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derbit's review against another edition
3.0
I like the idea of the self-aware undead. I've never read a zombie novel quite like this one; Robert Swartwood's animated dead are intelligent. They talk. They live in houses and drive cars. They go to work, get married, have kids. They have a government, and they aren't "zombies." The zombies are the living. The animated dead rule the world--they think they are the next step in human evolution. The tables are turned from the traditional zombie lore: the living are feared and hunted, and the animated dead can turn into the living.
The book is well written and is definitely a page turner... It was one of those "just one more chapter" books that take you into the wee hours of the morning. But entertaining factor aside, I felt the plot was loose and there wasn't much depth to the story.
There's not much of a link between the antagonist (Philip) and the protagonist (Conrad). Apparently Philip basically stalks Conrad and does all these horrible things to him because he doesn't like him. And why doesn't he like him? Just because. There's obviously some jealousy there but that component of the story is weak, too (not to mention Philip has a rather rapid rise from Conrad's coworker to evil leader of the dead world).
The "evolution" of the animated dead is never explained except for "one day everyone in the world was living and...the next day half of the world was the animated dead." The origin of the Pandoras (the presumably naturally occurring cubes that turn the dead into the living) also lacks any explanation. They just ARE.
There were moments where I didn't fully follow the significance of whatever was happening (and which ultimately ended up being largely unimportant in the aggregate), not to mention a couple "well, that escalated quickly" comments to myself (I admit it, I talk to myself when I read...).
In short: super entertaining and gripping (in the "oh my god what happens next" sense) but not much substance.
The book is well written and is definitely a page turner... It was one of those "just one more chapter" books that take you into the wee hours of the morning. But entertaining factor aside, I felt the plot was loose and there wasn't much depth to the story.
There's not much of a link between the antagonist (Philip) and the protagonist (Conrad). Apparently Philip basically stalks Conrad and does all these horrible things to him because he doesn't like him. And why doesn't he like him? Just because. There's obviously some jealousy there but that component of the story is weak, too (not to mention Philip has a rather rapid rise from Conrad's coworker to evil leader of the dead world).
The "evolution" of the animated dead is never explained except for "one day everyone in the world was living and...the next day half of the world was the animated dead." The origin of the Pandoras (the presumably naturally occurring cubes that turn the dead into the living) also lacks any explanation. They just ARE.
There were moments where I didn't fully follow the significance of whatever was happening (and which ultimately ended up being largely unimportant in the aggregate), not to mention a couple "well, that escalated quickly" comments to myself (I admit it, I talk to myself when I read...).
In short: super entertaining and gripping (in the "oh my god what happens next" sense) but not much substance.
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