The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

From Goodreads:
A walled city surrounded by lush land, protected by high mountain summits, and fortified by a massive gate to secure the only pass into the valley, The Bastion remained humanity’s last hope against the fearsome undead creatures known as the Inferi Scourge. On one fateful day, the valley gate failed and the Inferi Scourge overran and destroyed the human settlements outside the walls, trapping the remaining survivors inside the city. Now, decades later, the last remaining humans are struggling to survive in a dying city of dwindling resources…and dwindling hope.

Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her entire life within the towering walls of steel. She yearns for a life away from the overcrowded streets, rolling blackouts, and food shortages, but there is no hope for anyone as long as the Inferi Scourge howl outside the high walls. Her only refuge from the daily grind is in the arms of Dwayne Reichardt, an officer in the Bastion Constabulary. Both are highly-decorated veterans of the last disastrous push against the Inferi Scourge. Their secret affair is her only happiness.

Then one day Maria is summoned to meet with a mysterious representative from the Science Warfare Division and is offered the opportunity to finally destroy the Inferi Scourge in the valley and close the gate, reclaiming the lost lands and energizing the populace with renewed hope for the future. The rewards of success are great, but she will have to sacrifice everything, possibly even her life, to accomplish the ultimate goal of securing the future of humanity and saving it from extinction.

Lori's Review: 5 Stars
I finished this last night. I am still speachless. This book was supreme awesomesauce. When I am being judged at the pearly gates by my zombie loving god (he's my god) asks my what my favorite zombie novel was. The Last Bastion of the Living would HAVE to be my answer. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It feels traitor-ous to say that. I LOVE so many other zombie novels. I feel like I am downgrading them or betraying them. It has nothing to do with that. Rhiannon Frater literally just blew this shit out the water though guys! You cannot compare this to other zombie novels. It is in a league of its own. It was even leaps and bounds more awesome than her ATWD series.
The Good:
The writing was perfection. You are IN this story. I would look up and get culture shock when I looked around and saw MY beautiful Maria sleeping in the bed next to me.
Maria Martinez was just the right mixture of kickass warrior and real girl. Sometimes female character are just too badass to be believable.
The dystopia was also completely realistic. I loved it. These people aren't thriving. They aren't even surviving.
The villians are not one dimensional. They are a mixture of good and bad. You see their motivations for their devious ways. (Well some of them)
The zombies aren't really zombies in the traditional sense. Rhiannon created a whole new world. EVERYTHING is new.
The not so good:
This is a stand alone novel. Once you finish it. You are finished. Rhiannon has stated more than once she is DONE with this world. She leaves this future in our hands to imagine what happens next. I'm going to be honest. I don't have even a tenth of her imagination. My musings WILL fall flat. I want MORE but I have to be happy with what I have.
There is one story line about a cult that was introduced but nothing happened with it. We never find out if they are still around. I guess this is one of the things she left up to our imaginations.
People kept comparing this cover to Kate Beckinsale and the Underworld movies. I guess that would be MOST young people's frame of refernce for a kickass black leather clad female lead.
I'm not most people. I don't think of Underworld. I think of Aeon Flux. Although she always wears skimpy outfits. Which is awesome. I'm not sure if Rhiannon is a fan or not but I sure am. Maria Martinez could do a lot worse than being in the company of these two ladies.