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New Zed Order: Survive
The dead have risen, and they are hungry. They are tough, they are lethal, and they are everywhere. Savage packs of the undead wander the world, feeding on the living. And they are getting stronger... In Brattleboro, Vermont, John Mason and his beautiful young wife Sara believe that family can survive anything. When the apocalypse arrives they pack food, clothing, and weapons, then hit the road with their dog seeking refuge in the mountains of John's youth. There John and Sara, together with family, friends, and neighbors, build a stronghold against the encroaching mass of the dead. The mindless walking dead are only the beginning of their troubles in this new, violent world. Something darker still is moving, and John, Sara, and the other survivors must unite and fight together or be torn apart by this New Zed Order.
252 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
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341 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 12, 2018
Fun! I believe this is the first book in the Zombie genre I have read/listened as a stand alone.
Good character development interspersed with a nice amount of zombie action.
Nice book for fun, action packed few hours of escapism!
Good character development interspersed with a nice amount of zombie action.
Nice book for fun, action packed few hours of escapism!
February 16, 2020
3.5 stars could have been awesome but was lacking zombie action and it seems as if part of the story was skipped over, things that maybe relate John, our main character to the cause of the outbreak possibly.
January 4, 2013
Listing this here for the folks who are always looking for good zombie stuff. I read the original self published version, loved it, and ended up editing the Permuted Press re-release. It is available now on Amazon, and every zombie lover should pick up a copy. :-)
Here is my original review:
I LOVED this, August 10, 2010
By Felicia A. Sullivan
I finished this book in one day - found it hard to put down. Finally, someone has gotten it right. This one was GREAT. Good progression, good storylines, believeable characters (though not all of them were well developed), and plausible scenarios.
I LOVED how this group came together to survive. I love how John researched and planned and prepared and CARRIED OUT his plans, ensuring the survival of many of his own family and scores of others, strangers, who'd somehow survived.
I love his (actually Sprague's, of course) ideas about how to get things accomplished when the zombies really do come (heh). Some of his ideas were things that I had not thought of doing, but were great ideas and I need to hang onto that info for the inevitable zombie uprising. I'm not crazy, I'm just sayin'.
I cannot wait for the next installment of this. Loved it, and cannot recommend it enough.
**Edited 3/3/11: So....I wound up editing Permuted Press's edition of this book. Having read it now three times, I still would wholeheartedly and enthusiastically recommend this book to zombie lovers everywhere.
Here is my original review:
I LOVED this, August 10, 2010
By Felicia A. Sullivan
I finished this book in one day - found it hard to put down. Finally, someone has gotten it right. This one was GREAT. Good progression, good storylines, believeable characters (though not all of them were well developed), and plausible scenarios.
I LOVED how this group came together to survive. I love how John researched and planned and prepared and CARRIED OUT his plans, ensuring the survival of many of his own family and scores of others, strangers, who'd somehow survived.
I love his (actually Sprague's, of course) ideas about how to get things accomplished when the zombies really do come (heh). Some of his ideas were things that I had not thought of doing, but were great ideas and I need to hang onto that info for the inevitable zombie uprising. I'm not crazy, I'm just sayin'.
I cannot wait for the next installment of this. Loved it, and cannot recommend it enough.
**Edited 3/3/11: So....I wound up editing Permuted Press's edition of this book. Having read it now three times, I still would wholeheartedly and enthusiastically recommend this book to zombie lovers everywhere.
September 21, 2010
When I first picked this up I didn't expect to like it, honestly I didn't expect to even finish it even though all of my friend Felicia's recommendations have been on point. The cover is hideous and that's saying it lightly and covers are somewhat important to me. So that was my first impression. The second impression (sometimes just as important as the first) was the obvious lack of editing. Another important factor in a book for me. One other "problem" (you'll see why the quotations are needed) was the amount of characters in the beginning. I had trouble keeping them straight most of the time yet somehow, by the middle-late middle, when there were more characters I had everyone straight. I don't get that but it worked out so in the end it's all good.
So I started with two (three?) strikes against the book in my mind. Then, before I knew it, it was over and I was still breathing hard. When you read a zombie book and have to watch your breathing you know something was done right. There are some unanswered questions and even with books where I know another is coming this tends to bother me. It didn't here for some unknown reason. I can't figure that out either.
Todd Sprague is quite obviously talented. I have no doubt he'll be writing many more books and that they'll only get better and better with time. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel for this and for me to say that speaks volumes since I'm in the midst of hating all series/sequels/prequels.
The main characters are such that you're sucked right in and rooting for them the entire time. John and his wife were a little too mushy for my taste, especially for what they were going through but that's almost too minor to even mention.
The editing mistakes aren't so bad that they glare up from every page so it can be worked around but I do sincerely hope the next one is edited.
**Note - I'm not going to change my review but I did just look and see that his wife edited the book. And I feel like of bad now. But I'm sure Mrs. Sprague isn't an editor and that she did this for her husband for whatever reason which is admirable. Hopefully they'll decide to keep her creative input and not editing abilities for the next book.**
So I started with two (three?) strikes against the book in my mind. Then, before I knew it, it was over and I was still breathing hard. When you read a zombie book and have to watch your breathing you know something was done right. There are some unanswered questions and even with books where I know another is coming this tends to bother me. It didn't here for some unknown reason. I can't figure that out either.
Todd Sprague is quite obviously talented. I have no doubt he'll be writing many more books and that they'll only get better and better with time. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel for this and for me to say that speaks volumes since I'm in the midst of hating all series/sequels/prequels.
The main characters are such that you're sucked right in and rooting for them the entire time. John and his wife were a little too mushy for my taste, especially for what they were going through but that's almost too minor to even mention.
The editing mistakes aren't so bad that they glare up from every page so it can be worked around but I do sincerely hope the next one is edited.
**Note - I'm not going to change my review but I did just look and see that his wife edited the book. And I feel like of bad now. But I'm sure Mrs. Sprague isn't an editor and that she did this for her husband for whatever reason which is admirable. Hopefully they'll decide to keep her creative input and not editing abilities for the next book.**
February 23, 2012
Well, like in the movie Bad Santa when the kid opens up a window on his Advent Calendar, finds a candy corn and Billy Bob states, "They can't all be winners kid". Well, that advice reflects my feelings about this novel.
The characters are wooden, predictable and one dimensional. If this was even your first venture into the undead world of literature, I believe you would find yourself unimpressed. I found myself praying that the dogs would re-enter the story to bring a smile to my face, at least Mr. Sprague knows canine emotion and behavior.
John Mason just has no range, he ended up making me think that the author got too wrapped up reruns of American Dad and inserted Stan Smith into the story, since he is just so tough and can do no wrong. He is so awesome, that after he punches someone in the face repeatedly, the victim approaches him the next day and apologizes to him.
Naming guns and ammunition over and over and over again brought nothing to the table. Hey, I can open up a gun website and insert names of rifles and handguns into a book myself. How about the weight, the preferences, the accuracy, the "kick"? That is what I care about. I did go target shooting this weekend before I read this.
I knew I was in for a doozy when the main character's wife Sarah Mason took some time out of soaking in a hot tub, to get out to mix and bake brownies for John. Seriously?
I can only surmise that Sarah Mason embodies all that is perfect in woman to this author, high sex drive and the ability to throw kick-ass picnic parties.
Repetitive cookie-cutter kills of zombies are peppered throughout the book. How the hell did Sarah's brother become a some bad-ass Mad Max, samurai hero?
The Tom Clancy back-story of mysterious "camouflaged" men killing off John Mason's underground survival associates was just plain weak.
In the crowded genre of modern Zombie Survival tales, you just have to bring more to the table than a predictable, unoriginal story with a half-assed suspense story.
The characters are wooden, predictable and one dimensional. If this was even your first venture into the undead world of literature, I believe you would find yourself unimpressed. I found myself praying that the dogs would re-enter the story to bring a smile to my face, at least Mr. Sprague knows canine emotion and behavior.
John Mason just has no range, he ended up making me think that the author got too wrapped up reruns of American Dad and inserted Stan Smith into the story, since he is just so tough and can do no wrong. He is so awesome, that after he punches someone in the face repeatedly, the victim approaches him the next day and apologizes to him.
Naming guns and ammunition over and over and over again brought nothing to the table. Hey, I can open up a gun website and insert names of rifles and handguns into a book myself. How about the weight, the preferences, the accuracy, the "kick"? That is what I care about. I did go target shooting this weekend before I read this.
I knew I was in for a doozy when the main character's wife Sarah Mason took some time out of soaking in a hot tub, to get out to mix and bake brownies for John. Seriously?
I can only surmise that Sarah Mason embodies all that is perfect in woman to this author, high sex drive and the ability to throw kick-ass picnic parties.
Repetitive cookie-cutter kills of zombies are peppered throughout the book. How the hell did Sarah's brother become a some bad-ass Mad Max, samurai hero?
The Tom Clancy back-story of mysterious "camouflaged" men killing off John Mason's underground survival associates was just plain weak.
In the crowded genre of modern Zombie Survival tales, you just have to bring more to the table than a predictable, unoriginal story with a half-assed suspense story.
July 3, 2012
Yawn... Very wooden characters, very predicable story line, a lot of the book filled with dull pages about characters spending time building fences, digging trenches, intermixed with the odd zombie horde attacking or a minor character getting picked off on a trip to the supermarket. Early on, one character gets bitten and immediately suicides but shooting himself in the head, all without a second thought. I know it is a little silly to be saying such a word in the context of a zombie book, but it wasn't realistic enough. It certainly was not deep or even that exciting. Again, I have said this before, but there are so many thrilling, scary, nail biting books in this genre to spend to much time on this one
September 12, 2012
Finally - a zombie book that calls a zombie a zombie, pretty much straight away. This alone endeared me to the author and his work, just 10 pages into the fray. All too often novels seem to pretend that they are the first to come up with the idea, that the characters within it have never seen a zombie movie or read a zombie book. It was refreshing that this novel didn't even try for that - it said it how it is.
Action packed from the first few pages onwards, the novel is set in a conveniently gun-loving America, at the onset of a zombie outbreak. One family (give or take) holes up in Canada, hoping to be able to outlast the pandemic, however long it should last. Zombies ensue.
There were quite a few little themes I enjoyed in this novel - one being that enough people died. Proper, important characters. Unfortunately, the remaining living characters seemed to be a bit shallow, and didn't mourn the dead in a realistic way (even if they were occupied with Zeds at the time. You'd still mourn.).
The nice little nod to the 'love triumphs all' theme was good too - this is by no means a love story, but the love between John and his wife is pretty sweet, as is the 'survival of live and it's blossoming in a landscape of death' thing that was going on too.
Lastly.... Need I say more?!
Action packed from the first few pages onwards, the novel is set in a conveniently gun-loving America, at the onset of a zombie outbreak. One family (give or take) holes up in Canada, hoping to be able to outlast the pandemic, however long it should last. Zombies ensue.
There were quite a few little themes I enjoyed in this novel - one being that enough people died. Proper, important characters. Unfortunately, the remaining living characters seemed to be a bit shallow, and didn't mourn the dead in a realistic way (even if they were occupied with Zeds at the time. You'd still mourn.).
The nice little nod to the 'love triumphs all' theme was good too - this is by no means a love story, but the love between John and his wife is pretty sweet, as is the 'survival of live and it's blossoming in a landscape of death' thing that was going on too.
Lastly.... Need I say more?!
December 10, 2014
@ 47% Very similar to Joshua Guess' "Living with the dead" series but nowhere near as good. Having read the reviews that say it ends with a cliff hanger, I don't know if I'll bother slogging through the rest of this book ....... I just can't seem to care enough to continue, knowing that there will be lots of unanswered questions.
............................
Update:
I've read some great books recently and there are still a lot waiting to be read, so I've decided not to waste any more time on this one
............................
Update:
I've read some great books recently and there are still a lot waiting to be read, so I've decided not to waste any more time on this one
March 19, 2012
A bit right wing, but otherwise a standard zombie novel, nothing new.
February 17, 2020
3 solid stars.
This was a buddy read with my good GR friend hipnoticraQs! We've been on a quest to find a most awesome zombie series, but just seem to be falling short, sometimes by a large margin, sometimes by a small one.
New Zed Order: Survive was decent for a zombie book, but it was lacking a certain something to get it to the 'great' category. The outbreak was engaging - a mysterious event that may or may not have to do with some shadowy right-wing group down on the border between Mexico and the good ol' USA. There may or may not be Mexican drug lords involved. But, it all devolves into crazy shit as people are bitten and infected and the whole country goes to hell in a hand basket in about a week.
Enter John and Sarah, a middle aged couple, still desperately in love, living in Vermont with their puppy Princess. John is also shadowy ex-military, and Sarah the wife can cook anything and shoot anything and teach a room full of children ages 0 to 16 and still have enough energy to bone John. When things go south, as they are wont to do in a zombie apocalypse, John and Sarah quickly and correctly ascertain the situation, call in the family, and create a compound in the wilds of Vermont involving trucks, trailers, pallet jacks, wholesale warehouses, and tons and tons of weapons and ammunition. And Sarah's brother Jose creates zombie-proof armor made out of plastics and leather.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that zombies here are zeds. Apparently that's a Canadian thing.
There were some interesting parts, besides learning about the importance of preparation and organization. There was an episode where a zombie horde is invading the compound, and a female defender is attacked by a zombie, which promptly rips off her arm at the shoulder. (I didn't realize limbs detach so easily.) The lady runs around spurting blood from her arm socket, until the zombie jumps on her and bites off her face.
Yeah, I need to give the book one more star just for that scene.
The ending of the book devolved into some weirdness, with the zombies becoming semi-intelligent, capable of hibernation, and, interestingly enough, also interested in storage and organization. There were ghosts flying around also, apparently, although the reader never got a chance to meet them personally. In addition, there's a shadowy military group (or two) running out.
The author wrote this book in 2011 and has been working on the follow up for the past 9 years. We may never learn the mystery of the shadowy military group, or the hibernating pyramid of zombies, or the ghostly specters. But here's to hoping we might...
This was a buddy read with my good GR friend hipnoticraQs! We've been on a quest to find a most awesome zombie series, but just seem to be falling short, sometimes by a large margin, sometimes by a small one.
New Zed Order: Survive was decent for a zombie book, but it was lacking a certain something to get it to the 'great' category. The outbreak was engaging - a mysterious event that may or may not have to do with some shadowy right-wing group down on the border between Mexico and the good ol' USA. There may or may not be Mexican drug lords involved. But, it all devolves into crazy shit as people are bitten and infected and the whole country goes to hell in a hand basket in about a week.
Enter John and Sarah, a middle aged couple, still desperately in love, living in Vermont with their puppy Princess. John is also shadowy ex-military, and Sarah the wife can cook anything and shoot anything and teach a room full of children ages 0 to 16 and still have enough energy to bone John. When things go south, as they are wont to do in a zombie apocalypse, John and Sarah quickly and correctly ascertain the situation, call in the family, and create a compound in the wilds of Vermont involving trucks, trailers, pallet jacks, wholesale warehouses, and tons and tons of weapons and ammunition. And Sarah's brother Jose creates zombie-proof armor made out of plastics and leather.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that zombies here are zeds. Apparently that's a Canadian thing.
There were some interesting parts, besides learning about the importance of preparation and organization. There was an episode where a zombie horde is invading the compound, and a female defender is attacked by a zombie, which promptly rips off her arm at the shoulder. (I didn't realize limbs detach so easily.) The lady runs around spurting blood from her arm socket, until the zombie jumps on her and bites off her face.
Yeah, I need to give the book one more star just for that scene.
The ending of the book devolved into some weirdness, with the zombies becoming semi-intelligent, capable of hibernation, and, interestingly enough, also interested in storage and organization. There were ghosts flying around also, apparently, although the reader never got a chance to meet them personally. In addition, there's a shadowy military group (or two) running out.
The author wrote this book in 2011 and has been working on the follow up for the past 9 years. We may never learn the mystery of the shadowy military group, or the hibernating pyramid of zombies, or the ghostly specters. But here's to hoping we might...
October 19, 2025
I wrote this review on Amazon.com back in 2010. I am fairly new to the Zombie genre and this is about the seventh one I have read. It has good pace. The characters are well developed. The action is well described. Editing is pretty good, no obvious spelling or grammar errors. Although the first few pages are poorly written the book is worth persisting with (the language is very stilted at the beginning). I am looking forward to the next book in this series. It's a good read and I would recommend it to people interested in this genre.
August 10, 2010
And actually would give it 4.5, but not quite 5 stars. I finished this book in one day - found it hard to put down. Finally, someone has gotten it right. This one was GREAT. Good progression, good storylines, believeable characters (though not all of them were well developed), and plausible scenarios.
I LOVED how this group came together to survive. I love how John researched and planned and prepared and CARRIED OUT his plans, ensuring the survival of many of his own family and scores of others, strangers, who'd somehow survived.
I love his (actually Sprague's, of course) ideas about how to get things accomplished when the zombies really do come (heh). Some of his ideas were things that I had not thought of doing, but were great ideas and I need to hang onto that info for the inevitable zombie uprising. I'm not crazy, I'm just sayin'.
I cannot wait for the next installment of this.
And sigh....now for the bad news. You guessed it. NEEDS AN EDITOR. Thankfully there were not the amount of mistakes that horribly take away from a story for me, but Mr. Sprague definitely needs to seek out the services of a good editor, or an anal friend (like me, LOL) to edit for him.
Loved it, though, and cannot recommend it enough.
I LOVED how this group came together to survive. I love how John researched and planned and prepared and CARRIED OUT his plans, ensuring the survival of many of his own family and scores of others, strangers, who'd somehow survived.
I love his (actually Sprague's, of course) ideas about how to get things accomplished when the zombies really do come (heh). Some of his ideas were things that I had not thought of doing, but were great ideas and I need to hang onto that info for the inevitable zombie uprising. I'm not crazy, I'm just sayin'.
I cannot wait for the next installment of this.
And sigh....now for the bad news. You guessed it. NEEDS AN EDITOR. Thankfully there were not the amount of mistakes that horribly take away from a story for me, but Mr. Sprague definitely needs to seek out the services of a good editor, or an anal friend (like me, LOL) to edit for him.
Loved it, though, and cannot recommend it enough.
March 9, 2013
New Zed Order was a pretty good zombie novel. There wasn't anything new in it from other zombie novels i have read, but it was well written enough and was entertaining from beginning to end. I enjoyed reading about the characters and all the situations that they got into. The only thing that I would say against the book is that the main characters had abnormally good luck when it came to gaining supplies, but that's nothing really bad and didn't effect overall how i saw the book.
Overall great book. I look forward to a sequel if Todd Sprague ever gets around to writing one.
Overall great book. I look forward to a sequel if Todd Sprague ever gets around to writing one.
April 30, 2014
Great zombie survival book. I love these types of books, and this one was good. Good characters, solid storyline, and interesting ending. The two main characters, John and Sarah, are a married couple; I do have to admit, their conversations were cloyingly sweet at times, but other than that, the dialogue between characters was really good. Definitely recommend this book for any zombie fiction lovers.
May 23, 2012
Really loved this book , plenty of action. The apocalypse starts straight away with a bang and things quickly degenerate... In fact it takes under 72 hours for the world to end ! Plenty of world building and zombie gore to satisfy anyone's blood thirst. Little twist thrown into the mix as well. Hoping the second book will not be too long in coming.
May 23, 2012
It wasn't too bad, except in the beginning when It fits with the title of the book I guess.
April 14, 2013
Overall, this was a good book and while it may not be my favorite, it is in my Top 25. Will be seeking out future Todd Sprague books to see if his style maintains its excellence!
March 6, 2012
I loved this book! The character development, the storyline the aspect of family and the knowledge of firearms all lead me to enjoy this book. Good job Mr. Sprague.
March 15, 2012
This wasn't bad, but it was very predicable and left the reader hanging.
August 26, 2012
Not bad; good story, good characters, worthy of a sequel.
September 10, 2012
Loved this book!! Am so looking forward to the sequel! You can see yourself in this family and facing these decisions, that's how realistic the emotions and actions are! Highly recommend to all!!
August 23, 2012
A fun read, managing to avoid many cliches.
March 15, 2012
I enjoyed it, but where's part 2? Too many unaswered questions!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews