Book Review on Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Victor Corsi
Mrs. Smith
Resident Evil: Apocalypse



DeCandido, Keith.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Pocket Books, 2004
277 Pages


Summary:

After the aftermath of the deadly T-virus being unleashed from within the under ground complex, called the Hive (The prequel Resident Evil: Genesis). The deadly virus was not contained within the Hive and is now spreading in streets of Raccoon City. The T-virus causes dead to be reanimated and have a thirst for living flesh also if the virus also if injected with this virus will cause the victim to die and later to be reanimated. Due to the outbreak of this infection Umbrella plans to test out there new prototype monster called Nemesis that is programmed to kill anything.

Jill Valentine and several others now must fight for their lives if they are determined to escape the nightmarish city of Raccoon alive. Though they must overcome the city’s legions of undead, the brutal onslaughts of Nemesis, and the Umbrella’s well armed forces. Their only chance of escape rests with a young woman named Alice, who has a greater connection then anyone, including herself, knows about. Along with a treacherous rescue mission from Umbrella’s higher, that must be accomplished before sunrise.























Characters:

•Major Timothy “Able” Cain: One of many corporate leaders in the maniacal Umbrella Corporation. He is the supervisor of the Nemesis Project. He also opened the Hive causing the dead to roam Raccoon City’s streets.

•Alice Abernathy: An ex-head of the Hive’s security used to work for Umbrella and now is doing all she can to take down this evil Corporation. The Umbrella Corporation experimented on her making her into a bio-weapon.

•Matt Addison: Pretended to be an RCPD (Raccoon City Police Dispatch) to infiltrate the Hive, an underground complex controlled by Umbrella. A creature called a licker infected him, and was placed into the Nemesis Project.

•Terri Morales: An ex-news reporter who has been demoted to weather girl for showing false information about a city council man taking bribes. She is also a pacifist who takes drugs to keep herself rational and sane.

•Jill Valentine: She was suspended from S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) for spreading “false” rumors about monsters killing people in the Arklay Mountains lining to the Umbrella corporation.

•Dr. Charles Ashford: A member of the Umbrella’s Science Division and a part of the NEMESIS project, and creator of the T-virus which causes the dead to come alive and go on a feeding frenzy. He is crippled. He is willing to help Alice and the other survivors escape if they can save his daughter.

•Angela Ashford: The nine-year-old daughter of Dr. Charles Ashford. She used to be crippled like her father, but her father did something to prevent her from becoming crippled. She is the only way Alice and the other survivors can escape.

•Carlos Olivera: A member of the Umbrella security division, who was left for dead in Raccoon City by the Umbrella Corporation. Now he is against the Umbrella Corporation for being left for dead, and the death of his comrades.

•Nemesis: An eight-foot tall biological super soldier created by the Umbrella Corporation, to serve Umbrella. He is able to see heat signatures, and is also able to carry a rail gun in one hand and a seven-foot rocket launcher in the other.













Setting:

In the novel Resident Evil: Apocalypse the setting takes place in a place called Raccoon City. Within this city there are many places where major events occur. These seven settings are the most important, as well as having great symbolism contained in that particular setting.

•Raven’s Gate: At Raven’s Gate The Umbrella Corporation performs a sadistic action against the Raccoon civilians. Umbrella authorizes the use of live ammunition to drive back the citizens of Raccoon City. This is significant because it show that the Umbrella Corporation has the authority to do what it wants.

•Church: When Jill Valentine and two other survivors notice that there are creatures that are capable of severing a human in two, are in the church, a stain glass window begins to glow. This is no ordinary stain glass window it is the image of Lucifer-goes-to-hell. This image grows even brighter once one of these eerie creatures smash into Jill. However the stain glass window shatters as Alice breaks though the window and takes down all the creatures. The symbolism that is display when thing are getting worse for Jill the stain glass window begins to glow brighter, and when help arrives the stain glass window is shattered.

•Raccoon City’s streets: This is where the most of the action takes place since the character do not have that much use for automobiles because the undead legions of zombies are traveling through the streets.

•Hospital: Within the hospital there is a part that is owned by the Umbrella Corporation. In that part of the building are unsightly plants as well as large weapon cases. This is ironic since a hospital is supposed to be a happy, peaceful place, but the Umbrella Corporation is anything but a happy, and peaceful place.

•City Hall: This is where the climax occurs, also at the same time the final battle. Similar to the way the Journey Motif is setup.

•Arklay Mountains: This is the be considered the Birth and Home positions on the Journey Motif for Jill Valentine because it is the place where problems of the zombies occurred for her, and it is where she ends up in the end of the story with the elixir to fight Umbrella.














Comments on the author:

The novel Resident Evil: Apocalypse by Keith R.A. DeCandido was a great novel that I have read. The author uses the style of Surrealism throughout the story. The surrealistic events are easy to notice. In the first chapter a surreal event occurs. “The four hundred ninety-two employees who lived and worked in the Hive were all dead. And, based on the fact that this was not stopping them from wandering around the Hive, they had been killed by the T-virus.”(DeCandido, page 12-13) This opening of the surrealistic event defines the style in the rest of novel.
When reading the novel it was not difficult to read. The novel did not use any difficult word, so that the meaning was not hard to get out of the sentence. The font of the novel was large enough to clearly make out the words. If you are looking for a good book to read that has a lot of fast action, and also enjoy horrific science fiction events Resident Evil: Apocalypse is the novel that you would want to read.