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Twilight of the Dead (Twilight Dead #1)

by Travis Adkins, David Moody (Goodreads Author) (Introduction)

3.59 · rating details · 117 ratings · 17 reviews

Courtney Colvin was nearing the end of her teenage years when the undead apocalypse began. She survived, forsaking her youth and innocence, and five years later she continues to exist--albeit lonely--in the fortified town of Eastpointe. Nightmares and the unwelcome advances of Leon Wolfe are the worst things she's dealing with now in her otherwise mundane life. But when a ...more

Paperback, 284 pages

Published October 9th 2006 by Permuted Press

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Dec 01, 2011

Greg rated it

Shelves: i-walked-with-a-zombie-rawr, fiction

This is a book about zombies. It's about a time a few years after the zombie outbreak when people have either been eaten and turned into zombies or they have found safe places to live. The characters in this book live in some gated community / country club sort of thing in a hoity part of Rhode Island, which I'm guessing is right across the street from where Karen lived, because Rhode Island is so small everything is right across the street from everything else.

The main character i...moreThis is a book about zombies. It's about a time a few years after the zombie outbreak when people have either been eaten and turned into zombies or they have found safe places to live. The characters in this book live in some gated community / country club sort of thing in a hoity part of Rhode Island, which I'm guessing is right across the street from where Karen lived, because Rhode Island is so small everything is right across the street from everything else.

The main character is a pre-zombie outbreak popular girl who is now a sullen and gothy trained zombie killing machine. She was trained soon after the zombie shit went down, and when she goes off to fight zombies she wears a skintight wetsuit, for it's practicality in fighting and probably because it's hot thinking of a sullen gothy girl killing zombies in a badass way while wearing super-tight clothing. Sort of like a zombie killing version of Catwoman or something.

A stranger appears in their little slice of paradise in the middle of Rhode Island with the story that he has discovered the cure to zombie-itis, and he needs help getting back to his boat to retrieve it. Why this is a story is beyond me, it's freaking Rhode Island, the boat has to be across the street, right? But, apparently it's in a far corner of Rhode Island and The Teenage Zombies Killing Army set out with the good Doctor to retrieve the cure and bring it back to Karen's house.

But, things go wrong! Horribly wrong! As you know it would, because it's a fucking horror novel.

It's kind of a fun read, it's a little clunky at times and I think that the author has a bit too much of a crush on his main character, and some of the fighting stuff is a little too much like a comic book, but it's a zombie novel and it's fun. My one real problem with the book is in one of the parts that serves as a manual for how to fight zombies. The closed guard in jiu -jitsu is recommended for controlling zombies. The author has some good points, about controlling the posture and all of that, but putting a zombie in your closed guard might ruin his posture and make it difficult for him to get up or move into a better position or whatever, but zombies aren't looking to improve their position, they aren't looking to pass to side-control and work a submission, they are looking to eat you and in controlling them with a closed guard you're putting the zombies mouth awfully close to your chest / neck or face. Wouldn't you want to get into a position where you could more easily get out from under a zombie, instead of just trying to control the snapping monster close to you while his hungry friends move into to help make you a snack? My recommendation? A loose half-guard, with a knee in the belly/chest so you can push the zombie away and scramble back into a standing position.* (see comment 13)

I would have also made the novel more realistic by setting it in a state that is bigger than a postage stamp.

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Nov 21, 2008

Michael rated it

Recommends it for: Zombie Lovers

Shelves: zombie-stuff, 2007

Twilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins is a different and exciting take on the zombie genre. The story revolves around Courtney Colvin, a sassy young woman and a lethal "Black Beret": a zombie killer. She is one part Tomb Raider, one part Gretel and one part everyday girl. Twilight of the Dead takes the old Romero style zombie story and adds some modern twists. How would a community live on years after the apocalypse? What would every day and not so everyday life be like? Adkins explore...moreTwilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins is a different and exciting take on the zombie genre. The story revolves around Courtney Colvin, a sassy young woman and a lethal "Black Beret": a zombie killer. She is one part Tomb Raider, one part Gretel and one part everyday girl. Twilight of the Dead takes the old Romero style zombie story and adds some modern twists. How would a community live on years after the apocalypse? What would every day and not so everyday life be like? Adkins explores the long term life style of people in such a setting. This is all done within a well written and paced story that reels you in and doesn't let go.

The bulk of the story takes place in and around the walled in community of Eastpointe that had been able to survive the outbreak. It also ended up being the home for the last of the Black Berets. Courtney is a "Black Beret", trained in the art of zombie killing. Black Berets are armed with a rifle, pistol, and a wakizashi and trained in a modified form of hand-to-hand combat created specifically to fight zombies. Among the other Black Berets is Leon, a young good looking guy around Courtney's age. Leo and Courtney have a more or less love to hate relationship going.

The book overall has a really addicting element about it, I read the first 140 pages in one sitting without realizing how long I had been sitting there. I was fully engrossed in the story and in the characters. I think the part that keeps you reading is that besides having a great plot; it also has several intriguing subplots. Relationships, situations, and the setting provide plenty of interesting tidbits to think about beyond the main plot. Because of this there is always something happening to keep your interest.

Hardcore zombie fans should be pleased with the action and the way Adkins writes his combat scenes and the Black Berets really kick rear. What could be cooler than a people taking a wakizashi to zombies? The zombies are truly terrifying and the twist near the end will leave you saying "that's just wrong!"

In the end Twilight of the Dead was a complete surprise to me and in now among my favorites. It has few flaws, such as medical explanations that stretched my suspension of disbelief. However, I have a medical background and I think most people may not know the difference. This is definitely a book that belongs on every zombie fan's shelf. (less)

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Sep 14, 2007

Trevor rated it

Recommends it for: Traditional zombie enthusiasts

Talk about the right book at the right time...sometimes I have a book sitting on the shelf that I don't pick up for months and then I get inspired. Thanks Zombies Goodreads Group for getting me off my butt and back to reading my zombie books. Anyway...I really enjoyed Twilight of the Dead. I got a decent sense of the walled community and then the plot takes off when the mysterious stranger appears promising a cure for the zombie plague. This is damn close to being a young-adult-novel of the zomb...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Dark Recesses added it

Twilight of the Dead
By Travis Adkins
Permuted Press
Trade: $14.95

"The end of the world is a process, not an event..."
Raised on Romero's gruesome 'end world' scenarios and Skipp and Spector's Books of the Dead, I'm a zombie fan from way back. It's safe to say as a reader and film watcher that I've fallen for the big old rotting hunks. So you can imagine how happy I am in this current high point for my favorite horror monster. If TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD ...moreTwilight of the Dead
By Travis Adkins
Permuted Press
Trade: $14.95

"The end of the world is a process, not an event..."
Raised on Romero's gruesome 'end world' scenarios and Skipp and Spector's Books of the Dead, I'm a zombie fan from way back. It's safe to say as a reader and film watcher that I've fallen for the big old rotting hunks. So you can imagine how happy I am in this current high point for my favorite horror monster. If TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD is any indication, then Travis Adkins is a hard-core zombie-phile as well.
Set in the Romero world of the living dead (erm...I mean infected...don't call them zombies!), Adkins presents the story of Courtney Colvin, a young woman who's managed to survive five years in this strange new world of the walking dead. Not only survived, but she's become a kick ass soldier/scavenger for the walled community of Eastpointe where a small collection of humans are hanging onto their existences. Courtney, along with a handful of others inside Eastpointe, has been trained by an elite 'last days' special ops group to be able to battle the flesh eaters without reliance on guns to disarm and kill.
Just as she is beginning to make new friends a survivor straggles in from the outside to bring them news of a cure for the plague. The community's leaders decide this is too good to pass up and send Courtney and her comrades on a mission to retrieve the formula. But all is not as it seems, as you can imagine, and soon she is fighting for her life yet again in the wastelands of the walking dead.
TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD is the first of a purposed trilogy and ends on a cliffhanger. The reader is left biting his/her nails until the next book.
Damn you, Adkins! HA!
Adkins writes a believable character in Courtney. An emotional mess, and unhappy with her existential hell, she doesn't know how to connect with the living any longer, and would rather be alone than chance losing more people. Adkins provides a clever romance subplot with the caustic Leon Wolfe, a member of the fighting unit, and keeps the banter light and funny, like a Howard Hawks film.
Hell, this was such a great read I can't wait to see what Adkins does next.
But there are a few things to watch for. The major editing issue I had as a reader was the sometimes-distracting overuse of the word 'then' during expositional passages. It became so prevalent at certain points that I found myself skipping the word.
Even though there were opportunities to tighten up the prose a bit to make for a cleaner read, overall the writing is good and the pace is bullet fast. I've got to hand it to Adkins: He knows how to edit for pace. There was hardly a wasted page. In fact, I found the interstitial 'found' documents helped to solidify the story, while adding a certain whimsical air to the experience. In a stroke of editing genius, they also helped to create a flow of back-story that might have otherwise taken way more pages to give the reader. I especially loved the censored N.A.S.A. report on the returning Venus probe, one for the zombie-philes among us.
Bravo, Mr. Adkins.
The special limited edition also includes three short stories set in the world of the dead that detail events in the lives of the survivors, presenting even more back story for the reader to gnaw upon.
If you love zombies, this is a must read.

--Nickolas Cook.
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Aug 01, 2011

Phil Elmore rated it

Twilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins is competently written, fairly well paced, and relates a reasonably complex narrative worthy of the subject matter and the medium.

Twilight follows the self-recrimination, introspection, and (almost as an afterthought) zombie-oriented adventures of twenty-two-year-old Courtney Colvin, an attractive, waifish young lady whom Adkins describes as his "dream girl." Adkin's "strong yet fragile and short yet [tough]" Colvin is reason...moreTwilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins is competently written, fairly well paced, and relates a reasonably complex narrative worthy of the subject matter and the medium.

Twilight follows the self-recrimination, introspection, and (almost as an afterthought) zombie-oriented adventures of twenty-two-year-old Courtney Colvin, an attractive, waifish young lady whom Adkins describes as his "dream girl." Adkin's "strong yet fragile and short yet [tough]" Colvin is reasonably believable, which is notable given that Adkin's is writing across his gender to bring her to life.

Young Courtney ends up in the quite literally gated (and fortified) post-Zombie-apocalypse community of Eastpointe, after being trained as a "black beret" -- a zombie fighter whose training manual and accoutrements are detailed throughout the book. Twighlight of the Dead includes several pieces of artwork and pages purporting to be from the Black Beret handbook, a touch that I thought was quite imaginative and welcome (right down to the defaced map of Eastpointe that sets the stage for the book even before the narrative begins).

In a genre that has been done to undeath (I apologize; that was wretched of me) it is hard to do something truly inventive or different that does not break George Romero's loosely admired guidelines for how the zombies operate (and, arguably, Romero himself has bent or broken those guidelines in the course of his chronicling of the Undead in film). Adkins manages to do so and manages to make it seem plausible, though I wish he'd spent more time developing it. (I won't give it away here.)

The character-driven writing is, as I've said, competent, though a bit awkward in spots. The dialogue runs from feeling realistic and spontaneous to, at times, contrived and even childish, while the rest of Adkins' prose is similarly inconsistent. It is, on the whole, not bad, but there were times when I found his prose labored or stilted.

Those who insist on the "classic zombie formula" will not be disappointed with the plot and the outlook Adkins relates. I enjoyed the book and found myself admiring Travis' work or his artistic touches in several spots, leading me to forgive thoe portions of the writing or characterization that could have been better. While still a little rough around the edges compared to mainstream commercial fiction, Twilight of the Dead is a credit to niche genres like zombie horror. It isn't perfect, but it's entertaining, and it accomplishes the task it sets out to accomplish. (less)

· see review

Jun 28, 2011

William M. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror

I didn't realize until after I purchased Twilight of the Dead that it was self-published novel. 99% of these books are painfully awful and so I reluctantly began to read. The dialogue in the first few chapters was bit cheesy, but I found the quicker pace and initial setup a lot of fun. Rather than heap scenes of gore upon violence the way you might think an author would do in a zombie book, Travis Adkins focuses on the characters of the living and how they deal with their newly inherited undead ...more

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Nov 05, 2010

Patrick D'orazio rated it

Travis Adkins has developed a pretty solid, if fairly short, zombie story. The main character, Courtney, grows and develops with the story; this is something that seems difficult to do for some other writers in the genre to do. She is strong and tough, which is to be expected given that she accepted the training to become a black beret-a zombie killer, but she wasn't always that way and she still is human and vulnerable. She is not superhuman by any means, which means that she is extremely appea...moreTravis Adkins has developed a pretty solid, if fairly short, zombie story. The main character, Courtney, grows and develops with the story; this is something that seems difficult to do for some other writers in the genre to do. She is strong and tough, which is to be expected given that she accepted the training to become a black beret-a zombie killer, but she wasn't always that way and she still is human and vulnerable. She is not superhuman by any means, which means that she is extremely appealing. The combat techniques described in the book are plausible and there is some depth of detail you simply do not get in most other works as to what you would have to do, how you would have to adjust when combating an enemy that feels no pain and essentially only has one real kill spot.
Certainly, the cast of characters here are fairly young, which drives the story in certain ways; their personal problems are something I can remember but perhaps cannot fully relate to at nearly 40, but I still appreciated it. I think Mr. Adkins does a good job of describing the moodiness of some teens/young adults and and I saw it all as realistic given the circumstances they face. Growing up in a dead world would be a unique situation, especially for a people of this age vs. someone older, fully matured, and entangled with family and responsibilities beyond your own self development.
While I was not totally appreciative of metal sheathed zombies or a madman who somehow thinks of zombies as the next stage of evolution (a preposterous concept to me, but one that an insane mind might wrap itself around, I suppose), I did appreciate the challenges the main character faces and has to overcome with these enemies. It made for an entertaining story that was a fun read.
I also enjoyed the other tidbits after the main story was complete-the return to the past with other characters besides Courtney as well as what essentially amounts to a flashback with the main character and the black beret crew of Eastpointe on a past mission. It further fleshed out the story and given that there will be a sequel gave even more insight into both the main character and her "boyfriend", Leon.
This is a well written book that was a fun read. The ghastly editing and plot hole errors of some other books of this genre that are self published or slapped together haphazardly are not present here-the story was well thought out, the characters three dimensional, and the scenario fairly plausible. The editing is solid and the storyline is tight. Again, I am not sure I would say I loved the bad guy and his creations, but they were creative and different. This story focused on our main character and not necessarily the baddies as key players, so my issues with that aspect of the story were not strong.
If I were to gripe it would be that I would have liked even more character development-more details on Courtney's experiences with Gordon Levi and perhaps even more back story on Leon. Not that the story is short on understanding of the characters, I just think this book could have delved even further. But if this is a gripe, it is a minor one and I am not complaining to emphatically about it.
A enjoyable story that was worth the read and I look forward to the sequel when it is published. Travis Adkins has a good voice and one that I definitely enjoyed here.(less)

· see review

Jun 23, 2011

Chris Cagle rated it

Twilight of the Dead started out as a great Zombie book, but toward the end, it mutated into absurdity. In the beginning, the zombies were your textbook variety: Slow, moaning, and unthinking. However it unfortunately goes downhill from there and soon there is a mad scientist who has developed a strain of the virus that kills you, but when you reanimate you are still the same, only dead. You can think, run, and do anything else normal people can do, except your dead so you can't get hurt. I have...more

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Oct 13, 2011

Pam rated it

Shelves: 2011, audiobooks, horror, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, zombies

The writing in this book is just...bad. Really clunky and disjointed, with endless repetitions and useless details (do we really need to read about how she closes the zipper of her suit?) and the most annoying abuse of the word "situated".
I guess this tidbit a couple of chapters in should have served as a warning:

He was black and a great deal older than most of the soldiers—probably in his late thirties or early forties. However, as they would all soon discover, he was h...more

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Oct 08, 2009

Dreadlocksmile rated it

First released through Permuted Press back in 2004, Travis Adkins' second novel ‘Twilight Of The Dead’ quickly became widely talked about within the post-apocalyptic zombie community. The special edition re-release published on the 1st October 2006 runs for a total of 269 pages and includes new and much more impressive cover art by Noel Hill. This new re-release also includes an additional 78 pages delivering three bonus short stories of important moments in the lives of the ‘Twilight of the Dea...more

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Aug 26, 2011

Kuroi rated it

Twilight of the Dead keeps close to all the you expect from a zombie novel while adding a few elements I don't often see. It's a well constructed world populated by exciting but relatable characters. I'd recommend it to any zombie fan.

· see review

May 15, 2011

Lindsey Stock rated it

Shelves: sci-fi, zombies

A fairly decent zombie book, as is the sequel, but I would recommend not starting this series, because the ending of the second book is unsatisfying and a cliffhanger,and it doesn't look like the third book is ever going to be written. There are better zombie stories out there. With endings. Try Rhiannon Frater's 'As the World Dies' trilogy, or Z.A. Recht's Morningstar Saga (the third book isn't out yet, but it's available for pre-order, so at least we know it exists).

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Feb 19, 2011

Robert rated it

Not a bad piece of zombie fiction, the characters are flat and the generalizations about soldiers at the beginning set a bad tone for the book. You can always tell the guys who don't have military experience because they treat all soldiers as some ignorant monolith. I wonder if adkins has ever even met a soldier. Horrible generalizations aside, not the worst zombie novel and definitely not the best. I recommend Mark Tufo for a more accurate depiction of former military guys.

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Dec 31, 2011

Emily rated it

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2009, zombies, horror, own

Yet another zombie apocalypse novel - but this one has a scary killer zombie army, which isn't in the book long enough, but is still cool. The book has a nice twist in it, but the zombies are too much in the background, in my opinion. Overall though, I think it is a worthy addition to the zombie genre.

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Sep 12, 2007

Brandon rated it

Shelves: zombies, apocalypse, horror

Pretty classic zombie stuff. Not sure if this book is trying to insert its self into the Romero world of the "Dead," but the name seems to imply it does. I liked the main character, but the story was too short. I was hoping for more.

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Dec 11, 2007

Jude rated it

Shelves: horror, novel

Enjoyable zombie romp

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Aug 13, 2007

Gertie rated it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic_fiction

Zombies, yay!

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Twilight of the Dead (Twilight Dead #1)

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