What do you think?
Rate this book
White Flag of the Dead #7
Call To Arms
The Zombie Wars is the heart pounding story of the war that took place between books four and five of the White Flag of the Dead Series.
John Talon and his friends have fought hard to make a small piece of the country safe for people to live in. But hundreds of communities are living in fear, wondering when the next wave of undead will come, and worrying they will not survive it. John and the members of the New United States declare war on the zombies, and in this fight, there is no surrender. Everyone must choose a side. Will it be life, or death? As they move across the landscape, the team will be forced to decide one way or the other. Back at home, a movement has begun which will threaten the foundation of everything John has tried to build.
John Talon and his friends have fought hard to make a small piece of the country safe for people to live in. But hundreds of communities are living in fear, wondering when the next wave of undead will come, and worrying they will not survive it. John and the members of the New United States declare war on the zombies, and in this fight, there is no surrender. Everyone must choose a side. Will it be life, or death? As they move across the landscape, the team will be forced to decide one way or the other. Back at home, a movement has begun which will threaten the foundation of everything John has tried to build.
182 pages, Paperback
First published June 8, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 1, 2016
“The Zombie Wars” is actually the story of the war that took place between books four “United States of the Dead” and five “Dead Surge” of the “White Flag of the Dead” series. Our protagonist John Talon has been elected President of these New United States and his close friend Charlie, Vice President. In order to get a grasp of the state of their new territory, Talon and crew set out to make a circuit of the country. Their mission; to determine the size and condition of the survivors, same for the undead while clearing out what they could, and recruit for the Army. Talon jokingly said they had created their first federal policy, which they called, “Mind our own business state repopulation initiative”. The Army met up with Talon’s group in Taylorville Lake State Park Kentucky, split up into three groups, and continued on their mission to eliminate the undead. Meanwhile, Talon’s crew continued on their scouting circuit back to the new capital in Leeport Illinois. With roughly ten thousand troops the Army was ready to cross the Mississippi to the Great Plains. The second part of the Zombie Wars was about to begin.
January 6, 2023
Joseph Talluto cannot tell a story. This might be an odd statement, given that he has written many books and has been given good reviews. Yet, I maintain that he cannot construct a coherent narrative. This doesn't mean his grammar could be better, or that he lacks the imagination to create believable characters. It doesn't mean he cannot glue one scene to the other. He can do the basics.
His primary sin is that he cannot turn it into a story.
Let me explain.
If, more than an hour into the story, it is argued that they should trim their group so they can kill more zombies and not get bogged down by logistics, you might assume this ties into a previous scene.
Is there such a scene?
Well, the previous first hour is brimming with relentless zombie killing that sees over a thousand zombies killed at the hands of his 'army.' But even more. Just before the above statement is made, the story sees the group almost overwhelmed by zombies because they split off from the main army, and it ends with the main character killing six zombies single-handedly, prompting his buddy to say that this would surely inspire others to join their group as they need the men. And then someone burst into the scene with a truck to supply everyone with ammo. That is logistics for you.
In other words, this entire statement comes out of the blue. And this is how Talluto writes.
Talluto is a setpiece writer, and this turns the book into a series of snapshots. This could be interesting if the writer leaned into this, but Talluto is not that writer. The consequences are dire. Talluto struggles to set up believable scenes. He wants the heroes to be in danger, yet he also has to convince us that they are kickass zombie killers.
So in one scene, these veterans camp out without setting a guard so zombies can attack them, an obvious rookie mistake, but it is the only way Talluto can have them run into danger. This scene becomes extra silly because a few scenes later, we learn that everything becomes eerily quiet when a large group of zombies approaches.
One moment this struggle is so jarring that I have to describe it. The heroes get cornered against a river by a large group of zombies. "There is no escape," says the main character. Oh, wait, there is. because zombies cannot cross rivers. And, oh, they do have a boat. So they can seek safety across the river until the rest of the army can save them. "But no." the protagonist decides. He was going to make a stand here because he was going to do a man's job.
This setpiece-writing also causes a lack of emotional depth in the story. A tear can be shed within a scene, but Talluto doesn't describe the long-term effects or changes. One example is when a boy is hung for attempted murder. We have a very brief reflective moment, and it is on to the next scene, and it is already forgotten.
You might think our hero is a jaded man, but this is not addressed in the book. Each scene is beholden to itself, and what is established in one scene, might have no impact in the next scene and has certainly no overarching effect.
Another issue of this setpiece writing is that Talluto constantly fills scenes with needless exposition. An example is when a truck recklessly burst into a scene. The driver jumps out. We then get a story about how well she can fight with a knife. This information is completely irrelevant.
And again, this demonstrates how Talluto writes. This semi truck suddenly burst upon the scene without anyone hearing it approach. It also plows into a mass of zombie corpses, an act of which the main character a few scenes later says that it can cause the truck to flip over. This driver is, however, not doing it because of incompetence, but because Talluto has a cool moment in mind and does not think beyond the current scene.
For me, this is enough Talluto for a lifetime. I will review the other book when I come to it, but it suffers from the same issues. I assume that all of his writing is like this.
Memorably silly moments.
"What is an Ent?"
"What? You never read Tolkien?"
"Obviously."
"Well, we read it together, honey. And with Julia, she will love it."
Thinking that the 1200-page epic Lord of the Rings is a good read for kids makes me think Talluto does not understand kids or has never read it.
(And Ents do not appear in the Hobbit).
I pulled out the clock and slammed it hard on the table
Anyone who uses a loaded gun as a hammer is a moron. He didn't even check if the safety was on.
Cringy moments
Anytime Talluto mentions women: we have cats, dogs, horses, and women. Most of the time, the women are mentioned like this: there were women too, and some were pretty, and we are proud of them!
"Who shall I f*** first?"
Said a female teenager(of course) that the two men of the group discovered. Talluto realizes how cringy it is and then instead of coming up with something else, he just has it explained through exposition delivered by the main character. And do you think that this is some defining trait of the character? Of course not, Talluto writes from scene to scene, so this has no bearing on anything. It is there for shock value.
If you still think this guy deserves four stars, then I do not know what to say.
His primary sin is that he cannot turn it into a story.
Let me explain.
If, more than an hour into the story, it is argued that they should trim their group so they can kill more zombies and not get bogged down by logistics, you might assume this ties into a previous scene.
Is there such a scene?
Well, the previous first hour is brimming with relentless zombie killing that sees over a thousand zombies killed at the hands of his 'army.' But even more. Just before the above statement is made, the story sees the group almost overwhelmed by zombies because they split off from the main army, and it ends with the main character killing six zombies single-handedly, prompting his buddy to say that this would surely inspire others to join their group as they need the men. And then someone burst into the scene with a truck to supply everyone with ammo. That is logistics for you.
In other words, this entire statement comes out of the blue. And this is how Talluto writes.
Talluto is a setpiece writer, and this turns the book into a series of snapshots. This could be interesting if the writer leaned into this, but Talluto is not that writer. The consequences are dire. Talluto struggles to set up believable scenes. He wants the heroes to be in danger, yet he also has to convince us that they are kickass zombie killers.
So in one scene, these veterans camp out without setting a guard so zombies can attack them, an obvious rookie mistake, but it is the only way Talluto can have them run into danger. This scene becomes extra silly because a few scenes later, we learn that everything becomes eerily quiet when a large group of zombies approaches.
One moment this struggle is so jarring that I have to describe it. The heroes get cornered against a river by a large group of zombies. "There is no escape," says the main character. Oh, wait, there is. because zombies cannot cross rivers. And, oh, they do have a boat. So they can seek safety across the river until the rest of the army can save them. "But no." the protagonist decides. He was going to make a stand here because he was going to do a man's job.
This setpiece-writing also causes a lack of emotional depth in the story. A tear can be shed within a scene, but Talluto doesn't describe the long-term effects or changes. One example is when a boy is hung for attempted murder. We have a very brief reflective moment, and it is on to the next scene, and it is already forgotten.
You might think our hero is a jaded man, but this is not addressed in the book. Each scene is beholden to itself, and what is established in one scene, might have no impact in the next scene and has certainly no overarching effect.
Another issue of this setpiece writing is that Talluto constantly fills scenes with needless exposition. An example is when a truck recklessly burst into a scene. The driver jumps out. We then get a story about how well she can fight with a knife. This information is completely irrelevant.
And again, this demonstrates how Talluto writes. This semi truck suddenly burst upon the scene without anyone hearing it approach. It also plows into a mass of zombie corpses, an act of which the main character a few scenes later says that it can cause the truck to flip over. This driver is, however, not doing it because of incompetence, but because Talluto has a cool moment in mind and does not think beyond the current scene.
For me, this is enough Talluto for a lifetime. I will review the other book when I come to it, but it suffers from the same issues. I assume that all of his writing is like this.
Memorably silly moments.
"What is an Ent?"
"What? You never read Tolkien?"
"Obviously."
"Well, we read it together, honey. And with Julia, she will love it."
Thinking that the 1200-page epic Lord of the Rings is a good read for kids makes me think Talluto does not understand kids or has never read it.
(And Ents do not appear in the Hobbit).
I pulled out the clock and slammed it hard on the table
Anyone who uses a loaded gun as a hammer is a moron. He didn't even check if the safety was on.
Cringy moments
Anytime Talluto mentions women: we have cats, dogs, horses, and women. Most of the time, the women are mentioned like this: there were women too, and some were pretty, and we are proud of them!
"Who shall I f*** first?"
Said a female teenager(of course) that the two men of the group discovered. Talluto realizes how cringy it is and then instead of coming up with something else, he just has it explained through exposition delivered by the main character. And do you think that this is some defining trait of the character? Of course not, Talluto writes from scene to scene, so this has no bearing on anything. It is there for shock value.
If you still think this guy deserves four stars, then I do not know what to say.
June 20, 2015
Hooray, Taluto is back...
One word describes it best...THRILLED!!!! I was not particularly happy with his last book, number 3 in Generation Dead series because I felt that Mr. Taluto didn't seem to have anything to write about. Thankfully that has not become a trend. The zombie war was mentioned many times in the last few White Flag books and I was beginning to fear that story was never going to be written down. Now that my fears laid to rest, I'm going to go out on limb and guess there's going to be another one (at least) as well. There was also mention somewhere in the series that one of the Bobbsey twins (Tommy or Duncan, I don't recall which) led a campaign through Florida. I would love to read about that as well.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I highly recommend this book and I look forward to whatever Mr. Taluto writes in the future.
One word describes it best...THRILLED!!!! I was not particularly happy with his last book, number 3 in Generation Dead series because I felt that Mr. Taluto didn't seem to have anything to write about. Thankfully that has not become a trend. The zombie war was mentioned many times in the last few White Flag books and I was beginning to fear that story was never going to be written down. Now that my fears laid to rest, I'm going to go out on limb and guess there's going to be another one (at least) as well. There was also mention somewhere in the series that one of the Bobbsey twins (Tommy or Duncan, I don't recall which) led a campaign through Florida. I would love to read about that as well.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I highly recommend this book and I look forward to whatever Mr. Taluto writes in the future.
May 5, 2021
Going to try and finish the series but the quality of story is dropping.
May 25, 2021
This was the least interesting of all other books of this series.
July 12, 2022
Call to Arms is a strange prequel/sequel hybrid that boasts plenty of action, but lacking true emotional stakes, it feels like a pastiche of random carnage.
September 3, 2024
Ok. My brain just wanted something that didn't really require any brain cells to enjoy. And this series fit that bill. I like zombie books. And this is a great series.
And I don't want to move on to actual book books in the middle of this series. I want to finish it.
But the whole "oh golly, they want me to be a leader? Garwsh, I just don't know why. Well, ok, if that's what you want!" Followed by "leadership isn't really for me." Followed by "oh, golly, Idk why they want me to be a leader again, but ok." followed by "yeah, no, I do better as the legendary zombie killer who is known far and wide." followed by "well, idk why you want me to lead, but ok" followed by "nah, I am better as zombie Davy Crockett." but ok. That's forgiveable.
But the last few books have involved cheap plot devices. "whoops my bestie is dead, oh wait just kidding, he's immune." "oh no someone tried to usurp my position in the federal government, let's go kick butt, oh wait, just kidding, lol!! That was just a joke."
That is less forgiveable.
And I don't want to move on to actual book books in the middle of this series. I want to finish it.
But the whole "oh golly, they want me to be a leader? Garwsh, I just don't know why. Well, ok, if that's what you want!" Followed by "leadership isn't really for me." Followed by "oh, golly, Idk why they want me to be a leader again, but ok." followed by "yeah, no, I do better as the legendary zombie killer who is known far and wide." followed by "well, idk why you want me to lead, but ok" followed by "nah, I am better as zombie Davy Crockett." but ok. That's forgiveable.
But the last few books have involved cheap plot devices. "whoops my bestie is dead, oh wait just kidding, he's immune." "oh no someone tried to usurp my position in the federal government, let's go kick butt, oh wait, just kidding, lol!! That was just a joke."
That is less forgiveable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2023
This series was amazing and I'm so glad i decided to listen to it. Never a dull moment with the entire series. The narration is perfect and well paced. The story is action filled. Loved it 5 stars all the way
February 26, 2017
I've added an extra star on to be fair to this book because taken on its own, it is every bit as good as any of the others in this series. The problem is that this book really should have been book 5, not book 7. Going back in time like this means that we already know how all this will turn out and it robs the story of the stakes and tension.
If you're reading this series for the first time, read this book (and I imagine the next 2) before reading books 5 and 6. It is written in the normal manner with no spoilers about what happened in either of those books, so I'd definitely read this first.
3-stars in the original order, 4-stars when taken alone or read out of order.
If you're reading this series for the first time, read this book (and I imagine the next 2) before reading books 5 and 6. It is written in the normal manner with no spoilers about what happened in either of those books, so I'd definitely read this first.
3-stars in the original order, 4-stars when taken alone or read out of order.
August 30, 2016
I was so happy about this book, it complements the series beautifully and is very interested. It was a great read and very enjoyable.
April 4, 2017
This book was ok. Most of the book was chapters about towns they traveled through getting back home. A lot of grammatical errors otherwise I would have given it 3 stars.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews