Z 2134

Z 2134 #1

by Sean Platt, David W. Wright

z 2134 is a thrilling new zombie serial in the spirit of 1984, The Walking Dead, and The Hunger Games, from the writers of the post-apocalyptic smash hit serial, Yesterday’s Gone.
It is the year 2134 in a dystopian America, following a series of zombie plagues which infected and decimated much of the world’s population starting 100 years ago.

Those left, formed six walled Cities throughout the continent, all under the rule of a totalitarian government which enforces strict control over its populace.

You must obey your government.
You must be a good citizen.
You must be a productive citizen.
You must not break the law.
Or The City Watch will find you and arrest you.

Jonah Lovecraft, a former Watcher, was arrested for the murder of his wife. And like most criminals, he has one chance at freedom — to participate in The Darwin Games, a televised survival show which pits two players from each city against one another in The Barrens, the uninhabited areas outside the City Walls.

He’ll also have to face another enemy — the zombies which still roam The Barrens.
As he fights for his freedom against impossible odds, his daughter, Anastasia, stumbles into people who have information about her father — information which will change her life forever.

But it will also put her in the crosshairs of her father’s enemies.

Episode List
This book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book. Learn more about Kindle Serials

Episode 1: Released on October 9, 2012. 120 pages. Anastasia Lovecraft watches on TV as her estranged father, Jonah Lovecraft, fights for his life in the Darwin Games. Jonah's struggle to survive outside City 6 mirrors Anastasia's own troubles, and as she learns the truth about his past, she realizes their lives are even more similar than either one ever thought...
Episode 2: Released on October 23, 2012. 63 pages. Ana tries to survive her first day in The Darwin Games while Jonah faces a new threat: his past.
Episode 3: Released on November 6, 2012. 60 pages. Ana is stalked while Liam tries to survive a forced partnership in The Games. As Adam tries navigate the cruelties of the orphanage, he's given an opportunity to make a powerful ally—but at what cost?
Episode 4: Released November 20, 2012 (Final Episode). 89 pages. Ana is forced to make a horrible decision, Liam's secret is revealed, Jonah attempts a bold escape, and Adam decides to fight back in the stunning Season One finale of Z 2134!

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic, Fantasy

296 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2012

About the author

Sean loves writing books, even more than reading them. He is co-founder of Collective Inkwell and Realm & Sands imprints, writes for children under the name Guy Incognito, and has more than his share of nose.

Together with co-authors David Wright and Johnny B. Truant, Sean has written the series Yesterdays Gone, WhiteSpace, ForNevermore, Available Darkness, Dark Crossings, Unicorn Western, The Beam, Namaste, Robot Proletariat, Cursed, Greens, Space Shuttle, and Everyone Gets Divorced. He also co-wrote the how-to indie book, Write. Publish. Repeat.

With Collective Inkwell
Yesterday's Gone: Post Apocalyptic - LOST by way of The Stand
WhiteSpace: Paranoid thriller on fictitious Hamilton Island
ForNevermore: YA horror that reads nothing like YA Horror
Available Darkness: A new breed of vampire thriller
Dark Crossings: Short stories, killer endings

With 47North
Z 2134: The Walking Dead meets The Hunger Games
Monstrous: Beauty and the Beast meets The Punisher

With Realm & Sands
Unicorn Western: The best story to ever come from a stupid idea
The Beam: Smart sci-fi to make you wonder exactly who we are
Namaste: A revenge thriller like nothing you've ever read
Robot Proletariat: The revolution starts here
Cursed: The old werewolf legend turned upside down
Greens: Retail noir comedy
Space Shuttle: Over the top comedy with all your favorite sci-fi characters
Everyone Gets Divorced: Like "Always Sunny" and "How I Met Your Mother" had a baby on your Kindle

Sean lives in Austin, TX with his wife, daughter, and son.
Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/seanplatt
 (say hi so he can follow you back!)

Reviews

[M.G. Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is rather obvious from the start from which other works this book got its inspiration: 1984, The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games. Unfortunately, it has the depth of none of those things merely taking a few sample ideas and pumping it into this book. Voila! I would consider this a work of reverse alchemy, taking three great things and turning it into a useless piece of slush that is neither satisfactory nor particularly clever.

It is written in a rather juvenile way with lots of random swear words, needless sexual references and childish prose “All she wanted to do was smash his fucking fat face to show what she really thought of the little prick”. Yeah, move over Shakespeare. If this is YA literature then this form of writing will only appeal to the sort of teenagers who buy albums with explicit lyrics for no other reason than that they have explicit lyrics.

It is actually quite badly written too as the authors lurch from schoolboy error to schoolboy error. The sin of telling rather than showing is no better demonstrated than in this book. “He had to move slowly or the zombies would see him. The last thing he needed was for to stand on a bit of twig and they all look up and come rushing toward him. If that happened, he’d be dead”. Errr, yeah thanks. That great thing about being a writer is that you imply and then let the reader fill in the gaps

I’m not sure if it is the writers treating the readers with contempt or merely not giving their intended audience the credit for having intelligence enough to absorb themselves into the world. It is all rather one dimensional. All we know is that the six cities are fortified against the wasteland that the zombies occupy. We don’t know anything else except that they are totalitarian and watch all the citizens around the clock. No context or reason for this state of affairs is given.

The zombies though are so underused for much of the book that they do not even begin to qualify as a plot device, not even a MacGuffin against which the story develops.

The howlers continue as the writers make it blatantly clear that they do not agree with having clever little twists in this book: “He [Jonah] would kill Bear and earn his way into City 7, so the plans he’d been making since seven seconds after his arrest could finally get started.” A revelation along these lines would have added substance later on but no matter, no need to allow your readers to think for themselves.

So that’s 1984 and The Walking Dead. How does it relate to The Hunger Games?

The Darwin Games. People fighting against each other and zombies to the death until there is a winner (who then gets to live in the utopian “City 7″. Instead of teenage tributes they are criminals – and there are two from each city. Our hero is Jonah Lovecraft – a man in The Darwin Games for the murder of his wiofe. What’s more, he was turned in by his daughter – Ana – but many believe him innocent and his daughter sorely mistaken about what she witnessed. Then she too finds herself in The Darwin Games and faces the opportunity to join her father in City 7.

Unfortunately, what is really going on is revealed far too early (refer to my earlier comment about the lack of twists) and what is going to happen is rather predictable. Literally nothing comes as a surprise and the one twist that the book includes is rather obvious way before it even happens.

Despite this wealth of complaints and criticisms, in some ways it is rather enjoyable but enjoyable to the extent that a lover of prime steak really does sometimes just want a Big Mac.

See more book reviews at my blog

[Babbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really should stop reading books that claim they are just as good as other wildly popular books. The influence of Z 2134 is obviously 1984, The Hunger Games, and The Walking Dead, though not as well executed as any of the above. The events take place in a post-zombie outbreak world, where 6 known cities survive. Criminals take part in the Darwin Games, a very closely tied adaptation of The Hunger Games, except the participants have zombies as well as other contestants to deal with. We aren't really given any backstory on the 1984 like surveillance, or how the government really works. The only thing we do know is that instead of living in a Victor Village in their own district city, the Darwin Games winner moves on to City 7--a Utopian city free of zombies and big brother.

All in all the writing really lacked something to be desired, and might have been better in the serial format the author is used to, though the bigger issues I have with this story wouldn't be solved regardless of format. One chapter even starts with the final few paragraphs of the previous chapter, only adding to the mound of frustration experienced while reading.

The writing style in general also lapses occasionally into something an early teen might write, which gives us SEVERAL gems like the following: "Her snarl was so sexy Liam wanted to lick it. He tried to shake the image, surprised he could be turned on considering the danger." This particular quote was taken during what should have been a tense moment in the Darwin Games, which plays as a kind of backdrop throughout other plotlines through the book, and feels a bit like direct rip-offs from the Hunger Games.

The shifts in perspective made the story seem more fractured, with the change between a young boy, a teen girl, an early 20s man, and an adult man.

While this could have been an interesting mix of concepts, the writing never fully realized either the world or any of the characters, meaning I didn't care when they were put in life threatening situations and the world just never felt believable. Add in the fact you get no resolution by the end and I think I'm opting out instead of going forward.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise was definitely similar to Hunger Games....but with zombies. The zombies don't add much to the plot other than being just one more thing that can kill you in the televised game for survival that Jonah Lovecraft is emersed in. He's done something to piss off the big-brother-type government, and as punishment is forced into the game. If he survives, he is supposed to be rewarded with a second chance of a new life in City 7 - the most utopian city within the government. Johan is not the only POV we get in the book. There is also Ana, his daughter, who also finds herself in a separate season of the games. Adam, her younger brother, who seems to be "slow-witted". And Liam, who enters the games to keep Ana company even if it means his death since only one winner will survive. He feels guilty that he is the reason Ana is there and is willing to die to make it up to her.

I listened to the audio version of the book and it was decent. At first, you are all caught up with Jonah's survival in the game, but soon the politics of the dystopian society take center stage. It was an entertaining book, and I might pick up the next one when I get a chance.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the year 2134, in a cross between The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead, former City Watch cop Jonah Lovecraft, convicted of his wife's murder, finds himself taking part in The Darwin Games, a trial to the death to win the prize of a new life in the utopian City 6 - although he probably won't be able to see his daughter and son again, at least he will have survived and can then try to prove his innocence of the charges, falsely brought he thinks because of the government's discovery of his working with the Underground, a resistance movement helping people escape the totalitarian regime. There are also chapters featuring Jonah's daughter Anastasia, as she tries to cope in the foster home to which she and her brother have been sent in the wake of her father's conviction - she gave evidence against him, having 'witnessed' him murdering his wife, Anastasia's mother. But, when Anastasia meets people involved in the Underground, she learns that chips implanted by the government in everyone's heads can be used to generate false memories, so she begins to question what she thought she saw - then is arrested and also ends up participating in the Darwin Games...
This was a gripping and exciting dystopian thriller - great characters and action - but, despite the author's ravings about how good Amazon is, I was dismayed to find that the sequel books (Z 2135 and Z 2136) are not available at present and, even if they were, only on MP3. So annoying when the story is left very much in the balance and 'to be continued'. Hence, only a 3 star rating from me! - 7/10.

[Dean Macholl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hunger Games with zombies.

Pretty much saying Hunger Games with zombies sums up this book. I don't mean that in a good way unfortunately. It's too similar to Hunger Games. It's more graphic and adult oriented for sure. Ended with some major cliffhangers and I'm honestly surprised to find myself wanting to see what happens next. I say that I'm surprised because I couldn't wait to finish this book so I could move on (away from it). Even though it was an edge of your seat read, there was a lot of recapping. I found myself rereading the last page or so of the previous chapter more than once in someone else's point of view and it was annoying and unnecessary. Three stars for putting a new spin on the zombies and for having a pretty decent fight the power\rebellion plot.

[Jayme · Rating 2 out of 5]

FYI- I made it to the end of the first "Season". **2 slight spoilers--
This was just not my sort of thing. Didn't enjoy it at all. I am a pretty big zombie fan but the zombie's are just kind of in the back ground, more like scenery. The other thing I couldn't really get over were the similarities between Z2134 and The Hunger Games. In my opinion, there is just not enough differences to not provoke comparisons. That is the worst part about the book.
The Games portion is poorly written. *Slight spoiler- You really don't have a sense of what is going on (When Ana is in them). How many people are left? How close are they to the end? It just seems like it isn't important.
I also didn't like the parts with Jonah. * Slight spoiler- He seemed like he was going to be a great character and then is saved when one character goes and does something that goes against everything she had done earlier. It just seems like at the end they had to get him out of the jam he was in and didn't have any other way to do it.
Having said that I hate giving a bad review. I love reading and I fully respect the serial thing they are doing (read the author's note at the end). I have never written anything so it is hard for me to come down too hard on anyone that has successfully written anything. I did really enjoy the Adam character and thought that he was the best written part of the entire novel. I give it one star for what I thought of it and then another because I didn't want to be that guy giving it one star.

[Karl Pendlebury · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I heard there was a book that combined The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead (two of my favourite things EVER) I stopped everything I was doing (had to remind myself to breath) and slumped on the sofa with my Kindle and a nice big mug of tea....

Hours later I was left speechless, emotionally drained and with a cold mug of tea... Z 2134 was INCREDIBLE.

I loved the characters, the progression of the storyline and most of all EVERYTHING!! The premise of the story does have a few similarities to The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead in the sense that there's a fight to the death and also zombies... but apart from that it's an amazing tale all on it's own...

I also didn't realise it was written as a "series" until I'd got to the end and found it just.. stopped. on a HUGE cliffhanger. so I went on the good ol' interweb to find out more about it, and discovered the beautiful new world of written series... definitely an interesting concept.

The ONLY thing i don't like about Z 2134 is that I'm STILL waiting for Z 2135!!! Hurry up and send it to the UK!! :)

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in the new Amazon Serials that Sean and David are writing, with Monster to follow. Z2134 is a different kind of Zombie book. It takes place in 2134, a dystopian future where the government sees all and watches all. Where neighbors rat out others and if you are seen as committing a crime they send you to the games where you battle other criminals and the zombies are trying to get at you too. We follow Jonah, a father who was accused of killing his wife, leaving his daughter and son in orphanages. The daughter was a witness against him and she believes he did it.
But as the plot unfolds there is more we learn about Jonah and Adam and Ana and their friends and the friends of her father. I love the way these guys write and read everything they put out there. This is a serial that will come every couple of weeks automatically downloaded to my Kindle because I paid the initial price, which gets me the whole book. Try it.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

hunger games with zombies. zombies and 1984 for no reason or backstory to the dystopia. really kind of just....fell flat. characters were pretty one-dimensional and plot was seriously lacking, obviously stretching for what i'm guessing is a trilogy. i won't be finding out.

[Byron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some decent action scenes but dialogue was tedious and the tone of the narration shifted constantly. I want the time I spent reading this one returned to me.

[Antonio Soto Patiño · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hunger Games with zombies (it's not me who says this; the authors themselves have acknowledged this)..
It's not a proper book, but a serialized writing ,and you can tell. It looks more like a series B TV series show, than a well conceived from the start book.
It's not a complete story; it's just the first part of a story to be completed in future books.
You never know the background of why things are as they are. No explanation about the past that brought the world to such apocalyptic state. Maybe they are reserving the story for future books, but almost nothing in this book.
Little character development nor evolution, and in some cases it is really not very believable.
Some very preposterous ideas: miles and miles of catacombs under the forests in the USA, really?; people hacking orbs as Deus ex machina, McGuffin or an absurd excuse to save the day almost like "by magic"; the whole family ends in the Darwin Games, but one by one, seriously?
I would spare positively the final paragraph, which is a huge cliffhanger, to be added to the many aspects of the story only partially or scarcely narrated here and reserved for future instalments. Pity that this is a book and not a TV show or a soap opera, where this technique would suit better.
But my best remembrance of this book is how Anastasia (or is it Ana?) has been hating her father for killing her mom for more than two years, wishing his death and taking a long effort and time to let her mind open to the possibility that he could be innocent... and when she learns all of a sudden that the ultimate responsible for her family and lives to be broken and be playing the Hunger (sorry, I meant the Darwin) Games... then... well... it takes her ten seconds more of less to understand his reasons and forgive him. "She only knew that she couldn’t continue to hate him. He did what he did and had his reasons." WOW!!! What's this??? An outstanding writer's block???? Really???
Two more details. If you are non native speaker in English and like to expand your vocabulary (that's always a primary reason to read books, isn't it?, or used to be back in the day), you will learn new vocabulary, not much, but you will learn it for sure because they repeat once and again the same terms and expressions, with little linguistic richness (something you should value in a book, or not?)
The second detail might be hard to apprehend if you are a US citizen, but if not you will catch it from moment one. The female main character has two names: the Russian Anastasia and the Spanish Ana, and you will have to get used to hear her referred by any of both names, indistinctly. Of course, I understand that this is an extreme case of apocopation (familiar shortening of a name, which happens in every language of the world), but it's taken here to such an extreme and exaggeration, transforming one name into a different one, and it sounds SOOOOO ridiculous...
There are some nice ideas and moments in the story as well, but the setbacks really are much of a handicap so that I can say that this book is (incomplete and unfinished and) very forgettable reading to kill the time if you have nothing else better at hand.

[Veronica DelaCruz-Araki · Rating 2 out of 5]

3.5 stars
It's similar to "Hunger Games" and takes a bit long to differentiate itself into a different story. I thought the main characters would be the girl (Ana) and boy (Liam), but I'm leaning towards the Dad (jonah) being the main.
At this point, I don't particularly care about the teens stuck in the games. Ana is annoying with absolutely no strength of character yet or skill to be alive in the games, while Liam is coming across as very contradictory: he's a womanizer, very one dimensional; then the author tries to change him right at the end of the book- but it doesn't make sense to me.
The only character I'm invested in right now is Jonah. I really wanted him to survive all the stuff thrown at him... then the author throws a curveball at the end that makes me wonder what the heck is really going on.
I probably will check out the next book in the series. But it'll be a while.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. As mentioned in just about every review of this book, there is a big "Hunger Games" feel to this book. And there are zombies. To me it was more of a "Maze Runner" world, with pockets of humanity with walls to keep the zombies out.

For punishment, criminals are volunteered into the "Darwin Games". This is where the criminals of each of the 6 remaining cities are dumped into the wastelands to fight each other and the roaming zombies for television viewing. The eventual sole winner gets transported to the mythical City 7, where they can live out their days drinking cocktails and relaxing by the pool.

We soon discover that the cities are a bit 1984 with big brother watching all, and knowing all, and those who don't comply are picked up by the thought police and are branded criminals against the state, and hello Darwin Games.

[Mayhem-RW · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a dystopian future, like 1984, and is very reminiscent of the Hunger Games, with a dash of The Walking Dead thrown in and a pinch of The Running Man. But, with all the similarities, it comes down to the story, and not just any story, an original story. Sadly to say, there is not a whole lot of originality in a lot of the scenes. Overall, however, the storyline has some uniqueness and is well-pieced together.

The telling of this tale, even with all the likenesses, kept me reading the entire book. But it was the cliffhanger that made me want to continue to volume 2 and continue with the series. This left me torn between the familiar and the originality.

As I want to continue reading the series, I give this Apocalyptic-Dystopian two stars out of five.

[Christine Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again! Great writing!

Sean Platt and David Wright have wrote another great serial that I will be reading. I started reading Johnny Truant and Sean Platt’s Alien Invasion Series and I loved the writing and the world so much i looked up these authors web site and from there I was introduced to their serials through Yesterday’s Gone. I just couldn’t get enough of these authors so I dove write into Z 2134 and they do not disappoint. From the the first chapter to the last I was hooked on Ana, Jonah, and Liam’s adventure. I can’t wait to start reading the next book in the series!

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook on this one and have to say that the narration is what got me though rather than the story itself. Now that's saying something to the art of voice acting. I won't be continuing the series as the story holds little interest and seems fragmented with too many stories, not everyone can have a turn at being an MC. However, I definitely will be listening to more from this voice actor.

[Joel]

DNFed at 11%.

Highlighted a couple of instances of errors and weird syntax. There were more I chose not to share. Writing style is odd and repetitive,and I don't have the patience to deal with it. Plot seems derivative of other works. If you're going to rehash an old story, at least give it a fresh take and attempt to be coherent.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I should have loved this one -- action and daring and all -- but somehow I was bored. I think I didn't really have time to get to know the important characters before I was supposed to be rooting for them. And I couldn't really figure out the worldbuilding --there were just too many random facts but no context.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of “The Darwin Games” was fantastic, turning this book into a combination of “The Hunger Games”/“Divergent” but with zombies.

If the book focussed more on the games, instead of the city drama, it would’ve been more interesting in my opinion. Maybe start with the beginning of Jonah’s Game, and then have the underground resistance bits sprinkled in, then Ana’s Game, then a resolution.

I also really disliked the character of Adam, and any chapters from his viewpoint.

[T.L. L. Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read with a fresh take in a dystopian story.

The premise is great. The world has hidden behind walls due to the zombies and society has degenerated into haves and have nots with death games for control and entertainment. Can’t wait to read the next one.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your everyday zombie

The author says a mix of hunger games , running man and 1984 and it so works! I hadn't heard of these guys and I'm glad I gave it a chance. Can't wait for the next

[sarah dovey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read

Thoroughly enjoyed this book as I love both the hunger games and zombies. Once I got into it (which didn't take long) I was hooked and read it in two days. Onto the next in the series

[Dave T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great one.

I really do like these authors. I was surprised to find that they had written a zombie series but am glad they did. It is a refreshingly different take but very good so far.

[Jaime Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good! Like hunger games that never end with zombies and crazy police run by the rich elite. So much blood and gore and action and twists. I enjoyed it and will definitely continue the series.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Z 2134 book 1

Great story! Great characters! Well worth the reading. Gritty and sometimes brutal but hopeful. And now on to the 2nd one.

[lee atkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read

Easy read but the story has already been done in hunger games this just has zombies added not sure if i will bother with the sequel

[David Titzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hunger Games with zombies.

[Nahnita · Rating 5 out of 5]

a cross between the hunger games and the movie running man! great book!

[Kechanna Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow.

This has blown me away, it’s like Battle Royale meets Hunger Games meets zombies. Can’t wait to read the next installment.

[Amy Verkruissen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunger games meets the zombie apocolypse with a little Matrix thrown in. I loved it!