It has been over two years since the dead began to walk. The shattered remnants of civilization continue desperately to try and rebuild society...for better or for worse. As far as Meredith Gainey is concerned, they can do it without her help. Fixated on a mysterious radio message, she sets out on an unlikely adventure. This time she is joined by her dog and an unlikely companion. Eric Grayfeather.On her journey, she will encounter everything that is good and bad about humanity. Everything from a group of children who have no trust left in adults, to an all-female clan who lure men to their doom using themselves as live bait. It's all there, and it only serves to prove Meredith's point that maybe the world would be a better place without humans. As always, she documents her travels, allowing you to see the dead world through her eyes.This is The Final Entry
Tucked away in the Pacific Northwest with my wife Denise, a Border Collie named Aoife, a guitar collection, and an increasing number of aquariums sporting a variety of fish (cichlids are my new favorites), I live for football season when I can cheer on the Oregon Ducks and be disappointed by my Seattle Seahawks once again. I am a fan of Cookie Monster, KISS, and Dr. Who (along with most things British).
As a person who always dreamed of writing as well as one completely enthralled by all things zombie, it is hard to believe that I never once considered writing in the genre. It is true. I wanted to be more “mainstream”. The first novel I actually wrote is titled Dakota (as Todd Brown). It is about a pair of DEA types tossed back in time to just prior to the start of the Civil War. They are in Charleston, South Carolina, and one of them is an African-American.
The zombie thing really started when I wrote a short for a college Creative Writing class. The teacher, Ms. Bose, pulled me up and told me I had an obvious love for the subject and a real talent for the style. I decided to give it a shot.
The first thing I cobbled together was Zomblog. I wrote it as a warm up for the project I had brewing in the back of my mind. It is a journal account of the apocalypse. The funny thing is that it was never intended to be published. A few things happened and it ended up being presented to me as a gift in book format by my wife for a Christmas present. There was something I will never forget about holding the copy of that book in my hand the first time. Because it gained a readership, and those readers asked for more, I made it a trilogy (Zomblog, Zomblog II, and Zomblog: The Final Entry). It is also because of those fans that I have returned to the Zomblog universe and just released the sixth (and FINAL) book in the series on Halloween of 2013: Zomblog: Snoe's Journey. I freely admit that I will sellout my plans to write what the fans ask for.
I really want my DEAD series to be what I am known for, and in the last year, it has really taken off. However, I will say that with the release of the fourth book in the DEAD series (DEAD: Winter), the numbers started to pick up beyond my wildest dreams.
The DEAD series (DEAD: The Ugly Beginning, DEAD: Revelations, and DEAD: Fortunes & Failures, DEAD: Winter, DEAD: Siege & Survival, DEAD: Confrontation, DEAD: Reborn) is scheduled to be a 12 part epic series.
It is told in three rotating chapters. One is from the first person perspective of Steve Hobart, a man thrust into the role of leader for a group of survivors struggling to keep alive. One chapter follows a group of four self-professed zombie “geeks” who initially believe that the zombie apocalypse would be fun and soon discover that it is nothing like the movies. The third of the rotating chapters is called “Vignettes” and is a series of snapshots from all around the world. Some of the vignettes are single chapter episodes, others are continuing threads that carry on for several chapters. A few are merged into the Steve story or the Geek story line.
Last year,I began my horror/comedy series, "That Ghoul Ava" and have found it to be my new guilty pleasure.
Where do I begin? This was my least favorite book in the series and not just because the main character, Meredith, was getting on my nerves. She was quite selfish and childish in the second book as well, but the story held my attention in spite of her. However in this book she goes beyond selfish and childish and moves right into sociopathic behavior. I don't care how much gore you've seen rational people will feel something when someone that has been their companion dies. The author tries to make her such a bad-ass that it really just gets unrealistic and annoying. Then we must address the issue of rape, which is prevalent in the first two books as well. I realise that our society is full of nasty sick people, but I think in order to be a rapist or child molester/killer you have to be a friggin psycho scumbag to begin with. I do not think that a zombie outbreak would cause half of the men left living to start raping everything that moved. At one point in our story a man has a blade run through him and is bleeding to death, but still manages to spend his last ounce of strength to rape our dear Meredith. REALLY?!? The over whelming need to find food, shelter, basic human contact, medicine, fend off zombies, etc, but raping seems to be the favorite past time of half the men left. Hey, fellas don't feel left out, at one point you get butt raped too. I mean, my gawd, even the Vikings took a day off!! I like T.W Browns writing style and I will be reading the Dead series, but I do think this book went way off in the "raping ditch" and unfortunatly will cause some readers to be very turned off to his other books.
I am truly enjoying this series. It's been fun listening to the journal entries and meeting these characters. I'll miss those we loss but cant wait for the next installment of this journey of the zombie apocalypse. Definitely recommend.
This is the final book in TW Brown’s Zomblog series. I must say that I loved every book in this trilogy! My only worry was that after reading the first two, the last book would leave me with questions and no answers. I should have known that Brown wouldn’t let me down! After all, he is one of my favorite authors!
In the last book, we follow Meredith on her quest to reach Las Vegas. I stated in my review of the second book, which you can read here: http://nicolestorey.wordpress.com/201... that I had a love/hate relationship with this character. That did not change in the last installment. Meredith is still selfish. To an extent, she only cares about herself. As a matter of fact, she seemed to become immune to the death of her so-called friends, simply brushing it off when someone died – even when their death was at her expense or caused by her own stupidity. I can’t say that I was saddened by the ending, but I still admired her courage and determination.
Brown did an excellent job with this entire series. He created a mixture of characters who made me laugh, cheer, love them or hate them. The surprises and action were never-ending and I can’t count how many times he threw in a twist that left me breathless! These books have every element that makes a good story memorable. My mind was still in the stories long after I finished reading. I feel sorry for those who have not read TW Brown. They are missing out on an extraordinary author!
I want to give this book a 4 star rating, but I really can’t quite do it. When I first finished this book, I was disappointed, but after some reflection I decided there actually were meaning and reason under all the devastation. I like the world itself in regards to survivor interactions and retaliations as well as the general outlook of human existence. I enjoyed liking and disliking the main character, the latter more often towards the end of the book. Some things were vague, “Maybe they will see my note” but doesn’t explain what the note says, and other unclear details of small things. There are context clues, but sometimes it’s a stretch. Every so often, the writing would get sloppy, there is this one character that seems to be forgotten for several chapters, only to be brought back and ended. Also, while the main character is a woman, the book is very clearly written by a man. There are just certain little things she (he) says that are unrealistic (even given the zombie apocalypse). I would also say that it ended slightly suddenly, almost pushed to hit a deadline, but again, after a moment I appreciated the ending. I will read the (4th) book in the series, but probably nothing else from this author. Also, not that it affected my rating, but I read the eBook version of this, and the story ended at 82%, with the rest being excerpts for the authors other works. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine, but honestly, I’d like to know when I’m in the ending chapter instead of thinking I still had close to 20% of story to go. Just a smidge of courtesy would be appreciated.
Quite easily the worst of story in the series. The main character became a hypocrite when she would complain about others judging her when she has been judging others throughout the three stories. I also became annoyed when she would complain that the world had devolved into humans fighting each other again when all along she has been actively attacking various groups of humans whom she did not agree with.
The worst part is when I finally read how the main character died, I felt nothing. No anger. No joy. I did feel a bit of relief though. I was glad the story was over and I could safely stop reading. I also cannot tell you how many times I rolled my eyes while reading this story.
The author compounded the problem of a horrible main character with multitudes of editing errors. Perhaps they existed in the first two books too, but I felt there were way too many added words and words that just didn't make sense in the context. One glaring error was the word 'wonder' instead of 'wander'. He also had points where he had double prepositions, as if he could not decide which way to word the sentence. I also found myself enraged when the author said that one of the characters "could care less" when he really meant that they 'couldn't care less' .
I will definitely not be reading any more of this author's books. I cannot recommend them to anyone else either.
I picked up the series while writing my own book and deliberately chose a genre and a voice that would not confuse my process. I thoroughly enjoyed Zomblog and was thrilled that there were subsequent books. The Final Entry, however, really got under my skin. I felt that the main character, Meredith, was so well portrayed and thought out that there was really nowhere else for her to go. Yes (without giving away the plot) she had her plan, but no doubt inevitably the end result would have been the same. I know someone like her, they just simply cannot sit still, they do not have quiet minds. So, alas, the final entry was just that, but I will say that I was really upset because this character to me was so clear and powerful that she could have evolved and perhaps carried another two books or at the very least a movie.
The journal continues with Meredith as the author. Meredith and Eric continue their journey across the country, but I forget why or where they're going. I'm sure it will be made known to me again soon. Evidently, the Native Americans have taken over Wyoming as their own; they even constructed a fence of sorts. Go figure. It's an interesting narrative; I've read better, but I've read worse too. Ah yes, I remember now; Las Vegas, that's where she is heading. Evidently, Meredith is beginning to wonder why also; and on top of that, why is Eric keeping her company? All good questions. Hence, all good things must come to an end, hint...hint.
A fitting end to the "Zomblog" trilogy, but oh man, what an end!!! Meredith remains true to her convictions, right to the bitter end, and even though things didn't turn out as I'd hoped, I still admired her character and her guts and determination to really live in a world full of death. Bonus points to T.W. Brown for writing a truly believable female character and writing her so well.
Another strong entry into this series. Meredith continues to be an interesting character - important when you are reading what is in her head. I like the elements of introspection amongst the simple reporting of events.
Again, the biggest horrors come from those who have the choice of inflicting pain or not, on others. Again, humans and their lack of humanity is a major player in Meredith's journey both actual and within.
I can't express how much I liked this series. It was raw and gritty, hopeful and weary, funny and scary. I was so glad to have found this series while roaming around Amazon. My only complaint is it had to end. I lost a few hours of sleep because I didn't want to put the books down, I needed to know what was going to happen next! If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic or zombies this is a must read!
The Zomblog trilogy has been a fun read. In Three TW Brown has found his voice, the one he will use for the Dead series. Meredith, one of the weirdest, most selfish, unhappiest and most unlikeable protagonist I've ever read has finally had her three-book long string of bad decisions catch up with her. Here's hoping that her daughter Snoe fell far from the tree.
This was a nice conclusion, overall, of the series. Of course, I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but I think it was a perfectly acceptable conclusion to a series about a zombie apocalypse. :)
Didn't expect the ending but that's what is so great about this series! I definitely recommend these to those who love this genre...some may be put off on a few things but overall I enjoyed them and love T.W. Brown's books!
Wow what a selfish and careless character miss Meredith turned out to be. She really knows how to push buttons but overall I loved the book. And it had a lot of "wow I didn't see that coming " moments. I love t.w. browns writing. On to the dead series!
Wasn't as good as the first two, but still a nice conclusion. Something about the ending is a bit off for me, but I guess it was the only way to close the final book. Looking forward to leaning about Snoe and her life post-zombies.
My issue with this installment and the second is that lacking an overarching narrative to engage the reader's interest—beyond Meredith's thrill seeking and retributive acts—all we end up with is just a gruesome spin on Perils of Pauline.
The only thing I found funny is that I found much more mistakes in this book as in the other two...maybe a bit more proof reading would have helped :).