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wannabekingpin's review against another edition
2.0
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night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About: A virus outbreak tends to be similar every time. Isolated incident. Then isolated cluster. Leading to a few such before it starts spreading all over like wildfire. Even your common flu is scary when it spreads this way. And this? This is a zombie apocalypse, a virus to wipe humanity out.
Virus can take both living and the dead as host. The living are called “runners“, for they’re agile, fast. They’ll chase you down, often in hordes, and you better pray you’re faster than a creature with no sense of what is tired, and doesn’t need to breathe the way you do. But you can kill these the regular way. It’s those who are infected dead, or those who died infected, that are bothersome. They’re quiet, dormant until there’s anything of interest, and will slowly crawl across the desert itself to reach your yet uninfected flesh.
And then we have the backwards effect. From isolated incident to isolated clusters. To plague. To isolated clusters of survivors, to isolated, single survivors.
Mine: A group of soldiers sent to evacuate survivors hops from point to point. Each one either already infested by zombies, or is somehow not deemed worthy of them. While now and again we see them run, because ammo is long gone, most of the time we see them stand there, chatting, deciding what to do. Everyone does the right thing, everyone succeeds or becomes hero for trying. This was the bluntest story, and not in the good way, I’ve read in a long time, with very one-dimensional characters that did not help me progress at all.
Zombies are great. It’s a hard topic to mess up. You’ve a virus, you’ve horror, fear to live, fear to die. The hopelessness of easy infection and very, very difficult destruction of the infected. The book sort of had these traits, but they got buried under politics, who should do what, and why is the place they’re at – bad. 2 out of 5 from me.
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About: A virus outbreak tends to be similar every time. Isolated incident. Then isolated cluster. Leading to a few such before it starts spreading all over like wildfire. Even your common flu is scary when it spreads this way. And this? This is a zombie apocalypse, a virus to wipe humanity out.
Virus can take both living and the dead as host. The living are called “runners“, for they’re agile, fast. They’ll chase you down, often in hordes, and you better pray you’re faster than a creature with no sense of what is tired, and doesn’t need to breathe the way you do. But you can kill these the regular way. It’s those who are infected dead, or those who died infected, that are bothersome. They’re quiet, dormant until there’s anything of interest, and will slowly crawl across the desert itself to reach your yet uninfected flesh.
And then we have the backwards effect. From isolated incident to isolated clusters. To plague. To isolated clusters of survivors, to isolated, single survivors.
Mine: A group of soldiers sent to evacuate survivors hops from point to point. Each one either already infested by zombies, or is somehow not deemed worthy of them. While now and again we see them run, because ammo is long gone, most of the time we see them stand there, chatting, deciding what to do. Everyone does the right thing, everyone succeeds or becomes hero for trying. This was the bluntest story, and not in the good way, I’ve read in a long time, with very one-dimensional characters that did not help me progress at all.
Zombies are great. It’s a hard topic to mess up. You’ve a virus, you’ve horror, fear to live, fear to die. The hopelessness of easy infection and very, very difficult destruction of the infected. The book sort of had these traits, but they got buried under politics, who should do what, and why is the place they’re at – bad. 2 out of 5 from me.
kaitlinbisneau's review against another edition
3.0
So this was a reread for me! I recently picked up the fourth book in the series but when I started it I realized it had been so long since I’d read the first three that I wasn’t remembering important information.
This book is nostalgic to me for the period in my life where I was absolutely obsessed with zombies. There are good ideas here like the explanation between sprinters and shamblers. I also really liked the virologist and wished to spend more time with that group. Near the end of the book a character named Stiles is on a solo mission for supplies and I thought that the descriptions were engaging.
Now onto what I didn’t like and what dropped this from a 5-star (from my initial read) to a 3-star.
Many of the names were so similar!! I kept mixing up characters. There are four characters in the soldier group that are named Dewen, Decker, Denton, and Darin. I was constantly mixing them up. The general is Francis Sherman but fortunately is referred to as Sherman because a boat captain is introduced named Franklin. You are literally creating the names so I wish there had been differences so I could keep track.
Characters kept making insanely stupid decisions but never seemed to learn from them. They kept making body shots, not being cautious, and just going into ghost towns without a thought as to why they may be that way.
The character Brewster is so annoying. He’s always yelling and is rude to Denton, a character I really like, just because he’s Canadian? I don’t think he was the only character that did this but the r-word was used a couple times which I just don’t want to read in my books.
I do think I will continue my reread of the series at a later time to see where the storylines I really enjoy conclude in books 4 and 5.
This book is nostalgic to me for the period in my life where I was absolutely obsessed with zombies. There are good ideas here like the explanation between sprinters and shamblers. I also really liked the virologist and wished to spend more time with that group. Near the end of the book a character named Stiles is on a solo mission for supplies and I thought that the descriptions were engaging.
Now onto what I didn’t like and what dropped this from a 5-star (from my initial read) to a 3-star.
Many of the names were so similar!! I kept mixing up characters. There are four characters in the soldier group that are named Dewen, Decker, Denton, and Darin. I was constantly mixing them up. The general is Francis Sherman but fortunately is referred to as Sherman because a boat captain is introduced named Franklin. You are literally creating the names so I wish there had been differences so I could keep track.
Characters kept making insanely stupid decisions but never seemed to learn from them. They kept making body shots, not being cautious, and just going into ghost towns without a thought as to why they may be that way.
The character Brewster is so annoying. He’s always yelling and is rude to Denton, a character I really like, just because he’s Canadian? I don’t think he was the only character that did this but the r-word was used a couple times which I just don’t want to read in my books.
I do think I will continue my reread of the series at a later time to see where the storylines I really enjoy conclude in books 4 and 5.
bikes_books_yarn's review against another edition
5.0
I usually cut first books in a series slack - but there was no need for me to cut this book any slack. It kicked butt from the beginning and didn't let up. More please!
vikingwolf's review against another edition
5.0
This is without doubt one of the top five zombie books that I've ever read. This series along with Glynn James and Michael Stephen Fuchs 'Arisen' series are probably the best zombie series ever. I did not want to put this book down and I read it in one day. Yes it was that good! Who needs to eat or have toilet functions when there are deadly zombies to enjoy...
Anna, a Lt Col. has been studying the Morningstar Strain in animals and is concerned about how deadly an outbreak would be, warning General Sherman of the consequences. It is Sherman's troops who have to make a stand at the Suez Canal when the African outbreak gets out of control and Anna and the General are aware that victims are becoming zombies. The outbreak is now a plague and African quarantine fails, putting the world at threat.
The story follows key groups. First we have General Sherman's group featuring the soldiers under his command and rescued aid workers and civilians who fled with them as the quarantine failed. My favourites apart from the General in this group were Mbutu, the air traffic control guy who witnessed the first attacks at his airport and Denton the photo journalist attached to the soldiers. I liked the different characters of the soldiers that we follow here and you do care what happens to everyone. We also follow Anna who gives the story of the outbreak to a journalist to leak, putting both Anna and Julie in danger as certain government officials are determined to shut them down, led by the psychopath that is Sawyer.
The action is non stop which I love in zombie books! The airport outbreak where we meet survivor Mbutu is where the infection begins, which leads to a 'dead' man from here attacking the coroner and infecting others. The action moves to the troops at Suez trying to blow bridges and block all routes from Africa as a mass of zombies come towards them. The military don't factor in the arrival of a ship full of the infected to give them a war on two fronts. The battle of Suez was tense and exciting, with death and disaster in abundance. The survivors flee north to Sharm el Sheikh, with attacks by the dead as they pass through towns, to seek the safety of their ship. But that becomes a death trap when people hide evidence of bites and an outbreak starts on board. It really is non stop zombie action in this book, with the story being carried along by well developed and interesting characters.
When the people on the ship split into two groups, the journey gets even more dangerous for Sherman's group. They need supplies and spot a small town that looks deserted and you just KNOW that going in there is going to be a very bad idea. Can they find supplies? Are there survivors here? Where are the zombies? This was the very best part of the book for me. The tension levels built so high that I was a nervous wreck just reading it! I felt as if I was in that town with them, my heart in my mouth with every step, and here we break off into different groups amongst our survivors as they get into different types of trouble. Worrying about favourite characters who are missing or in trouble made this a nerve shredding read.
Anna has her own mission-evade the psycho agents trying to capture and kill her, and find her way with her companions to a lab where she can continue to work on a vaccine or cure. She contacts Sherman about the plan and he decides that this is their best chance and decides he is going AWOL to join her along with anyone who wants to leave the ship. The only problem is, those who choose to follow him are going to face a journey across American soil where the undead are now rampaging, along with human criminals and bandits. The story switches between the two main plots which keeps the action fast paced and there is never a dull moment.
I also enjoyed the fact that the author had two different types of zombies-shamblers and sprinters. The sprinters are physically intact and can move at high speed, hence the name, and are deadly monsters trying to kill you. When you shoot these guys, they die and reanimate as shamblers, who look and act like your traditional zombies. Shoot them again and they remain dead. So if you take down a group of sprinters, you have a certain period of time before they reanimate so you better remember to kill them again! This was good, and it led to some very exciting scenes when characters seem to forget these safety rules!
The author did a great job with the action scenes. There was excitement, gore and he had a great way of continually ramping up the tension to unbearable levels. I loved the characters, I loved the zombies, I loved the way he told the story. I searched a long time for a copy of this book years back when it was so hard to get, and it was worth the wait and all the money I had to pay to get it. As soon as I finished I was grabbing the second book to see what happened to everyone.
I recommend this book to those who love fast paced zombie books!
Anna, a Lt Col. has been studying the Morningstar Strain in animals and is concerned about how deadly an outbreak would be, warning General Sherman of the consequences. It is Sherman's troops who have to make a stand at the Suez Canal when the African outbreak gets out of control and Anna and the General are aware that victims are becoming zombies. The outbreak is now a plague and African quarantine fails, putting the world at threat.
The story follows key groups. First we have General Sherman's group featuring the soldiers under his command and rescued aid workers and civilians who fled with them as the quarantine failed. My favourites apart from the General in this group were Mbutu, the air traffic control guy who witnessed the first attacks at his airport and Denton the photo journalist attached to the soldiers. I liked the different characters of the soldiers that we follow here and you do care what happens to everyone. We also follow Anna who gives the story of the outbreak to a journalist to leak, putting both Anna and Julie in danger as certain government officials are determined to shut them down, led by the psychopath that is Sawyer.
The action is non stop which I love in zombie books! The airport outbreak where we meet survivor Mbutu is where the infection begins, which leads to a 'dead' man from here attacking the coroner and infecting others. The action moves to the troops at Suez trying to blow bridges and block all routes from Africa as a mass of zombies come towards them. The military don't factor in the arrival of a ship full of the infected to give them a war on two fronts. The battle of Suez was tense and exciting, with death and disaster in abundance. The survivors flee north to Sharm el Sheikh, with attacks by the dead as they pass through towns, to seek the safety of their ship. But that becomes a death trap when people hide evidence of bites and an outbreak starts on board. It really is non stop zombie action in this book, with the story being carried along by well developed and interesting characters.
When the people on the ship split into two groups, the journey gets even more dangerous for Sherman's group. They need supplies and spot a small town that looks deserted and you just KNOW that going in there is going to be a very bad idea. Can they find supplies? Are there survivors here? Where are the zombies? This was the very best part of the book for me. The tension levels built so high that I was a nervous wreck just reading it! I felt as if I was in that town with them, my heart in my mouth with every step, and here we break off into different groups amongst our survivors as they get into different types of trouble. Worrying about favourite characters who are missing or in trouble made this a nerve shredding read.
Anna has her own mission-evade the psycho agents trying to capture and kill her, and find her way with her companions to a lab where she can continue to work on a vaccine or cure. She contacts Sherman about the plan and he decides that this is their best chance and decides he is going AWOL to join her along with anyone who wants to leave the ship. The only problem is, those who choose to follow him are going to face a journey across American soil where the undead are now rampaging, along with human criminals and bandits. The story switches between the two main plots which keeps the action fast paced and there is never a dull moment.
I also enjoyed the fact that the author had two different types of zombies-shamblers and sprinters. The sprinters are physically intact and can move at high speed, hence the name, and are deadly monsters trying to kill you. When you shoot these guys, they die and reanimate as shamblers, who look and act like your traditional zombies. Shoot them again and they remain dead. So if you take down a group of sprinters, you have a certain period of time before they reanimate so you better remember to kill them again! This was good, and it led to some very exciting scenes when characters seem to forget these safety rules!
The author did a great job with the action scenes. There was excitement, gore and he had a great way of continually ramping up the tension to unbearable levels. I loved the characters, I loved the zombies, I loved the way he told the story. I searched a long time for a copy of this book years back when it was so hard to get, and it was worth the wait and all the money I had to pay to get it. As soon as I finished I was grabbing the second book to see what happened to everyone.
I recommend this book to those who love fast paced zombie books!
athenaevarinya's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this novel. We have a solid cast of characters that are all very human with flaws and strengths trying to survive the shitstorm that their world has become. I became quite attached to the characters, even one who had a brief spotlight and then died protecting the rest of the survivors.
There are also some living villains in the novel and I really don't get them. Seriously the world is going to hell with zombies and you're worried about treason for telling the country that zombies are a thing now. *rolls eyes* And of course there are a few scenes where you want to smack people for being stupid, which gets them killed or turned. If anything, this book serves as a good entertain and a tutorial of what NOT to do during a zombie apocalypse.
There are also some living villains in the novel and I really don't get them. Seriously the world is going to hell with zombies and you're worried about treason for telling the country that zombies are a thing now. *rolls eyes* And of course there are a few scenes where you want to smack people for being stupid, which gets them killed or turned. If anything, this book serves as a good entertain and a tutorial of what NOT to do during a zombie apocalypse.
darthbiblia's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent story! Certainly one of the better zombie books that I've read.
jhouses's review against another edition
3.0
Otro libro de zombis (portadores) que se me cruza por el camino y me distrae de asuntos más serios. I'm a sucker for zombies! Este en concreto me ha gustado más de lo normal porque:
a) No esta escrito en primera persona por el protagonista que es una persona muy capaz que sabe pilotar, navegar, disparar, forrajear...
b) Tiene varios protagonistas, algunos incluso mujeres, y aunque no son precisamente tridimensionales, tienen alguna que otra característica diferenciadora.
c) Tiene una escala global y comienza con el esfuerzo del ejercito de bloquear la expansión de la plaga en el continente africano. Es una novedad y tiene cierto interés.
Desafortunadamente a partir de la tercera parte, los supervivientes desembarcan en los USA y empiezan a realizar la gimkana habitual de la novela de zombies: asalto a la tienda de armas, a la gasolinera, al mercado...
Una vez situados en el tablero, clifhanger hasta el próximo volumen.
a) No esta escrito en primera persona por el protagonista que es una persona muy capaz que sabe pilotar, navegar, disparar, forrajear...
b) Tiene varios protagonistas, algunos incluso mujeres, y aunque no son precisamente tridimensionales, tienen alguna que otra característica diferenciadora.
c) Tiene una escala global y comienza con el esfuerzo del ejercito de bloquear la expansión de la plaga en el continente africano. Es una novedad y tiene cierto interés.
Desafortunadamente a partir de la tercera parte, los supervivientes desembarcan en los USA y empiezan a realizar la gimkana habitual de la novela de zombies: asalto a la tienda de armas, a la gasolinera, al mercado...
Una vez situados en el tablero, clifhanger hasta el próximo volumen.
anubis9's review against another edition
4.0
A very good book. It's not zombies in the traditional sense, as it is about a virus that transforms you into a mindless raging creature (a la "28 Days Later")that is hell-bent on biting anyone it can find—to spread the virus. But when they die, they do come back as slow shamblers—the traditional "zombie."
The whole viral approach makes the whole thing a little more "believable," and therefore a little more "scary."
There are definitely some tense moments, I I really like that the book begins before the outbreak, so you can follow it from beginning to chaos.
The only real problem, is that the end totally leaves you hanging!
Good thing I've got the second book on order!
The whole viral approach makes the whole thing a little more "believable," and therefore a little more "scary."
There are definitely some tense moments, I I really like that the book begins before the outbreak, so you can follow it from beginning to chaos.
The only real problem, is that the end totally leaves you hanging!
Good thing I've got the second book on order!
pingthevile's review against another edition
2.0
I listened to this book narrated by Oliver Wyman, one of my absolute favorite Audible narrators. Partway through the book, I felt that something was off... it wasn't clicking. Then I realized that it was because a fantastic narrator was narrating a sub-par book.
The story was passable for the most part. There was nothing particularly stand-outish about the book. What was "off" was the dialogue. It was terribly written, to the point where I actually backed the audio up a few times just to make sure I heard what I thought I heard.
Add the poor dialogue to some blatantly stupid things and some incorrect things (Ben Franklin was not the inventor to say that he found 1,000 ways not to go about something, for instance) and I put this book very firmly in the "Don't bother" category.
The story was passable for the most part. There was nothing particularly stand-outish about the book. What was "off" was the dialogue. It was terribly written, to the point where I actually backed the audio up a few times just to make sure I heard what I thought I heard.
Add the poor dialogue to some blatantly stupid things and some incorrect things (Ben Franklin was not the inventor to say that he found 1,000 ways not to go about something, for instance) and I put this book very firmly in the "Don't bother" category.
catladylover94's review against another edition
5.0
really easy read, loved it looking forward to the next one