World War Z is a Must-read!

Rating: ☆☆☆☆ +1/2

Title: World War Z

Author: Max Brooks

Genre: Fic / SF

Read: 25th Aug 2008






Comments: I just finished Max Brooks' World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie Wars yesterday, and boy did it knock my socks off! Luckily I had the day off, because I literally could not put it down and went through the whole thing in one clip. It was absolutley gripping from start to finish and I'm surprised I didn't have zombie nightmares.

It begins with the first outbreaks of the plague in rural China, to the heroic but doomed war efforts in Russia and India, the inhuman Redekker plan in South Africa, the floating raft-cities in the Pacific, the heroic efforts of French zombie fighters in the Paris catacombs, to the final cleanup across the American continent. It's brilliantly imagined and so detailed at times you wonder if there wasn't really a 'Zombie War'.

One complaint I read in another review was the relative sameness of the narrative voice despite the disparate backgrounds of the 50 or so narrators, which is admittedly the main flaw of the novel, but when Brooks give us such a rip-roaring yarn in all other respects it's easy to forgive.

So to all the SF and post-apocalyptic fantasy fans out there, run to the nearest bookshop and pick this one up!

World War Z
see also

The Zombie Survival Guide