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Walkers by Jack Craft
Fighting a possible extinction, will mankind continue to exist as the master race on the face of the earth? Will you have what it takes to survive…the Walkers?
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First published May 23, 2008
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November 5, 2010
Walkers is another entry into the zombie genre told in first person by Patient Zero, who goes about introducing us to him and why his blood is so unique. He ends up hatching a virus that in turn has scientists scrambling to make up an anti-virus. This anti-virus does not cure but instead reanimates the virus victims, turning them into "Walkers", aka, the flesh eating living dead.
As our subject and his wife are immune (he has transmitted his immunities along to her through their intimate relationship) plus the fact that he never took the anti-virus that was created and reanimating all the dead now, he is not only scrambling to survive but also holds within him a potential cure for the virus that has wiped out most of the human race.
The main character and his wife flee their home and are plunged into a journey where they meet only a few other survivors but countless walkers. The story essentially chronicles their journey as they try desperately to find a place where they will be safe from the undead menace. They move from place to place and find a few other people along the way, not knowing that the whole time that the military is trying to chase them down in an effort to find a cure for what has been unleashed on humanity.
The story itself is fast paced and entertaining. There are very few spots in the book that are not thick with action except at the beginning as we are introduced the cause of the virus and who our main character is. While there are some elements of this book that are pretty much in line with the typical zombie apocalypse the author has done a solid job in creating a blood borne pathogen and a logic string from that created this undead menace. Since I am not a biologist I am not speaking from a technical standpoint but from the position of allowing the reader to buy into I thought he did a good job. Again, the action is crisp and the story moves forward at a rapid pace.
The elements of this story that perhaps drug it down for me were a mixture of both the mechanical and some of the elements of the story itself.
Compared to most other independent zombie fiction books I have read this one is better than average for typos and syntax errors but for the professionally published it could do with another once over. I did get one of the first version of this book (the white cover) and perhaps the newer version has less of these issues in it. Unfortunately, another issue for me was the fact that the author chose first person narative but then does not do a good job sticking to that throughout. Certainly, we are led to believe that our main character is telling the whole story but when we get the background on some of the secondary characters the details are far to intimate for me to believe that these people revealed everything as it is so meticulously described. This goes to believability for me. Use third person if you want to really delve into another character deeply, otherwise our main character is getting far too much information. The author wanted to convey it all but had already decided on first person I guess as the route to go here. That also leads me to another issue for me: the minimal dialogue throughout the story. I just felt that this did not work here. I think more of the secondary characters could have been revealed through some more solid dialogue instead of the flashbacks we are given that interupt the flow of the action. For me, these elements did not work as well as they could have.
I also have to admit I was not necessarily fond of our main character. This is not a prerequisite for enjoying a story. Plenty of characters in many stories are not likeable but yet I can immerse myself in their tale. Here, I think the book loses something because our main character seems a bit full of himself and is a bit crass and sexist. Did I root for him to die? No, because despite his failings he seems to want to do the right things throughout the story, trying to save who he can and taking care of his wife. I am just not sure if the author wanted us to think him more human and vulnerable for some of the comments and actions we observe, but for me, he just was not someone I really felt attached to or wanted to root for.
Bottom line for me is that the action and story was entertaining. I can't say I loved this book but I do think this author has potential and as he continues to hopefully sharpen his skills he will develop characters and a writing style that is quite compelling.
As our subject and his wife are immune (he has transmitted his immunities along to her through their intimate relationship) plus the fact that he never took the anti-virus that was created and reanimating all the dead now, he is not only scrambling to survive but also holds within him a potential cure for the virus that has wiped out most of the human race.
The main character and his wife flee their home and are plunged into a journey where they meet only a few other survivors but countless walkers. The story essentially chronicles their journey as they try desperately to find a place where they will be safe from the undead menace. They move from place to place and find a few other people along the way, not knowing that the whole time that the military is trying to chase them down in an effort to find a cure for what has been unleashed on humanity.
The story itself is fast paced and entertaining. There are very few spots in the book that are not thick with action except at the beginning as we are introduced the cause of the virus and who our main character is. While there are some elements of this book that are pretty much in line with the typical zombie apocalypse the author has done a solid job in creating a blood borne pathogen and a logic string from that created this undead menace. Since I am not a biologist I am not speaking from a technical standpoint but from the position of allowing the reader to buy into I thought he did a good job. Again, the action is crisp and the story moves forward at a rapid pace.
The elements of this story that perhaps drug it down for me were a mixture of both the mechanical and some of the elements of the story itself.
Compared to most other independent zombie fiction books I have read this one is better than average for typos and syntax errors but for the professionally published it could do with another once over. I did get one of the first version of this book (the white cover) and perhaps the newer version has less of these issues in it. Unfortunately, another issue for me was the fact that the author chose first person narative but then does not do a good job sticking to that throughout. Certainly, we are led to believe that our main character is telling the whole story but when we get the background on some of the secondary characters the details are far to intimate for me to believe that these people revealed everything as it is so meticulously described. This goes to believability for me. Use third person if you want to really delve into another character deeply, otherwise our main character is getting far too much information. The author wanted to convey it all but had already decided on first person I guess as the route to go here. That also leads me to another issue for me: the minimal dialogue throughout the story. I just felt that this did not work here. I think more of the secondary characters could have been revealed through some more solid dialogue instead of the flashbacks we are given that interupt the flow of the action. For me, these elements did not work as well as they could have.
I also have to admit I was not necessarily fond of our main character. This is not a prerequisite for enjoying a story. Plenty of characters in many stories are not likeable but yet I can immerse myself in their tale. Here, I think the book loses something because our main character seems a bit full of himself and is a bit crass and sexist. Did I root for him to die? No, because despite his failings he seems to want to do the right things throughout the story, trying to save who he can and taking care of his wife. I am just not sure if the author wanted us to think him more human and vulnerable for some of the comments and actions we observe, but for me, he just was not someone I really felt attached to or wanted to root for.
Bottom line for me is that the action and story was entertaining. I can't say I loved this book but I do think this author has potential and as he continues to hopefully sharpen his skills he will develop characters and a writing style that is quite compelling.
Displaying 1 of 1 review