Undead Reckoning

by Mike Slabon

When Eddie Griffin becomes the youngest NFL rookie to win the Super Bowl, little does he realize it will save his life. The day he pays a post-Super Bowl visit to the troops stationed at Ft. Hood, 98% of the world’s population drops dead. And 99% of those people rise up as flesh-crazed zombies! Luckily, Eddie ends up safe and sound in the confines of an Emergency Services Bunker. But as bunkers fall prey to undead hordes, Eddie is selected to accompany Lt. Jim Shrike on a secret mission. Together, they enter a world filled with roaming zombies, desperate survivors, crazed lunatics, mighty warriors and depraved demons. Guided by an ancient prophecy, their mission leads them into the mystical world of Nabisusha, where they not only attempt to save humanity, but discover the very nature of the universe.

Genres: Zombies, Horror

455 pages

First published November 18, 2011

Reviews

[Christine Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got my copy of this through a Goodreads giveaway and I have to say that I am very impressed. I love zombie fiction and this book has zombies but it has way more. It has a green military man, demons, ghosts, alternate universes, time travelling and a giant ass thing that you have to read the book to understand. It is totally compelling and riveting with a main character that I loved, who was fully fleshed out and interesting as well as the other characters. The writing itself is top notch for a first time author and I hope to read a sequel of this book. It had action, laughs, a little love and some very thought provoking elements to it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind a little gore.

[Kitty Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

TITLE: UNDEAD RECKONING
AUTHOR: MIKE SLABON
PUBLISHER: SELF PUBLISHED
RATING: 3
AGES: 17+

REVIEW: I have to be honest, and even though I received this book as a gift for a review I'm still cannot allow that to sway my personal opinion. There wasn't much about this book that wasn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill zombie killing/survival story. The only difference that lent a pretty good twist to the story was the aspect of science fiction derived from the main character's journey to another land to find a way to save humanity.

I don't know at this point if it's the fact that I'm simply tired of zombies or if this book just didn't offer me anything new and exciting in regards to them. I have to say I simply wasn't that impressed unfortunately though I still think the writer is exceptional and I would read his other works in the future simply for his gift of writing mechanics and story structure.

[Chrisgehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, intriguing characters, page turning action, unique and quirky humour. This is much more than just another Zombie story.

[Wennifred]

I just won a copy from Goodreads. Looking forward to reading it. Thank you.

[S.C. Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m giving Undead Reckoning, a debut novel from Canadian author Mike Slabon, 2.5 out of 5 stars. This rating is based on Goodreads’ rating system with 2 meaning “it was ok” and 3 meaning “I liked it!”. Undead Reckoning is a difficult novel to categorize, falling somewhere in between SF and Horror and genre parody of the two, but I can safely say that it’s not a genre I typically read. I’ll try not to let that colour my review too much, though, I promise! Undead Reckoning was better than just okay, and there are parts of it that I really liked which is why I’m sticking with 2.5. But I felt the really good parts were dragged down a bit by areas that could have used a little tighter editing. That being said, Slabon shows definite potential as a developing writer and I will look forward to reading his work in the future.

I should clarify that by “tighter editing” I do not mean proof-reading. I was actually impressed by how few minor punctuation/typo style errors I found in the text. This is a huge challenge for indie press writers who often must rely on beta-readers to catch typographical errors, rather than professional editors (whose services are extremely expensive). I’m referring, rather, to content editing for pacing, clarity, and balance. I’m also going to question a couple of Slabon’s stylistic choices, which could have been used to greater effect with a couple of tweaks.

Tangent/ This review will probably be long. I apologize in advance for that. But I believe that new writers, especially independent writers, need and deserve precise and meaningful feedback in order to hone their craft. As a writer myself, I know how hard it is to come by honest constructive criticism and I hope that some of what I have to say will be helpful to Slabon and any other writers who may be reading. If you are a writer and would like me to review your work on Goodreads or on my blog, please contact me. /end tangent.

Okay, let’s begin.

Slabon essentially has two different novels competing against one another in Undead Reckoning, and I feel that each would have been served better had they been given their own space. On one hand, Undead Reckoning is a kind of horror spoof. It’s a parody of the zombie genre, almost a parody of a parody it gets so goofy at times. Which is fine, if that is what it is. And I thought it was, at first. However, the hack and slash zombie slaying is used as a trope to move the subplots along, rather than being the meat of the novel. The subplots themselves are so bizarre and seemingly disconnected that blowing up zombies appears to be the only unifying theme (NOTE: the subplots are one area that could have been aggressively pared down without losing anything of the main plot, but more on this later). The effect is actually quite disorienting at first, and it took me well over 100 pages to get a handle on what was going on.

This is when I began to realize that there was something more to Undead Reckoning than the simple spoof I thought I was reading. There are aspects of the novel which move outside the necessarily simple landscape of a zombie parody and into more serious speculative fiction. The main plot of Undead Reckoning is layered with complexity, and Slabon ultimately does an impressive job of tying his subplots together into a cohesive whole by the end of the novel. But I almost felt that he was afraid to give his main plot, the spec fic novel, the attention and seriousness it deserved. In the end, the underlying parody novel, acted as a defence mechanism to deflect from Slabon’s “real” writing—I actually think Slabon is a better writer than he is giving himself credit for, and the dual-genre does him a disservice in his debut novel.

When we first meet our hero, NFL superstar Eddie Griffin, we land smack-dab in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Griffin is coming to terms with the new world he’s living in as he helps Lieutenant Jim Shrike with a top secret mission investigating Undead activity at a nearby abandoned military base. We jump right into the action with limbs flying and brains exploding in typical zombie annihilating style. Fight scenes are interrupted by the obligatory wise-cracks and expletives, but otherwise make up the majority of the first hundred pages. This brings us to the issue of pacing.

Nothing is worse than reading a novel where nothing happens. It’s boring. I think everyone will agree with me there. So a novel that is full of non-stop action should be super awesome, right? Well, not necessarily. For non-stop action to equal good pacing, a couple of things need to happen. For one, “telling” must be balanced with “showing”. Too much telling, and the action reads more like stage directions in a screenplay than a paragraph (or chapter) in a novel.

Player A enters on right, weapon drawn. Player B turns at the sound and shouts in surprise. Player A shoots Player B between the eyes and exits stage slowly. Curtains drop.

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Reading these initial action scenes, and some subsequent ones, was a little like grinding MOBs. Or worse, it was like reading about grinding MOBs—I didn’t even get to level up or loot anything. And with too much “telling” there is little opportunity for the reader to visualize the world and the action for him/herself. Other than knowing that Eddie Griffin was a big guy who used to play football, I had little idea what he looked like. Same with Jim Shrike. This isn’t too much of an issue for secondary characters, but main characters and setting should be clearly defined as soon as possible (I’d say first 20 pages). Putting this off disconnects the reader from the text, and limits empathy for the characters.

So action is great, but too much action is problematic for a couple of reasons: 1) The “big picture” plot gets lost in the grind, and 2) The lack of “showing” limits character development and world building. For example: For the first seventy pages or so, I was picturing Eddie Griffin as a thick, ruddy skinned white boy with a buzz cut and Jim Shrike as a lean, muscular black man who didn’t smile a lot. By the time I realized that Eddie was black and Jim was actually green—my first WTF moment—it was too late. My original pictures stuck with me, and I had to keep reminding myself of what they actually looked like as I read. Which is really too bad, because minority groups are severely under-represented in SF literature.

Tangent/ I think it’s great that Eddie Griffin is a young black man. But I think that it’s especially important to let the reader know that he’s black, specifically because there are so few non-white protagonists in the world of SF and Horror. It’s easy enough to do without rubbing it in the readers’ face. In the first couple of pages, a single sentence such as “My dark skin did little to protect me from the harsh rays of the sun” for example, could have clued us in without being too obvious (the fact that Eddie is a football player wasn’t enough for me—I thought there was a pretty even mix of black/white football players, but I know nothing about football). I know some will argue that the colour of his skin shouldn’t matter, but I disagree. I think it’s important that literary characters are representative of the world we live in: there should be many races, religions, genders and sexualities, and we shouldn’t shy away from defining them as such. Otherwise the tendency is just to assume that all characters are white, heterosexual men because for so long, that’s the way it has been. I had the same problem in my own novel, with identifying my main character as female. I left her gender ambiguous on purpose, but found that too many people were confused when I did finally describe her as “her”. I later ended up identifying her as female early on and then emphasizing her androgyny after that, which was better received. /end tangent.

Another thing that I found detracted from the main plot was that there were too many subplots. Each chapter seemed to have a new villain or conflict which, once resolved, didn’t carry over into the next scene. While some subplots did end up tying in to the main plot in the end, it was impossible to differentiate between the two. Slabon gets extra points for creativity, though. There are some gems hiding in the confusion, lots of good ideas that could have been great if they were working on their own (Juan the spider demon could have been the villain of a Christopher Moore-esqe comdey-horror novel) but just ended up competing with one another for attention. Kind of like a mini-version of the genre competition I mentioned earlier.

This brings us to the two stylistic choices that I felt could have been used differently. One: footnotes. Footnotes are largely unnecessary, and interrupt the flow of the narrative. Unless you’re Terry Pratchett, in which case you have elevated the footnote to an art form in and of itself--rife with sly humour, supplemental story lines, and lessons in magic and/or physics. For the rest of us, 95% of material that could be footnoted could also be worked into the text or simply left up to the reader to figure out. The only exception to this rule would be for language translation if a word or phrase from another language is used without enough context to be understood on its own. Anagrams can be spelled out in full, and then abbreviated later if they’re going to be recurrent in the novel. For example, military anagrams like CFB (Canadian Forces Base) or LAV (Light Armoured Vehicle). Slang, military or otherwise, should only be defined by the context that it is used in not by footnote. I just finished reading Anthony Burgess’ Clockwork Orange, and I never needed to use the glossary once. Language is like that, we’re pretty good at filling in the blanks. Not only slang, but any words that were made up and only exist in the world of your novel should be defined by context or dialogue, not footnotes. Real words should never be footnoted. If you’ve chosen a word that is so obscure you doubt your reader will know it, use a different word. If it’s necessary, have another character be confused by it so that you can explain it in dialogue. Example: thanatology. If your reader doesn’t know what C-4 is, that’s his problem. Let him google that shit and give the rest of us some credit!

Stylistic Choice Two: Sound effects. Less is more when it comes to BANG! SMACK! RATTATATAT! and/or KABOOM! This isn’t a comic book. Again, this is just my opinion. I can see how the onomatopoeia lends itself to the parody genre, but I also preferred the non-parodical stuff, so that’s just my take.

Okay, I hope you’ve stuck with my ramblings this far, because now I’d like to talk about what I really liked about this novel. There are three sections of Undead Reckoning that really stood out to me. The first is in Keek’s layer. Slabon does a great job of describing the underground layer and entrance to Nabisusha. The novel started to feel alive to me at this point. And it is because of this scene that I feel justified in wishing there were more descriptions of characters and settings earlier in the book. Once I realized that Slabon had all this great imagery up his sleeve, I felt extra ripped off when I didn’t get it. The next scene that really stands out is in the Anomalies Amok fantasy that Eddie gets trapped in. Slabon shows real potential for world building here, and I’m curious to see what he would do with a high fantasy novel. Not only this, but the characterization of the AA players trapped in this fantasy are better developed, and the fight scenes better realized than anywhere else in the novel up to this point. Finally, the flashback scene explaining the fate of the Masters and Custodians—much high fantasy and speculative fiction potential is demonstrated in this scene. Again, Slabon is a much better writer than he gives himself credit for, or than he seems to, by hiding behind the goofier aspects of this novel. The complexity of the final plot actually stunned me, and I really wished that this main plot line had been more heavily invested in throughout the novel.

Really, Undead Reckoning had all the elements of a strong SF novel, but they were obscured by the sillier subplots and could have been enhanced by aggressive editing. Slabon could easily have written a spoof novel akin to Night of the Living Dead, a couple of Christopher Moore style comedy/horror novels, and have an SF trilogy started with the material that is in this book. It’s a little much for one novel to bear, but there’s no denying Slabon’s potential as an up and coming writer. I’d like to see him move with confidence into speculative fiction. Or parody, for that matter. But I think we’ll find that his strengths lie in those areas he was reluctant to meet head on in his debut novel—complex plots, intriguing characters, and fascinating worlds—and it’s my opinion that those strengths will be best realized in an SF or fantasy series. Whatever he chooses to do, though, I’ll be reading.

PS This novel and future novels need more ladies! Undead Reckoning was a serious sausage fest. I realize that half the world has been zombified, but shouldn't half the survivors still be women? Especially with the reveal at the end of the novel about why some people turned and some didn't. I doubt Slabon intended to make a comment about how fulfilling women's lives are, and how many of us are essentially "dead already". But that's the conclusion I was forced to draw! I want to see chicks with machine guns riding on dire-wolves in the follow up. Make it happen!

[Mike Algera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mythical lore and gore galore is to be expected of Undead Reckoning --- if you enjoy reading stories about an apocalyptic world riddled with zombies, demons, scantily clad super-heroines, time travelling, Nazi slaying and surly skeletons … than this is a recommended read. In terms of ingenuity, Slabon is unrivaled, showing us vistas of the imagination beyond mere daydreaming (I could never conceive such a story, not even on my best writing days).

The story tells of NFL quarterback turned Afro-Saxon knight Eddie Griffin and Lieutenant Jim Shrike, two unlikely candidates to travel to the mystical realm of Nabisusha in order to bring balance to the world and slay the forces of darkness, as well as hordes of undead menace. A key point to consider is that Jim Shrike is undead himself, able to regenerate flesh wounds and is for the most part impervious to mortal (and imaginable) means of destruction. This attribute in turn, makes Jim out to be Christ-like.

Narration is panned out from the perspective of Eddie Griffin, who at first is construed as the focal point of the story given the choice of perspective, but in turn shifts to Shrike --- which leads me to believe that as the savior or ‘waykeeper’, the story is about Jim and that Eddie is an accessory, if you strip away his celebrity status as sports figurehead. Occasionally, the book shifts from Eddie’s perspective to the omniscient viewpoint in order to tell Jim’s backstory; the same style of writing is used whenever Eddie and Jim get separated from each other, whether voluntarily or through hurdles of circumstance.

For me, I was more so engaged in the Shrike sagas --- Jim as a character is a lion-hearted super solider with brains and brawn; he’s the most technically savvy; he’s a martial arts and weapons specialist. Plus, he can shoot eye beams of infrared heat in order to scorch the rotting flesh of zombie hordes (and who can’t respect that?).
As for the Eddie flashbacks, although they served their purpose in telling the reader of his upbringing and how he came to be the youngest NFL rookie … although the human aspect is evident in the storytelling, the character seems a bit flat whenever he is left to his own devices. To me, you get the best out of both characters when you keep them together. I’m nodding towards the classic odd couple dynamic --- a prime example of this is how the Karate Kid, Daniel Naruso fed off the tutelage of Mr. Myiagi.

Naruso fed off of Myiagi’s spirituality, which was the backbone of his karate; Myiagi, as the film series progressed, fed off of Naruso’s compassion, in which he served as an emotional crutch in the Karate Kid II, when Myiagi’s father died. The same dynamic of the two characters feeding of each other’s strengths for nourishment applies here.

There is also a revolving door of characters (this is a fantasy-horror epic after all). You almost need a spread sheet in order to keep track of them all! For me, this was okay so long as each character played out their assigned role, but this may serve as a detriment to some, especially if one has a hard time digesting character overload.

All in all, the book has a lot going on … and a lot going for it.

[William Mego · Rating 3 out of 5]

For genre fiction, this book is both difficult to pin down, and at times hard to figure out. For fans of action, you won't wait very long to get some, as you're thrust immediately into frantic action from the first pages. However, this strength can also be viewed as a weakness depending on the reader, as the action doesn't let up....as in ever. In fact, the book goes further and further afield, becoming more surreal and fantastic by the page. About midway through the book, you'll encounter a dangerous Infodump, which is a little distracting, but survivable.

In short, the book is a novel of (somewhat) zombie genre, where we meet our hero, Eddie Griffin, some time after the zombie apocalypse one must have for these things. Eddie is different in that he's the Super Bowl MVP of the last football championship before the apocalypse, and was caught out visiting troops when the fateful day struck. He's accompanied by a soldier who is green. I'll leave the rest concerning that to the reader. Along their mission, they encounter just about every boogieman and daemon imaginable...and several I, at least never would have thought up.

A reader fond of constant action, lots of weird demonic fantasy, and casual humor surrounding all of this will enjoy the book, a first time effort from writer Mike Slabon. It makes no claims of great literature, and doesn't pretend to be, and my rating reflects that. A book such as Colin Whitehead's Zone One which so clearly does try to elevate a genre subject and is in turn subject to the critical judgment of the scalpel honed by Joyce, Gaddis, or Woolf suffers deep cuts in comparison (which I'd imagine would attract zombies, no?) finds no place in reviewing Undead Reckoning, which seems to aim more for a rollicking action-packed ride of surreal fantasy than anything. It succeeds.

Were I to seek fault, I'd have liked a little less...well...stuff. The constant addition of new and changing concepts, creatures, myths, and histories begins to weary the eye, and the prose style while solid, could use some intense editing. I'm not sure I'll personally tackle another work from this author, unless there were assurances of some very different directions taken, but I found enough spark in his writing that should he try to tackle some new peak, I would certainly give it a go. There's talent in there, but it needs some serious study and technique to come out.

I think the reader will find they'll either greatly enjoy the book, or really dislike it. I think it tends to push you towards the polls of that scale of enjoyment. For me, recognizing what the author was going for and while not exactly sharing it, appreciating how close to the chosen mark he hits suggests at least 3 stars for me. It would have gotten more, but I suspect I'm not really the ideal subject for the book. I hope Mr. Slabon continues and writes outside his comfort zone, rather than resting easy upon the low laurels that many so-called genre writers do. He's probably better than that.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm honestly not sure where to begin when talking about Undead Reckoning. It's hard to pin down to just one genre for it, because this book hops all over the place. Eddie Griffin starts out in a zombie apocalypse, just like any other. Dead roaming the streets, terror, the standard. I was comfortable in this world, ready for some epic fighting, and then...all hell broke loose. Green men, knights in shining armor, crazy undead motorcyclists. The list goes on and on. There are so many pieces to this book that it's kind of like putting together some type of crazy puzzle.

That's not to say that it's not entertaining. Mike Slabon has a very descriptive form of writing, and if you're a fan of violent deaths then you'll be sitting pretty! Eddie Griffin is a hilarious character, and one that's very easy to connect with. He's brave, funny, and smart. Along the way he meets so many different types of characters and they bring new facets to his personality. I liked Eddie. He's honest. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty, and he's funny as hell.

My real problem with this book was just the craziness of the plot. A mix of fantasy and zombie book it was truly difficult for me to figure out exactly what was going on. The parts of it that I understood kept me reading. Eddie's personality kept me reading. At the end of the day though I was just too confused for words at the end of the story. I can't even honestly tell you half of what happened, because I'm still trying to figure it all out.

The nice thing is that Undead Reckoning doesn't take itself too seriously. It has the spark that needs to be there to keep you reading. It has hilarious scenes, and epic fights. The absurdity of some of it will make you laugh out loud. I'm not entirely certain how to explain this to you any better, so I'll leave it at this. Give this a shot if you're looking for something different. Something enjoyable. Something new.

[Darkhorse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to meet Mike Slabon at the Chapters book store in London, Ontario.
I purchased the book, which Mike so kindly signed.
I found this book to be very, hmmmmmmmm, interesting. There is no real character development until you are about half way in. The first part is just a tone of action and destruction. Lets not forget the almost magical introduction of new character (poof, there they are.)

I was somewhat skeptical of this book in the beginning, but I found I could not put it down. It is like that junk food that you don't really need, but you eat because you cant help yourself.

Good job, and I do look forward to reading the sequel

[Nequesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this through First Reads... Back in 2012... I'm a bad reviewer for leaving it this long, but the first attempt didn't catch my attention. Now that I'm more into zombies and such, I gave it another go, and really enjoyed it. The humour was great, and it had lots of action. I felt it was a really complex, but well woven story that unfolded as it needed to. There were some parts that made no sense, and I didn't like the ending was kind of abrupt. But overall, pretty good story that kept me interested all the way through the second time around. I don't know why I found it boring, but I guess this is for lovers of action, comedy and zombies.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having never read a zombie book before, I really wasn't sure what to expect when I received a copy of Undead Reckoning from a goodreads giveaway.
I was pleasantly surprised that there was a lot more to it than just zombies! The stories hero, Ed Griffin, finds himself on a magical adventure with a mysterious green man and a string of other interesting characters. There's plenty of action and unexpected twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the end.
It was a lot of fun to read. I would recommend it to anyone that likes the sci-fi/fantasy role play genre.

[Ben Kline]

Can't wait for this to arrive.

[Edy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story line. Lots of twists. Great fantasy/zombie book. Could have done without the footnotes as they made it a little distracting...but a great read none the less!