Machines of the Dead

Machines of the Dead #1

by David Bernstein

The dead are rising. The island of Manhattan is quarantined. Helicopters guard the airways while gunships patrol the waters. Bridges and tunnels are closed off. Anyone trying to leave is shot on sight. For Jack Warren, survival is out of his hands when a group of armed military men kidnap him and his infected wife from their apartment and bring them to a bunker five stories below the city. There, Jack learns a terrible truth and the reason why the dead have risen. With the help of a few others, he must find a way to escape the bunker and make it out of the city alive.

Genres: Zombies, Horror

190 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2012

Reviews

[Lindsey Goddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the world of horror, zombies are King. I would venture to say they are the most popular monster in a true horror fan's eyes (and yes, I'm talking HORROR here, not paranormal romance!). I can only imagine this is both a blessing and a curse to any writer who sits down and decides to pen a zombie tale. A blessing, because zombies always have a place in the heart of their fanbase. A curse, because those same fans grow weary of the tired concepts that have been recycled over and over again since Romero's debut film.

That being said, David Bernstein recognized this challenge and took the bull by the horns. He's come up with an original idea, and one that--the more you read--starts to seem like a possibility! That's good writing! I often found myself forgetting that the author has changed the game. A lead character would suffer a bite wound from one of the undead, and my heart would immediately sink, saying "Oh man, I liked that character." But that's just it! A bite doesn't necessarily mean you're a goner in Machines Of The Dead. The rules have changed. The machines are inside of the infected, and they can be fought!

Fight your way through this novel, and come out the other end with a different outlook on the zombie genre. You won't be disappointed. David Bernstein has created a different sort of zombie, which--I guarantee--will leave you hungry for more.

[Kevin Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new take on zombies you say? A new and unique way to justify a zombie apocalypse? I didn't think there was much of a chance that somebody would come up with a new and viable explanation for the zombie apocalypse, let alone one that was intriguing. Lately, authors have been slapping on the same old `It's a virus turning people to zombies!' or something of that nature. But there aren't very many authors who try to take it from a completely different angle, and those who try, usually destroy a lot of the realism from their stories. `Machines of the Dead' takes a very different view on the creation of the undead, and dips into a little bit of sci-fi in the process, making for an enjoyable read.
Nanobots are the cause for the zombie plague in this novel and at first, I was a little sceptical if he could pull it off but to my pleasant surprise, the author doesn't make the story any less realistic. With so many stories just using the ol' virus explanation, it was great to see something that stood apart from all of the others by trying something different. Not only did he use a fresh explanation for the zombie apocalypse, he also used this element to help create a very unique plot. Not only are the nanobots the cause of the zombie plague, but they add another way to dispose of the ghouls without a head-shot. I won't go into too much detail but I am impressed at how the author used these creative sci-fi elements in order to twist this plot into something different from the bland zombie novels out there. David Bernstein receives a lot of points in my book because he delivers a truly unique slant on the genre.
The characters are likeable, mainly because of the fact that they are a little rough around the edges. I am not a fan of stories that feature saint-like main characters, it's just unrealistic and the characters themselves seem more improbable than the undead. Luckily, the readers are presented a small cast of likeable and relatable characters that help move the story along at a comfortable speed. The novel is pretty short, but despite the story's length, I was still able to connect with the characters.
One of the best aspects of this novel is the realism. Not only are the characters real, but the plot itself is plausible with the nanobots and engaging. Nano technological is on the rise and in the coming decades, we might end up using Nano technological in our everyday lives--that makes this novel a bit more frightening.
Overall: Machines of the Dead is definitely worth a read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The nanobots idea was very clever and as a aspiring zombie novelist, this makes me a bit jealous for not coming up with something that good. I wished that it was longer and that I got to spend a little bit more time with the characters, but that was my only real qualm. Despite its length, the quality of the story you get is definitely a good bang for your buck. Recommended? Hell yes.

[Uptown Horror Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book doesnt re-invent the wheel when it comes to zombie novels, but it IS a damn good time.

The US army has a top secret project where they plan on using nanobots to heal soldiers within seconds during the heat of battle, but of course - it all goes wrong and the nanobots wind up turning people into zombies with a hankering for human flesh.

The book had a lot of great moments and it was a fun ride, but as I grow as I reader I start noticing things such as our main character not having ANY type of backstory whatsoever. We know that his wife has become a zombie and that's about it. Normally that wouldn't have bothered me, but Im getting kinda snobby about my book critiques, so I couldn't help but be a bit annoyed by it.

Regardless of my one gripe with this book, it was still very entertaining and this is one of the few instances where I cant wait to continue the series and see what happens next.

Im giving Machines Of The Dead 4 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

For in-depth video reviews, please subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/UptownHorrorRev...

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but not a fan of the plot, writing & “villains” in this one. It felt kind of thrown together/piecemeal.

[Kaisersoze · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Bernstein here delivers a fairly generic zombie apocalyptic tale distinguished by a better than usual idea on how the dead return and why they eat the living. Machines of the Dead also benefits from being fast-paced and having a number of good action scenes as the protagonist and his small band of allies fight to survive. Speaking of, said characters are drawn out well, deftly pulling the reader into their struggles for survival.

However, the evil scientist and his supportive band of soldiers make for bland villains, and everything proceeds pretty much as one would expect within this type of tale, complete with cliff-hanger ending to draw the reader back to the next installment. In fact, the last 15 pages feel exceedingly rushed, with a bunch of things happening off page in a way that felt far less than satisfying.

All in all then, Machines of the Dead is a decent zombie novel, though one which is unlikely to linger overly long in the memory.

3 Essential Tasers for Machines of the Dead.

[Jennifer-Eve Workman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really unique explanation how the whole zombie apocalypse actually happen. Most zombie books do little to really explain what is actually happening in the "science" of why they are the walking dead. Machines of the Dead kind of broke out of the typical "zombie mold" and that my friends seems like a very hard thing to do.

In an underground government bunker, a truly mad scientist has figured out a way to inject "nanobots" into a human being, helping them (soldiers) heal faster from injury while fighting in wars across the world. Unfortunately, one of the extreme side effects causes the body to quickly suck a persons energy dry in order to help the healing process. These nanobots required a lot of protein for the human body to survive. If enough protein is not given during the beginning of this process it will literally eat a person to death. The real down side of this besides death? These nanobots prevent the bodies from actually enjoying an eternal rest. They take control of the brain in search of more protein from any source necessary. Making the dead walk and starving for raw protein.

The "hush hush" branch of the government that is responsible for this task has been using homeless people and runaways to test the nanobots on. Inevitably one of their test subjects gets away and as he runs through the streets of Manhattan, ends up biting bystanders spreading the nanobots into the unsuspecting. Soon it starts to evolve into the general population starting the apocalypse.

Jack, our main character, and his wife Jess...



TO BE CONTINUED....

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually don't go for zombie fiction anymore, because so much of it is the same, and doesn't really register as unique on my grid--they all seem to follow a similar template and not put much effort into it, or they go the humour route, which doesn't always interest me, but "Machines of the Dead" is one of the more unique zombie fiction titles to come out this year, and at least for the past few years. While not a complete reinvention of the genre, the author has invented a very creative, science-based non-virus way of a zombie outbreak that spreads. Military SF fans will like the covert ops aspect of the way the zombie disease is engineered, and hardcore zombie fans will love the action sequences. Watch out for more titles by this author. If you want something like Resident Evil but with more substance and a more interesting plot, read "Machines of the Dead."

Here's the link to my full review: http://thedarkeva.com/2012/07/book-re...

[Russell James · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Bernstein doesn't let up on the action in this zombie thriller about a man trapped in quarantined New York City during his version of the zombie apocalypse. The creative take on the origin of the disease is worth the read all by itself. Buy this book, but be warned that you’ll be searching for the sequel MACHINES OF THE DEAD 2 about ten minutes after you finish. It’s a must for fans of the zombie genre.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I continue my search for the ultimate zombie novel, I heard that David Bernstein's debut novel, Machines of the Dead, was a zombie novel unlike any that I've ever read before. That piqued my curiosity and I knew I had to check it out. Having read some of Bernstein's short stories, I knew the guy could write, so that wasn't an issue. The burning questions were, could he carry a novel (I've read many authors who write great short stories, but they fail miserably at novel-length tales) and what could be bring to the zombie genre that I hadn't read before?

The book opens deep beneath the streets of New York City, where, unbeknownst to the city's residents, Top Secret Government experiments are being carried out on the city's homeless population. The subjects are being injected with microscopic nanobots that are supposed to accelerate the body's natural healing processes. While the experiments are successful in that the body suddenly has the power to not only heal itself of minor wounds, but to regenerate lost limbs. Medical miracle? Decidedly so, if it wasn't for the side effects. It seems that in order to carry out the functions for which they were designed, the nanobots consume an awful lot of the body's energy, which creates in the subject an insatiable need to feed, and if that need is not sated, the nanobots will start to consume the host in order to obtain that energy. Even if the host dies, the nanobots continue to animate the dead tissue, driving it to devour living organisms in order to obtain the energy it needs. Under the experimental conditions, before things can progress to this point, the "infected" is subjected to a 50,000 volt taser blast, which effectively kills off the nanobots.

It would seem that they have everything under control—until one of their infected subjects manages to escape. Driven by this insatiable hunger, he attacks and bites the first person he sees, a young woman by the name of Jess. The fear of being returned to the underground lab outweighs the need to feed, and out man is on the run, leaving in his path one bitten body after another. It is only then, when Jess takes ill, dies, and comes back, that we learn that these nanobots are living organisms with the ability to reproduce, and they can be transferred from host to host. With the hopes of containing the outbreak, Jess and her husband are "kidnapped" and taken below ground. It's too late for her, but they are able to save Jack. But saving Jack was not done out of the goodness of their hearts, an attempt to atone for their sins. Something more sinister is at work here. Will Jack fall victim to the government scientists, or will he be able to, with the help of his new-found allies, escape the underground labs into a city gone to hell, a city where the dead outnumber the living?

When I first started Machines of the Dead, I thought I was going to be in for some trouble. I tend to be a purist where my monsters are concerned—werewolves are half-man/half-animal killing machines, NOT men who turn into oversized wolves; vampires are undead creatures of the night that prey on humans to survive, not romanticized objects of affection that want to date us, NOT eat us; and zombie are reanimated corpses with a hunger for brains and human flesh—so to attempt to blend horror with Science Fiction (a genre I avoid due to the tendency to get overly technical), I admit to having some reservations. The origin of the zombie in horror fiction has always been ambiguous—radiation caused by an asteroid passing too close to the earth; God's punishment on the sinners; medical experiments gone awry; Haitian servants run amuck; alien possession. There has never been a definitive cause for the zombie outbreak; theories, yes, but never, in my limited exposure to zombie fiction, has there been one true cause of the outbreak. Usually it's the "Why is this happening?", with no one around to supply the answer. So when the cause of the outbreak was spelled out so clearly as being purely scientific and not supernatural, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I'm still not sure. What I do know is that I enjoyed the book immensely.

Part of the success, I feel, is the author's refusal to get bogged down in the scientific aspect of the novel and focus more on the horror elements, that being the zombies. He explains what the nanobots are and what they are supposed to do without going into all the details as to how they do what they do. Other—and I don't want to say more experienced authors, but that is the first phrase that comes to mind, so I'm going with it—more experienced authors might attempt to go into the scientific details as to how the nanobots worked, and if that had been done, Bernstein would have lost me as a reader.

In addition to focusing on the zombies, Bernstein also focuses on character development, even those minor characters who, because of the attention that's been given to them, are killed off, much to the surprise of the reader because it seemed as if they were being groomed for a larger role. It was reminiscent of the discussion they had on The Talking Dead, the discussion panel that airs following showings of The Walking Dead, when they warned the viewers not to get too attached to any of the characters because any and all were in danger of being killed off. That helps to create a sense of urgency as you read, and you find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat hoping that certain characters are going to make it through to the end. And then there are characters who are supposed to be the good guys that you take an immediate disliking to and you hope they get killed off some time soon.

As much as I enjoyed the book, it is not without its flaws, the biggest is the tendency to repeat certain bits of information that were recently revealed in detail. One example that jumps to mind is when the reader is being given Zaun's backstory—and maybe the reason this example comes so quickly to mind is because I can't stand the character of Zaun and any flaws I find might tend to be magnified. The author has just finished giving us a complete inventory of the types of martial arts Zaun has been schooled in, and a page or two later, it's mentioned again. In detail. It's almost as if Bernstein didn't trust the reader enough to remember what was previously spelled out. There were a couple of other minor elements that stood out for me like a sore thumb, and it's something that needs the be shared equally between author and publisher, but I place most of the blame on the publisher. I'm not going to spell it out here because the average reader probably won't even notice it, but it's something I did bring to the author's attention.

The other issue I had was the lack of zombie action. It's there, but I wanted more. Granted, this is the first book in a proposed trilogy, so I'm willing to forego it at the moment. The central focus of this first novel was to create the apocalyptic background against which the book is set and and to introduce us to the characters.

Overall, I feel Bernstein did an excellent job of blending the genres of horror and SciFi. The pacing of the book, for the most part, is swift and fluid, like a rapidly moving river, but there are parts where is does grind to a halt as we are fed a character's (read Zaun) backstory. Again, maybe I'm harping on this because of who the character is, but I feel releasing bits of the characters past in bits and pieces would have helped improve the flow instead of feeding it to us in one fell swoop. I have a feeling, though, that we won't have this issue in the second installment, as the main characters have already been introduced.

The bottom line: Is it worth reading? Most definitely. In a market that is quickly becoming over-saturated with zombie novels, Machines of the Dead offers a refreshing new look into the cause of the outbreak, and as innovative as it is, you won't see any running zombies here... and that's a good thing. So go ahead and pick it up. You won't be disappointed. Then again, maybe you will, as the book does leave you hanging in the end, and you'll be chomping at the bit for Book 2, which isn't available yet. You've been warned.

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read : July 26, 2021
Rating : 2,5 /3 Stars

I like the nanobot zombies and while not completely original it was entertaining enough to keep me reading.

However, this needs some more editing because it feels disjointed in places.

But there's other stuff that feels a little off like the fact that the"villain" is kinda.. Lame?
Or a bunker thats quipped with a year's worth of everything suddenly has no power, like 3 weeks in?

Except for all that, it was okay for a zombie book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bots

Can't trust a mad scientist. Nor people wish to do wrong. Granted it's not a unique story, but well written. The cast of characters were good and bad. Nice fast read for a quiet evening. Recommended

[Suzanne Robb · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read the title of this book I had no idea what to think. Giant machines that killed people, perhaps? As I began to read I realized it was something entirely different. A zombie novel that takes a completely new approach in how people are infected. You will not find outer space debris, or toxic radiation here. What Bernstein does is unique and interesting. If you can't tell, I am not going to ruin it for you.

The story follows Jack and then his friend Zaun and a new member to the group, Lopez, as they try to fight their way free from what they thought was safety, end up in perilous territory, and then have to make the tough decisions in order to survive.

Original, fast paced, very visual, and well worth a read.

[Leighton · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing was not good, a bit like I think mine would be if I wrote a book, but hey ho I'm not a professional writer...

I give it a resounding 1 star (see below)

1 star - binned it before half way, please don't write anymore!!!
2 stars - finally binned it after really trying, I mean really trying and I hate to not finishing someth....
3 stars - finished it but boy was that hard work on times, it just about hooked me back in as I was about to dump it
4 stars - great book but it lacked something, something, can't put my finger on it but.... something
5 stars - want more, more books, more movies about the books, more movies about the authors and the making of the movie, just more!!!(less)

[Fallon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this book 2 out of 5 starts only because it wasn't my thing. I'm not into zombies and gory books. but if I was into that kind of thing this book would have been really good. The writing style was a little too fast paced and not very descriptive. I had to make up how I wanted the characters to look because they weren't described very much. Other than that, this book was an easy read and was a good way to enter into the Halloween season. If you're into gore and zombies then this book would be good for you. Besides the fact that it wasn't my "cup of tea" it was an alright book.

[Tyr808 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it. The characters in the book felt real, the story was enthralling and well thought out, and the book in general was a highly enjoyable experience. I REALLY look forward to reading the sequel!

[Janene · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading this author and can safely say I'll be reading more. Zombie novels are my fave and this one was done well. Kept me reading and no editing issues worth mentioning. I typically don't care for books under 325 pages....but this one at 190 was an exception. Recommended.

[Sheri White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun zombie story with a twist. Review to come soon.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is action-packed, with a new take on the zombie genre. Simply, it left me wanting more. Thankfully, it is part one of a trilogy.

[Cigdem Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book I liked it.

Good book I liked it and the characters. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Hope the second book will be just as good or better.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Bad, Not Brilliant An enjoyable read, but not particularly exceptional.