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Dying to Live (Dying to Live #1)

by Kim Paffenroth (Goodreads Author)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 1,466 ratings · 103 reviews

Jonah Caine, a lone survivor in a zombie-infested world, struggles to understand the apocalypse in which he lives. Unable to find a moral or sane reason for the horror that surrounds him, he is overwhelmed by violence and insignificance.

After wandering for months, Jonah's lonely existence dramatically changes when he discovers a group of survivors. Living in a museum-turne...more

Paperback, 216 pages

Published April 1st 2007 by Permuted Press

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Jun 20, 2011 Ceridwen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: america-and-environs, not-for-me-maybe-for-you, omg-were-all-going-to-die, zombies

I don't mean this nastily, but this book did not do it for me at all. All the pieces were in place: sole survivor who finds a stronghold in the zombie apocalypse, which is a library, yow, gross zombie-baby sequence, splatter, etc. But the theology did not hold for me, or felt confused, or something.

Maybe this is a spoiler, but there is a character called Milton who is a sort of intercessor between the humans and the zombies. Like Christ, he's not one thing or the other, or both at once. (And th...more

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Dec 02, 2008 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone wanting to dip their toe into zombie horror

I'm always a little hesitant when picking up a zombie book. I have this fear that, like their celluloid cousins, the vast majority of them are crap. And unlike their brain-dead cousins, they waste more than 90 minutes of your life.

I had no need to fear with this book.

My love of all things zombie really began with Romero's take on the subject. I really liked the fact that there was a deeper social meaning behind the gore. There was a message and a warning.

This book took everything I loved about t...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jun 10, 2008 Gabrielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

To my knowledge modern civilization has never been overrun by hordes of the flesh eating undead. However, after reading Kim Paffenroth's Dying to Live: A Novel of Life Among the Undead, I'm beginning to wonder if there might indeed have been a period where just such a horrendous thing happened. Paffenroth's ability to transport the reader deep into the dark, desiccated remains of a world where humanity clings to a perilous thread of existence and zombies, spawned of a mutated virus, wander the s...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Zombie Lovers

Shelves: zombie-stuff, 2007

Dying to Live is Kim Paffenroth's first novel and quite an outstanding first attempt. The story follows Jonah Caine who is the all-in-one underdog, hero, and saint. Wandering, alone, across the apocalyptic terrain Jonah eventually joins up with a group that has holed up in a museum. The group is lead by Milton, who the rest of the group looks up to as some sort of messiah. Jack, on the other hand is tactical and logistical leader of the group. From their first meeting, Jonah and the museum folks...more Dying to Live is Kim Paffenroth's first novel and quite an outstanding first attempt. The story follows Jonah Caine who is the all-in-one underdog, hero, and saint. Wandering, alone, across the apocalyptic terrain Jonah eventually joins up with a group that has holed up in a museum. The group is lead by Milton, who the rest of the group looks up to as some sort of messiah. Jack, on the other hand is tactical and logistical leader of the group. From their first meeting, Jonah and the museum folks fight the undead and other evil in the world just to have a merger existence.

Dying to Live is by no means a simple zombie bash. No, it also takes a page from Paffenroth's Gospel of The Dead and is very much an examination of humanity. Many comparisons are made between the living and undead. This quote (taken from memory, so I hope it is correct) "We are not evil, just dumb and clumsy" highlights this aspect of the book. The living, just like the unliving, are prone to be dumb and clumsy. Often Jonah struggles with killing the zombies, as he still identifies with them. He also observes that in many ways that the living are much more cruel than the dead.

Also, those who read the biblical story of Jonah & the novel Moby-Dick will see some familiar ideas. For instance the beginning of the book will surely remind you of Moby-Dick, while later; the story of Jonah is invoked.

While Dying to Live is the most intellectually stimulating zombie novel I have ever read, fear not, there is plenty of action, gore, and fright to go around. There are some very well described combat sequences, some downright frightening parts, and one particular scene during Frank's story that will both make you sick to your stomach and scare the crap out of you.

Dying to Live is an absolute great piece of writing that will both stimulate your mind and deliver the action and gore that we all love so much. With this book Kim Paffenroth shows that there is more to zombie fiction than eating flesh and killing with head shots. Dying to Live is a welcome break from the typical zombie book and the new favorite on the top of my list. (less)

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Mar 01, 2013 Leslee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombies-like-more-than-brains, 2013

Needed something to jump start me out of a reading slump so I wanted something quick and dirty (so to speak) with very little in the way of heavy thinking and a lot in the way of action and gore. This one has been appearing on my recommended lists from Goodreads for a while and I have to say, it hit the spot perfectly. It's not really elevating the zombie genre to anything new and exciting but it was an easy fun read that took what it was working with and worked it really well.

The story moved a...more

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May 10, 2011 Rhiannon Ryder rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's no secret that since October I've become an increasingly ardent fan of zombie books. An infatuation brought on by Mrs. DeRaps Reads pointing me towards The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan and spinning out from there. It's a somewhat limited genre, unfortunately, and so after Rot and Ruin, The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy and Cherie Priests Clockwork Century books (Boneshaker and Dreadnought), I was out of ideas. So the hubby did his research and came up with Kim Paffenroths D...more It's no secret that since October I've become an increasingly ardent fan of zombie books. An infatuation brought on by Mrs. DeRaps Reads pointing me towards The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan and spinning out from there. It's a somewhat limited genre, unfortunately, and so after Rot and Ruin, The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy and Cherie Priests Clockwork Century books (Boneshaker and Dreadnought), I was out of ideas. So the hubby did his research and came up with Kim Paffenroths Dying to Live, and gave it to me for Valentines day.

A fairly typical zombie story line, Dying to Live follows Jonah Cain as he struggles to survive in a world where he's wildly outnumbered by the dead, he's lost all his friends and family, and there doesn't seem any point to survival. Much has been said about how this is the thinking mans zombie book, and it is Paffenroths main contribution to the genre (amusing side note- Kim Roth is a professor of religious studies).

Much more grizzly and intense then the YA zombie books I've read to-date as well as Cherie Priests books, Dying to Live really got into the grittier aspects of a world full of zombies. Think 28 Days Later and you'll have a general idea of what I mean. Any post-apocalyptic story is better when they aren't afraid to pull punches, as Suzanne Collins clearly showed, it makes it far more believable then a bunch of good looking people, dressed well, pulling matrix moves and facing off against hordes successfully as if they'd been doing it all their lives.

The philosophical debates and thoughts in the book were particularly interesting, and played really nicely against some of the more horrifying aspects. On some levels I suspect this worked mostly because the mains are somewhere around forty or over, any younger and the characters would lack the world experience to see things the same way.

Hybrid Milton was my especially favorite character, the tie up of his story made me really want a sequel, of which there seems to have been two (from what I can gather from Amazon, Kim Paffenroth only has a blog and not a convenient web page). I would happily drop into this world again, it was tough, no nonsense and an overall enjoyable post-apocalyptic tale, if a bit more gruesome then average (so be warned, faint of heart!).
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Nov 05, 2010 Patrick D'Orazio rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jonah Caine is stuck in a living hell. The world has collapsed around him. Alone, he travels in the darkness of the world, the living dead his only company. He wanders and hopes for genuine companionship; someone to share in what little is left for humanity.

He stumbles upon a group hiding out in a museum in a medium-small city. The group has staked their claim on their little part of the world and have lived, for a year, in relative safety. The group is led by Jack, who was one of the military...more Jonah Caine is stuck in a living hell. The world has collapsed around him. Alone, he travels in the darkness of the world, the living dead his only company. He wanders and hopes for genuine companionship; someone to share in what little is left for humanity.

He stumbles upon a group hiding out in a museum in a medium-small city. The group has staked their claim on their little part of the world and have lived, for a year, in relative safety. The group is led by Jack, who was one of the military personnel that fought against the living dead and helped discover this hideaway, and Milton, who has a special and unique gift, along with a tremendous desire to not only rebuild a better civilization but a passion for learning from humanity's greatest weaknesses and strengths.

This book, much more so than many other works in this genre, really explores the meanings behind both the good and evil embedded in humankind. Much like the novel "Every Sigh, The End" the author here desires to examine the human condition and does not assume that the living dead are the worst beings out there by a long shot. And how much can those who are "good" tolerate? How much do they want to not only to survive, but to live?

Don't let this staid description fool you, Kim does a bang up job keeping the action here moving along at a strong pace, with very few lulls. The story is told from Jonah's perspective, who was formerly a College English Professor, so his thoughts conjure up a great deal of references from a variety of literature sources and western civilizations rather vivid images of hell.

I guess for me, this book was so entertaining because the author seems so intrigued at the meaning behind both the mind numbing destruction wrought by the living dead as well as the much more horrifying and unspeakable terror brought forth by our own human brethren and how God could allow such things to happen.

While I like to read zombie stories to get a jolt of excitement and terror I also love these stories because to me zombies are so incredibly fascinating. Not just for what they are or what they represent, but what they seem to be able to elicit in their human counterparts that are trapped in the same dying and desperate world as they are-what do we become when everything around us is drenched in death and despair?

I feel that Kim Paffenroth did an excellent job of examining the boundaries of humanity, both good and evil, and for that I highly recommend this book.(less)

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Sep 26, 2010 Ladiibbug rated it 4 of 5 stars

Horror - Zombies

Dying to Live thoroughy satisfied my yearning to kick off my Halloween reading with a gruesome zombie thriller. What this book delivers, though, is so much more than an A-1 zombie thriller. This book explores the innermost souls of a small group of survivors, who are struggling to retain their humanity and create a community while being surrounded by hordes of zombies.

The survivors unite and care for and accept each other in a world destroyed and overrun by zombies. Milton sees t...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalyptic

This book just did NOT work for me on so many levels. First, on the plot, almost nothing felt original. The only thing I truly loved was the setting of survival, a small town museum. If I had to sit out the apocalypse somewhere, let me tell you - that would be it. In a heartbeat. Interesting exhibits to wander through, a library full of books, a way to educate your kids... hell, most museums even have a kid zone for play and fun and all that good stuff. And a cafeteria, etc. etc. etc.

But other t...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Crystal Michallet-Romero rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You know a book is good when you stay up until 4:30 in the morning just to finish the last few pages. This is what happened to me with Kim Paffenroth’s novel, Dying to Live. It is a zombie novel along the line of Rhiannon Frater’s, As the World Dies in that it brings out many thought provoking topics along the lines of good vs evil, how it affects humanity, and the different aspects of humanity that transforms with the onslaught of a zombie apocalypse. It is thought provoking and enables us to c...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Chelsea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian, own, zack, horror

Definitely not the best zombie novel I've ever read, but it's by far not the worst. I think all the big names in zombie lit (Brian Keene, David Moody, Joe McKinney, and my personal favorite author Jonathan Maberry) on the covers and on the inside really hyped the book up for me and it didn't quite live up to that hype.

Dying to Live is advertised as a "thinking" horror novel. It's not, really. It suggests some gentle, generic philosophical questions ("Are you dying to live?" and "If God exists, h...more Definitely not the best zombie novel I've ever read, but it's by far not the worst. I think all the big names in zombie lit (Brian Keene, David Moody, Joe McKinney, and my personal favorite author Jonathan Maberry) on the covers and on the inside really hyped the book up for me and it didn't quite live up to that hype.

Dying to Live is advertised as a "thinking" horror novel. It's not, really. It suggests some gentle, generic philosophical questions ("Are you dying to live?" and "If God exists, how could he let this happen?") but doesn't really expand on them too much. It takes almost half the novel to even get to the spot to ask these questions instead of inherently asking them from the start. Part of the problem, I think, is the fact that the novel starts in the midst of this post-apocalyptic world instead of at the start of it. Despite the flashbacks/memory sections (which I'll get to in a second), there were a lot of missed chances for deeper, moral questions. (view spoiler)

Paffenroth writes beautifully, and both the theme of the struggle between the vacancy of the "thousand yard stare" and remaining whole and human both physically and emotionally and the theme of classic literature (especially Dante, I love me some Inferno) and Milton (oh-ho-ho ~clever~) are immensely satisfying. I didn't quite enjoy the generic give-people-alcohol-and-let-them-talk way of rehashing everybody's apocalyptic experiences, but I liked finding out the different stories. It slowed down the book significantly, though, and having his story backed up with Sarah's and Tanya's was too much at once. (view spoiler)

For as amazing as the writing is, the story is pretty unremarkable until the end and the characters are human but plain. As a narrator, Jonah Caine is steady and reliable but unhelpful and his transparency as the novel goes on doesn't make sense. It felt as if I were reading in third person instead of first due to his lack of personal input in any situation. He didn't feel strong emotions and that made him kind of disappear as a character despite his thrilling heroics.

As for the action in the book, it was great once the story got going (100+ pages in). The prison sequence was as spot on as I imagine it would be. Paffenroth definitely doesn't shy away from the dark side of humanity in the prisoners, and, while I've read far gorier, violent, and intense zombie novels (see Eden: By Tommy Arlin), he gets it done.

As a final note, I like that the city is modeled after Grand Rapids, which is a city I know and the Van Andel Museum is a location I've driven by in the past. A lot of apocalypse novels are set around New York or Los Angeles, but having that knowledge gives Dying to Live a personal touch that probably not a lot of people can claim to have with a book, especially in Michigan.

I also enjoy that he's a professor of Religious Studies. I've always been interested in connections between religion--particularly Christianity--and zombies, and it seems Paffenroth has really worked with those connections and has published other books that I will definitely be looking into.(less)

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Aug 04, 2011 Neil Sinclair rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty good zombie book. first person narration (the narrator very much os telling us and I almost wish that this had been done in journal form - you know almost exactly the same was but more as entries.) I won't be spoiling anything (unless you haven't read the back of the book) in saying that the worst thing about the Zombie Apocalypse is the other people you meet. I would say that some of the concurrences later in the book are a bit contrived and also seem remarkably short.
I was on page 145 o...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I like nothing more than a good apocalypse. And this is a zombie apocalypse with a bit if heart and soul. The story is well paced and it was always with reluctance that I had to put the book down. If you are a sucker for a zombie novel like I am, I'm pretty sure you should read this!
Having said all of that, it's not perfect. There are a few strange turns in the story that I think are a little convenient, however, it doesn't detract from the story for me, as you're almost hoping that it will all...more

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Mar 20, 2009 Anthony Fitzgerald rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first thing I noticed when I picked up "Dying To Live" was that Jonathan Maberry (author of Ghost Road Blues) describes the novel as "not just a thinking man's horror novel, it's a zombie book for philosophers." This is interesting because on one level every zombie novel carries the same theme of a group of survivors trying to survive a war against the undead. Apart from varying story lines, there honestly isn't much of a difference between the lot (I like to think of each novel taking place...more The first thing I noticed when I picked up "Dying To Live" was that Jonathan Maberry (author of Ghost Road Blues) describes the novel as "not just a thinking man's horror novel, it's a zombie book for philosophers." This is interesting because on one level every zombie novel carries the same theme of a group of survivors trying to survive a war against the undead. Apart from varying story lines, there honestly isn't much of a difference between the lot (I like to think of each novel taking place during the same outbreak event). Now, on another level every zombie novel, film, story, etc has a deeper philosophical meaning that ties back to humanity's lust for consumerism (see Romero's Dawn of the Dead) and ultimately the animalistic nature of humans, both living and dead. That said, I was interested to find out what made THIS novel THE book for philosophers...

Unfortunately I was unable to find the answer. Don't get me wrong though, this was a very good novel, but certainly no different than the rest. Granted, there were scenes throughout that definitely beg the question "How can God exist?" One particularly brutal tale involving a pregnant woman who becomes infected comes to mind. However disturbing it still doesn't separate this novel from it's fellow companions.

Now, that was a more direct response to the comment by Maberry, so putting that aside I will say that I generally enjoyed this read; there were some tense sequences involving characters trapped within a dead city and later an inmate-overrun prison, as well as an uplifting hopeful community attempting to rebuild civilization starting within the confines of a fortified museum. I'm attempting to be cautious not to let details slip, but I have to say that the way one major plot point plays out in the epilogue seemed slightly ridiculous and forced, as if the author liked and used the idea without fleshing out the pros and cons to making the story believable (as believable as a zombie novel can be). Coming in at a short 180 pages, more could have been done to elaborate on the cause of said plot point, or how it came to play out in the end.

Being so short in length, I felt deprived of a further, rich story on the events between the finally and epilogue. Sometimes "3 weeks later" just isn't good enough!

Overall, again a good fun read that only suffers from a slight lack of detail! (less)

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Apr 30, 2011 Meghan R. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, library, fiction-speculative, fiction-zombies

Kim Paffenroth's first zombie novel hearkens back to his excellent nonfiction work, Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth, and prefigures his ambitious Valley of the Dead: The Truth Behind Dante's Inferno, but in spite of the frequent Dante references in the descriptive prose, it is rightly St. Augustine who shares top billing with George Romero in the dedication. A kind of fledgeling City of God contends with a City of Man in this thoughtful zombie fable.

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May 10, 2012 Sargeatm rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3,5 Sterne
Kritikpunkte: Während mich zB Aftertime von Sophie Crane mit seinen endlosen Abwscheifungen etwas genervt hat, hätte mir hier ein bißchen mehr Inhalt besser gefallen. Es ist alles sehr, sehr kurz gefasst. Das Camp, in dem sich der Protagonist aufhält wird kaum beschrieben und auch nur wenige Figuren kriegen einen Auftritt. Das läuft dann meist so ab, dass die Nebenfiguren eine kleine Geschichte von dem erzählen, was sie so erlebt haben.
Das fand ich literarisch jetzt nicht besonders gel...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Shahbaz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombie-survival

Zombie survival book. I enjoyed the story, We got to see the uglier side of human nature even in the wake of the zombie apocalypse. The story isn't all blood guts and gore although there is a lot there, but it was an interesting piece of work showing some like on all the various aspects of "human" nature. Primal, Raw Hunger. The need to survive and the will to fight for it even if you face certain death. The last few chapters of the book were definitely the saving moment for me. When Jonah, Popc...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Carlos rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: post-apocalyptic

En "Dying to Live" Paffenroth nos muestra un mundo apocalíptico dominado por zombies.
La narrativa es consistente y entretenida, sin embargo me faltó poder crear empatía con el personaje principal "Jonah Caine" y no se si esto es por el desarrollo del personaje, el estilo narrativo o una onda subjetiva [mía, obvio].

En el lado positivo, la novela cuenta con una serie de viñetas descriptivas bastante interesantes y que pueden erizar los pelos del cuello de más de un lector, cuestión que recomiendo...more

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May 19, 2009 Olivia R. rated it 2 of 5 stars

I went into this book extremely excited because I'd read lots of good things about it and it had been recommended to be several times. Honestly, the book had potential that it didn't live up to because it wasted a lot of time with juvenile writing. I honestly believe that, if the author had stepped away from the first person narrative (first person perspective often kills a good idea, unfortunately), and hacked out a lot of the unnecessary exposition, this could have been a five-star book. The s...more

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Jun 21, 2011 dixie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stephen King is not my style, so I never though I'd say this, but I really think this book could have benefited from the additional details a-la-The Stand. Paffenroth handles a LOT of post-zombie-apocalypse situations in her book, and I, for one, would have enjoyed reading more details about each. What was day to day life like? How did Jonah develop relationships outside of Tanya? Did he ever get along more with Popcorn?

Similarly, after the last big event, I wanted to hear more about how they co...more

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Feb 05, 2010 James rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, zombielit

I think this short review contains a bit of a spoiler. You've been warned.

Hmmm, I think Prof. Paffenroth should be crueler to his characters :D Kill a few more. The prison scene reminds me of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead, but there Kirkman kills more of his characters, some the ones I care about. Perhaps he does in the second volume? :D
Anyway, reading this was such a ride for me. And, even more personally AFAIK it is rare to see the word 'theology' used more than once in a zombie novel LOL....more

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Jun 28, 2011 William M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Having read zombie tales by Lebbon, Keene, Adkins, Clark, and more, I think this rings the most truthful. Deeply involved character development and realistic situations kept me turning the pages late into the night. My only gripe was -- without giving anything away -- the discovery of the "other" people in town. Their situation and characters felt a little cliched and not as organic as the rest of the book. However, if you were ever considering reading a zombie book, this is the one. Action, sus...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Alexis Winning rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombies

about 2/3 done. So far it is up and down for me, but it is now starting to get really exciting...all in all a good fun book!

So I finished this one last night. Overall I enjoyed it, however some parts were a little predictable. On the other hand, there were sections which were very engaging. There are religious undertones in the book, however it certainly works for the story, and nothing was preachy (which I appreciated). It should be noted that the author is a professor of religious studies so...more

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Aug 14, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: festa

Nach dem mich der erste Teil der Herbst Reihe „Herbst: Beginn“ von David Moody so gut gefallen hat, machte mich „Dying to live“ neugierig. Zombies, Weltuntergang, Seuche – das klang genau nach meinem Horror und Thrillergeschmack. Und ich wurde positiv überrascht.

Jonah ist ein netter Charakter. Er irrt seit Monaten durch eine tote Welt. Familie, Freunde, Arbeitskollegen – keinen gibt’s mehr. Sie sind alle tot, oder irren als Zombies durch die Gegend. Jonah muss sich vor ihnen in Acht nehmen und d...more Nach dem mich der erste Teil der Herbst Reihe „Herbst: Beginn“ von David Moody so gut gefallen hat, machte mich „Dying to live“ neugierig. Zombies, Weltuntergang, Seuche – das klang genau nach meinem Horror und Thrillergeschmack. Und ich wurde positiv überrascht.

Jonah ist ein netter Charakter. Er irrt seit Monaten durch eine tote Welt. Familie, Freunde, Arbeitskollegen – keinen gibt’s mehr. Sie sind alle tot, oder irren als Zombies durch die Gegend. Jonah muss sich vor ihnen in Acht nehmen und die Menschenfresser töten, denn nach einer Pandemie, von der niemand weiß, woher sie kommt, sind die meisten Menschen zu Zombies geworden.
Jonah trifft recht schnell auf weitere Überlebende und schließt sich ihnen an. Dort findet er neue Freunde und auch etwas Hoffnung. Doch das Grauen wütet draußen weiter und die Lebensmittel werden knapp. Mutige und wochenlang gut durchtrainierte Mitbewohner trauen sich immer wieder in diese tote Welt dort draußen, um das nötigste zu besorgen. Jonah gehört irgendwann auch dazu und lernt, wie man unter Zombies überlebt. Doch es gibt schlimmeres, als tote Menschen, die einen fressen wollen...

Das Buch beginnt super lesbar und bleibt bis zum Schluss durchgehend auf einem guten Spannungslevel. Es liest sich sehr gut und sehr schnell weg, daher habe ich es binnen kürzester Zeit verschlungen.
Blutig und brutal ist es auch an ein paar Stellen, wenn auch nicht so krass, wie ich es mir gerne gewünscht hätte. Hier kann auch der etwas zartbeseitetere Leser zugreifen, wie ich finde. Habe doch einiges an Splatter vermisst.
Ebenfalls vermisste ich auch die unglaubliche Traurigkeit, Hoffnungslosigkeit, Einsamkeit und die Depressionen, wenn man die Tatsache betrachtet, dass sämtliche Menschen tot oder Zombies sind und man nur darauf wartet, quasi ein zweites Mal zu sterben.
Auffallend war für mich, dass übermäßig viel der Glaube und Gott eine Rolle spielten. Nicht weiter verwunderlich, wenn man weiß, dass der Autor Kim Paffenroth Theologe ist. So betet Jonah oft in schwierigen Situationen und lässt den einen oder anderen Bibelvers los. Nicht weiter schlecht, im Gegenteil: das war mal eine interessante Angelegenheit. So kam eben auch die Frage auf, wem man die Schuld an dieser Apokalypse zu geben hat und Gott wurde dennoch oftmals kritisiert. Es ist also wahrlich nichts übertrieben theologisches, sondern eher eine plausible Reaktion der Hoffnungslosigkeit.
Die Charaktere waren mir alle sympathisch und kamen authentisch rüber. Obwohl ich bei ihnen die Ausweglosigkeit der Situation vermisste, empfand ich sie alle als sehr stark, denn sie kämpften gemeinsam und hielten zusammen.

Einen mega Cliffhanger gibt es am Ende nicht, aber man merkt, dass es kein Schluss für immer ist. Es fehlt etwas. Daher bin ich erfreut, dass es einen 2. Teil bereits schon gibt namens „Dying to live – Die Traurigkeit der Zombies“. Diesmal aus der Sicht der Zombies, wie es in der Kurzbeschreibung klingt. Ich bin gespannt.
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Oct 02, 2010 Alexia561 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-copy, fantasy

This story grabbed me from the first page, and then wouldn't let go! The action starts right away, without any explanation or prologue. Just as well, because most prologues are usually pretty useless. It was like joining a program already in progress, but the author does it in such a way that I never felt confused or lost but instead was hooked and couldn't wait to find out what happened next!

The main character is Jonah Caine, a survivor wandering the country after failing to find any sign of hi...more

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Oct 11, 2008 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was an excellent zombie read for Horror month!

I was curious when I ran across a review for this book that stated that it was Christian Fiction but I now see where that comes from. While this book takes us on a very scary journey into a world overrun with undead zombies, there is a lot of theological references. It creates a very thought provoking read that I totally enjoyed.

This really is one of the scariest Apocalypse/Zombie books that I have read, because I found myself imagining exactl...more

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Mar 14, 2008 Michele Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: horror fans

Shelves: horror-suspense, wishlist

Like the real world the fictional world in Dying to Live is brutally unfair. One would expect no less from a book set a year after the world succumbed to zombies. This isn't a story of the uprising, the slow rot of the human beast. This is a tale part in retrospect, told by characters who are in a brave new world, but still remember and mourn their old world.

Jonah is a man living a grim existence, spared from the initial zombie take over, but finally persuaded to leave his seaborne safe haven to...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, horror, fiction, zombies

I liked this book. It was well-written, easy to read and well-paced. The back stories for the main characters were dramatic and interesting, especially Frank's. The author makes no bones about doing nothing new with the zombies themselves, such as giving them new powers or self-awareness or possession by demons or other such nonsense. It's Romero-esque and that't not a bad thing. Paffenroth relies on the story and the characters to invest the reader into the story, rather than gimmicks.

The main...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Dustin Reade rated it 1 of 5 stars

I rarely give one-star reviews, but this book just did nothing for me.

dumb. somehow, despite having all of the elements I like in a book (zombies, gore, blood, etc.) this one never really worked for me. I suffered through it because I don't like leaving a book unfinished. But I wish I wasn't like that, because I wasted my time with this one.
It is all rehashed zombie stuff that I have already read and seen done better elsewhere.
Plus, the theological stuff bugged the crap out of me. I didn't reali...more

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Dec 31, 2011 FasterKillFastPussycat rated it 1 of 5 stars

I couldn't even finish the book...........................this whole series with the idea of thinking and feeling zombies just isn't for me at all.......I see the author was trying to do something different but I hated it.I want my zombies to be all bite and no thought and I want them to be slayed by awesome main characters.I suppose I could understand why some people would like this series but in all it's pretty bad and it starts off really slow.

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About Kim Paffenroth

I am a professor of religious studies, and the author of several books on the Bible and theology. I grew up in New York, Virginia, and New Mexico. I attended St. John's College, Annapolis, MD (BA, 1988), Harvard Divinity School (MTS, 1990), and the University of Notre Dame (PhD, 1995). I live in upstate New York with my wife and two wonderful kids. In the horror genre, I have written Gospel of the...more

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Books by Kim Paffenroth

Dying to Live: Life Sentence (Dying to Live, #2)

Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth

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Dying to Live (Dying to Live #1)

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