Zombie Apocalypse! (Zombie Apocalypse, #1)

Dec 29, 2012 Elaine Wong rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was hoping for a book similar to World War Z or Dead Inside Do Not Enter Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse. Instead, I got a book that started off strong, then...kind of fell off the wagon.

The book sets up its premise wonderfully: an ancient church is unearthed, which released fleas that carried the plague. Correspondences and reports fly back and forth to piece together a timeline of events, the reaction of the first on the scene, then the epidemic spreads...then you get to the second half of...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2013

Despite reading and watching a lot of horror, I’ve always avoided Zombies, as they were the one thing which really made me, well, scared. Having gotten into The Walking Dead recently, I seem to have overcome that fear, and now seem to be making up for lost time!

Zombie Apocalypse was one of my recent purchases, along with World War Z, which I haven’t yet read. Both of these books seem to be made up of various accounts of events, using transcripts etc, but I have a feeling they are rather differen...more Despite reading and watching a lot of horror, I’ve always avoided Zombies, as they were the one thing which really made me, well, scared. Having gotten into The Walking Dead recently, I seem to have overcome that fear, and now seem to be making up for lost time!

Zombie Apocalypse was one of my recent purchases, along with World War Z, which I haven’t yet read. Both of these books seem to be made up of various accounts of events, using transcripts etc, but I have a feeling they are rather different in their approach. Obviously I can’t say for sure until I read it, but I get the impression that World War Z is meant to be more serious, whereas Zombie Apocalypse has a rather dark humour running through. I’ve seen reviews comparing them, but they really need to be assessed in their own strengths.

Zombie Apocalypse is a ‘mosaic’ book, made of various accounts, taking us from before the zombies, to it’s outcome. There are news reports, diary entries, police reports etc, but it’s been bought up to date with twitter conversations, emails and blog entries. Although it follows a rough timeline, the stories don’t connect – it does read like a collection which has been pulled together.

These accounts have different authors, and that does show. It also means that the different styles will be liked or disliked by various readers. I for one found the blog entries caused me the most amusement (people really will blog about anything!) and the diary entries from a 13 year old girl were my overall favourites. I also enjoyed the setting, which is mainly London – it’s always good for us UK readers to see something set where we know.

Reviews appear mixed for this one, and I guess I can see why. Personally speaking, I found it highly enjoyable, and loved the unusual style. It’s not to be taken seriously, and you’re bound to have sections which you prefer over others. There’s a lot to recommend it though, and I shall be looking out for the second book, Zombie Apocalypse Fightback.(less)

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Mar 21, 2013 Dawn Peers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazon-reviewed, zombies

Great concept, awesome in parts, but sorely lacking in finish.

Zombie apocalypse is a great concept, and well written. Instead of having core characters central to the plot, it pulls in emails, diaries, tweets, web pages, blogs and letters from a variety of characters (some recurring) to put together the UK (initially) then world reaction to a zombie plague.

The source of the plague itself is a little far-fetched, but original and seemingly well researched. You get to read of a character succumbin...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Valerie Derbyshire rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a series of blogs, diary entries, letters, narrative "witness" accounts of the Zombie Apocalypse from not only a number of differing attributed sources, but also penned by different authors in the book. As a result of this, I felt that there was a clear diversity in the standard and quality of the writing which is being offered here. For example, the opening entry - an email from a man named "Michael" to his dead mother detailing the horrors he had been a witness to was a really str...more This book is a series of blogs, diary entries, letters, narrative "witness" accounts of the Zombie Apocalypse from not only a number of differing attributed sources, but also penned by different authors in the book. As a result of this, I felt that there was a clear diversity in the standard and quality of the writing which is being offered here. For example, the opening entry - an email from a man named "Michael" to his dead mother detailing the horrors he had been a witness to was a really strong start. It was gripping and intriguing, had just the right amount of pathos and horror in equal measure. The next offering, however, "internal communications", is a bit crap in comparison. And this sets the tone throughout the book - some of the entries are very exciting and entertaining to read, others are a bit lacking. I personally particularly enjoyed the diary of a thirteen year old girl, which was written with a whimsical innocent voice, which was entirely credible, and cast the horrors she was detailing in her diary entries in a striking manner which stayed with the reader for a long time afterwards. I also enjoyed the entries near the end of the book from the family of writers. I thought that the manner in which part of the account of a zombie attack was portrayed as it happened and told as true and the rest of it fictionalised was fantastic, and a very clever way to report the events on their street. It was a little bit different. I disagree with other reviewers that there is not a coherent story here. There is, but the story is subtle and you have to pay attention to pick it up. There is a clear evolution of events here but you need to read closely, which, if you are reading a zombie story, you might not necessarily want to do! If there is a big flaw in this novel, it is the manner in which the zombie plague is explained. I felt that this was a mistake. Normally in this genre the zombie apocalpyse will happen for vague not very substantiated reasons - it's best left that way - these things can't be explained coherently and putting them down to "fleas" from the bubonic plague was just plain daft. (You can't stretch your readers' credibility too far in these things!) If there is a strength, it is how things pan out in the end. I won't give it away, but it's just a little bit different from your usual zombie "America saves the day" ending. I enjoyed this book and read it quickly, even though you do have to keep your eye on the subplot - I would definitely recommend it (but, as one other reviewer has noted, not as much as "World War Z" which is a much better version of the same thing).(less)

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Dec 04, 2012 Samrat rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Samrat by: Dan

Shelves: dystopia, fiction, magickery, sci-fi, undead-beasties, war

This is a pretty solid entry in the new zombie genre. They're not very typical for the undead, which might bother purists, but I found it a delightful twist (though occasionally inconsistent-seeming). The shifting perspectives did rob some emotional depth as characters were killed off suddenly and unceremoniously -- often off-screen or by just not mentioning them again! There weren't many people, living or otherwise, to root for. I had hoped that the scientists exchanging emails in the first pag...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Holden Attradies rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone!

Recommended to Holden by: Alexis Winning

Shelves: zombie, fiction, horror

First off, if you like zombie lit and haven't read this go out and get it RIGHT NOW!

This book was so good. I blew through it in lest than 48 hours, not wanting to out it down but life getting in the way of wanting to do nothing but gluttonously read this till the end. As soon as I was done I wanted to go back and re-read it.

The very concept was amazing, and I'm surprised it's not something I haven't seen more of, ESPECIALLY in the zombie lit genre. It's an anthology, but all of the stories tie t...more First off, if you like zombie lit and haven't read this go out and get it RIGHT NOW!

This book was so good. I blew through it in lest than 48 hours, not wanting to out it down but life getting in the way of wanting to do nothing but gluttonously read this till the end. As soon as I was done I wanted to go back and re-read it.

The very concept was amazing, and I'm surprised it's not something I haven't seen more of, ESPECIALLY in the zombie lit genre. It's an anthology, but all of the stories tie together to tell one over all bigger story. All of the entries are done in non-traditional narrative styles, mostly of found documents of one style (diaries, e-mails, tweets, transcribed recordings). This made for the story to be told in a manner that 80% of the time left you with the feelings of terror and apprehension the characters were feeling in the moment, and the 20% of entries that had any kind of "looking back on this disaster" feel where delivered in a way that didn't fully tell you how big or bad this disaster got and only made the terror and suspense all that much better.

Did it have any flaws? Sure, nothing is perfect. The very end of it was a little odd, kind of felt strange and much of a none starter, but seeing now that there is a sequel that continues the story this doesn't seem so bad. The zombies at times act inconsistent when compared from story to story, which is a little disorienting. But I think this was inevitable in this format. There are also a lot of things that the zombies "do" that are pretty nontraditional. Personally, this didn't bother me so much, but I do know that most zombie lit readers have in their heads an image of what a zombie should be and anything that deviates from this in ANY way can ruin a story for them. I have to just shrug and reply, "dude, they ain't real, they ain't REAL, there ARE no "zombie rules", just enjoy the story." Particularly something that might stick in many peoples craw is that there are talking zombies in this story. I personally enjoyed this books take on it, most characters that you get to see "turn" do so slowly and (at least at first) this is where most of the talking comes in: this fuzzy period where the infection is taking the person over and they aren't fully zombie yet but aren't fully human.(less)

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May 02, 2012 Katrina_0214 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

OK.. so I was in Barnes and Nobles browsing at some boring titles(i was having an off day) and this book draw me in like a moth to a fire. First of the cover was very gruesome and creepy(in a good way of course!) and after I read the back and found out it(the zombie apocalyose) starts in London using a series of documents and tweets and stuff, I was "Whoa! Now THAT sound interesting" I bought it a couple of seconds later.
The book had an interesting premise and delivered it almost perfectly. Som...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Nola rated it 3 of 5 stars

First Zombie book I've read and I think it was pretty good - I enjoyed the layout with different perspectives and forms of documentation but like another reviewer I did find it to be very silly with the whole still writing or talking about the experience while it was happening. I also found it difficult to believe that so many forms of electronic communication were still working. I think this book was also lacking in the Zomie resistance factor - some of the characters know of people who are put...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Jordan Anderson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ridiculously bland title aside (seriously “Zombie Apocalypse!” sounds like a super cheesy B movie from the 1950’s), I liked this book.

Now, I will always be one the first people to side with others who complain that the zombie genre has become far too crowded with sub-par stories and writing skills that are lacking. Just look up the word “zombie” and you are bound to find 100’s, if not 1000’s of both full length novels and short stories...most of which are cheap and hideously bad.

What comes acros...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Schnaucl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: anthology, fiction, horror, library, may, read_2011, zombies, post-apocalyptic

3.5 stars.

This is an anthology only in the strictest sense (it has many authors). I assumed it would be like other mammoth anthologies in that it would be a collection of short stories. Instead, it's a collection of documents generated during a zombie apocalypse.

I was actually struck not by the zombie apocalypse stuff but by the sense of a country on the decline in the first few sections of the book. I'm used to thinking of America as being an empire in decline, I hadn't really thought of Britai...more 3.5 stars.

This is an anthology only in the strictest sense (it has many authors). I assumed it would be like other mammoth anthologies in that it would be a collection of short stories. Instead, it's a collection of documents generated during a zombie apocalypse.

I was actually struck not by the zombie apocalypse stuff but by the sense of a country on the decline in the first few sections of the book. I'm used to thinking of America as being an empire in decline, I hadn't really thought of Britain being in decline (though I just read a story that said their economic recovery may be the slowest since 1830). It really made me want to read more fiction with that as the focus, the decline of countries since the 2008 financial crisis. But that was not this story. Although what started it was actually a bread and circuses type diversion from the decline of the country.

Some of the documents were interesting, some of the hand written ones were slightly difficult to read, and some of the documents were dry and boring. I did, however, love the government plan for what to do in case of a zombie attack.

Something about the book didn't quite work for me though. I don't know if it's that it was all documents or something else. I think that kind of thing tends to work best when it's incorporated as part of a larger narrative. As it is you're left wondering who this collection was made for. Somebody bothered to put it all together and even separate entries chronologically so even if someone wrote something covering a month you might get two weeks, a bunch of other documents and then the remaining two weeks. Is this supposed to be something for the military to see? The government? The average person? It needs at least a little more context.

(view spoiler)

(less)

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Oct 08, 2010 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Will humanity triumph over the worldwide zombie plague, or will the walking dead inherit the earth?

It seems only fair that the first book that I’m looking at is the one that gave me the idea in the first place. There were a number of book launches at this year’s FantasyCon in Nottingham, and this book immediately caught my eye. With a few notable exceptions, I’m not a huge fan of anthologies. As a rule, I prefer to read novels written by one author, but in an effort to broaden my horizons I deci...more Will humanity triumph over the worldwide zombie plague, or will the walking dead inherit the earth?

It seems only fair that the first book that I’m looking at is the one that gave me the idea in the first place. There were a number of book launches at this year’s FantasyCon in Nottingham, and this book immediately caught my eye. With a few notable exceptions, I’m not a huge fan of anthologies. As a rule, I prefer to read novels written by one author, but in an effort to broaden my horizons I decided to take a chance.

Zombie Apocalypse! chronicles the worldwide spread of ‘The Death’. Starting in London, and then rapidly spreading across the globe the reader is given the opportunity to delve into the lives of those affected. In this case I think having multiple authors was entirely the right decision. There is one world, and one event, but each author has the opportunity to have his or her character tell a bit of the story from their point of view. This technique works well, and the reader really gets the feeling that all these disparate voices have been pulled together to create the story.
Different chapters have their protagonist use different forms of social media to tell their tale. For example, there is a chapter written as a blog, one as a twitter conversation, and one is solely SMS. There is even one compiled of television interviews. I think this book contains the first story I have read written in tweets.

There were a number of real standout stories in the book. My particular favourite was Sarah Pinborough’s contributions Diary Entry #1, #2 and #3. Written from the perspective of a thirteen year old girl. Maddy is thrilled to be very nearly an adult, but as the outbreak occurs and then worsens, she loses her family and is forced into hiding. An early teen forced to grow up quickly against the backdrop of such horror was very compelling

They’re Coming to Get You by Lisa Morton is darkly funny. It follows a zombie obsessed blogger while he consoles himself after a break up, gets drunk and watches his favourite movies.

The Longest Distance Between Two Places by Will Halloway by Peter Crowther reminded me of early Stephen King. The world is falling apart but a teenage boy has only two concerns, his writing and the girl next door.

Another comic turn is The Show Must Go On by Peter Atkins. Two media types discuss, via e-mail, how to best take advantage of the zombie outbreak. The script for the zombie movie is quite spectacular.

It was fantastic to see the stories shift from country to country, rather than just focusing on ground zero in London. One criticism I often have of apocalyptic fiction is that I want to know what is going on elsewhere. Not the case here. There were chapters set in the UK, USA, Australia and Mexico. I think this helped to set the scope of the piece as a global apocalypse.

It seems likely that some will compare this anthology with World War Z by Max Brooks. I’ve read both, and I think that they are distinctly different. Zombie Apocalypse ends on what I think many would consider a very downbeat note. It struck me that there aren’t really any happy endings. The authors have successfully captured the claustrophobia and impending disaster that I have always associated with zombies. There is an inevitability about them that I have always considered creepy. You can run but eventually they will wear you down.

Zombie Apocalypse shuffles into the light, searching for brains, on 14th October(less)

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Apr 17, 2013 Mandy R rated it 1 of 5 stars

Zombie Apocalypse? My immediate reaction: "Sweet, I am in!" However, if I had encountered an actual Zombie while reading this book I would have run headfirst toward it just to end the boredom.

Since the writing style was reminiscent of World War Z I expected much more. Unfortunately, it started off fairly strong, quickly went downhill and ended with less than a fizzle. The idea that the dead can rise due to the return of the plague through flea bites was intriguing, but throwing in the Super Zomb...more Zombie Apocalypse? My immediate reaction: "Sweet, I am in!" However, if I had encountered an actual Zombie while reading this book I would have run headfirst toward it just to end the boredom.

Since the writing style was reminiscent of World War Z I expected much more. Unfortunately, it started off fairly strong, quickly went downhill and ended with less than a fizzle. The idea that the dead can rise due to the return of the plague through flea bites was intriguing, but throwing in the Super Zombie Thomas Moreby was nothing short of insulting to the Zombie genre.

The story of General Harland Dawson was quite enjoyable, yet his story is left unfinished and how does he gain Alejandre's memories? (view spoiler) I also thought that the Zombie Restaurant menu was a somewhat cute addition but begged the question what are Zombies using for currency?

I had to stop myself from throwing the bloody thing while reading the words of the President. Way too much "YAY America: the only possible Saviour of Mankind" packed into too few pages. The only thing that stopped me (view spoiler) For that little wink-wink-nudge-nudge I can forgive a little of the crap that came in the pages before. But only a little.

Having so many authors was a detriment to this novel. Which is a shame. There was so much potential.

A special Shame On You Award must be given to Roz Kaveney who wrote the section "A Shamble of Zombies" (page 440). Eleven poorly written unintelligible pages that should not have appeared in this or any other published book. Ever. Allow me to enthral you with an excerpt, poor grammar and all:

“Their bodies armoured, goggles on their eyes You can't tell where they look, or if they smile. You sense they plan to be here for a while. They bring in trailers. Men in suits and ties

arrive by car, seem to be in command. They catch your neighbour's children in a net. Look at them briefly. Club them. You forget to stay down. And they shoot you out of hand. The last thing that you hear is someone shout “Let God sort live and undead vermin out!”

You chop its head off...”

First who's head is being chopped off and more importantly - What the heck was that?!? You may have thought it was artistic to have paragraph breaks in the MIDDLE of paragraphs but it made your already horrible to read story even worse to read. If that is what you were going for, well congratulations you succeeded.

In short, I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone but my enemies.(less)

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Feb 03, 2011 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars

Er... yes, that's right. I read a book called Zombie Apocalypse. Bang go any highbrow pretensions I might have had. But I have loved horror films for as long as I can rememember, and my love for Romero's zombie flicks knows no bounds. So this is a natural extension in some ways.

In fairness , this is a (slightly) different proposition to what one might assume from the cover and title. A mosaic novel, essentially short stories telling a larger overall story, written by some leading genre writers i...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Lainy rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: zombie fans

Blurb from Goodreads

Controversial plans to build on the site of an old church in South London releases a centuries-old plague that turns its victims into flesh-hungry ghouls whose bite or scratch passes the contagion on to others. Even worse, the virus may also have a supernatural origin with the power to revive the dead.

My review

I love zombie books and this one is different from most of the others I have come across in that it is accounts of how the outbreak starts and effects people and spread...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stephen Jones has done something quite interesting here - arranged for a group of authors to submit short stories in the form of documents (including twitter conversations, transcripts of police tapes, personal diaries and letters) to form a contiguous narrative of a zombie pandemic that erupts in London and the events of the following weeks.

The 480 page narrative that results holds together well with good internal consistency and a tone whereby events are clearly out of the control of the prota...more

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May 05, 2012 BeeQuiet rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book was a bit of an impulse buy, largely made because I was told I could get a book for free as I had two from a 3 for 2 section. All I can say is that I am glad I effectively got it for free as opposed to paying good money for it.

The concept itself is a good one, collecting an anthology of material from different authors and putting it all together like documents gathered after the event of the crisis. The effect was to be something along the lines of World War Z, and I was looking forwar...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Ischmael Qumar rated it 3 of 5 stars

The basic idea behind Zombie Apocalypse was brilliant. To have a compilation of first person stories told through everyday mediums of communication: emails, smses, dairies, medical & police reports, etc.

However, while it was a good read, it could have been great. The biggest shortcoming of the book was it's greatest strength - the use of different authors.

Strictly speaking, the book is an anthology. Because of that, you'll appreciate the changes in its style and tone as you go through the...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, fantasy, 2011-reads, post-apocalyptic

What I find most interesting about this book is the reactions and reviews. People tweeting and texting as the zombies are eating them? Totally likely. People who doubt this honestly need to spend one day in a classroom with the youth of today to realise that yes, they compulsively tweet, text, and blog every mundane thought and action they have. And I'd like to see them deny the youth their "right" to do it, too.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the format. The whole story told via several mediums and d...more

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May 30, 2011 Tom Boshell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Done up with many different authors. It offers a compilation of the stories, told 1st-person, of the outbreak. A valuable inclusion to all the zombie books. Might be why the Dark Ages were called 'Dark' since they had to fight this plague. But how did they do it?

Or actually it just goes to show how our dense population centers and rapid travel would work against us in such a situation. A city-state was better prepared to handle such an occurrence as the massive population centers that have devel...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Brian rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned

I love apocalyptic stories in general and zombies in particular. They scare the crap out of me, but I love every Romero film, have been reading the Walking Dead since 2006, and will dump friends and disown relatives in order to watch a new episode of AMC's Walking Dead. Seriously. When the new season starts, just don't f***ing bother me or try to get a hold of me during air time.
Zombie novels are like sex and pizza.
Even when they're bad, they're still kind of good.
With some exceptions, and this...more

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May 27, 2012 Dave Edwards rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

A great concept that's moderately well executed initially despite some very clunky and unbelievable narrative. Sadly, too many of the entries are badly written making it hard work to get through. There is none of the terror or suspense that comes with great horror writing. Much of the narrative and descriptive writing is horribly limited and not what I'd expect from professional authors. The ending jars horribly and quite determinedly makes no sense (and it will only be a surprise to people who...more

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Jan 15, 2011 Ross Bussell rated it 1 of 5 stars

I bought this book expecting something like Max Brooks' World War Z, which is pretty much my favorite zombie book of all time. The reality of this book was much less.

I get the whole "compilation" format, but given even that, it was poorly written. Some of the longer pieces were simply too boring to finish, and the writing was ridiculous. Seriously, who continues to type text messages as they're being attacked by a zombie? "Oh no, she's noshing on my intestines. Ouch! I can feel the hunger taking...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Stefani rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library

I saw this book on the shelf and my first thought was, neat cover! This was followed immediately with my second thought of, good Lord what a cheesy and pathetic name! I figured that I would give it a chance anyway since this appeared to be an anthology. Which I guess it is...kind of, but not really. Instead of multiple short stories about a zombie apocalypse its a bunch of short vignettes about different aspects of the same story, by different authors. I know, I know what you're thinking, "I swe...more I saw this book on the shelf and my first thought was, neat cover! This was followed immediately with my second thought of, good Lord what a cheesy and pathetic name! I figured that I would give it a chance anyway since this appeared to be an anthology. Which I guess it is...kind of, but not really. Instead of multiple short stories about a zombie apocalypse its a bunch of short vignettes about different aspects of the same story, by different authors. I know, I know what you're thinking, "I swear that sounds really familiar!" And you are correct, and it's familiar because that's exactly the idea behind the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. I can't help but feel this ripped off that idea since World War Z was published in 2006 and this was published in 2010. Luckily for Max Brooks, he did a hell of a lot better job than this book did.

Even though all of these bits and pieces were written by different people, they were all equally as bland. The idea was that these little short stories were supposed to interweave together and tell the overall story...but it didn't. It was boring,the characters presented irritated me and it was painfully predictable. (view spoiler)

Also, I had no idea how long all of this was supposed to have taken place in. On one page we're in May, then a few bits later we were in June, then later we were back in May. It was confusing. Add to that, there are no page numbers in this book so I couldn't even reference things to figure out a timeline because I had no idea where it was in that 400 something pages.

Some of this seemed so far out of reality that I had a hard time suspending my belief quite that far. For example, (view spoiler) And the authors present several different ways to thwart zombies either by making you an unpleasant meal and so you don't get attacked or to stop someone from becoming a zombie. Yet these things are largely ignored and only seen once or twice in the whole book and never explored or anything else. And in several cases these characters told other people the solution...yet then it just disappears! So frustrating.

By the time I got to the end I just didn't care anymore. I was so bored with this book that the only reason I was still reading was so that I could get to the end and mark it as read. I also had no idea what the progression of the zombies was. Yes we know about England, we knew about New York, and we knew about Australia. But from the limited information we had it seemed liked humans were winning the battle against zombie. And then we get to the end and.....(view spoiler). That just made me want to scream! An ending that comes out of nowhere because nothing in it was addressed elsewhere in the book. Overall the best thing about this book, when it was over.(less)

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Feb 20, 2012 Bee rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's hard to do something new with the zombie genre so I always have the upmost respect (and jealous) for authors who do! This is a fantastic compilation of various writing styles (blogs, letters, tweets, news reports etc) that track the journey towards a total zombie apocalypse in the UK.

I'd strongly recommend this to anyone who wouldn't usually class themselves as a zombie fan, as it has a great political, ethical and religious commentary too and the varying narrative formats make it an easy r...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Haralambi Markov rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthologies-collections, horror-dark

During the weekend, I finished reading The Zombie Apocalypse edited by Stephen Jones, a UK Mammoth Book of Horror [477 p.] and enjoyed it tremendously. There is much merit in the interconnected eyewitness accounts that create a collective narrative, delivered through all the possible means to record information. I consider this a rebirth of the epistolary novel [unless the epistolary novel is alive and well, in which case long live the epistolary novel!], though in a sense it’s not a single narr...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Hollie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-in-books, library-2012

I'm not sure if I've ever really vocalised this on my blog before...but I'm a huge fan of zombies. I'm literally team zombie all the way. Unfortunately, I haven't read nearly enough zombie fiction, so when I saw this book idly sitting on a shelf at my local library, I knew that I had to grab it. I found Zombie Apocalypse! to be an entertaining read that certainly helped pass the time during a very hot weekend in May.

What I loved most about Zombie Apocalypse! was its originality. This wasn't writ...more I'm not sure if I've ever really vocalised this on my blog before...but I'm a huge fan of zombies. I'm literally team zombie all the way. Unfortunately, I haven't read nearly enough zombie fiction, so when I saw this book idly sitting on a shelf at my local library, I knew that I had to grab it. I found Zombie Apocalypse! to be an entertaining read that certainly helped pass the time during a very hot weekend in May.

What I loved most about Zombie Apocalypse! was its originality. This wasn't written in a typical story format, instead, the story is told through e-mails, verbal reports, diary entries and various other different ways. he book itself is set out in such a visually appealing way. The reports are typed out like official reports. The diary entries have been printed in a font similar to someone's handwriting. This really aided to the whole experience of the book.

The book opens with Britain in turmoil - the recession has hit us badly, and so the government have decided to put on a festival to try and boost people's spirits. The festival is going to take place on an old church site, and builders have been ordered to basically destroy the grounds. Eventually, a somewhat nosey professor gets trapped in a crypt, becomes infected with the zombie virus, and the story continues from there. All hell breaks loose, but not straight away. The government try to keep everything under wraps for as long as possible, but it doesn't work. Eventually, the virus spreads across the world, with people getting infected in America, Mexico and Australia to name a few countries. What creeped me out was how realistic this book could actually be. It really depicted how easily a virus, and I'm not talking about a zombie virus, just any virus in general, could be spread into a worldwide epidemic. That was probably what shocked me the most as I read.

My favourite entries were definitely those made by Maddy, a 13-year-old girl who wants desperately to grow up and be noticed by her best friend's older brother. She was just so normal, and I really came to care for her in a kind of sibling way. All I wanted to do was protect her and keep her safe. In a weird way, I was kind of happy about the way her story ended, even if it wasn't quite a happily ever after. I really enjoyed reading the hospital report too. This gave us our first proper look at what was actually happening to people as they were being bitten or scratched by the zombies. We also got our first real look at people who were resistant to the infection, although I did wonder if the doctor stayed human or if he too transformed.

Some of the entries, however, were a little too long for my liking. I found myself skimming through the first half of the police report, until the report started getting interesting, which I really did not like doing, in case I missed any important information. I also found myself doing the same with the incredibly long radio report that was included towards the end.

I was also really annoyed with the lack of closure in Zombie Apocalypse! I finished the book literally having no clue what had happened to a good majority of the characters, although I did like how the book ended with speeches from both the President of America and the Queen of England, and I liked the little twist that had been worked in with both of the characters.

Overall, Zombie Apocalypse! was an original, entertaining read. It's definitely one for zombie enthusiasts, set out in a unique way that is sure to keep you interested for a good couple of hours! (less)

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Oct 13, 2011 Christopher Bashforth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the World War Z zombie apocalypse book and I didn’t think there would be anything better. However this book equals if not betters World War Z. It is an “end of the world” story set in the UK that is told using emails, articles, mobile phone transcripts, and diaries. This format makes the story very realistic (especially the authorities reaction – a mixture of bewilderment and over excessive force) and I have to admit that there were moments when I went around outside and wondere...more

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May 09, 2011 Laura Fudge rated it 4 of 5 stars

I flew through this. Not a lot to say about it, it’s your basic zombie catastrophe story, although retold in an interesting way. The story is told through letters, emails, newspaper articles, blog posts and diary entries. The infection that creates the zombies is a nice mix of pseudo science and supernatural, and the zombies inevitably take over despite the Governments best efforts.

I love this sort of thing – it was easy to read, a little predictable maybe but still enjoyable. It scared me whils...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you like books about the Zombie Apocolypse then how can you NOT like one titled, "Zombie Apocalypse?" Ok, this was a very interesting read. You may have read a book with short stories or a novel on Zombies...but this was presented very uniquely. You can call it a bunch of back to back short stories. But it's more than that. The Editor, has brought all these together to basically tell an overarching story about the end of days here. Multiple formats were used. Diary entries, TV shows, Military...more

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Jul 16, 2011 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

There isn't much to say about this book other than it's different. I've never read a book with more than 2 authors and, because of the many characters and points of view in Zombie Apocalypse I found that it worked quite well. Zombie Apocalypse is a decent Zombie flick which, through twitter, texting and blogs, gives a 'real life' feel to it, but, parts of the book felt dull and redundant where I had to force myself to read on and not just give up. Zombie Apocalypse is worth reading to anyone who...more

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Zombie Apocalypse! (Zombie Apocalypse, #1)

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