[DanaC]

I'm going into withdrawal from The Walking Dead (tv)

So, I figured I'd try and get my shiver fix from a zombie novel.

The trouble is most of them don't sound terribly good... and the ones that do are subversions of the genre.

I am looking for something that will have me glancing round the room before I turn off my light...and wondering what that noise was in the dark.

Something with believable characters, and preferably not in journal form.

Any suggestions?

[Niamh.]

I haven't read any Zombie books but I've heard World War Z (the book) is really good

[Verbal]

I read 'Ravage: An apocalyptic horror novel' recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Its only on kindle though I think. If you don't have one you can download the desktop app thingy and read it there. Thoroughly recommend it. Especially if you enjoyed the walking dead.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravage-Apoca...c+horror+novel

[Shaun]

Why just zombies? (Out of interest)

There are many other 'creatures' that fit into the whole infection-spreading terror genre. 'Salem's Lot is probably the best horror novel ever written... I couldn't finish it because I'm a wimp, it was hellishly scary. But I'm afraid it's vampires

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Why just zombies? (Out of interest)

There are many other 'creatures' that fit into the whole infection-spreading terror genre. 'Salem's Lot is probably the best horror novel ever written... I couldn't finish it because I'm a wimp, it was hellishly scary. But I'm afraid it's vampires

Good point. 'I am legend' is a very good book. NOTHING to do with Will Smith. The original story is a great read.

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Why just zombies? (Out of interest)

There are many other 'creatures' that fit into the whole infection-spreading terror genre. 'Salem's Lot is probably the best horror novel ever written... I couldn't finish it because I'm a wimp, it was hellishly scary. But I'm afraid it's vampires

Salems Lot was the first horror film I ever saw....it traumatised me for a long time....even now the scraping on the window makes me go cold....I enjoyed the book too, am a great fan of Stephen King though...

[DanaC]

Ahh, Zombies because I've never read a full on zombie novel and I am having withdrawals from The Walking Dead, after watching all three series across 8 weeks

Salem's Lot was an amazing book and film. I have a vague recollection of my big brother, having watched Salem's Lot at the pictures (I had to wait a few years and watch it on video!) electing to make a crucifix in woodwork class

I love most of the horror genres, in print and on the screen (except for slasher/torture....can't abide those). But was never really drawn to zombies in novels. Seems such a visual thing. And never been much of a one for graphic novels either. Decided to have a gander at what's out there zombiewise...and most of it seems to be either very badly written, humorous, or genre-twisting.

Hadn't realised quite how much of a thing it is! There's hundreds of them...so was hoping to cut through the pile with some recommendations

Originally Posted by CynicalHermit

I read 'Ravage: An apocalyptic horror novel' recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Its only on kindle though I think. If you don't have one you can download the desktop app thingy and read it there. Thoroughly recommend it. Especially if you enjoyed the walking dead.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravage-Apoca...c+horror+novel

oooh. I do have a kindle (old school; no backlight) Thanks. I'll check that out!





[eta] I sort of have read a zombie novel, but not really. It was written from the perspective of an NPC zombie in a massively multiplayer game world - Mogworld, by Yahtzee Croshaw. I recommend to anyone wanting something a bit different. And if you've ever played an MMO and gone hacking and slashing through the undead hordes to gain access to dungeon treasure, it's a must :P

[DanaC]

ooooh, just went looking up Mogworld to find a link... ( here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mogworld-Yah.../dp/1595825290 it's brilliant and hilarious, and if you have an audible account the author's own reading of it adds extra dimensions)

... and discovered that his new book, Jam, is out now! Hurrah. Though might wait til there's an audiobook available. Loved his reading.

Jam

We were prepared for an earthquake. We had a flood plan in place. We could even have dealt with zombies. Probably.

But no one expected the end to be quite so . . . sticky . . . or strawberry scented.

Yahtzee Croshaw (Mogworld, Zero Punctuation Reviews) returns to print with a follow-up to his smash-hit debut: Jam, a dark comedy about the one apocalypse no one predicted

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jam-ebook/dp...7029735&sr=1-1



Not what I was looking for...but a good find nonetheless!

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by DanaC

ooooh, just went looking up Mogworld to find a link... ( here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mogworld-Yah.../dp/1595825290 it's brilliant and hilarious, and if you have an audible account the author's own reading of it adds extra dimensions)

... and discovered that his new book, Jam, is out now! Hurrah. Though might wait til there's an audiobook available. Loved his reading.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jam-ebook/dp...7029735&sr=1-1



Not what I was looking for...but a good find nonetheless!

I'm on audible, check out I am legend. Its really good.

[DanaC]

yeah...I was kind of put off it by the movie (though I enjoyed the film, it seemed shallow). When I get over my Walking Dead withdrawals I'll check it out

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by DanaC

yeah...I was kind of put off it by the movie (though I enjoyed the film, it seemed shallow). When I get over my Walking Dead withdrawals I'll check it out

The 'film' is a totally bastardized version of it. The original story was written in the 50s or something. Stephen King often references it as one of his major influences. Truly one of the best horror stories ever written.

[DanaC]

that sells it. I'll definitely read it.



[eta] Got Ravage sample on kindle If I get into it I'll get full book.

What I like about the write up for Ravage, is that they're ordinary people. So many zombie books seem to involve SAS special forces types. Not much into the military fiction side of things.

World War Z sounds interesting, but I'm a bit put off by the anecdote style. I want to follow a few characters through a complete story, rather than dip in and out to tell the wider story of a war. Might go for it though once I've read some more linear, character based stories.

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by DanaC

that sells it. I'll definitely read it.



[eta] Got Ravage sample on kindle If I get into it I'll get full book.

What I like about the write up for Ravage, is that they're ordinary people. So many zombie books seem to involve SAS special forces types. Not much into the military fiction side of things.

World War Z sounds interesting, but I'm a bit put off by the anecdote style. I want to follow a few characters through a complete story, rather than dip in and out to tell the wider story of a war. Might go for it though once I've read some more linear, character based stories.

For me, a note of a good book is if I can stay awake reading it for more than 45 mins. I finished Ravage in 2 days. You'll love it i'm sure. I'd love to know if you do.

Edit: I downloaded I am legend audiobook intending to listen to it over a few days. I ended up listening to the whole thing in one go. Its not even slightly similar to the film. Trust me.

That's enough rambling, i'm off to bed

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by DanaC

that sells it. I'll definitely read it.



[eta] Got Ravage sample on kindle If I get into it I'll get full book.

What I like about the write up for Ravage, is that they're ordinary people. So many zombie books seem to involve SAS special forces types. Not much into the military fiction side of things.

World War Z sounds interesting, but I'm a bit put off by the anecdote style. I want to follow a few characters through a complete story, rather than dip in and out to tell the wider story of a war. Might go for it though once I've read some more linear, character based stories.

Originally Posted by CynicalHermit

For me, a note of a good book is if I can stay awake reading it for more than 45 mins. I finished Ravage in 2 days. You'll love it i'm sure. I'd love to know if you do.

Edit: I downloaded I am legend audiobook intending to listen to it over a few days. I ended up listening to the whole thing in one go. Its not even slightly similar to the film. Trust me.

That's enough rambling, i'm off to bed

I'm guessing you didn't like it Dana?

[DanaC]

Ha! haven't tried it yet. Amongst the books (and samples) I downloaded was one called John Dies in the End. Not at all what I was looking for, though have considered getting it a few times before. I read the first page and was pretty much instantly hooked

I'll be getting to Rampage soon I'm sure :0

[Z]

World War Z is by far and away my favourite book, I think it's a modern classic. It does follow certain characters, but it switches between them to build up an overall image of what's happening around the world in this fictional timeline - so it follows a timeline rather than characters within a timeline... but each character maybe has 3 sections, so you do get satisfactory resolutions to all of the stories that Max Brooks touches upon.

I think what makes it so fantastic is how easy it is to visualise it, it's also refreshing in the sense that it's actually more of a commentary on geopolitics than it is a horror novel... you could swap out "zombies" for "unexplained illness" and it would still read as largely the same book... That's something I've always thought was incredible. It really ought to have been made into a TV series, I'm so upset that Brad Pitt ruined what is a phenomenal story and turned it into the most basic, Hollywood tripe imaginable (and I haven't even seen it!) - he's someone I thought could have perhaps taken it and brought it to life on the big screen, he can be quite a good actor at times, but the previews looked like an abomination.

I'd read a few others from the genre before tackling WWZ though... purely because it'll make it stand out more if you've read a few zombie horror novels that stick to a formula and then read World War Z which is so unique in its presentation. Cannot give that book higher praise, it was a pleasure to read it and I've re-read it countless times. There's just so much attention to detail; everything is so vividly described and there are so many memorable storylines. Perhaps the most upsetting is the little redhead girl Sharon, her story is so gripping... I wouldn't spoil it for you but I genuinely cried the first time I read it, it was sad because it was upsetting and because you could completely understand why things were happening the way they were in that scene... Ahh... Anyway, I'll stop rambling now !

[DanaC]

ok...that makes WWZ a lot more intriguing then, thanks

*sticks it on the To Read list*

[Roy Mars III]

Originally Posted by Zee

World War Z is by far and away my favourite book, I think it's a modern classic. It does follow certain characters, but it switches between them to build up an overall image of what's happening around the world in this fictional timeline - so it follows a timeline rather than characters within a timeline... but each character maybe has 3 sections, so you do get satisfactory resolutions to all of the stories that Max Brooks touches upon.

I think what makes it so fantastic is how easy it is to visualise it, it's also refreshing in the sense that it's actually more of a commentary on geopolitics than it is a horror novel... you could swap out "zombies" for "unexplained illness" and it would still read as largely the same book... That's something I've always thought was incredible. It really ought to have been made into a TV series, I'm so upset that Brad Pitt ruined what is a phenomenal story and turned it into the most basic, Hollywood tripe imaginable (and I haven't even seen it!) - he's someone I thought could have perhaps taken it and brought it to life on the big screen, he can be quite a good actor at times, but the previews looked like an abomination.

I'd read a few others from the genre before tackling WWZ though... purely because it'll make it stand out more if you've read a few zombie horror novels that stick to a formula and then read World War Z which is so unique in its presentation. Cannot give that book higher praise, it was a pleasure to read it and I've re-read it countless times. There's just so much attention to detail; everything is so vividly described and there are so many memorable storylines. Perhaps the most upsetting is the little redhead girl Sharon, her story is so gripping... I wouldn't spoil it for you but I genuinely cried the first time I read it, it was sad because it was upsetting and because you could completely understand why things were happening the way they were in that scene... Ahh... Anyway, I'll stop rambling now !

I loved World War Z as well

[Roy Mars III]

if you want an action packed book than Patient Zero is good. Though it is basically a military action style book so keep that in mind.

Never read it but I have heard Warm Bodies is pretty good, though that is more of a comical book I think


This Dark Earth by John Hornor Jacobs is also great

Also most importantly, I would recommend reading the Walking Dead comic as it is amazing.

[DanaC]

Well, I got the first Walking Dead comic on kindle...not much fun. Doesn't really work in that format. So, I bought the first two comics in paperback instead.

Very good, very enjoyable. Not my preferred medium, but I can see why they had such impact on the genre.

I also after trying lots of samples on kindle ended up getting into The Undead: the First Seven Days.

Really atmospheric. The characters come through well and whilst it does turn into a bit of a testosterone fest it is genuinely creepy in places. The first two days in particular really got under my skin. Had me checking I'd locked my doors at night and mentally scoping my house for defensible capabilities (none).

[Z]

Thought I'd bump this thread because I'm re-reading World War Z for the umpteenth time at the moment and it still feels as magical to me as the first time I read it... I think it's my favourite novel of all time.