City Of The Dead

City Of The Dead

book data

214 ratings, 3.66 average rating, 37 reviews (more data...)

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published

May 25th 2005 by Leisure Books

binding

Mass Market Paperback, 357 pages

characters

Jim Thurmond

setting

The United States

isbn

0843954159 (isbn13: 9780843954159)

description

Where can you go when the dead are everywhere? Cities have become overrun with legions of the dead, all the them intent on destroying what's left of t...more

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MY FAVORITE BOOKS EVER

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 278)

All ratings | 5 stars (42) | 4 stars (91) | 3 stars (53) | 2 stars (23) | 1 star (5) | avg 3.66

all | this edition

Rob

Rob rated it:

02/27/08

recommends it for: Not even people that I hate.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

If you read my review of 'The Rising', the first book in this collection, well then you know exactly what I will think of 'City of the dead'

Miraculously, City of the Dead manages to be even more so terrible than the rising. Lashings upon lashings of depressingly bad dialogue between characters, stupidly over the top gory scenes and overall, a completely moronic plot with more god references than the last book managed to squeeze in, which is quite an achievement.

Notable crapness:

A hom...more

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Kristen

Kristen rated it:

04/25/08

bookshelves: horror

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2008

Before we begin - This is the Sequel to "The Rising" and should be read in that order. If you have yet to read "The Rising" stop reading now because what is in these reviews will be spoilers when reading the first in the series.

Now for the Summary - Keene rewinds a bit in the opening of this book, recapping the final chapter of "The Rising" where we were all left in that upsetting cliffhanger. He then continues on from there with an ever growing and shrinking g...more Before we begin - This is the Sequel to "The Rising" and should be read in that order. If you have yet to read "The Rising" stop reading now because what is in these reviews will be spoilers when reading the first in the series.

Now for the Summary - Keene rewinds a bit in the opening of this book, recapping the final chapter of "The Rising" where we were all left in that upsetting cliffhanger. He then continues on from there with an ever growing and shrinking group of scrappy survivors. At this point they have now crossed 5 states, escaped the psychotic military troupes, run from the Zombie leader "Ob" and continued on into New Jersey. In this installment (the final installment at the point of my writing this), the group spends most of the first half of the book running like heck, then being rescued by another group of survivors holed up in a supposedly indestructible skyscraper. Shockingly enough, the man in charge of the skyscraper has lost his mind (sounds like something you've seen on the TV doesn't it... well you're right). To prevent what might be any spoilers, I won't go beyond there.

But odds are, if you are reading this book, you like Zombies... which would also imply that you like Zombie movies, which would then mean... you've already watched this book. The first 3rd of the book is standard run from the Zombie fare... the second 2/3 of the book is an almost exactly the same as George Romero's "Land of the Dead." Now as to who ripped off who... according to Amazon, both were released in 2005 so it's a toss up. All I'm saying is that the majority of the book is the same as the majority of that movie. I was really disappointed in that aspect. I had really been hoping for something new and inspired, unfortunately if you've seen the movie, it's not.

Does that mean this is a terrible book? By no means, it's a heart pounding thrill ride from beginning to end that never lets up for a second. I blazed through the 360 some pages in about 3 hours. I enjoyed the read; Keene is a very fast paced writer. I just know I would have enjoyed it more had I not seen such a similar film.
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Greg

Greg rated it:

01/15/08

bookshelves: horror

Read in December, 2005

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I thought the ending of The Rising fit the novel very well. The reader know what would happen next, Keene didn't need to write the scene. However, there were many cries of foul, demanding a sequel to a book the author thought was finished. Eventually, this sequel was written, but I don't think it adds much. A few more details, a few more explanations, but nothing new. I don't mean to sound petulant, but City of the Dead is little more than a 30...more

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Robert Beveridge

Robert rated it:

07/28/08

bookshelves: 2008-goal-list, cuy-co-pub-lib, finished

Read in July, 2008

Brian Keene, City of the Dead (Leisure, 2005)

Sometimes you finish a book and just have to sit there and say “WHAT???”. The rest of the book doesn't matter, it's just those final few pages that have you wondering for weeks afterwards whether it was actually a good book or not. Where I'm concerned, the jury's still out on that one, so I'll just have to report on the rest of the book and leave you to make the decision about the ending for yourself.

City of the Dead picks up where The Ris...more Brian Keene, City of the Dead (Leisure, 2005)

Sometimes you finish a book and just have to sit there and say “WHAT???”. The rest of the book doesn't matter, it's just those final few pages that have you wondering for weeks afterwards whether it was actually a good book or not. Where I'm concerned, the jury's still out on that one, so I'll just have to report on the rest of the book and leave you to make the decision about the ending for yourself.

City of the Dead picks up where The Rising left off (actually, there's a bit of overlap in the first few pages; The Rising ends with the mad rush into the house, and City of the Dead begins with our intrepid heroes getting off the Interstate a few minutes before). Jim, Frankie, and Martin are in New Jersey to see if Jim's son is still alive. They pick up another survivor, Don DeSantos, early on, and the group (which may or may not contain Jim's son-- if you've read The Rising, I'm certainly not going to spoil it for you here) go on battling zombies until they're found by some survivors patrolling in a helicopter and taken to what is supposed to be a virtually impregnable fortress against the dead-- a Manhattan high-rise.

If this is suddenly starting to sound familiar, you're not alone. But if City of the Dead is a ripoff of Romero's Land of the Dead, then Brian Keene is probably the fastest writer in existence. (The movie was released on June 18, 2005; the book was released in May of the same year. Even if Keene somehow had access to the dailies, you're talking about five to ten thousand words a day, plus revision and all that stuff, and then Leisure would have to buy it, go through the editorial process, print it... you get the idea.) I have to look at them as two entirely separate entities, and from a conceptual standpoint, Keene's novel is a clear winner; he set up the groundwork for his “zombie” invasion in The Rising, and here fills us in on exactly what the zombies and their leader are. At that point, what was originally looking like a zombie novel basically becomes a survival-thriller; the zombies are more undead commandos than flesh-eating horrors. If you get rid of that fact that they're undead, this might as well be a war novel. And Keene taking that approach does have strengths; the typical zombie isn't all that much fun as an antagonist, given his rather limited range. These guys, though, they're clever, intelligent, and charismatic (if you ignore the rotting flesh). Keene can set up this impregnable fortress and have zombies plan how they might assault it, rather than simply throwing themselves at it and getting repelled again and again. The downside is that if you're looking for a zombie novel, you may be in for a disappointment, and Keene definitely had the first book angled towards zombie fans.

And then there's the ending. Which doesn't come out of nowhere, but still. I can't tell if it's brilliant or frustrating. Or both. Again, I'll leave you to decide. In any case, these are books that are worth your time, but be prepared. ***

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Chris

Chris rated it:

08/27/07

bookshelves: horror

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: zombie fans

I have to say that I didn't really enjoy City of the Dead, it's confusing action sequences, it's strange allusions to Donald Trump, and it's ending which (unless there are somehow other books written in this "universe") confounded me and left me saying "That's it!?!" Recognizing of course that it's a sequel to a book I had never read might be part of my problem with the novel... but still man!

Personal preference: I prefer slow, stupid zombies, and City of the Dead doesn't...more

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Dave

Dave rated it:

12/28/07

bookshelves: fant-horr-sf

Story takes off where the cliff hanger ending of "The Rising" stops. The gore and detailed, horrific deaths of individual characters gets a little worn. Okay, I know this is a book about ZOMBIES and all and it is HORROR, but after a bit all the gratuitous descriptions of horrible,demonic zombie activity actually have a numbing affect. "Okay, the zombie birds are going to eat her eyes out, now the zombie rats are swarming over her and eating her from the inside...alrighty, now lets...more

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Thee_ron_clark

Thee_ron_clark rated it:

12/13/07

bookshelves: zombies

Read in September, 2006

recommends it for: fans of zombie novels

This book starts off with the same great pacing and writing I came to expect from The Rising. I stayed glued to the pages until I finished. What killed this book and cost it a star or two for me was that the ending seemed to be hurried together. I don't know if this was his initial concept or not, but the rushed-seeming ending seemed very out of place with the rest of the novel. It almost felt as if he was closing on his deadline and had to get it turned in a few weeks before he was ready to. Ev...more

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Brock

Brock rated it:

12/21/07

bookshelves: books-i-ve-read

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: zombie fans, horror fans

An unexpected sequel to Keene's "The Rising", City Of The Dead picks up right where the previous book ended. In fact, the first chapter is essentially a retelling of the last chapter of The Rising.

Keene builds on the new style of zombies he created in The Rising and sets the scene for humanity's last stand. The only beef I have with the type of zombies present in The Rising and City Of The Dead is that, unlike many other types of zombies, there is no way that humanity can fight bac...more

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Sherrie

Sherrie rated it:

07/18/07

bookshelves: 2006booklist, zombielit

Read in December, 2006

recommends it for: zombie lovers!

The sequel to The Rising (see Book No. 55 of my 2006 Book List!) The survivors of The Rising make way for Manhattan where there is a beacon of hope. Basically a skyscraper owned by a tycoon (see Trump Tower) has become a fortress for the last humans on earth. The survivors reach the building and a whole new fight begins. Will the humans triumph? There is a cat who goes by the name of God in this book which just kicks ASS! I’ve read that a ton of people didn’t like the ending, but I did....more

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Trevor

Trevor rated it:

11/16/08

Read in November, 2008

The sequel to The Rising. In retrospect, I probably liked The Rising more than I let on in my previews review. I thought The Rising was considerably better than this, but City of the Dead still had it's moments. City of the Dead was good dumb fun, but fairly uneventful, unsurprising, and and anti-climactic. The best part about it was just finally hearing what happened with the the cliff hanger at the end of The Rising (unfortunately Amazon's brief description of the book gave that away as we...more

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Chris

Chris rated it:

03/11/07

Read in February, 2007

recommends it for: horror fans

Same caveat as with The Rising. This is the second of two books where Keene writes about a group of lone survivors in a world overrun by the undead. If you like horror, particularly zombie or post apocalyptic horror, you'll probably like this.

Unless you're one of those people who freak out any time a "zombie" isn't one of Romero's mindless corpses staggering around eating flesh. In which case I'd remind you that zombies are fictional characters that can follow pretty much any ru...more

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George

George rated it:

05/11/08

bookshelves: books-i-didn-t-finish

Read in May, 2008

Why I didn't finish: not my thing. I bought this book at Comic Con because the lady behind the booth told me it was really good. I guess it depends on how you define 'really good.' If you like post-apocalyptic all-the-characters-die horror fiction that features zombies from New Jersey, this is a must read.

Lots of gore; the dialogue is pretty bad (everyone has a potty mouth), but nobody reads these books for the sparkling dialogue. Oh, and the zombies talk. "The Walking Dead" is wo...more

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Charmlessman77

Charmlessman77 rated it:

05/29/08

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: Zombie fans!

I totally loved this book! I didn't need a sequel to The Rising, I was fine with where it ended but am glad this was written and that I had the fortune to read it. very gruesome. I have never seen the Land of the Dead so I am happy enough reading this book knowing nothing of the plot of it.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves zombie books and who have already read The Rising. (You need to read the Rising first!)

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Trevor

Trevor rated it:

01/30/08

bookshelves: zombies

Read in January, 2008

This sequel to The Rising is a "fast zombie" novel with a breakneck plot. Keene's zombies aren't born of virus or radiation, and their bite won't turn a victim into one of them. This is a seriously good thriller where emotions of love and hope exist amidst the unspeakable hell populating an ending world. On to Dead Sea!

If you like your zombies fast and somewhat sentient, g

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Robi

Robi rated it:

07/21/08

bookshelves: zombie-horror

The sequel to Brian Keene's Appacolyptic success, The Rising, is great. If you've read The Rising, youre probably already reading City of The Dead. All of our favorite characters are there either living, dead, or undead. It's totally worth reading. Even if you havent read The Rising, this book will definitly be able to stand alone. BUT, I strongly reccommend that you read the first. It's just polite.

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Kenjii

Kenjii rated it:

09/16/08

bookshelves: brian-keene

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: fans of survival/zombie horror, smart horror

A man searching for his son, only way to reach him is to fight through hordes of zombies. No car and sometimes has weapons. Other's in group include a peacher a junkie and a guy they meet along the way that helps them greatly.

I learned that not every horror book has to be about the violence. There are elements Brian Keene uses that keep you entertained and wanting more all the way through the book.

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Craig

Craig rated it:

06/09/08

Read in June, 2008

This is a sequel to THE RISING; in fact, the first chapter of the current volume is the last chapter of the former. I think that it would probably be necessary to to read THE RISING before this one in order to know what's going on. In any event, this is a rousing and thought-provoking zombie novel, well worthwhile for fans of the genre.

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Eric

Eric rated it:

09/06/08

bookshelves: fiction, horror, zombies

Read in September, 2008

This is a worthy sequel to The Rising, just as well-paced and memorable. I liked the Rocky-type beginning, in which the closing chapter from The Rising kicks off this book, with a few minor changes.

The ending, IMO, is more satisfying in the sense that it actually does end, while The Rising's end was much more open.

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Ryan

Ryan rated it:

07/16/08

this is the conclusion to The Rising. Very depressing. If you like hopeless, dark stories, you will like this more than I did. Not to say that Keene is not talented, he is. I just don't happen to be into fiction that is so dark. The trenchcoat and black mascara crowd will love it...

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Anne

Anne rated it:

02/23/08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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