'Plague World' - Dana Fredsti (Titan Books)

Having been ambushed in San Francisco, which is now fully engulfed in the zombie plague, Ashley and the wild cards must pursue the enemy to San Diego. There they will discover a splinter of their own organization, the Dolofónoi tou Zontanoús Nekroús, which seeks to weaponize the plague. But that isn’t the worst news. The plague has gone airborne, making it transferable without physical contract. It cannot be controlled by anyone, so reports of the zombie swarm are coming in from across the United States—and across the world.

Yep, when I said there were only a couple more zombie series that I was waiting to finish reading, before quitting the genre for good, Dana Fredsti's series is one of them. Despite their veering into Urban Fantasy territory at times (nothing wrong with that, just not something that I'm interested in), the 'Ashley Parker' books have been a lot of fun to read and there was never any doubt that I would be around to see the conclusion. I'm assuming that 'Plague World' is the final book by the way although I could be wrong. With the way that the titles have gone ('Plague Town' and 'Plague Nation') it's hard to see where the series could go after 'Plague World'. 'Plague Moon' might be a possibility (although I wouldn't have thought so) but I can't see it going any further than that. And that's fine. Everything has to end and it's always best to end on the best note that you can. Like 'Plague World'; a book where, if it is the last in the series, rounds things off in the best that it can.

I seem to find myself saying this a lot just recently but 'Plague World' doesn't really do anything new when set against the preceding two books. Various relationships are played out against an increasingly violent zombie apocalypse and Ashley finds herself having to make tough (even heart wrenching decisions) just to survive each day. People who have read the first two books will see instantly that nothing has really changed in the delivery and, in fairness, we shouldn't really expect it to. This is how the series has built itself up and, three books in, you shouldn't really expect any massive changes.

I'm not a hundred percent sure how I feel about this though. I shouldn't expect a big change (and especially not when Fredsti has far more important matters on her hand in terms of tying everything together) but I couldn't help but feel like a change in pace perhaps, or some real surprises (more on that in a bit) could have really made the difference.

Like I said though, Fredsti has a series to conclude (or plot-arc, I still can't decide whether there are any more books to come) and she does it pretty damn well, tying up loose ends amidst a backdrop of zombies and secret government organisations gone rogue. It's an explosive finale even if some of the revelations weren't exactly revelatory, at least not to me. Things were signposted a little too clearly for me and that robbed certain scenes of the intensity that Fredsti clearly had planned. By the end of the book though, all plot strands are neatly tied off and that added a sense of closure that I really appreciated.    

It's not all bad though, far from it. 'Plague World' has all the action and excitement of the first two books with an unsettling feeling that no-one is truly safe, even if they are a Wild Card with immunity to the zombie plague. Fredsti strikes a good balance between showing the apocalypse through the eyes of Ashley and how it is spreading across the world at the same time. I liked that approach as it really added some depth to the narrative.

I've been moaning about the constant zombie media references, in the preceding books, but with 'Plague World' came to find it all a little endearing in a geeky way (the book, not me). I've realised that what we have here is essentially 'Ready Player One' with zombies and I loved 'Ready Player One' (so can't really complain if  someone else adds their own spin on that approach).

I said yesterday that I'm done with zombie books and unless there's an excellent series out that there that I've forgotten that's still the case. I've heard it all now and nothing new is being said. This being the case, 'Plague World' is a good novel to sign out on. It may have its issues but it rounds off the zombie apocalypse whilst offering some hope for an uncertain future. Kind of how I feel actually :o)

Fans will get a lot out of the ending; newcomers should do themselves a favour and give 'Plague Town' a shot.

‘The Rising’ – Brian Keene (Deadite Press)

One of the aims for this new(ish) blog is to cover more of the books that are on my shelves as well as the new stuff that comes in. There are a lot of books, on my shelves, that are begging for a re-read or (in some cases) are still to be read. And the way I see it, what is the point of keeping books if you’re not going to re-read them at least once? You may as well not keep books if you’re not going to (re)read them, it would certainly help my house to look a lot tidier…

Brian Keene’s books (some more than others) are ones that I will always re-read. They’re, mostly, excellent horror fiction that are short enough for a quick commute but have enough going on in the pages to have you thinking about them for a long time afterwards. I’ve already written about ‘The Rising’, in my old blog, but that was four years ago now and I figured the book was about due to be picked up again (also, having read ‘Entombed’ the other day I just fancied it anyway).

I’ve been reading my old Leisure edition but Deadite Press are publishing ‘The Rising’ (I’m using their cover here) these days and this edition is worth picking up as it has something like thirty thousand extra words in it that flesh out the story a lot more. I can only dream of having that edition but the one I have does the job and you can’t ask for much more than that. I think it will certainly stand a few more re-reads before I’m done.

The dead have come back to life and humanity is under severe threat from zombies that do a whole lot more than just shamble around mindlessly. These zombies will eat bits of you but only after they’ve run you down with a car or thrown grenades at you… Every time a human (or animal) dies, the ranks of the undead only swell further.

Jim Thurmond is trapped in an underground shelter with nothing left to live for, until his young son (hundreds of miles away) manages to call, begging for his Dad to come and save him. Now Jim has something to live for and nothing is going to stop him reaching his son, certainly not a blasted America teeming with the undead and the worst that humanity has to offer. Time is running out though and who knows what Jim might find if he makes it to his son…

The best zombie fiction doesn’t really concentrate on the zombies at all. Sure, they’re a threat (and you will see what they are capable of) but they’re mindless shells really so it makes a lot more sense to concentrate on the survivors and see how they cope under pressure. Keene not only does this (with Jim trying to find his son) but does an admirable job of maintaining the resulting ‘high stakes/high pressure’ tone throughout the entire book. You know what’s at stake and you have to root for Jim, even while you’re wondering if he will crack under the strain. Jim is single-minded in his approach but never becomes one dimensional as a character; there’s a real depth to him that comes out over the course of the book and he becomes a man that people can’t help but follow. Nice people that is, not like the rest of the dregs populating the books; the people that Keene uses to show us that humanity can be just as nasty as demon possessed corpses (never, ever, take a helicopter ride with Colonel Schow…)

And yes, the zombies… They do everything a regular zombie does but a lot more as well, all accompanied by dialogue that can be hit and miss but mostly makes me chuckle. Humanizing (‘demonizing’?) the zombies is a bold move that ends up doing a great job of driving the plot at a breakneck pace and giving the reader a fresh spin on what was, at the time, a tired old trope that needed shooting in the head.

The level of gore works for me (my stomach is pretty strong) but, before picking it up, other readers might want to bear in mind that Keene is pretty indiscriminate about who it all happens to. Fair enough, zombie apocalypses are pretty indiscriminate things but not everyone wants to read about zombie foetuses being blasted by shotguns or severely learning disabled people being eaten by zombie children. And babies dying, it feels like there are a lot of babies dying in this book (there probably aren’t that many, I’m not going to go back and count though) and I wasn’t too keen on all that.

And the ending… It’s a divisive thing that ultimately led to the sequel, ‘City of the Dead’, being written. I for one appreciate its bluntness and also how it leaves those vital key moments to the imagination. In my opinion it would have stood fine as it was but I’m not complaining too much as ‘City of the Dead’ isn’t exactly a bad read either. More on that another time (maybe tomorrow, depending on how my other reads go…)

‘Entombed’ – Brian Keene (Deadite Press)

Because every so often, there is a zombie novel that makes me want to carry on reading in the sub-genre.

If Stephen King got me reading horror then it’s Brian Keene who kept me reading it. Keene is superb at what he does and long may that continue.  It has been ages since I’ve read anything new by Brian Keene though, what with the whole Leisure debacle and it suddenly becoming a lot harder to find his books in paperback over here (I know, eBooks…). I finally managed to find a copy of ‘Entombed’ the other day which is a big deal for me as it’s a book I’ve been looking forward to reading for a long time (ever since ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ was published back in 2011…). I had really enjoyed ‘Dead Sea’ and was eager for more tales in the same setting. The plan then was to savour the read but I polished ‘Entombed’ off in one sitting, it’s a very short read so it’s all too easy to keep going until you come to the end. I really enjoyed it but… First up, let’s have some blurb,

It has been several months since the disease known as Hamelin's Revenge decimated the world. Civilization has collapsed and the dead far outnumber the living. The survivors seek refuge from the roaming zombie hordes, but one-by-one, those shelters are falling.

Twenty-five survivors barricade themselves inside a former military bunker buried deep beneath a luxury hotel. They are safe from the zombies... but are they safe from one another? As supplies run low and despair sets in, each of them will find out just how far they're willing to go to survive.

‘Entombed’ is an incredibly short novel (one hundred and forty four pages) so if you’re looking for a long review then you might want to come back tomorrow, or perhaps the day after. This is a very straightforward read, linear in fact, with a clear progression from A to C by way of B. That’s not entirely a bad thing, Keene gives us an intriguing premise to  kick things off and there is an appropriate sense of urgency to the proceedings which makes for some tense moments. Without giving too much away though, it does get repetitive very quickly. This is to be expected given the nature of the plot, and the limited amount of space that Keene gives himself to work in (which doesn’t come off as claustrophobic as you would have thought), but ‘Entombed’ does settle into a groove that can lull its reader when the opposite should be happening.

It’s a brave move by Keene to write a zombie novel that doesn’t actually have zombies in it for the most part. The zombie apocalypse is happening but the real dangers lie within with people forced to make hard choices and then live by the outcomes.  As the main character, Pete has the most of this and Keene charts the consequences of Pete’s increasingly violent actions with grim vigour. When it’s your life on the line, what would you do? Keene’s honesty makes for compelling reading.

As a long term reader of Keene’s work though, it is getting a little tiresome seeing the background to the apocalypse being told in detail yet again (I make that two novels and one short story, maybe two, that give us the exact same background). I get that people might not read the books in publication order etc, it’s just starting to niggle at me a little bit. I mean, would everyone really watch the same news channels and get exactly the same picture of a zombie apocalypse or would perspectives differ slightly? Just a little tweaking here and there would make for a much rounded picture of the worlds end and make the series as a whole a lot more interesting. That’s what I think anyway.

‘Entombed’ is over a little too quickly then and treads ground that is in real danger now of becoming over familiar. It does everything else just right though, a tense tale of murderous necessity.

'The Remaining' - D.J. Molles (Orbit)

Is it me or are there fewer zombie novels being published at the moment? It’s probably just me but even so, it feels like a welcome moment of respite in a publishing landscape where the number of zombie books was reaching saturation level (and from me, that’s saying something!) You really can have too much of a good thing you know.

The good thing for me is that this means I’m getting interested in zombie books again. Not that I ever lost that interest, not really, but it was a close thing at times. D.J Molles’ ‘The Remaining’ series has had good things said about it, just recently, and the arrival of a review copy gave me the chance to find out for myself if all these good words had any substance to them. The good news is that they do but I still can’t help but hope for better things in the books to come. Go on, have some blurb…

In a steel-and-lead encased bunker a Special Forces soldier waits on his final orders.

On the surface a bacterium has turned 90% of the population into hyper-aggressive predators.

Now Captain Lee Harden must leave the bunker and venture into the wasteland to rekindle a shattered America.

Isn’t that the most succinct blurb you have ever read? No messing about, just three rather curt lines that tell you what to expect from ‘The Remaining’. The problem is that the book itself, doesn’t really elaborate on this too much. Sure, there are hints that the ‘zombies’ (if you could call them that) may be a little more than the regular shambling undead but the book can swiftly be summed up as ‘Harden fights the infected, rescues civilians, fights renegades… and repeat’. Harden carries the plot well but is a little too good to be true. I liked the way that Molles has Harden waiting on tenterhooks for his mission and then throws him totally into the unknown but there’s never any doubt that he will overcome obstacles, even when he is trying to protect civilians at the same time. The guy is just too much of a hard-core military dude for that. It’s early days though (very early judging by the number of books in the series) so it’s fair to say that ‘The Remaining’ is more about introducing Harden rather than doing anything interesting with the character. If you’re after seeing what Molles can do with a character who clearly isn’t geared up to coping with this new world, read ‘An Empty Soul’ at the back of the book. Molles displays a feel for the demands of post-apocalyptic life that isn’t in ‘The Remaining’ (yet) but gives me real hope for the future of this series. Hard choices are always the order of the day and Molles gives his main character one of the hardest of all (doesn’t shy away from the gory details of it either…)

As an introductory piece then, ‘The Remaining’ does its job very well despite its shortcomings; certainly well enough to make the sequel a ‘definite read’. There is an energy and urgency to the plot (a little bit for Harden but mostly for the people following him) that kicks in at just the right time and swept me along to the conclusion. I polished ‘The Remaining’ off in a couple of sittings and that’s a pretty big deal these days! While I was never that worried for Harden’s safety, Molles does paint a very bleak backdrop full of ruin and abandonment; that sense of emptiness really captures the feel of a world suddenly gone to hell and I’ve got to admit to jumping a couple of times when the infected suddenly appeared (just because it was so quiet). I got to the end of ‘The Remaining’ and immediately read the excerpt from the sequel, ‘Aftermath’, to find out what happened next. That’s not something I’d normally do so that tells you something pretty positive about the experience overall.

Room for improvement then but ‘The Remaining’ is a thoroughly entertaining read (think Matthew Reilly meets ’28 Days Later’ and you won’t go too far wrong) that has me eagerly awaiting the sequel. You can’t ask for a lot more than that from a book.

'The Girl with all the Gifts' - M.R.Carey (Orbit)

Every time I reach my absolute limit with zombie fiction another book arrives and persuades me to keep going just a little bit further. Zombie fiction these days is just like the monster it portrays, it's dead but hasn't quite realised it yet and continues to shamble along mindlessly. It's not doing anything new now and there's only so far that survival horror will carry any plot.

But I keep going back, hoping that zombie fiction will scale the heights that it once did and also because (being completely honest here) I love to start the morning commute with a heady dose of gore. There I said it :o) I'm also keen to see what authors new to the genre can do with it. M.R. Carey isn't exactly new to zombies (having written about them before) but has never, to my knowledge, written an entire book about them. I love his style (no matter what name he uses) so had to read 'The Girl with all the Gifts' and I'm really glad that I did. I don't think there will ever be a sequel (for obvious reasons) so make the most of this book now, seriously.

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.
When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh.
Melanie is a very special girl.

'The Girl with all the Gifts' is many things all at once and these seperate facets all combine to form a narrative that is rich and compelling. I couldn't get enough of it and at one point, after a long old day at work, made the decision that a rotten headache in the morning would be a small price to pay for reading the last fifty pages. It's that good.

The zombie apocalypse is here again but this time it's the most plausible it has been since Joe McKinney said there was something in the water. Without giving too much away, there's a zombie apocalypse going on right now and Carey takes this to a logical conclusion that has echoes of 'Day of the Triffids'. Another British apocalypse where the emphasis is on finding a cure instead of shooting up zombies (although the 'hungries' do get shot) and this adds just the right note of urgency to proceedings; especially at the very end where everything is suddenly cast in a new light and the ‘cure’ becomes very different indeed.

Melanie takes centre stage here and is a surprisingly frustrating character to write about in terms of keeping things fresh for people who haven’t picked up the book yet. You can probably guess the ‘big reveal’ anyway but what really keeps the pages turning is Melanie’s childlike view of the world; the sense of wonder that comes with every new thing she sees and her determination to protect her teacher, Miss Justineau, whatever the cost. It’s that naivety that reels the reader in to begin with (makes for some very touching moments), what keeps us reading is seeing how Melanie adjusts to change and how that naivety changes under various pressures (and there are some harrowing moments here, enough to make me say that you probably shouldn’t read this book if you don’t like writing that is close to the bone). It’s a real testament to Carey’s ability as a writer that Melanie becomes a very different person, by the end of the book, but still retains that core naivety enough to make some earth shattering decisions just when it matters the most to the reader. Sometimes you have to see the world through a child’s eyes in order to be able to make the decisions that matter the most.

At the same time as everything else (i.e. a child’s journey through the zombie apocalypse) ‘The Girl with all the Gifts’ is all about your past not only haunting you but eventually taking what is owed. Some things are just too big to run away from, even if you put an entire zombie apocalypse between you and it. Dues have to be paid and what this means for one character in particular is terrifying yet strangely apt. A life sentence takes on a whole new meaning in this setting and while it could mean good things for the future of humanity you can’t help but feel the horror of that last page and what it means. It’s the most powerful ending to a novel that I’ve seen in a long time.

There is so much going on in ‘The Girl with all the Gifts’ and the only thing that I can really say to you is read the book and experience it all for yourself. Carey is a good storyteller at the best of times but here he takes his storytelling to a whole new level. Highly recommended.

'Hollywood is Dead' - Kickstarter Project Now Live

I'm still idly holding out hope for a newly published zombie book to come along and do it for me like they used to back in the good old days. I'm not holding out a lot of hope to be honest but, in the meantime, this tickled me a little bit so I thought I'd share :o)

Artist Matt Busch has just released a crowd-funding campaign for the long-awaited Hollywood is Dead coffee table art book. Clocking in at 192 pages, the hardcover book will feature the giant collection of zombified parody movie posters that Busch has illustrated over the past five years, dozens of which have never been seen. The tome will also take a look behind-the-scenes at how the posters are created and feature a gallery of his other zombie-related works for properties like Night of the Living Dead and The Walking Dead.

The Hollywood is Dead project began as a series of Star Wars movie poster images at the request of Lucasfilm, only to be repainted by Busch into a twisted undead universe. With fandom hits like Zombie Wars: The Living Dead Strike Back, it was clear that the artist was destined to move beyond Star Wars and into the rest of the iconic cinema classics. The project soon gained attention on G4TV's Attack of the Show and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as Busch unveiled one new zombified poster after another. Fan favorites include Breakfast at Tiffany's (Breakfast is Tiffany), Edward Scissorhands (Deadward Scissorhands) and Toy Story (Toy Gory).

Details on how the book will be available outside the campaign are not ironed out yet, but Busch assures that pledgers will get the book well before anyone else, and at a better price. The Kickstarter also features exclusive reward packages, like signed / sketched books, and art prints not available anywhere else. The campaign for the Hollywood is Dead art book (only 4 weeks, which is shorter than most) is now live, and will expire on November 29th.

The direct link to the Kickstarter page and video is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattbusch/hollywood-is-dead-coffee-table-art-book

 

What's not to love about zombified movie covers? Especially ones like this,

 

 

 And this,

I'd maybe wait for those 'Details on how the book will be available outside the campaign...' to be ironed out before chipping in but 'Hollywood is Dead' looks like it could be a book worth supporting (just for the novelty value of having a book like that on your coffee table). What do you think?

 

Some quick thoughts on ‘The Fall of the Governor, Part One’ (Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, Tor UK)

Über-villain Phillip Blake has come a long way. He journeyed from humble beginnings into the dark heart of the zombie apocalypse. And here, he has manoeuvred to become a small town’s self-proclaimed leader. But Woodbury’s residents (those who survive) will live to regret the day Blake, aka the Governor, darkened their doors. For the Governor runs a twisted, violent dictatorship within Woodbury’s ever-tightening barricades. Those that manage to breach those barricades find only misery within, and the terror of the zombie menace without.

I’d normally be looking to write something a little more in-depth but the nature of this book is such that I already covered all the meaty stuff when I reviewed the ‘Walking Dead’ collections (on my old blog). This series has entered the phase where it dovetails with stuff that happened in the comics. I don’t have a big problem with that, it was always going to happen and I always wondered how they would deal with it. Where I have the problem is that Kirkman and Bonansinga dealt with it by basically going into a lot of detail that people who have already read the comics won’t need at all… The side plot with Lilly and Austin balances this out, a bit, and I’m interested to see how that ends. It’s a real spark of optimism albeit signposted a little too heavily in terms of the inevitable tragic ending.

If you are not one of those people who have read the comics then none of the above matters really. If that’s the case then what you’ve got is a story with all the brutality that you will have come to expect from the previous two books. I’d be a little wary though as the book covers Michonne’s rape (by the governor) in some detail. I don’t care if I’ve just given away a spoiler by the way; I think it’s something that you need to be aware of before picking this book up.

I had read the book though and as I finished reading I couldn’t help but think that I’d read all this before, because I had. It felt like a bit of a waste of time really.

If you’re a fan of the comic books and thinking of picking this series up, I’d say definitely read the first two books as they fill in a lot of background detail in some very clever ways. Don’t bother with this one though. I will probably skim the last book to see what happens to Lilly and Austin and to confirm my suspicions about who fires the fatal shots in the prison (I’ve got a pretty good idea). Other than that though, I’m done with this series.
 

'Exit Kingdom' - Alden Bell (Tor UK)

Zombie fiction has now officially taken on the guise of the creature that it focuses on. Hundreds of books (well, it feels like it) encroaching on the last bastions of 'zombie free' horror shelf space. Some of these books are clearly only recently deceased, still showing some signs of individuality and an ability to do what the rest cannot. And the rest? Rotting carcases of books that could easily be mistaken for another zombie book entirely. No individuality, no flair; just a relentless chunk of sub-genre that absolutely refuses to stop. What will the 'post-zombie' horror landscape look like once the sub-genre has burnt itself out? I'm thinking something along the lines of Atlanta in the 'Walking Dead' show...

So why do I still carry on reading zombie fiction if (as you have probably already guessed) I'm getting a little bit sick of it? Mostly force of habit I think and I'll bet you can all understand that on one level or another (a post for another day perhaps?) There's also the fact that I have found some real gems in the past (undead gems?) and sometimes it's worth ploughing through some mediocre stuff to get to the good books. Call it a zombie treasure hunt! :o)

I'm talking books like Alden Bell's 'The Reapers are the Angels'; an absolutely awesome book that, for me anyway, redefined what zombie fiction was all about. A 'literary zombie read'? Absolutely. I could wax lyrical about this book all over again but I did all that over at the other blog so have a look over there to see why I enjoyed 'Reapers' so much. As for this blog, lets just say that when I found 'Exit Kingdom' waiting for me I was in a bit of a rush to pick it up. So why was I ultimately a little disappointed? Have some blurb first before we go into all that...


In a world where the undead outnumber the living, Moses Todd roams the post-apocalyptic plains of America. His reprobate brother, Abraham - his only companion - has known little else. Together, they journey because they have to; because they have nowhere to go, and no one to answer to other than themselves. Travelling the bloody wastelands of this ruined world, Moses is looking for a kernel of truth, and a reason to keep going. And a chance encounter presents him with the Vestal Amata, a beguiling and mysterious woman who may hold the key to salvation. But he is not the only one seeking the Vestal. For the Vestal has a gift: a gift that might help save what is left of humanity. And it may take everything he has to free her from the clutches of those who most desire her.

At first glance, 'Exit Kingdom' looks like a worthy prequel to 'Reapers'. Or is it a sequel? Two stories are being told here, past and present, so you could make case for either really. I'd go with 'prequel', as that story takes up most of the book, which creates problems that I'll go into a little later on. It certainly looks good on the surface though with those wide open American spaces hiding little pockets of weirdness (I'm thinking of the airport here) as humanity deals with zombies in any number of ways. There's plenty to see here and it feels like the best kind of roadtrip, miles of empty road in front of you and nothing to do except watch the scenery.

There is a story though, of course, but it almost feels a little redundant given the fact that the book is a prequel. We've seen 'what happens next', we know that the zombies are still very much a problem by the time Moses comes to tell his tale. The tale of the Vestal Amata feels a little pointless then. Her relationship with Moses makes for interesting reading (as he constantly tries to do the right thing by someone who is a real chaotic force of nature) and the plot is driven by her ability to get into trouble. What is the point though if we know that she doesn't save humanity from the zombies? Maybe that is the whole point but that kind of approach doesn't hook me and want to carry on reading. Why did I? Mostly because of the gorgeous scenery but I'm digressing here. I could make a similar argument about Moses' brother (we all know what happens to him) but don't want to repeat myself too much. Lets just say that I still can't get my head round the idea of people writing tthe sequel first...

I also wasn't a hundred percent sold on the idea of Moses as the main character. His relentless implacability made him the ideal foil for Temple in the previous book as they both did their part in driving the plot. Here though? Apart from a couple of interesting hints (his wife and child), there just isn't enough to Moses to make him a chracter that can carry a book from beginning to end. All he wants to do is get from A to B and that introduces a linear tone to the book which it could really do without. I was strangely heartened though to see Maury still in tow.

I get the feeling that if you enjoyed 'Reapers' then you will more than likely enjoy 'Exit Kingdom', not me though. While I can appreciate that there was still a story to be told, the execution wasn't as effective as last time round. I'm fighting the urge to make a really bad pun about 'exiting' this series but would probably read another book if there was one. I just wouldn't pick it up as quickly as I did the other two...

'Plague Nation' - Dana Fredsti (Titan)

A really quick review today as I've been really busy with bits and pieces (including something that I'm very excited about) and, to be honest, it's too hot to be doing much more than reading. Hot weather and I don't get on all that well...
There's also the fact that some books don’t really come with a lot to talk about. You open them up, they do their job and you close them once you’re done. Nice story maybe but you can move onto the next book very easily and without much of a backward glance. Some books really are just about a ‘quick fix of story’ and ‘Plague Nation’ is one of those books. Have some blurb…

Ashley Parker was a ordinary woman who was also a wild card, immune to the emerging zombie plague, drawn unwillingly into a shadowy paramilitary organization. Having stopped the wave of the undead that swarmed their facility, the worst is yet to come, as the plague begins to manifest in key locations worldwide.

When you can sum up a book that easily you know it’s not carrying a lot of meat on its bones and that’s not necessarily a bad thing (just a thing really). ‘Plague Nation’ does its job well enough, delivering a whole load of action and chills that entertained me but didn’t stay with me afterwards. You could say that the book did its job when it mattered and those fans of the first book would enjoy this one too.

The one thing that did bug me was the uneven split between horror and urban fantasy tropes resulting in a book that felt like it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be. I’ll be honest and say that, as a fan of horror, the ‘snapshot moments’, where people were being attacked countrywide, really did it for me and delivered some nasty moments (as did one particular ‘zombie kill’). It just felt like these moments didn’t mesh well with the ‘urban fantasy moments’ which are shaping up to have Ashley decide between her half zombie lover and a dashing stranger. Sometimes a book just needs to decide what it wants to be and stick with it.

What it boils down to is that while there was enough there to leave me waiting to see how it all concludes; I’ll be reading out of a urge to complete a series rather more than anything else. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

My 'Essential Zombie Fiction Reading List'

I know I said I was going off zombies (still am a little) but I see things like The Essential Zombie Fiction Reading List (on the Barnes & Noble blog) and it's like a little red flag goes up in my head... And then I find myself posting here :o)

Don't get me wrong, I haven't got anything major against this reading list; lists like these are subjective and so on... I'd query the inclusion of the 'Newflesh' books (never got what all the fuss was about), Rhiannon Frater's trilogy is worth a read and when I finally get round to reviewing 'Plague Nation' I suspect I'll have a lot of good things to say about it. It's just that there are other zombie books out there that do the job a lot better and should have been included. What's that? Lists are subjective? Well, yes but... This time I know I'm right, I've read a lot of zombie fiction and know what I'm on about ;o)

So here's my list then, full of books that you can actually pick up right now this very second (in one form or another). If you want to get into zombie fiction then you could do a lot worse than check these out...

'The Rising' (Brian Keene) - These 'zombies' aren't technically zombies (being demon possessed corpses) but they still eat the living and the wider breakdown of society is depressingly well covered. 'The Rising' is the book credited with kick starting the zombie genre and it's where you need to start if you haven't already.

When you're done here, read...

'Dead Sea' (Brian Keene) - We're dealing with 'proper zombies' here and Keene does just as well here (even better I think) as he did with 'The Rising'. Read it! This one is underrated (I think) and deserves a wider audience.

'Pariah' (Bob Fingerman) - The zombie apocalypse isn't just about people getting eaten; it's about survival whilst dealing with a constant feeling of being trapped. 'Pariah' really nails that atmosphere with one apartment block of survivors surrounded by a Manhattan crammed full of eight million zombies. You can almost touch the claustrophobia here and Fingerman charts the downward spiral of certain characters in such a way that it stays with you for a long time afterwards.

The 'Autumn' series (David Moody) - If you've ever found yourself wondering how a 'British Zombie Apocalypse' might pan out then pick up 'Autumn' (which might still be free online, I think..) and read on from there. The plot is compelling but it's the background that Moody paints which is the key here. Everything is soul-crushingly bleak with little or no hope of salvation, just like all good zombie apocalypses should be.

'The Reapers are the Angels' (Alden Bell) - I almost didn't include this one as the character studies are so well done that you almost don't notice the zombies at all. 'Reapers' makes the cut though as I don't think I've read a zombie book that handles its characters as well. Hard times make for hard choices but you can still have a shot at redemption.

Otto Penzler's 'Zombies' Collection - I haven't made it all the way through this book but any anthology that has the first ever zombie story inside is essential reading for fans, no argument.

Last but not least, Joe McKinney's 'Dead City' is a favourite of mine with a great mix of citywide meltdown, intriguing questions and human drama. I think you'll like it and McKinney has written three more books (I think) following it.

It's clear then that my work is not yet done in terms of pointing out all the great zombie fiction out there ;o) While I'm not going to be reading all the zombie fiction that comes my way, I'm definitely back in the game here as well :o) Would anyone else like to add their recommendations?

'21st Century Dead' (Edited by Christopher Golden) – Some Quick Thoughts

It had to kick off with zombies didn’t it? It’s got to be better than starting a blog off with a review of ‘Twilight’ (yep, I did that…) Apologies for the chopped in half cover, it was the best one I could find.

I say ‘quick thoughts’ because I’m slowly, but surely, falling out of love with the whole zombie genre. Sorry but that’s the way it is. I’ve got to admit, part of it is not being able to daydream about being the ‘hardcore lone survivor’ without Hope gate-crashing the daydream in one form or another. The other thing though, and I’ve said this elsewhere, is that there’s just too much zombie fiction out there now. It’s not fresh anymore (if you can say that about zombie books…) and that’s what putting me off.

When a copy of ‘21st Century Dead’ turned up then, I couldn’t even really get motivated enough to open the book. It was only the fact that I recognised a few of the contributing authors that got me reading what I did. I will always read anything by Brian Keene (and so should you if you’re into horror) and that kind of got me going. Here’s what I thought…

‘Couch Potato’ – Brian Keene

I’m a fan of Keene’s work so it was pretty much inevitable that I would enjoy this apocalyptic tale of a young girl and her ‘TV addict’ mother. Keene really nails the heartbreaking feeling of a little girl who loves her mother and just wants to be noticed. Add a little gut wrenching horror and you have a very short story that bursts into life in all the right places. Nice ending too.
I couldn’t help but think though that this is the third story I’ve read in Keene’s ‘Hamelin’s Revenge’ setting and the third story where he has repeated exactly how the zombie apocalypse happened. I don’t know about others but I only needed to be told the once…

‘All the Comforts of Home’ – John Skipp & Cody Goodfellow

This tale of life after the zombie apocalypse dragged a bit (the setting was a little bit too safe maybe?) but there was some really innovative ideas about how society could function quite adequately once the heat died down; especially in terms of the role that zombies could fulfil in all of this. What was best though was the way that the authors widen the perspective right at the end. Life in the City may be comfortable but it’s just a speck of normality when set against the rest of the world…

‘Devil Dust’ – Caitlin Kittredge

A tale of revenge that takes on a voodoo slant and gives the plot a refreshing tone. It’s repetitive though (one revenge killing after another) and that makes the ending a bit too much of a foregone conclusion for my liking. And what was it with that ending? Not quite sure what was going on there.

‘The Dead of Dromore’ – Ken Bruen

Ken Bruen was the only name I didn’t recognise and, funnily enough, it was his story that I enjoyed the most. This tale of a search and rescue mission gone sour is short and punchy while the ‘zombies fighting their urges’ theme adds a little tension and menace to the proceedings. Glad I found this one and I'd be interested in seeing what else Bruen has written.

That was about as far as I got with this book. Fans of Orson Scott Card, Jonathan Maberry, Amber Benson, S.G.Browne and Daniel H. Wilson (all contributors) might be interested in reading a little further than I did. This tired fan of zombie fiction has maybe two more reviews in him before he bows out of the genre completely.