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Book Review: Delicious Zombie by Wol-vriey

 

Delicious Zombie by Wol-vriey

Burning Bulb Publishing, 2022

ISBN: 9781948278485

Available: paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Would you be okay with cannibalism if it would stop the aging process?

 

That’s the idea behind Delicious Zombie, a tour de splat that adds some new twists to the zombie apocalypse storyline.  The zombies are all humans that have been infected with a virus that makes them eat anything alive– nothing new there.  But, uninfected humans who eat zombies find that the aging process slows, and actually reverses, keeping everyone in their late 20s-early 30s.  Diseases like cancer?  A thing of the past, thanks to zombie meat.  All ills have been conquered, thanks to eating undead people that used to be normal human beings.

 

However, not everyone is happy about the idea of immortality, since it involves munching on your former neighbors.  Scientist Ethan Hackman and his companions Paula and Zoe lead a clandestine mission to Ohio to recover the cure for zombies, which has been hidden away by the powers that be.  It’s a question of whether they can survive, because a LOT of people don’t want the status quo changed.

 

This author has always excelled at writing fast-paced stories with a large dose of messiness, and this one is no exception.  What makes this one good is the author’s world-building: it’s quite the dystopia!  This is one story that actually makes the zombies sympathetic characters, which is unusual in the genre.  It’s a haunting place: there is a Church of Zombie, which preaches “digestion is salvation” ; the poor zombies are kept on farms for slaughter, and some people even keep a live zombie at home to cut off a piece of meat whenever they feel the urge.  It’s factory farming gone crazy.  At the grocery store, you go up to the deli counter and order whatever cut of a person you want.  Needless to say, serious ethical questions are present in this book!  That’s why the book is much more than the standard undead stories.  It’s not just the usual ‘plucky humans trying to survive a zombie plague,’  there’s a plotline with some real thought to it.  It’s enough to keep the reader engaged right through the last pages of the book.

 

Bottom line: if you like zombie stories and are hungry for one with some originality that will make you think, this one is the way to go.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on October 27, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

Cover art for The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

The Last Days of Salton Academy  by Jennifer Brozek.

Speaking Volumes, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1645406822

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

I at first thought this might be dark academia, and it technically qualifies, but really it’s zombie survival horror that happens to take place mostly at an isolated boarding school. The premise is that 26 people were trapped at the school when a zombie outbreak hit (it’s unclear exactly when that was, but the novel starts after they’ve had a first freeze, and need to go on a second supply run before it snows, so it starts in mid-to-late October).

 

The book has been praised for character development, but it is fairly short and with so many characters it would be difficult to fully develop them all. Jeff, the boy in charge of guarding, rationing, and distributing food, is an interesting character to watch. Another memorable character is Evan, who keeps a zombie dog (nothing can go wrong with that, right?) and is running out of the medicine that keeps his JRA at bay (it’s not specifically mentioned, just described). Mr. Leeds, a predatory, hebephilic teacher who takes advantage of the isolation and vulnerability of the girls at the school, and Mrs. Hood, a teacher interested in protecting them, are also important to the plot. A few others worth mentioning are Shin, who doesn’t get a lot of page space but is very strategic, Maya, who is secretly stashing supplies in her room, and Nurse Krenshaw. (spoilers below)

 

Jeff decides residents will have to be eliminated in order for the food to last through the winter, and carefully plots to make it happen. He and  his fellow student Ron, a psychopathic killer, plan to kill off the weakest. They plan to send four students out on a supply run, then off the principal, Evan and his dog, and the teachers. They don’t count on Evan letting the dog loose and turning into a zombie, taking a couple of other kids with them.

 

In the meantime Mrs. Hood and the nurse conspire successfully to kill Mr. Leeds for his predatory behavior. In the end only Shin and Maya survive. Of the four on the supply run, two are infected and kill themselves, but the others encounter friends with a map to a well stocked bunker where they stay until spring.

 

This is what I’d expect from an old-school zombie novel– short and fast-paced. Despite its characters mainly being teenagers, this doesn’t read as a YA book to me. A similar YA title I can highly recommend is Marieke Nijkamp’s At The End of Everything, which is better developed and has a more hopeful ending.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on February 13, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: The Final Cut by Craig DiLouie

Cover art for The Final Cut by Craig DiLouie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Final Cut by Craig DiLouie

ZING Communications, 2021

ISBN: 9798782486884

Available: paperback, Kindle edition (Amazon.com )

 

This is the final of a three book series, I have not read the other two, titled Infection and The Killing Floor.  While this book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, it is recommended that you read the others first for full understanding and enjoyment of the story.  

 

We all know that zombie stories are like the undead themselves: just when you think the trend might finally be over, along comes another one.  Thankfully, The Final Cut bucks the usual zombie storylines and clichés, carves a path of its own… and does it well, breathing new life into what has become a stale genre.

 

In The Final Cut, the culprit for zombification is an organism from space, known as Infection, that has managed to infect most of the population. Here’s what makes the story fun: not everyone reacts the same way, or goes through the same Infection.  Some people have it for days or months before they go nuts and become killers…and some have learned to live and adapt to Infection, becoming almost superhuman but NOT becoming crazy.  That’s one of the best points of the book, the “zombies” are a mishmash of types.  Some are mindless, some can talk and reason, some are evil, some are more or less good– the variety helps keep the story interesting.  

 

As for the uninfected humans, besides survival they are focused on two things: finding a cure for Infection, or finding a way to wipe out all those Infected, and ending the plague.   There is still a semblance of a US government working on a solution in the book.  The author throws some interesting moral dilemmas to the characters: which makes more sense?  Go the easier route and blast everything to pieces to save the few left and take the collateral damage, or try the harder but preferable route of finding a cure?  The “ends justify the means” idea poses tough decisions for some of the characters, such as the need to test a possible cure on human subjects… but no volunteers.  Is capturing unwilling people to use ae guinea pigs justifiable, when your goal is saving people?  The author does a great job using these situations, without sounding preachy.

 

In any zombie novel, there will be violence and gunfights somewhere, and in that area, The Final Cut delivers the goods.  Tanks wrecking things, .50 caliber machine guns shredding zombies and creating carnage, plenty of pitched firefights– there’s enough to keep the entertainment level high.  Overall, this is a thinking person’s action/excitement novel and worth the read, even if zombie stories usually aren’t your thing.  Recommended (after reading the first two, that is)

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on May 27, 2022 by , Reply
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