Reviews

My favorite thing about this book is how lived in the world feels. You can feel how much grime and gunk and dirt is in this world, and it really sets the stage for a good zombie story.

The character work in this book is also pretty good; however, I didn’t find either of the main two characters to be very likeable. There’s Zhu, a Chinese man who grew up in a poor rural community, and then there’s Elena, a Texas girl who got stuck in China after getting a little too attached to her summer romance with Zhu right before the dead began walking. Now Zhu and Elena live at the Beacon of Light, a community that’s part of the last remnants of the Chinese government. Zhu and Elena are part of a scavenger team that goes into villages searching for ammo, food, and other necessities.

As for the plot, well, it would be giving a lot of the story away to tell you much. The story is very action-driven, and doesn’t really get bogged down in the finer details of what’s going on in the plot. And, surprisingly, I think it mostly works. Also, you totally don’t have to be a fan of The Walking Dead TV show or books to enjoy this- this is a standalone zombie story set in a completely different part of the world with no crossover that I could tell.

What I didn’t like so much: As someone born and raised in the Southern US, I wasn’t entirely happy with how Elena was portrayed; she felt like a charactature of a woman from the Deep South, and it sometimes rubbed me the wrong way. Also, THE ENDING. Ugh. The ending should have been done differently (and better) in my opinion. Don’t go into this expecting a happy ending for basically any of the characters.

Bottom line: 3.5/5 stars. It’s an enjoyable action-heavy zombie story with a unique setting, and worth a read if it sparks your interest.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the Publisher for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a review. I primarily listened to this book as an audiobook through Scribd, and thought it was very well narrated.

thormagnarok's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I finished this book out of spite. Sections were fine, the ending

siege

was probably the most traditional Walking Dead moment of the whole thing but I expected better character development and more reasons to care. I dnf’d a lot but wanted to finally finish it. It’s fine I guess

gingernutpup's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

sunshinemilk's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 ✨

TWD is my favorite television show and this is the first book I’ve read from this universe!

james7634's review against another edition

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Second zombie book I DNF’d.

Maybe the genre in books isn’t for me but my goodness. It was so boring and just blah blah action action blah attempt at character

I stopped when the team was returning to base and following yellow markers. It felt like a video game and I couldn’t convince myself to do more

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