I thought Contagious was better, which I didn't think possible after how much I loved Infected. It's so hard to pull off a good sequel, especially after a great first book, but I think Sigler managed to do it. There was scientifical explanation for what was going on, character development and interaction, violence, and all around awesomeness. But we all have our opinions. And if you didn't like it that's yours, though I am very confused how you can say it had no purpose. That just baffles me.

"Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie." {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

"I thought it took the personalized horror of one man, and then made it global, giving us a horrific future glimpse at an infected planet." Excellent way to put that. :) And yes, there is a third book (Pandemic), which I am also extremely excited for!

"Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie." {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

I loved Contagious more than Infected.  Secondly, there will be a third book!  Third, everyone is different so it is likely that others feel the same way about Contagious as you do.  Hope you enjoy Ancestor.

[flickr-photo:id=3938763689,size=m] and friend of GirlCo's official mascot

Kali and IBS.  I thought both books were phenomenal - couldn't have one without the other.

On another note, if you're going to give away the ending of a book in a thread, you should post a spoiler warning for those who may not have read it yet.

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Pusher, Co-Founder of the Gutter Sistren & [flickr-photo:id=3938763689,size=m]

well at least you won't get killed for posting your thoughts here. we're all friends even if we don't agree on everything!

Molly McButters is my Homeboy!

I listened to contagious FIRST because I didn't realize it was supposed to be part of a series/trilogy.  Perhaps its because it's my first sigler novel but I actually Thought Contagious was BETTER than Infected.  Contagoous shows us what the Human ID, personified by chelsea Jewell, could do to the entire planet with enough power and if left unchecked.  I also thought Contagious ended better with Infected ending with Perry getting shot by Dew Phillips. 

In any case, believe what you want but I personally think you're crazy.  But all in the Service of the FDO

A psychotic, egomaniacal 7-year old girl who can infect people then control them with her twisted, amoral little mind isn't horrifying? A family getting their skulls bashed in with a tire iron isn't gory? The two scenes describing triangles bursting out of people's bodies isn't horrifying AND gory? There was a lot of macho wise guy stuff, I'll give you that. Try listening to the audiobook, you might find that more enjoyable (if you can get past Scott's horrible female voices ;) ). I think Scott does a great job of acting each character, which makes sense because he wrote them. Give it a listen, you might like it better than the book.

That said, I don't want you to feel like we're all piling on you over you opinion. Hey at least you expressed it, as well as a willingness to check out Scott's other stuff. Most times when people don't like an author's work they just walk away from it and don't come back without ever letting the author know what was displeasing about it. Most of us here are pretty hardcore fans & we don't see a lot of dissent, so throwing an alternate opinion out there is a good thing. It keeps the community from becoming stagnant.

**All this plan is missing is a giant freaking laser in space."**

Well thanks guys for not giving me more of a roasting :) and I am sorry for not putting a spoiler in! It was good to see your views on the story and I look forward to reading future Sigler books when they come into print here in the UK. I appreciate that not many people criticize but if what I felt was true then it is good for healthy debate which is what we are having here....so I shall keep posting and reading Sigler :)

Bloodlust: You're a brave soul for wading in here with a negative review, I'll give you that. But "not gory?" I have a scene where a woman pulls her disintegrating hand out of her own bloody skin, skin that flops wetly on the floor like a used glove. I thought that was just a tad gory. Disintegrating men, tire ironed skulls, and a baby getting booted for an extra point. 

Huh. Seems violent to me. 

Just keep reading the books! I have no idea if you'll find ANCESTOR "gory" or not, but we shall see. 

I thought that was pretty gross, too. Plus all that french kissing! Ewwww!

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BigJohn: Badass enough to get the drop on Kissyman

The [REDACTED]* of the 7 triangles, the burning, the removing of [REDACTED]*,(ouch) the voices of the "little fellas" in his head, the almost comical conversations with the "little fellas" the great play on the word Columbo (that was a stroke of genius...and I was glad to see it got a mention in the second book) the brutal killing of best buddy Bill Miller, the brutal and graphic description of the demise of Fatty Patty "Free from the weight, the Triangles on her ass wasted no time. They thrust only a few times before ripping free in a great gout of blood, and orgasmic finish to their necrophilic sex/birth."  It was descriptions and top notch writing like this that made Infection a truly remarkable book.....yes of course there was an amount of gore in Contagious but not the fresh rich horrific and descriptive gore of Infection....Having said all this I see myself as a great fan of Scott and cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of Ancestor later this year..I think I'll also order a personal copy of The Rookie as they appear to be running out fast, even though delivery to the UK will prob be rather expensive. I know by taking and posting a somewhat controversial view on one of Scott's books I do lay myself open for attack from his fierce and loyal fans..that of course is not my intention...it's great talking to you all and hope we can continue to be great friends over the coming weeks...months...years...

*Please keep spoliers out of the public forum comments!

When sycophants rave and rave about inferior quality product. i've seen it before on other fan boards, where overzealous fans go nutso over everything that is produced, even if it is substandard, or just plain bad.

So if you truly believe what you're posting, more power to you. If you are trying to get a particularly gruesome literary death by defying the FDO, I must say that's pretty ingenious, too.

Still think you missed the boat on Contagious, though. ;)

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BigJohn: Badass enough to get the drop on Kissyman

As fierce and loyal as most of us are, we're still usually pretty open-minded and accepting. You don't have to like everything Scott does, though a lot of us (but not everyone) have liked everything so far and if someone expresses something differen't, we're all willing to share opinions. Whereas if you came in here yelling at Sigler for being a day late on his content and snobbing the voices he does and this and that and personally attacking him, it would be a different story. Then you'd most likely get roasted alive. Cause that's just cruel. :)

"Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie." {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

saying the stories aren't gory enough is good incentive for the offended (FDO) to give the "Why I outta" to the offendee in a particularly gory demise. Not saying it will happen, just that it seems a sound strategy.

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BigJohn: Badass enough to get the drop on Kissyman

What she said!

(I was ready to leave a cool response until I saw that IBS had already said pretty much exactly what I wanted to say!)

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Pusher, Co-Founder of the Gutter Sistren & [flickr-photo:id=3938763689,size=m]

You know you loved all that french kissing!!!!!   Smoooooochies!!!!!

[flickr-photo:id=3938763689,size=m] and friend of GirlCo's official mascot

Give the audio a try if you haven't already.  It will add a whole new level to the experience.

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Pusher, Co-Founder of the Gutter Sistren & [flickr-photo:id=3938763689,size=m]

and it's a good one. Infected definitely had a higher level of gore and "traditional" horror. I guess Contagous was closer to a sci-fi thriller than the horror / gorefest that Infected is.

**All this plan is missing is a giant freaking laser in space."**

It was actually kind of weird to do it in that order - all of the others I've gotten to hear the FDO's voice in my head as I read along.  The audio did add a lot, but my own imagination worked to make out a lot of the scenes!  I think it depends on what turns your stomach as to what accounts for gory...

In talking about all this Sigler all of the time, one of the things I find to be just amazing is that even though there are common links from book to book, no two books are exactly alike.  They are all definitely Sigler books, but they each have their own something and that makes them stand apart even more.  A sequel to Infected that was exactly like Infected - I don't know that I would have liked it as much.

___________________________ Proud member of the Gutter Sistren

But something you have to take into consideration is that the stage had grown to an exponetial level in Contagious when compared to Infected.

In Infected, the story was 1.) laying the groundwork for showing what kind of will power and determination that Dawsey has and 2.) it was, for the most part, all about point 1. 

Contagious, on the other hand, focused more on the scientific/military side of things, so it was going to be more hard science than anything else due to the characters who were at the forefront.  Is it a change from the first?  Sure is, but I found the blending of science and horror elements to work quite well for what the novel was getting at; it wasn’t one guy, going crazy in his apartment, slicing himself to pieces trying to get something out of himself; it was about how the government as a whole is trying to literally get to the cellural level of what the hell is going on. 

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the trick to staying sane is to just out-crazy the world

But really, Contagious was "terrible" ? That's a pretty strong word. I've read some stuff that I would call terrible. Actually, I haven't read it, cuz I couldn't get through it. Poor writing, weak characters, whatever it is that turns me off, I'll put the book down and abandon it. To me, if someone says something is terrible it means it's not worth reading. If the point here is that Contagious is not as gory as Infected, then that's what should be said.  If you're disappointed by that, then that's what you should say. But to categorically slam a book by saying it's terrible if that's not what you mean does everyone a disservice.

For me, there are definitely some Sigler books I like more than others. But I've enjoyed them all; I think they're all well-done, well-written and very good. Do I have favorites? Sure. Do I have an hierarchy, where one book falls to the very bottom? You bet. Do I think that last book is terrible? Not one bit.

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BigJohn: Badass enough to get the drop on Kissyman

Great minds think alike, eh?

"Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie." {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

I read horror the first time, glad I re-read and got that it was honor. Cause that's much more true. :D

"Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie." {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}