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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
An interesting piece of SciFi that suffers from trying to crawl out from the cultural shadow of USA, and look at the rest of the world, but uses USA as a reference for everything. Every culture mentioned in this also mentions its relationship with USA, and it feels very silly.
I feel like there needs to be a Bechdel style test for people writing from Foreign, Animal, or Future perspectives.. does it tell its own story, or explain itself using the culture of USA(or UK), humans or "the 20th"?
This sort of silliness always irritates me.
Parts of this story feel a little like fan service for military hobbyists. It name-drops specific naval craft (even really unlikely ones), and all the possible military solutions to zombie incursion in a way that The Walking Dead never did. The weird story about a Japanese blind fighter, was a survivor blinded by the Hiroshima bombing. No story about sweeping political ramifications written by a USA based male author writing about war, would ever be complete without a nod to Rome. I think there's a problem when the whole time I was thinking this project would be better done if it was given to Neal Stephenson (am I being mean?)
I feel like this story really tries to be looking at the response to an omnipresent human-life threatening emergency from a global point of view, but the writing still feels stereotyped, and like it was never run past a sensitivity reader. The Audiobook is really well produced, from a sound point of view, but from a casting point of view it is super annoying that they haven't cast people from the actual cultures they are portraying. Even the Aussie is voice by Alfred Molina (he does a decent facsimile). Henry Rollins does a great job, Nathan Fillion sounds.. like himself, and Mark Hammill is good as always (if a bit manic). Jeri Ryan does a Russian accent, and Common does a sympathetic version of a dog handler in the K9 Corps.
As a re-read (re-listen) I admit that the only story in this whole collection that I recalled from my first experience of the book was the account of the downed pilot radioing a plane spotter. It's unfortunate that on the re-read, I didn't enjoy it half as much.
I feel like there needs to be a Bechdel style test for people writing from Foreign, Animal, or Future perspectives.. does it tell its own story, or explain itself using the culture of USA(or UK), humans or "the 20th"?
This sort of silliness always irritates me.
Parts of this story feel a little like fan service for military hobbyists. It name-drops specific naval craft (even really unlikely ones), and all the possible military solutions to zombie incursion in a way that The Walking Dead never did. The weird story about a Japanese blind fighter, was a survivor blinded by the Hiroshima bombing. No story about sweeping political ramifications written by a USA based male author writing about war, would ever be complete without a nod to Rome. I think there's a problem when the whole time I was thinking this project would be better done if it was given to Neal Stephenson (am I being mean?)
I feel like this story really tries to be looking at the response to an omnipresent human-life threatening emergency from a global point of view, but the writing still feels stereotyped, and like it was never run past a sensitivity reader. The Audiobook is really well produced, from a sound point of view, but from a casting point of view it is super annoying that they haven't cast people from the actual cultures they are portraying. Even the Aussie is voice by Alfred Molina (he does a decent facsimile). Henry Rollins does a great job, Nathan Fillion sounds.. like himself, and Mark Hammill is good as always (if a bit manic). Jeri Ryan does a Russian accent, and Common does a sympathetic version of a dog handler in the K9 Corps.
As a re-read (re-listen) I admit that the only story in this whole collection that I recalled from my first experience of the book was the account of the downed pilot radioing a plane spotter. It's unfortunate that on the re-read, I didn't enjoy it half as much.
Prob not the greatest choice right now but was really a great read. Loved the format.
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I kept putting off reading this book because I thought I'd have nightmares. Then I promised to read it if my husband read The Hunger Games so I was stuck. While there are some zombie attacks, what ended up being the most disturbing was imagining you would react if you were suddenly thrust into a survival situation. [I doubt I'd fare well.] In the book, the author imagines how various world leaders, militaries and ordinary people would react if a zombie apocalypse were to actually happen. This included everything from new methods for building houses, using South Africa's apartheid methods to deal with zombies, training dogs to track zombies, and keeping the International Space Station running.
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Interesting view of a zombie apocalypse from a world view, however the framing of Israel as the good guys in the story was unnerving.
This is one of the best books I've ever read. The premise itself-- an oral history of the zombie war, all told after humanity's victory-- is brilliant. It's executed to perfection. Every character is from a different country and brings another element to the story. You become equally invested in the children who ran north to Canada with their families, the elderly blind Japanese man who lived in a national park, the jarhead soldier who faces a battlefield in Yonkers, and the brilliant and heartless strategist from South Africa.
As someone who has proven too queasy for The Walking Dead, this book hit the scare factor for me without falling into indulgent gore or violence. Everything is discussed matter-of-factly, which adds to the suspense and story without weighing it down in gross minutia.
Note-- I listened to the audiobook version, which completely blew me away. Brilliant narrators, vivid descriptions, perfect format for the story. Highly recommended!
As someone who has proven too queasy for The Walking Dead, this book hit the scare factor for me without falling into indulgent gore or violence. Everything is discussed matter-of-factly, which adds to the suspense and story without weighing it down in gross minutia.
Note-- I listened to the audiobook version, which completely blew me away. Brilliant narrators, vivid descriptions, perfect format for the story. Highly recommended!
I liked that this was read by an entire cast of actors. But I found it surprisingly boring? Could be the audio book format, as I am notoriously bad at staying engaged with audio books. It could also be zombies with little to no science behind it.
It was a meh for me.
It was a meh for me.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No