Ex-Patriots is the second novel in Peter Clines' Ex series and takes place two years after the first novel. This time instead of our lineup of heroes fighting Los Angeles gangsters, super-villains, and zombies, they are fighting the U.S. Military super-soldiers, super-villains, and zombies.
This installment in the series introduces us to some new characters who become welcome additions to our Ex-Heroes; Captain Freedom and the Driver join St. George, Cerebus, Zzap, and Stealth
The story is told similarly to the way as Ex-Heroes with the "Now" and "Then" times; cleverly introducing flashback moments for showing the history of several characters and how their actions or events they lives by led up to the actual set of events in the "Now" time.
Unfortunately, a lot of the flashbacks, "Then" time, of the supersoldiers were of no interest to me. I didn't see the importance of the backstory or history of a super-soldier that was a secondary character in the story. I simply found myself speed-reading through those portions.
Overall, the climax left much to be desired. At best, it petered out and for me, didn't feel like an ending.
On the entire series, I would say the Ex-Purgatory (#4) is the best and stands on its own with prior knowledge of the previous books. Ex-Heroes (#1) comes to a second best and serves as a good introduction the entire series. Ex-Communicated (#3) ranks the same for me as Ex-Heroes. The addition of Corpse Girl to the team was fantastic. And that leaves Ex-Patriot in last place for me.
My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.
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