(audiobook) Review - World War Z by Max Brooks

My review went up Sunday, but a day and a half behind is actually me doing really well at the moment. Here's the link to my review of World War Z at sffaudio.com.

Let’s just say, if we ever do get into a Zombie War, you better have a copy of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide on you. Someone’s already gone through the effort of thinking up EVERY situation that can occur, what’s effective, what’s not and put it down in words. No sense reinventing the wheel. While an entertaining idea and clever execution, these were the exact things that made World War Z a book only a mother could love I could never love. It’s worth a read if only to see how in-depth you have not thought about zombies.

Review - Cell by Stephen King

Stephen King does zombies! Well...kind of. We'll get to that in a bit.

But first,

How I think this book came about (that means this next part is 100% fictitious):

Way back in aught-6 (2006), or just before because Cell was published in '06, but who knows with King, am I right? But anyway, we've come a long way since that time. Everyone was getting cell phones and they were just about getting to every last person around. I imagine him having this conversation with, let's say, his son, Joe Hill.

Stephen: "Wow, cell phones have really gotten popular lately. Everyone seems to have one."

Joe: "Yeah Dad, come on, get with the times already, man."

Stephen: "Well, at least we'll never get rid of these landlines right? Both are VERY necessary. [useless joke probably not in King's character, just wanted to make fun of how we used to still had landlines when everyone was switching to cell phones]

"But seriously, I am SO sick of people being on their cell phones all the time. You can't even have an honest-to-goodness conversation with a person without someone bombarding you with a call.

"Can't we just have real conversations with human beings anymore? Instead, we talk to electronics and let them control everything we do, sacrificing our humanity.

"If only there was a way to put an end to this nonsense...I've got it!"


The Review:

Cell [US] [UK] starts out as your basic zombie book. People are going about their normal business when suddenly lots of people start going crazy and attacking other people while a few people escape unscathed for a while until they get attacked.

Well, Stephen King made a couple of changes to the normal zombie mythos (I think we can call it mythos now). Here, the zombies are created by a pulse that occurs through cell phones. All the people using their cell phones at the time of the "pulse" (as its known throughout the book) are immediately changed into what is essentially a zombie. Those without cell phones or not on them at the time are saved.

It's not exactly clear whether they are (or have to be) dead or not, some are, but not all, but they all have the same traits, which are pretty zombie-like. They go crazy, they attack people including their own kind, and make survival the number one priority for those who weren't turned.

They are known throughout the book not at zombies, but as "phone crazies." Boy did I hate that term after a while. It's just so dumb. It's also descriptively appropriate, but meh. Call them walkers, call them phoners even, but "phone crazies" just bugged me to no end.

In addition, the zombies only come out during the day and therefore leave the night to the survivors.

Cell follows Clayton Riddell, a survivor of the pulse who happened to be in Boston at the time of the "pulse." He lives in (you guessed it) Maine (but he's not a writer, he's a comic artist, completely different because they do "graphic" novels), which is where his family is located at the time of the pulse and provides the impetus for Clay and his group of survivors to head north.

I did enjoy this book, but to talk about why I didn't enjoy it enough to even reach the 4 star threshold, I'm gonna have to get into some spoilers. These aren't huge, ruin-the-book spoilers, just possibly ruin a part of the first 200 pages/quarter of the book. You've been warned.

/Begin mild spoilers

I could go more into Clay's group because they do play a large role in the novel, but I just don't have the time nor the energy at the moment. Know they're there and they are some great characters.

The reason I wasn't a huge fan of this particular zombie book is that King almost immediately kills the whole reason I read zombie books. I read them for the constant suspense and scare that the people we've grown close to are going to get eaten, turned, die, whatever.

King introduces telepathy into the zombie mythos.

While it's an interesting and unique take, I realized toward the end that it pretty much killed this particular zombie novel for me.

Because the zombie apocalypse occurred through the pulse, the phone crazies (bleh) are connected somehow, they can even communicate in a way telepathically. It begins through large gatherings where they sleep during the night while getting essentially reprogrammed telepathically.

While they are communicating telepathically, they begin to flock just like some types of animals (birds in a "v" for instance). While they flock, they don't attack humans. It just stops.

There's more that happens and they do begin to do some much more devious things, but the survivors, and especially our little crew we follow, are essentially immune from the day-to-day zombie attack.

Bigger Spoiler and for the novel I Am Legend as well: While I'm still within the spoiler section of my review, I also wanted to add that I totally thought he was going to go I Am Legend with the zombies, making the zombies the new society and the survivors the outcasts. It seemed to be going there, but didn't in the end.

/end mild spoilers

I enjoyed this book, it had great characters (as expected) and a good enough story to keep me enjoying it. It also had an interesting take on zombies that, while I applaud King for his creativity and boldness, kind of killed the zombie part of this zombie novel.

3 out of 5 Stars (Recommended with reservations)

Review - This Dark Earth by John Hornor Jacobs

I picked this book up not because I'm a fan of a good zombie book (even though I am), but solely on the strength of the reviews of his debut novel Southern Gods.

I haven't read it, but I will now.

This Dark Earth [US] [UK] takes us from the beginning of the zombie apocalypse through the early development of a new civilization. Not treading a whole lot of new ground here are we?

And I think that's what's blowing me a way with this book is that it's nothing new, but at the same time it felt fresh and vibrant and I COULD NOT put it down. I guess that shows what kind of writing chops this author has.

We start out following Doc Lucy Ingersol's point of view as the first of the outbreak begins to show up in the hospital in which she works. The waiting room breaks out in what I can only compare to Draculas. All hell breaks loose.

She gets away, barely, and gets picked up by a trucker who goes by the name of Knock Out...just as the world is being blown to smithereens, or just well-placed nukes in every major city.

While this isn't a whole lot different from the normal zombie fair, I can say he does a few things differently, at least in my limited experience. The first, is the entire set up of the novel. It's only made up of 7 chapters, each, for the most part, is a different character and in first person. They're all interconnected somehow and thus, you're able to get really close to each of the main characters.

The characters are for the most part relatively serious, but of course there's quite a bit of tongue-in-cheek. I usually get annoyed by this sort of thing, especially when it's done constantly, but it fit so well and the humor was so spot on, it worked perfectly. Here's a favorite quote, from the engineer, that occurs later in the book although I've taken out any spoilers for the most part:

I've brained 170 zeds. Klein says he's at 180, but there's not a lot of time for talking now. I'd be hard-pressed to say who's Legolas and who's Gimli. I'm taller and gay, so I'll take the elf.

The second thing is that you can't trust what will happen with these characters. Obviously, this is a zombie novel and of course no one's really safe...but then, The Walking Dead still has most of the main characters, even Carl...wait...where's Carl!?!?!

Speaking of The Walking Dead, if you're a fan of the show, I think you'll really connect with this book. Some of the same themes show up here, such as the need to avoid cities with their huge populations.

Okay, I'll stop talking about The Walking Dead, as much as I love that show. This Dark Earth would definitely not be viewable on TV. The back cover of the book has a quote from S.G. Browne that says this book is The Road meets World War Z. While I haven't read WWZ, I have read The Road and I can kind of see where he's coming from. The people who have survived at 3 years out are some of the nastiest around. There are good people granted, but where would the fun be if only those existed.

While this book is much more on the pulp end of things, I can definitely see that this comparison to The Road makes sense. There are some truly poignant events that occur that had my emotions running high. I can also say that I don't think I've read anything more brutal than what happens to one of the characters and the whole time it felt like I was going through it. On that note, this book definitely isn't for the faint of heart. Lots of blood and guts fill the pages, not to mention some other uncomely acts.

All in all, if you're going to read a zombie book, you should read This Dark Earth. Once you start, you won't be able to put it down anyway, so start now.

4 out of 5 Stars (Highly Recommended)

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher

(Audiobook) Review - Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

Jonathan Maberry has made a name for himself writing horror, but more specifically writing about zombies. Going into Patient Zero [US] [UK] [Kindle], I knew it would contain zombies, but it could probably fit just as well under the label of "covert ops" or some such (not that this fantasy nerd knows anything past dragons and magic). It technically contains a form of "zombie," but it really isn't a zombie book.

The real threat in this book is terrorism. Joe Ledger, the series' eponymous hero and Baltimore detective, is recruited by a special, super secret task force, the Department of Military Sciences (DMS). The DMS is charged with taking out a group of terrorists with a bio-weapon that turns people essentially into zombies.

Maberry does a great job getting you right into Patient Zero. Ledger's right in the middle of the action, gets recruited, gets tested to see if he can cut it. I was sucked in fast, but it also got old fast for me.

I love a good zombie book as much as the next guy, but as I mentioned above, this wasn't really a zombie book and I found myself getting a bit bored. I really think it was me more than anything the author did, these types of books just aren't my cup-o-tea. I don't mind watching these types of movies, but I like reading more about the supernatural than espionage, etc, and there really wasn't a whole lot of supernatural going on here.

And maybe that's kudos to the author. He did a great job explaining the plague/zombie-making disease and maybe too good because it all made sense and it was more like preventing the spread of the mumps.

But, while I admit that these types of books aren't my favorite, I also had a hard time with the main character, Mr. Ledger. He's a tough-guy, a meat-head so to speak (so we probably wouldn't hang out anyway), but he grated on me after awhile. It's almost like he's constantly pissed, but that's not quite it. He's not quite griping either, but he's got this attitude quite frequently expressed such as "you're doing it all wrong."

I'll admit that my disappointment could also be from the impression given by the narrator who was good but intense at times.

While Joe Ledger plays a large role in Patient Zero, he maybe only takes up a little over 50% of the book. The rest is in Afghanistan with the terrorists and specifically Sebastian Gault, a billionaire who specializes in pharmaceuticals. While considered a philanthropist by the world, he really takes advantage of ailing countries rather than really helping them, so of course something like this is right for him.

The Afghanistan parts are where most of the twists and turns take place, but I still can't say I loved it all that much. I think I'm over the terrorists as the "bad guys" and while it really was the only thing that worked for the story (who else could pull off bio-weapons?) I'm done with them just like I'm done with the Germans and Russians (as bad guys not as characters).

I think a lot of people will enjoy this much more than I did and I can't say I didn't like it either, I just didn't love it. The twists and turns were great and I really didn't expect the ending where he could have gone the way of I Am Legend, but didn't. 

Recommended, but not necessarily as a zombie novel.

3 out of 5 Stars (Liked it)

Download a free Joe Ledger short story here.

Zombie Ants - World War Z Starts Small

This is super creepy but a real phenomenon where a fungus takes over an ant's brain. See the article for more.

Also in the news...

Michael J. Sullivan on Editing: Traditional vs. Self-Published: I wasn't the only one visited by the Sullivan fairy this week. I'm really enjoying these articles that are popping up everywhere.

Excerpt from The Whitefire Crossing: I'm getting a review together as we speak as I just recently finished The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer. I really loved this book, hope you do too.

Review: State of Decay, by James Knapp

State of Decay [US][UK], by James Knapp is the first installment in a near-future dystopian zombie trilogy aptly named Revivors. Darkly compelling and deviously plotted, State of decay is a mind bending zombie adventure that will please noir crime/thriller and genre fans alike.

My experience with zombie lit is sadly limited. My most notable (and only) foray into the genre was with Max Brooks in World War Z - the opus of zombie literature. All this to say that State of Decay is not your typical smash and bash zombie survival adventure. It aspires to, and achieves more than that. Dark and dystopian, the zombie aspect of the novel is secondary to the human controversy.

State of Decay takes place in an authoritarian future in which it seems that everyone is at war with, well, everyone. Technology, ever the friend of the military, is used to reanimate the dead and send them right back to the front line. Society is highly hierarchical; greater rights and privileges are accorded to those who 'donate' their bodies after death to become "revivors".

The novel is fairly unique in that it takes time to explore some of the murkier waters of the zombie sub-genre. Since becoming a revivor is generally a voluntary process, one in which you retain your memories and identity, the morality of act and its attendant consequences are given a front row seat. The first test-case that readers encounter is that of a black market female revivor sex slave, revived against her will. I wasn't kidding when I said the novel was dark...

Meet the four protagonists: the badass ex-military hero turned FBI superstar; the driven yet tormented cop; the gritty and down on her luck boxer with a personality that resembles a shot of whisky; and the young and frail junky who is more than she seems. All in all a well rounded cast of characters that keep the plot rolling along at a respectable clip.

The major plot arc, which I will not spoiler, is essentially the intersection of hero FBI agent's investigation and the tormented cop's case. Did I mention they have a romantic history? Of further uniqueness in the novel is the intersection of the zombie sub-genre and the psychic sub-genre, if it can even be termed such. The contrast between the purely scientific revivor and the more ephemeral powers of the psychic makes for some dazzling plot twists that are sure to surprise.

As the James Knapp has mentioned, the trilogy is divided into three distinct parts, which fits with my reading of the first book:

The book, and the trilogy as a whole, is what I intended it to be and I don’t think I could ask for anything more. Putting all the world-building and character development aside, it’s a three part tale: The first book uncovers an unpleasant truth, the second is about choosing sides, and the third is about fighting for what you believe in. I’m satisfied with the symmetry of it, I like where my characters ended up, and I feel now that the story has been told.

I enjoyed the fact that Mr. Knapp made the zombie theme his own and chose to make fun of some of the genres preconceptions. Insatiable thirst for human flesh? There's a chip for that - upgrade you zombie today! Well, the fun was a bit more subtle than that, but you get the idea.

State of Decay is recommended for the zombie naive, the noir obsessed, and the genre fan generally. It isn't a perfect book, but it was perfectly enjoyable - take the jump for a concisely precise review of State of Decay that is decidedly more balanced than mine. I am anxious to dig into The Silent Army [US][UK] and see what the fates have in store for our unlikely heroes.