. Did I enjoy this book as much as it’s predecessor, Day By Day Armageddon? Short answer: No. Long answer: also no. Shall I elaborate?From a technical standpoint you have to concede that Beyond Exile is Day By Day’s superior. Technically. A lot of the “flaws” of the first book are absent here. The problem is, as you may have guessed by my quote marks. Is that I never thought of Day By Day’s flaws as, well, flaws. Did the plot tend to meander, which sudden narrative events coming out of nowhere? Yep. Was the majority of the action described to the reader after it had already happened? Yep again. But as I said in my review of that book, these things gave the novel a uniquely authentic feel. The plot and structure did not adhere to what one would expect from a novel, and as such the book felt like a genuine diary, instead of a book in diary form. This, for me anyway, lent to the book a level of suspense that it might otherwise have lacked.Beyond Exile, however, reads like somebody took Bourne aside and explained that if he was going to be writing books then he’d best start learning the rules. The result feels very forced. Day by Day meandered, yes, but it felt natural, things happened randomly just like they do in real life. But Beyond Exile has a rather more structured plot, and when reading the book you can feel the author pushing his characters here and there. This neatly robs the book of the genuine diary charm, and without that the story definitely suffers.And despite all this talk of structured plotting, I actually doubt that Bourne sat down beforehand and plotted this book out. Obviously I don’t know how it went down, but I’d bet money that both books were written in one go with no structured plan, but with Day by Day he was maybe ignorant of the “rules,” and with his sophomore effort a little bit too aware of them.For example, early in the book a metric crap tonne of new characters (metric crap tonne being the academic term) are introduced and through a few highly coincidental plot twists our still unnamed narrator is put in charge of all of them. But you can practically hear the cogs turning in Bourne’s mind, realising that a man in command of many lives, who orders others to go do dangerous things instead of doing them himself, maybe isn’t the best POV character. But instead of rewriting the plot, he just twists it around until the problem is solved. As I’ve said already, it feels very forced.But the book is not wholly flawed. A new character is introduced who I found very interesting, an Arab man who teams up with our Hero. Bourne skilfully toys with the reader, making us wonder “is he a terrorist? Isn’t he?” Which, I know, sounds like is could be awful and more than a little offensive, but works really well. I also like how the Hero’s relationship with a character from the first book develops into more, but almost entirely off screen (page?). It gives the impression that there’s a lot more going on in his life than what he puts down on paper.The ending? Pretty much as non existent as the first, neatly setting up the third book. Will I be reading that book? Yes. But I hope that Bourne develops a little confidence in his writing to write what he wants, and all “rules” be dammed.

[rexrobotreviews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beyond Exile is the second Day by Day Armageddon novel, I admit I haven't read the first but have heard amazing things about it and can't wait to pick it up. I highly recommend reading the first novel before this one- I felt as if I was missing some tidbits of the storyline. The book was brilliant and fun, regardless. Now, just like in the first novel, the main character is an active duty military marine officer up against an unknown (zombie) disease- and just about the entire nation is infected. The story follows the survival of the very few uninfected humans left... and it is our marine's duty to find those survivors.The novel was written in a journal format- which I haven't enjoyed since The Perks of Being a Wallflower. But Bourne did a great job and I now enjoy this format once again. His writing made it easy to relate to the hero and understand why he was able to be one of the last survivors left. It felt very realistic as there were sketchings and grammar mistakes- like someone was actually in the midst of a war writing down his day by day. His many near death experiences seemed pragmatic and the action was just so solid- gotta love a good action novel. I couldn't stop turning the pages.If you like your zombie novel with lots of gore, this is the book for you. It was an extremely visual adventure- one horror after another. I loved it. It seemed that the ending left it open for the author to write another for this series. I really hope so anyway! I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in zombies or war. :)

[cmwilson101 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second novel in the "Day by Day Armageddon" series about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. The story is written in diary format, which makes the action more immediate and real. The protagonist is a military man, skilled at survival, who becomes a leader by virtue of his skills. In the first book he connects with a small group of survivors and leads them to a safe (as safe as one can find in a zombie apocalypse, anyway!) bunker that the band calls Hotel 23.In this second book of the series, the survivors make contact with the remnants of the military, and go on several rescue missions to help other groups of survivors who've been overrun by the zombies. They encounter faster, smarter irradiated zombies, swarms of zombies, and a mysterious group with advanced technology. The second book seems to be setting the stage for a third book. While good, it was less gripping and raw than the first, primarily because the emphasis was on military tactics and weapons. Still, a very good survival story; the world created is believable, chilling, and very scary.