Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback

Zombie Apocalypse! #2

by Stephen Jones

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF...AND ZOMBIES!

Following the outbreak of Human Reanimation Virus -more commonly known as "The Death"- from a hidden crypt beneath a south London Church, the centuries-old plague quickly spreads throughout the world, turning its victims into flesh-eating zombies.

As we lean more about the mysterious Thomas Moreby -"patient Zero"- the surviving members of the human race begin their fightback against the legions of the walking dead, and the Infected themselves began mutating into something...different.

Told through interconnected eyewitness reports -emails, text messages, reports, diaries, found video footage, and graphic adaptations- the remnants of humanity battle to survive in a world gone mad.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Post Apocalyptic

540 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Stephen Jones is an eighteen-time winner of the British Fantasy Award.

Reviews

[Gef · Rating 5 out of 5]

Go into a bookstore and throw a rock. If you don't strike an employee--or a James Patterson novel--chances are pretty good you'll hit a book with zombies in it (triple score if you hit an employee holding James Patterson's new zombie novel). All right, put down the rock. I'm just saying there are a lot of books about zombies, but I highly doubt you'll find one quite like Stephen Jones' Zombie Apocalypse! Fight Back. Well, I think this is a sequel of sorts, actually--but that's it.

Presented as a compendium of written accounts from various sources, Fight Back depicts a zombie outbreak that ravages Great Britain and eventually the world. Personally, I'm not a fan of journal-entry style storytelling. Granted, I love Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but that's a rare exception. Most often I find those kinds of stories wearisome. Fight Back goes well beyond a collection of scribblings by people who inexplicably have time to write while trying to avoid having their brain eaten. This pseudo-anthology using a myriad of characters and conveyances to tell a captivating and cohesive narrative.

Entries span from the 1700s and move in chronological order, for the most part, highlighting the previous outbreak, its inception, and its renewal. There are letters written in the early 19th century by a young woman betrothed to a Thomas Moreby, whom she reviles and eventually discovers his cult-like followers, a secret lair, and evidence he may be much older than humanly possible. When it comes to concocting a half-reasonable explanation for zombies, this backstory concerning Moreby is not only unique, but a tad genius in its execution.

The mosaic presented is where the real genius lies, however, as the outbreak and resistance come through in a patchwork pattern of shared e-mails between scientists, tabloid clippings, plus a harrowing transcript of law enforcement units encountering what is ostensibly ground zero for the outbreak. There are even quirky or off-beat pieces like a comic book illustrator's downfall recorded one panel at a time, plus a series of e-mails from a fashion reporter in Paris overwhelmed by the outbreak.

There is so much layered throughout this book that a person could get lost in the minutiae that gives it its verisimilitude. While I found some passages a bit of a chore to read through, particularly the Twitter account of a graffiti artist, which just exemplified the banality of that medium to an excruciating degree, the book as a whole is a stunningly ambitious piece of work. It's definitely something every zombie fan should check out. Plus, the book itself is so visually rich in its presentation, I doubt very much a standard e-book could match the robustness displayed in the physical book.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to do a review of each individual section - each one being written by a different author - but it honestly strikes me as a waste of time. There's no real reason to read this book if you like each individual author. You should read this book if the premise interests you.

And I just don't think the premise interests me very much. This book documents a zombie apocalypse from a wide variety of 'primary sources' - letters, diary entries, transcripts of videos, a Twitter feed, newspapers, official memos, and the like. This sounds like it could be interesting, but it's really not. Part of the problem is that there's only one recurring character, and he's an evil, un-complex villain. There's nobody to connect to here. Another part of the problem is that a lot of the storytelling was just boring, or even downright confusing. A lot of the sections switched rapidly between different formats - for instance, one section consisted going through an iPad flash drive, rotating through text files, audio files, and video files. It gets difficult to follow, and it's rarely worth it. So what if I miss one particular section? It won't matter in a few pages, because a new one will have started. It's also extremely dry at times. The authors usually try to give their characters distinct voices and personalities, but they start blending together after a while. And everything is just so humorless and lifeless. They do try to insert some comic relief every once in a while, but it usually fails. All you're left with is the literary equivalent of stale bread - it's difficult to get through, and you don't gain much from it.

Maybe if you like both history and zombie apocalypse stories, this kind of thing might interest you, but otherwise, I don't see any reason you'd be entertained by this. There's not much of an actual plot - really, the individual sections usually have little to do with each other. This lack of structure is a constant problem, right towards the end of the book. There's no conclusion whatsoever, the book just kind of ends after they run out of things to show you. There are a few interesting sections - I very much enjoyed the bit where the journalist described the Fright Club, and the section with the Twitter feed was a bit unrealistic at times, but still entertaining. But overall, there's little of value here.

[Alexis Winning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zombie Apocalypse is in my top 5 books. I absolutely fell in love with the storytelling in the first book, so much so that I could forgive the silly "smart zombies" at the end. The sequel is certainly good, but there is "something" missing, that completely charmed me with the first.

I definitely liked the juxtaposition in the endings (cause I'll find any excuse to use words like "juxtaposition"), and I loved the more detailed backstory on Moreby.

What I just don't like are intelligent zombies. That's just me though. I was a little saddened by their predominance in this book. I think what I loved about the first book is that it was about the people, the survivors, their inner thoughts, etc. Fightback just doesn't deal with all the things I love about the zombie genre in the same way.

I would absolutely recommend this book if you've read the first. It's a good book, I'm just picky.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the first collection, Zombie Apocalypse!, this book contains many differing accounts of the fall of humanity and the rise of the zombie. Overall the collection is pretty solid and there are a few tales that I thought really stood out.

Paris When it Sizzles by Anne Billson - High fashion and flesh-eaters? Who wouldn’t want to know how zombies fair on the streets the French capital city. The undead hordes versus Gallic indifference is a sight to behold. One of the things I enjoyed about this novel’s predecessor was that the action took place all across the globe. I’m not always a fan of apocalyptic fiction that sticks to a small canvas, I want events to feel truly global. Stories like this maintain the international scope of the events that are unfolding.

Pages from a British Field Manual by Guy Adams - Interspersed between the pages of the manual for dealing with the zombie situation, a man writes a final letter to his son. He tries to explain his reasons for deciding to join the fight against the undead. This story illustrates very effectively that zombie stories don’t always have to about gore or body horror. It’s nice when fiction catches you by surprise and takes you in completely the opposite direction from where you expected to go. This ends on a bittersweet note that tugged at the old heartstrings.

Peace Land Blood by Sarah Pinborough – The basis of this story is a series of increasingly desperate telegrams sent from the British Ambassador in Russia, back to the UK. This is another example of fiction that very effectively captures the collapse of society on a foreign shore. The Russian response to the zombie problem is totally in keeping with their turbulent political history. Nice to see familiar faces from the Communist old guard make an appearance as well.

Fright Club by Brian Hodge - I can sum up everything that you need to know about this particular story in three words – zombie cage fighting. This story really appealed to me. I’ll freely admit that I own a t-shirt that proudly proclaims “Zombie Cage Fighter” so I can only hope when the inevitable zombie apocalypse does occur that this will become a real sport.

The Play’s the Thing by Robert Shearman - A playwright is forced to write a new work for the zombie hordes. Who knew they were such a cultured bunch? The good news is that he’ll have the assistance of a few famous literary faces.

The stories that I’ve mentioned just scratch the surface. There are many more gruesome delights to discover, including what I can only describe as the nastiest sounding menu I have ever heard of. We learn the history of the zombie condition, and discover the details of the plagues initial source. Each author has provided a unique interpretation of the holocaust but where this anthology really succeeds is that the overall story arc flows seamlessly through each of the individual tales. There is a sense that events are building to a climax and each episode moves things forward.

I can appreciate that efforts have been made to keep this collection feeling as authentic/in-character as possible but I have to admit, it would have been nice to have page numbers and possibly the names of each story at the beginning of the book rather than just a list at the end. Sometimes it wasn’t immediately obvious where one ended and the next began. That said, this is only a technical gripe. The stories themselves are all very well presented.

I may be wrong but I think I spotted the suggestion that we’re not quite done yet. Is the endgame still to come? I do hope so.

[Maxwell Yang · Rating 2 out of 5]

As horrified as I was reading the first book in the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! series by Stephen Jones, I have to say I felt the same way after reading this book. Not horrified by what happened; horrified at how much potential it had lost.

This book, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! Fightback is the second book in the series that I mentioned earlier. It is also likely the last book I want to read in this series. Nearly every aspect of this book is very similar to the first book, simply titled ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!. Rather than one narrator, this book is told by the tale of many, whose fates have ended quite dismally, as this is a horror book.

But the one thing that is different from the first book is this book’s focus. ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! focused on zombies taking over most of Greater Europe, Greater Asia, and even most of the Americas. This book’s setting coincides with the first book’s setting; zombies prowling through the streets as many people just add and add via different methods of communications how doomed they are. However, the survivors are starting to notice vastly different patterns that the undead fiends exhibit; the thought process their alive counterparts share. This is evidently proven as a secret research facility starts to conduct experiments on zombies, but one displayed indications of intelligent thought via spoken communication. In other words, it talked.

At this point in the story, many will instantly think that the book had turned 100% more captivating. Now humans know what zombies think about, right? Won’t the humans be close to discovering how zombies think? Well, that’s what I thought too. It only served as a big pedestal for this book’s stairway to hell. Literally. The humor is prevalent, especially at how absurd the story becomes. This includes written accounts… FROM ZOMBIES. Their grammatical skill is actually greater than that of the humans’ tales, though.

The story is finished. Yes, like the book before it, this is very different from other stories. It is no longer a “what if” book. It’s now more like “what if this happened, which immediately leads to this? What if this happens?” It directly contrasts with most action books. There is no hero, just a congregated mass of good. For the zombies, however… now that’s something different. When you are bored and have nothing else to do, I recommend this book for entertainment purposes.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the first book (Zombie Apocalypse!) in this yet to be finished trilogy this was REALLY hard to put down. I will say that it wasn't nearly as good as the first one, but almost. Once again the anthology but with one cohesive story format works out perfectly. And with the improved graphic design of the book the found documents come off as even more believable.

I guess I could describe it as a sequel, but I feel that doesn't describe it exactly right. It does continue and add to the story, BUT doesn't start where the last one ends. The book starts actually before where the first one started, adding in extra details to the world and filling in gaps to the back story of how the zombie plague starts and spreads, with Thomas Moreby taking center stage throughout a lot of the book. That first third of the book was pretty heavy with references to stories from the first book which was highly enjoyable, although I'm not sure how someone who hadn't read the first one would feel.

In a way the volumes best feature in my opinion was, at the same time, a big part of why this wasn't a five star book. The book fills in a lot of the gaps in the story from the first one, gaps before, during AND after the things described in the first part. I adored seeing this world fleshed out even more, but at the same time I felt that made this volume much less of a good stand alone piece of literature. I can't imagine how all over the place with book would feel to someone who hadn't read the first one.

So in all a GREAT read, but I highly suggest reading the first volume to really get whats going on here.

[Martin Belcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Zombie Apocalypse series. Fightback is not really a sequel but more a standalone book in the same style as the first book. It is a "mosaic" novel, an interesting collection of eye witness reports, emails, twitter, diary entries, newspaper reports and the list goes on.... It really sucks you into the action and seems to hold your attention like nothing else. To be honest, I think you could quite easily read this one without reading the first book as the first part refreshes the original birth of the HRV contamination originating from All-Hallows church in Blackheath, London and from then on spreading the zombie plague around the world. There are some stand out pieces in this book, particularly "Paris when it sizzles" a story of beautiful Paris being overrun by an army of zombies and the really scary piece called "#z0mBEY" a excerpt from twitter describing a horrific zombie attack at Niagra Falls on the US/ Canadian border. What I like most about this book is that it is truly global and you get a feeling of what it would be like to see a zombie apocalypse across the globe and not just in one country. The only reason I give it four instead of five stars is I felt the first 40 odd pages describing he early history of Thomas Moreby a little on the boring side and too much in depth. The Zombie fight club sequence and the zombie menu were bordering on bad taste (excuse the pun) even for a zombie book. That aside it's a great read and unique for a zombie book.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I was pleasantly surprised, with the corny title and the cover of the last one (and still terrible name and considering how creative the book is, so-so cover of this one), and ordered this sequel. Now I have discovered that there are FIVE MORE of these, and yes, all are currently on their way to my grasping hands. I feel like these Mammoth Collections have rarely let me down. Still the same format--found files, plays, art work, diaries, letters, texts, transcripts, police reports, emails, and notes presumably after the events (ah, but who ultimately wins the war?)--but instead of playing it safe perhaps, takes it a step further. Some of the people we saw in the first collection--the doctor treating an infected Prince Charles, girlfriend of the soldier who is racing the nuclear bomb detonation over NYC, more backstory with the historian and what leads up to the rise of the zombies to begin with, and the American scientist who just might be able to find the cure, if not so distracted with the death of his wife. So we see (sort of, there are YES! FIVE MORE OF THESE!) how things wound up a bit narrative wise from the first.

Not that it matters. The twitter feed of the Banksy like artist who finds himself lost in the Niagara Falls wax museum, the lost letters of the extremely unlucky wife of the evil architect of this disaster Sir Thomas Moreby, who has regenerated himself with Satanic fleas, and plans to take over the world. Creepy crypts, giant globes filled with swimming heads, monsters, demons, ghosts, but somehow this felt more grounded in reality than any other zombie book I've read. Maybe because of the "found format" bit--and how thoroughly it covers the origin of how this came to be (which I would say 99% of other zombie books skip entirely). Moreby features in many of these stories, though not seen really in the last one, here we get straight to the heart of it--how zombies start to get smarter, by eating brains of humans, absorbing their skills and memories (sort of seen in the last one, with Elizabethan zombies able to pick up car keys and drive for short distances). Heck, even Shakespeare makes his undead reappearance. Now there are zombie armies, leaders, presidents, eager zombie theatrics led by an undead Oscar Wilde & Andrew Lloyd Webber among others, and of course the people trying to survive.

And due to how the infection also spreads via fleas, well it does add a wrinkle to things. You cannot get bit by a zombie, but a billion fleas outside harder to dodge. Whole new thing to be afraid of. The only story I was a little unenthused by was the Fright Club section. The Parisian fashion writer detailing for her editor the fall of Paris perhaps my favorite. It's still mainly UK-centric, but America, France, and especially Russia get their chance to shine too. Since, ALL dead rise from cemeteries in this book, Lenin reawakening from his waxy embalmed splendor was good in the embassy dispatches. And while it hits the horror and pathos buttons, it also has a streak of humor running throughout.

With these, I think no middle ground--you'll either love or hate this book. It might depend on how well you can decipher cursive, since a good portion of this book (last book too, but mostly those letters were in print) is in cursive, and made me reflect again on the slipping standards of penmanship. Whoever was in charge with the formatting and artwork of this book deserves a raise--the attention to detail and just the wit of the layout was impressive. Guess you can't judge a book by its cover!

[Kell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by making it clear that I have not read the first book (Zombie Apocalypse!). Let me also state that this did not impact on my enjoyment of this highly unusual novel.

The inventive use of emails, letters, articles, reports and transcripts, rather than a traditional narrative, taps into the modern multi-media age to superb effect. The reader is presented with a fate accompli in the form of eye-witness accounts during an outbreak on an apocalyptic scale the likes of which the world has never before experienced, and one is plunged right into the heart of things as events unfold. This makes for an incredibly eerie read and you find yourself peeking through the curtains at an unusual noise outside, and checking all the doors are locked… just in case!

It’s a totally immersive experience and fans of the zombie genre will lap this up. It is also sure to attract new fans as word spreads (hopefully with the same speed at which the zombie plague does!) because this truly is a fantastic read. Exciting, scary and poignant by turn, we get to see things from multiple points of view, which often changes out own opinion of events and those involved in them.

I can highly recommend picking this up. Just don’t pick up HRV (Human Reanimation Virus) when you do!

I will certainly be going back to pick up the first book as soon as possible!

[Lee Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last chunk of this book really saved it for me. It wasn't nearly as good as the first book. I'm being generous though and giving it four instead of three or three and a half stars because of its originality.

I love that Neil Gaiman contributed to this volume, although his was perhaps the shortest entry in the book. The rest were all very long... which was unfortunate at some points, because so many of them were boring to read. I like how many of them referred to people from the first volume. However, I was confused about the Willson family; they were in book one, and the way the author wrote his first installment, it sounded like Leaf, the neighbor, died, and Dr. Willson failed to resurrect her. Why did I think that? Because the 14 year old boy's fictional story at the end, and the final quote, made it sound like he wrote how he WISHED things had gone at Leaf's house. And yet she was alive again in book two...? There were also many stories with medical and military/police jargon, which made for dull reading.

But I did like the last few entires. The playwright one was interesting, and the letters addressed to Laura. I also liked finding out about Thomas Moreby some more, although he was detestable, and not in a good way.

I'm interested to see what happens in the final installment!

[Glenn Pabellano · Rating 4 out of 5]

first off, i have NOT read the first book yet.
now that's out of the way, i want to begin with saying how much i LOVE the style it was written; it has twitter-esque narration, emails, call transcript to name a few.
now, the best part for me about this book is: it has a different take on zombies (compared to the original zombies that Romero did, anyway). i won't go into much details so as to avoid spoilers, but it is a breath of air so to speak.
the downside? it did bore me at the beginning, the pacing was a bit slow to start, which for me is a downer, but once it got past the slow part, it's all smooth sailing from there.
all in all, i recommend this book to everyone who loves zombies AND love a new idea of how z's can act.
cheers.

[Matt Littrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. I'm giving it three stars for what's actually in it, but four for the presentation. I love the format. The emails, texts, phone calls and such. A very cool way to present an anthology!
Most of the content was pretty fun, and I liked the way the outbreak started, how it's known where and how. I find it hard to put into words really, how this book makes me feel. I liked it. But it also left me a little meh. That seems to be the way with anthologies.

In the end, I recommend this to zombie fans who want to see a little something different. While it didn't blow me away, I did like it enough to order the other 2 books in this anthology "trilogy".

[Jason Medina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed the first book better. There were only about three segments that I really enjoyed. I am having a hard time reading stories where zombies have intelligence. This book took it to a whole new level. I will begin the third soon. Hopefully, the stories will be better and not as silly as zombies wanting to see a play. Sorry to be critical, but this book was hard to read, which worries me since there are still several books to go before I finish the series.

[G. Edweird Cheese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Even better than the first. It continues a few of the story lines from the original, and it leaves a great opening for a third book. Much like the first, it's a great idea for a zombie novel... Not a straight narrative, but a bunch of news clippings, texts, tweets, diary entries, etc. that tell the story of how the zombies change and how humanity fights back. Freaking awesome!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this so much. It was a nice change of pace.

[Robert Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry into this great series. If anything I think I enjoyed this one even more than the first one. The timeline of both book is similar so this one really just adds a number of new voices to the first. The conceit of having the zombie apocalypse narrated through numerous records works really well, leaving the reader wondering who exactly has assembled this archive? and to what end? Gaps and discrepancies both between and within the various records require the reader's active engagement to complete the narrative, and serve to further mystify the nature and motives of the apocalypse's architect, Thomas Moreby. Many of the accounts are full of pathos, some are more action-orientated, and others - like the Zombie Fight Club - depressingly plausible considerations of how people might act in the event of a real zombie apocalypse. There is also humour, although this tends towards the blunt rather than the black. My one complaint about this book is sloppy proofreading, which is not really acceptable in such a slickly designed product. There are glaring typos in several of the stories where either a word has obviously missed or characters are misnamed. In the worst case a character is initially referred to as Kaz, subsequently as Zak, and then as Zac. Given the informality and haphazard nature of the collected 'records' its possible to read this as an extension of the unreliability of the narrators, but I'm not wholly convinced they're not just uncorrected errors.

[Graham · Rating 1 out of 5]

FIGHTBACK is the sequel to the first ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! anthology, edited by the great Stephen Jones and with another big team of collaborators making up a sprawling narrative. Sadly, I found this much the inferior of the first, so much so that I doubt I'll be bothering with any more in this series.

FIGHTBACK once again goes back to the beginning, with pastiches of historical diaries and the like to introduce mega-villain Thomas Moresby. Then, once again, we meet the police as they struggle to contain a zombie outbreak in scenes very similar to those in the first book (although as they're written by Christopher Fowler, they're the most atmospheric of the book and thus the best).

Around the halfway mark, the scope expands globally and towards the USA in particular, and I found at this point it fell apart. The reports and random jokes aren't written in a very interesting way, the lack of characters hurts it, and some twists regarding the zombies just feel silly. In a bid to do something 'new' with the genre, I'm afraid Jones et al ended up sacrificing any kind of believability whatsoever.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first Mammoth Book of the Zombie Apocalypse. I ordered the second volume (which deals with the zombie invasion as it spreads to the United States) expecting more of the same. Boy, was I surprised! There is still plenty of zombie action, but the virus that created them begins to change them. Once their hunger is satiated, zombies begin to think of other things. They begin to talk, to strategize, to consider what their legacy will be. One of the more amusing segments has the undead contacting a living playwright in order to commemorate "their victory". The book ends on this I Am Legend note. None of the segments were ever boring. I found each one fascinating in its own way.

[Riley Blok · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was overall a good book that offered many different points of views in regards to a zombie apocalypse. I liked the detail and back story of how it all originated. However, I will say it was extremely difficult for me to get into because it was so dense. It does pick up though! It was only hard because the historical pieces that were put in. I loved the perspective of this book and is unlike any zombie book I’ve read. Some of the stories went on for a little too long but other stories you could see a spin-off book being written one day. Overall, I say this book is worth the read because it is SO different!

[Adafrog · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea of this book is really cool, but there is a lot of writing similar to the 1800's style that the editor loves (and that I really don't enjoy). Also, the print size is so small that it makes it difficult to read - yes, I'm getting older, but I do not have that trouble with any other books I've read. So yeah, didn't make it past a dozen pages or so.

[Racheal Winson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second in the series of "Zombie Apocalypse" and it goes back to try to fill in some of the details that are briefly mentioned in the first book. However, because of this, it isn't as engaging and fluid as the first book. There are also some texts written in VERY difficult to read cursive that I very nearly just gave up on.

[Little Legs Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first one - devoured it (pun intended) in a couple of days. Quite an interesting take on a genre that’s pretty flooded now. This book lacked the pace of the first and was very fragmented. The various entries in the first book were cohesive, despite their different styles and presentations. At points in this book I wasn’t too sure what was going on. Shame.

[Clairey_pop · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have tried to finish this book twice and I just can't do it! It starts off ok, and just goes down hill.
I know the idea of zombies is out there and far fetched but the way the story goes in this book just takes it too far, and it sapped all the enjoyment of it out for me.
Not for me at all

[Paul Retkwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Begins strong, gets progressively stupider.

[Fraser Skillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard at times to get through some of the stories. Nonetheless I would recommend .

[Majesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book was definitely better, the Thomas Morbey coming back bit kinda put me off, and seemed less organised, making some of the stories harder to follow.

[Ethan Linville · Rating 3 out of 5]

lost steam around the second half

[M.G. Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is book two of the now planned "Zombie Apocalypse!" trilogy. If you've read the first one, you'll know what to expect from the tone and format of the first. If you haven't read it, you'll need to because firstly the format will come as a surprise to you and much of this book will not make sense anyway. Like the first, the story does not progress in a conventional narrative format but through collections of documents, emails, official reports, letters, tweets etc.

Only this time, the earlier part of the book focuses almost entirely on the man who was responsible for the zombie outbreak, the "Zombie King" Thomas Moreby who in the 18th century built the church and the crypt beneath that housed the fleas that carry the disease. Who was he? What was he like? How was he responsible for the zombie apocalypse hundreds of years after his life? More importantly, who is this man in the modern day now claiming to be him? Did he really come back from the dead?

We also have a scene setting exercise where more history of All Hallow's Church at Hobbs Lane where the outbreak occurred is revealed. Medievel chroniclers discuss horned creatures, 1950s fighter pilots reveal images of demons in clouds and modern archaeologists explain that bones of bizarre ape-like creatures were dug up on the site with the expansion of the tube. Locals over the course of the 20th century report a "dwarf man" in the vicinity of Hobbs Lane scuttling away when spotted. All very bizarre and intriguing so far. Tales of missing children and even a few celebrity commenters are included (H.G. Wells discusses writing a story about the church and its strange occurences).

We also go back to the start of the outbreak for reports and records from different angles. I found this all a bit unncessary, personally. It was achieved rather perfectly in the first book and to include it in the second book feels like overkill. The new developments about the archaeology and the older reports are intriguing though and we do take it in a new direction to Paris and Moscow and see how those countries are dealing with the outbreak. Early on, it does feel like more of the same though, even though we are moving toward the titular fightback before we get halfway through but by this point, we see no hope of humanity winning.

The blurb promises a mutation - a sea change in the reanimated. I won't reveal what that is though to avoid spoiling the plot for anyone who is intrigued enough to read the series. What I will say is that it is hinted at toward the end of the first book and left it on what for many seemed to have been a bizarre and unexplained cliffhanger. I'll say no more except read it, and if you haven't already then read the first one!

My only complaint is the fuzzy line between science and supernatural which dithers and doesn't quite work for me. The collection of writers who set down a clear and careful science to the zombie virus (because that is how it is spread) use what for me was a terrible supernatural mcguffin. It would have been better to have gone one way or another. Still, this has become intriguing for its quirky and unusual approach. I will say that I didn't think it was quite as good as the first, partly because of we've now lost the impact of the surprising style of writing and partly because of how we know the zombie infestation develops makes them slightly less scary.

See more book reviews at my blog

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. I read the first book, and I absolutely LOVE the 'found footage' genre when it's applied to end of the world situations. It's kind of similar to World War Z, so if you've read that, read these books. I was pleased to find a second book as the first one was left open.

2. There's a good variety of ways the story is told, from a Twitter feed, to emails, to newspaper reports, to jokes by an undead comedian. Each one carries the story along just like in the first book.

3. I found the expansion of Thomas Moreby's story both thrilling, confusing and disturbing. This book isn't afraid to take it's own zombie world and move it forwards. It definitely takes a step away from zombie science fiction towards zombie paranormal, what with the zombies becoming sentient, people resurrecting from underground crypts, and zombies hatching mad plans to rule the world. I still am not sure if I like this or not, but it was definitely addictive to read.

4. A few of the 'chapters' (each 'type' of found footage was organised into loose chapters, for example one set of email exchanges was more or less one chapter in the story) went on for a really long time, and my attention started to wane.

5. A lot of threads were left untucked, and whilst sometimes this is necessary in a story, I would really have liked to have known what happened with the nuclear strikes, and what happened in other parts of the world. For example, Australia, what happened there and if in other far flung parts of the world. Were they over run? Did they escape unharmed?

6. The gore was definitely there, so don't read if faint hearted. If you got through the first book, you'll definitely be ok with this one.

7. I didn't realise until I looked in the back cover that this was a collaborative work, with lots of people chipping in. I love this, it almost makes it like an anthology of short stories.

8. I liked how there wasn't a neat, happy ending. A lot of apocalypse genre books fall into the trap of wanting to give the reader a happy ending. It was refreshing to realise that the world was pretty much screwed in this book, although this means I wouldn't reccomend reading this book whilst a bit down in the dumps.

9. I was thinking there could be room for another book, but I don't know if it's reached it's natural good conclusion now.

10. I would have liked to have a few point of view accounts of leaders of the countries involved, for example an account from the president who apparently goes to his bunker.

[Antony Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

From AntonySimpson.com:

Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback is the sequel to Zombie Apocalypse! I was disappointed with Zombie Apocalypse!, but I still picked up Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback and was pleasantly surprised.

First let me explain the premise of Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback. Following the breakout of the Human Reanimation Virus (HRV) at All Hallows Church in south London; the book tells the story of Thomas Moreby (patient zero & leader of the zombies) and that of the human struggle for survival across the world.

The book uses a range of mediums to tell the story: emails, eye witness accounts, news paper articles, reports, diaries, photos, stills of video, twitter feeds and there’s even a poem. I love this idea and although Jones et al isn’t the first write in this way, they probably are the first to use the idea in a zombie story.

The plot was acceptably fascinating and well interwoven, especially considering the number of different writers. The pacing was good and kept the story moving along at a suitable pace. But the editing could have been better. It wasn’t that there were typos; but that there was a fair amount of padding that made the story feel like it could have been told in less words. There was a lot of telling and more could have been shown to the reader.

The characters changed too often and lacked depth. The closest the book came to depth was the two brothers at the camp/caravan site, which ended far too prematurely. I would like to have read much more of their story.

The ‘Twitter pages’ were the worst as they went on for far too long (I actually skipped a number of these pages) and felt completely unbelievable. The characters description of events in tweets didn’t feel right. The whole concept that he would be on twitter, when he was being hunted in a dark museum by monsters failed to be remotely believable.

Overall Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback was a gigantic improvement on Zombie Apocalypse!, but still needs more work. Anybody that likes a zombie read will enjoy it, but it will not be a reader’s favourite in the zombie story genre.