Reviews

A Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon

cgriff424's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious medium-paced

3.5

cclift1114's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This novella for the most part didn’t make an impression on me, except for when it mentioned Tom Byrd’s age. He’s 19 here, which would make him only 13 in the events of The Scottish Prisoner (in which he’s shot) and all the back to only 10 in the earlier John Grey stories? I knew he was young and maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention in those other books, but I didn’t think Gabaldon had a literal child doing all these things. Of course, it may just be that she’s not keeping track of these details, which she outright admits in one of the other Outlander novellas in an author’s note. 

gabmc's review

3.0

This is a really fun novella set in Jamaica in 1761 and featuring Lord John Grey. Grey is now a Lt Col in the Army and has been sent to Jamaica to stop a slave rebellion. He meets with the Governor when he first arrives and can't help but notice that the Governor is scared to death of something. When John finds a small snake on the Governor's desk, the Governor runs out of his office. In the mean time, a servant comes to John to warn him about zombies. He has no idea what zombies are and decides to kill two birds with one stone - he visits one Mrs Abernathy at her plantation to show support to plantation owners and to find out what a zombie might be. Armed with a bit more information he goes to meet the Captain of the maroons to see what he can negotiate.

eg_m's review

5.0

Lord John is one of my all time fictional characters. I got a little bored with the outlander novels after Firery Cross, but the Lord John Grey side-quels are always excellent. This installment has all the things I love about the character--wit, honor, physical and mental courage.

lisawreading's review

4.0

This is probably the lightest entry in the Lord John series of books and novellas. It an interesting story, in which Lord John goes to Jamaica on behalf of the army to help control a slave rebellion, but instead finds corruption among the governing bodies and must deal with rumors of zombies.

It's entertaining and short, and I always enjoy Lord John, but this particular novella is probably the least consequential, as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps because John is away from home for the entire story, it lacks the charm of seeing John's interactions with his family and friends and the entertainment of social customs in London.

Fans should absolutely read Plague of Zombies -- or even better, listen to the audiobook, narrated by the incomparable Jeff Woodman.

kayleigh214's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

susanbrooks's review

3.0

Cute - but way too short.

eamunro's review

4.0

But sad there were no zombies

tschonfeld's review against another edition

3.0

Quick, well written, silly.

tmleblanc's review

2.0

I'm a huge fan of Diana Gabaldon, but I have got to learn patience and stop messing around with her Lord John Grey novels and short stories. Except for The Scottish Prisoner, which did feature my favorite fictional crush, I'm always left disappointed and a bit baffled as to why I even pick these books up to begin with. However, I was kind of excited to read this short story. Gabaldon's books are usually rooted in reality, I wanted to see how she would explain zombies.

Read the rest of the review on my blog, Second Run Reviews.