State of Decay (Revivors, #1)

State of Decay (Revivors #1)

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3.63 of 5 stars 3.63  ·  rating details  ·  198 ratings  ·  45 reviews
View our feature on James Knapp’s State of Decay.

Just because you're dead doesn't mean you're useless...

A thrilling debut novel of a dystopian future populated by a new breed of zombie

They call them revivors-technologically reanimated corpses-and away from the public eye they do humanity's dirtiest work. But FBI agent Nico Wachalowski has stumbled upon a conspiracy invo...more
Paperback, 384 pages
Published February 2nd 2010 by Roc (first published January 19th 2010)
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 825)
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Jessica Strider
Pros: well imagined world with a 3 tier citizenship system, interesting characters, extremely complex plot, lots of plot twists, keeps you on your toes and guessing about what will happen next

Pro/Con (depending on your point of view): everything that happens is important, so pay close attention when you read

Cons: redundant repetition

If you don't like the think when you read, you won't like State of Decay. So much happens all at once, and all of it is important. It took me about a hundred pages o...more
Theresa
Vampires and werewolves have been all the rage for awhile but zombies are rapidly becoming the "it" thing in paranormal fiction. Most zombie fiction is typically envisioned in the style of Night of the Living Dead, in which the shambling undead attack the living in an attempt to assuage their insatiable hunger. James Knapp's new book, State of Decay, takes all the familiar tropes of zombie fiction and gives them a real world spin that is both convincing and plausible.

Nico Wachalowski is an FBI a...more
Sara
Plot: 3.5 Stars
The zombies in this novel were very interesting and original. And so were the regular citizens. There were different tier to citizenship, depending on your job and whether or not you decided to allow yourself to become a revivor, or zombie. It was an interesting play on the normal class structure. Some parts of the novel were a touch confusing or glossed over, but I love a good government conspiracy theory. Something plot points left me scratching my head for chapters on end, but...more
Michael
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Amy
Nov 14, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sci-fi fans
So this was an interesting read. There was a lot of interesting things, but some things were confusing.

First of all, this was a fascinating take on the whole zombies thing. It talks about these things called "revivors", which are reanimated people (aka zombies) but they are more like trained zombies. They don't go around eating human flesh. No, in this almost dystopian world, the government uses these revivors for all sorts of things, from war soldiers to hookers (yea that part was a little awk...more
Nicole L Bates
Intense and gritty, this hard sci-fi thriller is a must read for any fans of the darker places that speculative fiction can take you. James Knapp has blended the best elements of the first and third person perspectives in order to allow the reader to see the story from several different angles, yet still feel a near-visceral connection with each of the main characters. Initially this made it difficult to decide who to care the most about. I soon discovered that I cared for each of the characters...more
Hali Sowle
A good first novel and a different take on the zombie story. Revivors are people who agree to be turned into zombies. These revivors are used as troops in war and as riot control in cities. They are also abused as sex toys and slaves. Someone is selling black market revivors and Agent Wachalowski, former soldier, now FBI agent, is trying to find out who and why, because some of these revivors are not following orders. The book is told from a few first person view points - Nico Wachalowski, Zoe O...more
Leah
In my quest for zombie fiction, I was recommended State of Decay by James Knapp. Let me say this upfront: State of Decay is not a zombie book. It uses the concept of reanimation in a modern, technologically-oriented way to explore unsettling questions about identity: what makes us who we are? Is it the delicate spark of life that sustains our bodies that makes us human? Are we our memories? And what if we have reason to doubt those memories?

Science fiction has rehashed these ideas for decades, m...more
Michelle
State of Decay is the first book in the Revivors series by James Knapp and a ROC Fantasy.

Book Blurb:

They call them revivors - technologically reanimated corpses - and away from the public eye, they do humanity's dirtiest work. In the near future, where a never-ending war drones on, they are the infantry. Back home, they sustain a black-market trade in labor and pleasure models.

If Nico Wachalowski never sees another revivor, it will be too soon. He chose to fight alongside - and against - them ra...more
Beatrice
This is one of the scariest books that I've read in a long time. The whole premise of the book gives me shudders.

In the future, there are distinct classes of citizens. 1st Class citizens either have a lot of money or have chosen to serve in the military. 2nd Class citizens either have money as well or have agreed to give their bodies over to become Revivors after their death.

Revivors are corpses that have been reanimated, but have only the purpose set for them in their programming. Everyone be...more
Danja
I liked the opening, so I bought this book expecting it to be okay. I was pleasantly surprised. I stayed up way too late and finished it the same day I got it. Now I am excited to read the sequel.

It had some problems. Hollywood hacking and some questionable (minor) plot points kept me reminding myself to suspend disbelief. To help with that I like to sing part of the MST3K theme song to myself. "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes / And other science facts / Repeat to yourself 'It's jus...more
Cristy
STATE OF DECAY (Revivors #1) is a read I’d picked up solely because I was fortunate enough to win a copy of ELEMENT ZERO (Revivors #3) from the author James Knapp on goodreads. Not yet being familiar with the trilogy, I thought I’d better check the first two books before diving into my prize. To be honest, this is a series that probably would never have hit my radar had it not been for the giveaway. I do enjoy sci-fi, which is why I threw my name into the hat when EZ came up on the giveaway list...more
Alex
When I first found this book (here on Goodreads) I was really intrigued by the story concept. It turns out I was on the mark as State of Decay was a book I really liked.

The book is a mixture of horror and science fiction with a mystery developing throughout and is written from the alternating perspective of some of the main characters. This was to the advantage of keeping suspense up as you are often dropped into another character at cliffhanger moments.

My only real problem with the book was th...more
Macy
A different kind of zombie book. Much more science fiction meets government. Not really too helpful in learning how to survive a zombie apocalypse but an easy read and interesting. The writing it self was not amazing but the book had a lot of action and kept you interested. I will say that I was waiting for some sort of mind blowing bombshell for the climax and what I got was a little bit disapointing but still interesting but it didn't "wow" me. I'll probably never read it again but I'm glad I...more
Whitney
This book ended up being completely different from what I expected going in, which was a very good thing! Not your typical zombie narrative, State of Decay involves a lot of technological science fiction, futuristic dystopian cities, combined with a healthy dosing of an old fashioned mystery novel. I would honestly have tried to market this book as Cyberpunk instead of a zombie horror novel.

I'm loving the characters I met in this story. They are a nice blend of realistic and gritty, which ties i...more
Virginia
I have to be honest - I would have NEVER picked up or even looked at this book had it not won the Compton Crook award. I think this is mostly due to the cover - it's okay, but I think it does a disservice to the book - I was under the distinct impression that this was a military action book (with zombies) while it was MUCH more like a murder mystery (with zombies). I am a big fan of mysteries, and have read a lot of them, and I am ALSO a fan of scifi/fantasy - these two genres rarely meet. (Or r...more
Angela
Oh, this was a fun one. James Knapp's State of Decay, the first of his Revivors series, put forth a nice take on zombies: a futuristic society where people can be reanimated via technological means. Volunteering to have yourself reanimated upon your death comes with the temptation of improvement of your citizenship ranking, and many unknowing citizens go for it. But there is, of course, the obligatory Dirty Secret.

The so-called "revivors" are kept out of the public eye, serving as mercenaries in...more
Sam
FBI Agent Nico Wachalowski is investigating illegal shipments of reanimated corpses used as soldiers. Police officer Faye Dassalia is racing to catch a serial killer before she loses her mind. Zoe Ott, a drunken recluse, has already lost hers, but is much more than she seems. Calliope Flax is a third rate citizen and arena fighter. All become entangled in a war so secret no one is even aware of the two sides existence. Starts off slow, but quickly gains speed. I'm hoping to pick up book 2 this a...more
Angela
I read this much faster than I thought I would.

The world has changed (or perhaps it is another world...it is never quite clear) -- there are tiers of people (made me think of the Indian cast system) -- while it is possible to be born into tier one, it seems you need something special to be there, or you need to serve in the military (as there is an ongoing-neverending war) -- you can also sign up to serve in the war posthumously -- yeah, as a revivor (read - zombie) -- kind of creepy. You sell...more
Andrew
The only real faults with State of Decay seem to be the province of the publishers, whose cover design obscures both the fact that this is very much the first in a series and that three of the four viewpoint characters are female.

Otherwise, Knapp creates a believable future filled with interesting and well rounded characters, and with a snowballing plot that brings all of the protagonists together in a satisfying and logical way. I'll be looking for the sequel, especially if it continues the goo...more
Steve


I cannot claim lack of bias, I read James' book because we went to high school together. It took me a little to get going, but once hooked I was all in.

The world is a fascinating dystopian place like a dark, grungy p k dick. The revivors are NOT zombies and we are all so much the better for it. They are fascinating and force the reader to contemplate the meaning of consciousness - not light stuff.

Gruesome in parts? Absolutely.

I look forward to reading book 2.

Well done James! Oyster River sh...more
Tabitha the Pabkins
This book has a completely different approach to "zombies". Are they dead, yes, do they eat brains? Not really. But hey they are dead that qualifies as zombie-esque for me.

They are really "revivors" - people die and they are brought back with technology to be used in this seemingly never ending war (which you really don't learn much about). They are also used for other sordid things, like blow up dolls, without the blowing up of course.

It is well written and paced and I already own the next one...more
Brad Clarkston
This a great zombie book with a modern twist. It's as much a thriller as SciFi with just a dash of dystopia thrown in for good measure.

It's well written and fast paced and doesn't start to drag until the end which is understandable since there isn't a happy ending in site.

Well worth the read especially at $6.39 on the Kindle.
Nick
Excellently written, Knapp grabs you right from the beginning and keeps you immersed the whole time, a couple of slow parts and dwelling on certain plot points a little too long kept this from being perfect but by no means hurt how enjoyable the book was. I personally look forward to the other entries in the series.
Alicia
I am going to recommend this one with reservations. On the plus side, it was fresh, innovative and exciting until.... they introduced the psychic which marred the believability of the plot a bit. It was still a very unusual premise and the writing style sucked you in. Worth reading and an author to watch.
A. B.
The first chapter and a half of this novel are rough. The author crams 4 perspectives (5 perspective shifts) into the first 44 pages of the book. It’s too much bouncing and while things eventually reveal themselves to be relevant in the end, you do feel as though half of what you’re reading is utterly unimportant. And the perspective switch – via bold heading – is a bit jarring at first.

Luckily, that little bump is the only thing that holds this novel back.
The plot itself is beautifully – or in...more
Elizabeth Whitehead
I started the second book first and was a little confused and went and got the State of Decay. Solved all of my confusion. Dont' usually like SciFi/Horror but both of these books kept my attention. I couldn't put them down. I can't wait for Book #3 to come out.
Amy Dukeshire
Okay, so I won this book from a first-reads giveaway and I'm so glad I did. As I read the first few pages it dove right into the action and grabbed my attention. I found the subject, reanimating dead people (called revivors) as soldiers, really appealed to my scientific mind. The story was interesting right to the end. I can't wait to read the sequel! Definitely worth taking the time to read.
Ian Lewis
This is exactly what a science fiction paperback should be: an easy to read page turner with a great deal of suspense. Well written with an excellent story line (it even holds together!). I look forward to the next in this series.
Gef
I went into this book with the preconception of a strong horror element. I was wrong. The sci-fi elements are what take center stage here, so I had to adjust quickly and get ready for a different kind of story. All things considered, it was pretty good. Came off as a bit of standard fare in the techno-thriller genre, but a good debut for the author. And I was grateful that the ending was not a cliffhanger, but more of a teaser towards what may come in the sequel.
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State of Decay (ebook)
State of Decay (Revivors, #1)
State of Decay (ebook)
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