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Zombie Apocalypse! #1
The Mammoth Book of Zombie Apocalypse!
A "mosaic novel" set in the near-future, when a desperate and ever-more controlling UK government decides to restore a sense of national pride with a New Festival of Britain. However, controversial plans to build on the site of an old church in South London releases a centuries-old plague that turns its victims into flesh-hungry ghouls whose bite or scratch passes the contagion on to others. Even worse, the virus may also have a supernatural origin with the power to revive the dead.Despite the attempts of the police, the military and those in power to understand and contain the infection commonly referred to as "The Death", it soon sweeps across London, transforming everyone who comes into contact with it. With the city - and the country - falling into chaos, even a drastic attempt at a "Final Solution" to eradicate the outbreak at its source fails to prevent it from spreading to Europe and then quickly throughout the rest of the world.Soon there is no more news coming out of Britain . . . and it is up to those survivors in other countries to confront the flesh-eating invaders within their midst. Will humanity triumph over a world-wide zombie plague, or will the walking dead ultimately inherit the Earth? Told through various disparate and overlapping eye-witness accounts, through texts, e-mails, blogs, letters, diaries, transcripts, official reports and other forms of communication, a picture builds up of a world plunged into chaos - where the dead attack the living, and only one of them can be the ultimate victor.Written by some of the biggest and best-known names in horror and science fiction, these interconnected narratives create a unique vision of the End of the World brought about by a plague that may have its origins in both science and the occult.
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 14, 2010
62 people are currently reading
2631 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Jones
277 books344 followersStephen Jones is an eighteen-time winner of the British Fantasy Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
August 23, 2015
Shitfuck!!
One of the best zombie books with the odd nice touch of humour. Which I think you need when the world is going to shit.
One of the best zombie books with the odd nice touch of humour. Which I think you need when the world is going to shit.
January 15, 2011
I bought this book expecting something like Max Brooks' World War Z, which is pretty much my favorite zombie book of all time. The reality of this book was much less.
I get the whole "compilation" format, but given even that, it was poorly written. Some of the longer pieces were simply too boring to finish, and the writing was ridiculous. Seriously, who continues to type text messages as they're being attacked by a zombie? "Oh no, she's noshing on my intestines. Ouch! I can feel the hunger taking over." That's pretty much in the book numerous times.
I guess I'm just angry because I wasted money on this pile. It had no redeeming value. I'll keep it on my shelf at home to remind me of the horrors of Zombie Apocalypse.
I get the whole "compilation" format, but given even that, it was poorly written. Some of the longer pieces were simply too boring to finish, and the writing was ridiculous. Seriously, who continues to type text messages as they're being attacked by a zombie? "Oh no, she's noshing on my intestines. Ouch! I can feel the hunger taking over." That's pretty much in the book numerous times.
I guess I'm just angry because I wasted money on this pile. It had no redeeming value. I'll keep it on my shelf at home to remind me of the horrors of Zombie Apocalypse.
December 30, 2012
I was hoping for a book similar to World War Z or Dead Inside Do Not Enter Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse. Instead, I got a book that started off strong, then...kind of fell off the wagon.
The book sets up its premise wonderfully: an ancient church is unearthed, which released fleas that carried the plague. Correspondences and reports fly back and forth to piece together a timeline of events, the reaction of the first on the scene, then the epidemic spreads...then you get to the second half of the book.
The book's main fault is having so many writers (20+?) active in the project. It was extremely difficult to try and empathize with any of the characters because the vast, vast majority of them will die. Depressingly so. The average entry ranges between one or two pages to a substantial three-parter, which I guess gives the book variety, but also keeps me uninterested in some of the shorter stories.
The book also does the unforgivable sin of changing the zombie virus. Zombies are fast. Zombies possess memories. Zombies can talk, and learn, and infect you with a scratch. They can travel in packs and possess basic hunting instincts to take down prey; they can text message and send e-mail. As I progressed through the book I found myself setting aside more and more of my disbelief as stranger things cropped up.
There are a few good gems in here. Watching reports through Twitter or 'video' files is an intriguing way to keep the story identifiable with today's media. I got the chills reading a few of these, how bleak and real they seemed - not something I wanted to read alone, in a dark room!
I can't recommend getting this book. It has a good premise, but with so many writers working on a premise that breaks basic zombie fiction tenets, it left me feeling unsatisfied and unhappy.
The book sets up its premise wonderfully: an ancient church is unearthed, which released fleas that carried the plague. Correspondences and reports fly back and forth to piece together a timeline of events, the reaction of the first on the scene, then the epidemic spreads...then you get to the second half of the book.
The book's main fault is having so many writers (20+?) active in the project. It was extremely difficult to try and empathize with any of the characters because the vast, vast majority of them will die. Depressingly so. The average entry ranges between one or two pages to a substantial three-parter, which I guess gives the book variety, but also keeps me uninterested in some of the shorter stories.
The book also does the unforgivable sin of changing the zombie virus. Zombies are fast. Zombies possess memories. Zombies can talk, and learn, and infect you with a scratch. They can travel in packs and possess basic hunting instincts to take down prey; they can text message and send e-mail. As I progressed through the book I found myself setting aside more and more of my disbelief as stranger things cropped up.
There are a few good gems in here. Watching reports through Twitter or 'video' files is an intriguing way to keep the story identifiable with today's media. I got the chills reading a few of these, how bleak and real they seemed - not something I wanted to read alone, in a dark room!
I can't recommend getting this book. It has a good premise, but with so many writers working on a premise that breaks basic zombie fiction tenets, it left me feeling unsatisfied and unhappy.
November 7, 2011
Ridiculously bland title aside (seriously “Zombie Apocalypse!” sounds like a super cheesy B movie from the 1950’s), I liked this book.
Now, I will always be one the first people to side with others who complain that the zombie genre has become far too crowded with sub-par stories and writing skills that are lacking. Just look up the word “zombie” and you are bound to find 100’s, if not 1000’s of both full length novels and short stories...most of which are cheap and hideously bad.
What comes across as the biggest surprise here is that “Zombie Apocalypse!” is not a novel, but an anthology. Now, unlike most zombie anthologies, this one works...and incredibly well too. Unlike “Zombies: The Recent Dead” and “The World is Dead”, all these stories flow together and relate to one another. Every story is so well written and seamlessly intertwines with others that at times you forget these are all separate authors.
Yeah, there are a few problems with this book, but they are minor. The journal entries were great, don’t get me wrong, but the writing seemed far too advanced for a 13 year old, and it did take a quite a few pages to get this book moving, but again, unlike many books in this sub-genre, it made sense to start this from the very beginning, from “The Death’s” origins.
Don’t let the negative reviews con you out of reading this. It should be a staple of every zombie lovers collection.
Now, I will always be one the first people to side with others who complain that the zombie genre has become far too crowded with sub-par stories and writing skills that are lacking. Just look up the word “zombie” and you are bound to find 100’s, if not 1000’s of both full length novels and short stories...most of which are cheap and hideously bad.
What comes across as the biggest surprise here is that “Zombie Apocalypse!” is not a novel, but an anthology. Now, unlike most zombie anthologies, this one works...and incredibly well too. Unlike “Zombies: The Recent Dead” and “The World is Dead”, all these stories flow together and relate to one another. Every story is so well written and seamlessly intertwines with others that at times you forget these are all separate authors.
Yeah, there are a few problems with this book, but they are minor. The journal entries were great, don’t get me wrong, but the writing seemed far too advanced for a 13 year old, and it did take a quite a few pages to get this book moving, but again, unlike many books in this sub-genre, it made sense to start this from the very beginning, from “The Death’s” origins.
Don’t let the negative reviews con you out of reading this. It should be a staple of every zombie lovers collection.
September 2, 2012
I love apocalyptic stories in general and zombies in particular. They scare the crap out of me, but I love every Romero film, have been reading the Walking Dead since 2006, and will dump friends and disown relatives in order to watch a new episode of AMC's Walking Dead. Seriously. When the new season starts, just don't f***ing bother me or try to get a hold of me during air time.
Zombie novels are like sex and pizza.
Even when they're bad, they're still kind of good.
With some exceptions, and this is one of them.
So for me to toss down a zombie novel in utter boredom and a complete lack of caring about anyone in it and what happens next speaks volumes.
Aside from a handful of twists on the genre, this is an absolute don't bother.
Zombie novels are like sex and pizza.
Even when they're bad, they're still kind of good.
With some exceptions, and this is one of them.
So for me to toss down a zombie novel in utter boredom and a complete lack of caring about anyone in it and what happens next speaks volumes.
Aside from a handful of twists on the genre, this is an absolute don't bother.
July 10, 2019
Easy read! Even though it was choppy felt it was for more of a teen book. Ideal for readers first zombie book. I didn't like how it went from normal text to someone's email to someone's social media to someone's handwritten diary
June 21, 2012
I saw this book on the shelf and my first thought was, neat cover! This was followed immediately with my second thought of, good Lord what a cheesy and pathetic name! I figured that I would give it a chance anyway since this appeared to be an anthology. Which I guess it is...kind of, but not really. Instead of multiple short stories about a zombie apocalypse its a bunch of short vignettes about different aspects of the same story, by different authors. I know, I know what you're thinking, "I swear that sounds really familiar!" And you are correct, and it's familiar because that's exactly the idea behind the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. I can't help but feel this ripped off that idea since World War Z was published in 2006 and this was published in 2010. Luckily for Max Brooks, he did a hell of a lot better job than this book did.
Even though all of these bits and pieces were written by different people, they were all equally as bland. The idea was that these little short stories were supposed to interweave together and tell the overall story...but it didn't. It was boring,the characters presented irritated me and it was painfully predictable.
Also, I had no idea how long all of this was supposed to have taken place in. On one page we're in May, then a few bits later we were in June, then later we were back in May. It was confusing. Add to that, there are no page numbers in this book so I couldn't even reference things to figure out a timeline because I had no idea where it was in that 400 something pages.
Some of this seemed so far out of reality that I had a hard time suspending my belief quite that far. For example, And the authors present several different ways to thwart zombies either by making you an unpleasant meal and so you don't get attacked or to stop someone from becoming a zombie. Yet these things are largely ignored and only seen once or twice in the whole book and never explored or anything else. And in several cases these characters told other people the solution...yet then it just disappears! So frustrating.
By the time I got to the end I just didn't care anymore. I was so bored with this book that the only reason I was still reading was so that I could get to the end and mark it as read. I also had no idea what the progression of the zombies was. Yes we know about England, we knew about New York, and we knew about Australia. But from the limited information we had it seemed liked humans were winning the battle against zombie. And then we get to the end and...... That just made me want to scream! An ending that comes out of nowhere because nothing in it was addressed elsewhere in the book. Overall the best thing about this book, when it was over.
Even though all of these bits and pieces were written by different people, they were all equally as bland. The idea was that these little short stories were supposed to interweave together and tell the overall story...but it didn't. It was boring,the characters presented irritated me and it was painfully predictable.
Also, I had no idea how long all of this was supposed to have taken place in. On one page we're in May, then a few bits later we were in June, then later we were back in May. It was confusing. Add to that, there are no page numbers in this book so I couldn't even reference things to figure out a timeline because I had no idea where it was in that 400 something pages.
Some of this seemed so far out of reality that I had a hard time suspending my belief quite that far. For example, And the authors present several different ways to thwart zombies either by making you an unpleasant meal and so you don't get attacked or to stop someone from becoming a zombie. Yet these things are largely ignored and only seen once or twice in the whole book and never explored or anything else. And in several cases these characters told other people the solution...yet then it just disappears! So frustrating.
By the time I got to the end I just didn't care anymore. I was so bored with this book that the only reason I was still reading was so that I could get to the end and mark it as read. I also had no idea what the progression of the zombies was. Yes we know about England, we knew about New York, and we knew about Australia. But from the limited information we had it seemed liked humans were winning the battle against zombie. And then we get to the end and...... That just made me want to scream! An ending that comes out of nowhere because nothing in it was addressed elsewhere in the book. Overall the best thing about this book, when it was over.
October 8, 2010
Will humanity triumph over the worldwide zombie plague, or will the walking dead inherit the earth?
It seems only fair that the first book that I’m looking at is the one that gave me the idea in the first place. There were a number of book launches at this year’s FantasyCon in Nottingham, and this book immediately caught my eye. With a few notable exceptions, I’m not a huge fan of anthologies. As a rule, I prefer to read novels written by one author, but in an effort to broaden my horizons I decided to take a chance.
Zombie Apocalypse! chronicles the worldwide spread of ‘The Death’. Starting in London, and then rapidly spreading across the globe the reader is given the opportunity to delve into the lives of those affected. In this case I think having multiple authors was entirely the right decision. There is one world, and one event, but each author has the opportunity to have his or her character tell a bit of the story from their point of view. This technique works well, and the reader really gets the feeling that all these disparate voices have been pulled together to create the story.
Different chapters have their protagonist use different forms of social media to tell their tale. For example, there is a chapter written as a blog, one as a twitter conversation, and one is solely SMS. There is even one compiled of television interviews. I think this book contains the first story I have read written in tweets.
There were a number of real standout stories in the book. My particular favourite was Sarah Pinborough’s contributions Diary Entry #1, #2 and #3. Written from the perspective of a thirteen year old girl. Maddy is thrilled to be very nearly an adult, but as the outbreak occurs and then worsens, she loses her family and is forced into hiding. An early teen forced to grow up quickly against the backdrop of such horror was very compelling
They’re Coming to Get You by Lisa Morton is darkly funny. It follows a zombie obsessed blogger while he consoles himself after a break up, gets drunk and watches his favourite movies.
The Longest Distance Between Two Places by Will Halloway by Peter Crowther reminded me of early Stephen King. The world is falling apart but a teenage boy has only two concerns, his writing and the girl next door.
Another comic turn is The Show Must Go On by Peter Atkins. Two media types discuss, via e-mail, how to best take advantage of the zombie outbreak. The script for the zombie movie is quite spectacular.
It was fantastic to see the stories shift from country to country, rather than just focusing on ground zero in London. One criticism I often have of apocalyptic fiction is that I want to know what is going on elsewhere. Not the case here. There were chapters set in the UK, USA, Australia and Mexico. I think this helped to set the scope of the piece as a global apocalypse.
It seems likely that some will compare this anthology with World War Z by Max Brooks. I’ve read both, and I think that they are distinctly different. Zombie Apocalypse ends on what I think many would consider a very downbeat note. It struck me that there aren’t really any happy endings. The authors have successfully captured the claustrophobia and impending disaster that I have always associated with zombies. There is an inevitability about them that I have always considered creepy. You can run but eventually they will wear you down.
Zombie Apocalypse shuffles into the light, searching for brains, on 14th October
It seems only fair that the first book that I’m looking at is the one that gave me the idea in the first place. There were a number of book launches at this year’s FantasyCon in Nottingham, and this book immediately caught my eye. With a few notable exceptions, I’m not a huge fan of anthologies. As a rule, I prefer to read novels written by one author, but in an effort to broaden my horizons I decided to take a chance.
Zombie Apocalypse! chronicles the worldwide spread of ‘The Death’. Starting in London, and then rapidly spreading across the globe the reader is given the opportunity to delve into the lives of those affected. In this case I think having multiple authors was entirely the right decision. There is one world, and one event, but each author has the opportunity to have his or her character tell a bit of the story from their point of view. This technique works well, and the reader really gets the feeling that all these disparate voices have been pulled together to create the story.
Different chapters have their protagonist use different forms of social media to tell their tale. For example, there is a chapter written as a blog, one as a twitter conversation, and one is solely SMS. There is even one compiled of television interviews. I think this book contains the first story I have read written in tweets.
There were a number of real standout stories in the book. My particular favourite was Sarah Pinborough’s contributions Diary Entry #1, #2 and #3. Written from the perspective of a thirteen year old girl. Maddy is thrilled to be very nearly an adult, but as the outbreak occurs and then worsens, she loses her family and is forced into hiding. An early teen forced to grow up quickly against the backdrop of such horror was very compelling
They’re Coming to Get You by Lisa Morton is darkly funny. It follows a zombie obsessed blogger while he consoles himself after a break up, gets drunk and watches his favourite movies.
The Longest Distance Between Two Places by Will Halloway by Peter Crowther reminded me of early Stephen King. The world is falling apart but a teenage boy has only two concerns, his writing and the girl next door.
Another comic turn is The Show Must Go On by Peter Atkins. Two media types discuss, via e-mail, how to best take advantage of the zombie outbreak. The script for the zombie movie is quite spectacular.
It was fantastic to see the stories shift from country to country, rather than just focusing on ground zero in London. One criticism I often have of apocalyptic fiction is that I want to know what is going on elsewhere. Not the case here. There were chapters set in the UK, USA, Australia and Mexico. I think this helped to set the scope of the piece as a global apocalypse.
It seems likely that some will compare this anthology with World War Z by Max Brooks. I’ve read both, and I think that they are distinctly different. Zombie Apocalypse ends on what I think many would consider a very downbeat note. It struck me that there aren’t really any happy endings. The authors have successfully captured the claustrophobia and impending disaster that I have always associated with zombies. There is an inevitability about them that I have always considered creepy. You can run but eventually they will wear you down.
Zombie Apocalypse shuffles into the light, searching for brains, on 14th October
October 25, 2016
This should get some award for having the most unimaginative title ever. For such a creative book--and I was actually suprised, judging this entirely on cover and title--I was pleasantly shocked. I also thought this was just a standard gory short story collection, but nope. Totally wrong there too. There are multiple authors, since this is a book in multiple formats--no straight up narrative--handwritten diary entries, video clips, newspaper stories, voicemails, emails, emails, instant messages, police reports, a hilarious live-tweet of a zombie running amok on airplane--basically "found items" that the metafiction hints at are found in a later future, later seen in the speeches at the end.
The book is majority British centric--since the goverment decides to excavate an ancient plague pit, that connects back to Elizabethan warlocks, and lo 16th century zombies rise...along with plague bearing fleas--tons of them, which was an interesting twist. Eventually, you see how it spreads and it felt actually pretty believable in this original style. I liked this format and thought the care and attention spent in coordinating all this and the fantastic layout could have also been spared for the title. From the teenaged girl to the blogger to the policeman, thinking back, there wasn't even a particular narrator or article I disliked, since it was all like modern communications, short and varied. I'll have to check out the second volume (which I see is called Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback, sigh).
The book is majority British centric--since the goverment decides to excavate an ancient plague pit, that connects back to Elizabethan warlocks, and lo 16th century zombies rise...along with plague bearing fleas--tons of them, which was an interesting twist. Eventually, you see how it spreads and it felt actually pretty believable in this original style. I liked this format and thought the care and attention spent in coordinating all this and the fantastic layout could have also been spared for the title. From the teenaged girl to the blogger to the policeman, thinking back, there wasn't even a particular narrator or article I disliked, since it was all like modern communications, short and varied. I'll have to check out the second volume (which I see is called Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback, sigh).
October 23, 2014
Lured in by the cool cover, I was expecting a zombiefest worthy of a read. I was very disappointed. This book is trying so hard to a UK version of 'World War Z' and it doesn't even get close. I found myself bored when reading. BORED! When reading a book about Zombies! What!?
The way the zombies came into being is good, I can go with that. Having it written by different authors, is an interesting idea but doesn't quite work. It feels all over the place. And why do some zombies act well, zombie like and others are still writing down their thoughts on the situation? Thats what I really didn't like, that people had turned and were still 'Dear diary', WHAT? Didn't like it.
The best section in the book was from the old lady living it the Tower block. That was the most interesting story in there. Some others are alright, the teenage girl, the tweets. But some bits are really stupid, like the Zombie song lyrics.
And the ending???? So everyone is a zombie now but funtioning in a way we can rebuild society, as long as there are brains to munch on?
Overall, not impressed. Saved from the lowest rating by some okay stories in the book, but otherwise this is rubbish.
The way the zombies came into being is good, I can go with that. Having it written by different authors, is an interesting idea but doesn't quite work. It feels all over the place. And why do some zombies act well, zombie like and others are still writing down their thoughts on the situation? Thats what I really didn't like, that people had turned and were still 'Dear diary', WHAT? Didn't like it.
The best section in the book was from the old lady living it the Tower block. That was the most interesting story in there. Some others are alright, the teenage girl, the tweets. But some bits are really stupid, like the Zombie song lyrics.
And the ending???? So everyone is a zombie now but funtioning in a way we can rebuild society, as long as there are brains to munch on?
Overall, not impressed. Saved from the lowest rating by some okay stories in the book, but otherwise this is rubbish.
December 4, 2012
This is a pretty solid entry in the new zombie genre. They're not very typical for the undead, which might bother purists, but I found it a delightful twist (though occasionally inconsistent-seeming). The shifting perspectives did rob some emotional depth as characters were killed off suddenly and unceremoniously -- often off-screen or by just not mentioning them again! There weren't many people, living or otherwise, to root for. I had hoped that the scientists exchanging emails in the first pages would continue their correspondence for an overarching narration, even from their limited perspective, but that wasn't the direction it took. The novel picks up and puts down most characters within a few pages.
Even without my precious bonding time, I still found it really enjoyable and hard to put down. I read 2/3 the book in the first sitting, though some parts dragged as I waited for new pieces of information or new plot developments to trickle through. Some sections were really, really lovely. The scene on Lake Tahoe I found strangely affecting.
I wish we heard more about the fleas. I wish the mythology were extended throughout the length of the book. I wish the author had a much bigger art budget and hand-drawn fonts not just fake handwriting fonts from MSWord. This could have been a better book with a little more tightening up and attention to details, but it was pretty awesome (3 1/2 stars). Fast, interesting, a little gory, a little funny, an ambitious worldwide story told through intimate correspondence and small dramatic scenes... I'll read the sequel.
Even without my precious bonding time, I still found it really enjoyable and hard to put down. I read 2/3 the book in the first sitting, though some parts dragged as I waited for new pieces of information or new plot developments to trickle through. Some sections were really, really lovely. The scene on Lake Tahoe I found strangely affecting.
I wish we heard more about the fleas. I wish the mythology were extended throughout the length of the book. I wish the author had a much bigger art budget and hand-drawn fonts not just fake handwriting fonts from MSWord. This could have been a better book with a little more tightening up and attention to details, but it was pretty awesome (3 1/2 stars). Fast, interesting, a little gory, a little funny, an ambitious worldwide story told through intimate correspondence and small dramatic scenes... I'll read the sequel.
August 22, 2017
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!, on first glance, is a follow-up volume to Stephen Jones' MAMMOTH BOOK OF ZOMBIES, a hefty horror anthology that came out back in the 1990s. I adored that book, but this is a different beast entirely: all of the stories share a world, telling one long-running story via various epistolary, modern-day means. So we get diary extracts, blog entries, tweets, social media posts, video logs, and medical reports. That in itself is a little gimmicky, but I still found it preferable to the criminally overrated WORLD WAR Z.
As it turns out, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! is a real mixed bag of a read, because the quality just isn't consistent. Some of the stories are great, particularly the early ones, but the quality really tails off towards the end, when the action shifts to an international scale. Of the latter stages, I liked the Australian segment, but the American instalments feel crass and amateurish, far below what I was expecting. This book is at its creepiest early on, with the small-scale action focused around the old church; the police reports are exceptionally written and actually managed to frighten me. I have a feeling that Christopher Fowler wrote this bit, but given the layout of the book, it's difficult to be sure.
As it turns out, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! is a real mixed bag of a read, because the quality just isn't consistent. Some of the stories are great, particularly the early ones, but the quality really tails off towards the end, when the action shifts to an international scale. Of the latter stages, I liked the Australian segment, but the American instalments feel crass and amateurish, far below what I was expecting. This book is at its creepiest early on, with the small-scale action focused around the old church; the police reports are exceptionally written and actually managed to frighten me. I have a feeling that Christopher Fowler wrote this bit, but given the layout of the book, it's difficult to be sure.
May 5, 2012
This book was a bit of an impulse buy, largely made because I was told I could get a book for free as I had two from a 3 for 2 section. All I can say is that I am glad I effectively got it for free as opposed to paying good money for it.
The concept itself is a good one, collecting an anthology of material from different authors and putting it all together like documents gathered after the event of the crisis. The effect was to be something along the lines of World War Z, and I was looking forward to a bit of nice brainless zombie fiction (apologies for the brains pun). Unfortunately having such a mixture of authors means that the really poor writers had nowhere to hide, being shown for all their dreadfulness against some really good pieces. This is the reason why I haven't given this book a lower score; there are some little gems in there, but overall, I was not impressed.
The concept itself is a good one, collecting an anthology of material from different authors and putting it all together like documents gathered after the event of the crisis. The effect was to be something along the lines of World War Z, and I was looking forward to a bit of nice brainless zombie fiction (apologies for the brains pun). Unfortunately having such a mixture of authors means that the really poor writers had nowhere to hide, being shown for all their dreadfulness against some really good pieces. This is the reason why I haven't given this book a lower score; there are some little gems in there, but overall, I was not impressed.
February 21, 2023
This book imo was just ok, I'm only just getting into the whole zombie apocalypse thing and this was my first book.
I feel like I wanted a bit more from it, while just ok it does provide like a lot of emails back and forth, peoples diaries, but it just lacked something for me to the point I'm uncertain about the rest of the series, is it worth investing in because I didn't enjoy one book?
I've seen a lot of bad reviews about this book and I'm kinda inclined to agree with most of them.
I feel like I wanted a bit more from it, while just ok it does provide like a lot of emails back and forth, peoples diaries, but it just lacked something for me to the point I'm uncertain about the rest of the series, is it worth investing in because I didn't enjoy one book?
I've seen a lot of bad reviews about this book and I'm kinda inclined to agree with most of them.
May 3, 2012
OK.. so I was in Barnes and Nobles browsing at some boring titles(i was having an off day) and this book draw me in like a moth to a fire. First of the cover was very gruesome and creepy(in a good way of course!) and after I read the back and found out it(the zombie apocalyose) starts in London using a series of documents and tweets and stuff, I was "Whoa! Now THAT sound interesting" I bought it a couple of seconds later.
The book had an interesting premise and delivered it almost perfectly. Some of the stories blew my mind, there was literally a voice in my head that said "OH SNAP!" I particularly liked the first person stories, seeing as how it tells what kind of feeling people have during event. It was different for each one and that added a wider scope into the human mind. Although I really do like the "secretary" eating the brains of a murdered person while typing. That was hilarious. Very few stories were what I thought werent necessary, like the song and the bit about the Christian preacher.
The ending is confusing at first, but then the epilogue kind of clears it up. All in all a good example of a zombie anthology. I will definitely look out for more books like this.
The book had an interesting premise and delivered it almost perfectly. Some of the stories blew my mind, there was literally a voice in my head that said "OH SNAP!" I particularly liked the first person stories, seeing as how it tells what kind of feeling people have during event. It was different for each one and that added a wider scope into the human mind. Although I really do like the "secretary" eating the brains of a murdered person while typing. That was hilarious. Very few stories were what I thought werent necessary, like the song and the bit about the Christian preacher.
The ending is confusing at first, but then the epilogue kind of clears it up. All in all a good example of a zombie anthology. I will definitely look out for more books like this.
April 7, 2011
What I find most interesting about this book is the reactions and reviews. People tweeting and texting as the zombies are eating them? Totally likely. People who doubt this honestly need to spend one day in a classroom with the youth of today to realise that yes, they compulsively tweet, text, and blog every mundane thought and action they have. And I'd like to see them deny the youth their "right" to do it, too.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the format. The whole story told via several mediums and different characters was brilliant. I will admit there were parts of the book I struggled to push through but that is simply what can happen with a collection of authors and stories. Some appeal to us more than others.
I want to write more but not spoiler. I enjoyed the evolution of events through the book. The ending was better than I was anticipating.
A good read unless Zombies are Serious Business for you.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the format. The whole story told via several mediums and different characters was brilliant. I will admit there were parts of the book I struggled to push through but that is simply what can happen with a collection of authors and stories. Some appeal to us more than others.
I want to write more but not spoiler. I enjoyed the evolution of events through the book. The ending was better than I was anticipating.
A good read unless Zombies are Serious Business for you.
June 27, 2011
Stephen Jones has done something quite interesting here - arranged for a group of authors to submit short stories in the form of documents (including twitter conversations, transcripts of police tapes, personal diaries and letters) to form a contiguous narrative of a zombie pandemic that erupts in London and the events of the following weeks.
The 480 page narrative that results holds together well with good internal consistency and a tone whereby events are clearly out of the control of the protaganists. Whilst undoubtedly dystopian in perspective, there are enough light moments to offset this. I found the book to be a very quick read and an entertaining one.
Whilst the final two short pieces do not sit as well with the whole as they should have I still found this to be a satisfying experience. Zombies are always with us, we perhaps fail to recognise them in our daily lives...
The 480 page narrative that results holds together well with good internal consistency and a tone whereby events are clearly out of the control of the protaganists. Whilst undoubtedly dystopian in perspective, there are enough light moments to offset this. I found the book to be a very quick read and an entertaining one.
Whilst the final two short pieces do not sit as well with the whole as they should have I still found this to be a satisfying experience. Zombies are always with us, we perhaps fail to recognise them in our daily lives...
August 2, 2024
Mixed media, zombies 🧟♀️ and some very interesting plot points. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
March 7, 2022
Interesting concept, trying to transmit the "found footage" style we commonly see in many horror films to the printed media. Some parts of it where much more interesting than others. Media reports and emails about the origins of the disease, accounts of survivors and invesgigation by medical and research personnel, mixed with some more boring stuff like unsent letters to a mother or a friend. If you made it to the end you'll agre the final plot twist is quite... unique, leaving you with quite a few interesting questions. Overall, an entertaining read for the weekend.
February 18, 2025
Bit of a rubbish ending. The book would have been miles better if the ending wasn’t the ending. Feel like they could have written way more about the story developing before it got to that ending
May 29, 2019
The significant thing about this book is that, although there is a clearly defined sequence of events, they're told via a multitude of police reports, diary entries, office memos, newspaper articles, texts, tweets and other first-person accounts - all written by different authors. This all kept what could be argued to be a slightly tired genre an interesting and very easy to read chronicle of an end of a world. Excepting one or two recurring diary entries by specific characters, each character exists purely within the scope of a single segment of the book so there's no long-range scope for individual characters and their development. The characters are there to provide their perspectives and thoughts to the increasing zombie threat and then go on to succumb to the inevitable or survive.
What was also refreshing was the mythology built up around this particular zombie break-out. There's a quasi-believable cause to the infection with a scarily conceivable series of events leading to its outbreak and spread. The zombies themselves also have a gradated level of what they once were in that some will still attempt to drive cars, some can parrot speech and some will seek out familiar locations. There’s also one account revealing a possible cure with an outcome that was very satisfyingly dubious. What works well with the book is that the story is told in an effectively chronological way, starting with the first accounts of fighting the building development that goes on to unearth the disease and concluding with accounts of the plague reaching the shores of Australia and America and the subsequent infections spreading from there.
Great stuff.
What was also refreshing was the mythology built up around this particular zombie break-out. There's a quasi-believable cause to the infection with a scarily conceivable series of events leading to its outbreak and spread. The zombies themselves also have a gradated level of what they once were in that some will still attempt to drive cars, some can parrot speech and some will seek out familiar locations. There’s also one account revealing a possible cure with an outcome that was very satisfyingly dubious. What works well with the book is that the story is told in an effectively chronological way, starting with the first accounts of fighting the building development that goes on to unearth the disease and concluding with accounts of the plague reaching the shores of Australia and America and the subsequent infections spreading from there.
Great stuff.
May 12, 2017
Bleak and sad. That's the words I would use to describe this book about the zombie apocalypse. I guess you are asking, "Well, it is a zombie novel. What were you expecting?" That's a fair question, and, truthfully, I think I was expecting there to be some glimmer of hope and optimism. Silly me! Not that the whole doom and gloom bleakness of the book makes the book any less readable. This book is not so much scary but sad.
Told over the course of several months, numerous characters through the use of diaries, emails, texts, memos, and letters describe the apocalypse that first devastates a near future England and then many other parts of the world. Through hubris, governmental control and subterfuge, and massive mistakes, a construction project unleashes the plague on present day civilization. We,the reader, bear witness to the carnage and devastation that follows.
We meet young and old, wealthy and poor, black and white. No one is left untainted and the book just pounds you over the head with one sad story after another. It wasn't enough to get me to put the book down, but it did bum me out a bit, seeing that some funny, interesting, deep, complex characters all met the same fates. I guess seeing how makes the book a fun read.
Told over the course of several months, numerous characters through the use of diaries, emails, texts, memos, and letters describe the apocalypse that first devastates a near future England and then many other parts of the world. Through hubris, governmental control and subterfuge, and massive mistakes, a construction project unleashes the plague on present day civilization. We,the reader, bear witness to the carnage and devastation that follows.
We meet young and old, wealthy and poor, black and white. No one is left untainted and the book just pounds you over the head with one sad story after another. It wasn't enough to get me to put the book down, but it did bum me out a bit, seeing that some funny, interesting, deep, complex characters all met the same fates. I guess seeing how makes the book a fun read.
February 7, 2019
This is a great idea, similar to World War Z but mostly better executed. It starts off in a dystopian Britain (worrying prophetic signs of no-deal Brexit there), and gradually spreads around the world as a zombie plague strikes.
It's interesting as it was written as a collaborative project, so the assorted diaries, blogs, emails, phone transcripts etc from different people all have a genuinely different feel to them. They come together very well in telling an effective story, with things getting progressively worse. It's genuinely quite dark, with the possible exception of the movie script near the end, which had me in stitches. :)
I should explain my rating for this - I only give truly exceptional books five stars, so a four-star rating from me is an indication that the book was very good. This was a solid four stars almost the whole way through, but the final ten pages or so really spoiled it for me and were so jarringly implausible and disappointing that it did affect my enjoyment of the book significantly. 90% of it is great, but that ending - no. If it had been a bit different, it would have been so much better. I won't give anything away, but I'd suggest you stop reading when you get to the President's address. I think you'll find the whole thing much better if you do.
It's interesting as it was written as a collaborative project, so the assorted diaries, blogs, emails, phone transcripts etc from different people all have a genuinely different feel to them. They come together very well in telling an effective story, with things getting progressively worse. It's genuinely quite dark, with the possible exception of the movie script near the end, which had me in stitches. :)
I should explain my rating for this - I only give truly exceptional books five stars, so a four-star rating from me is an indication that the book was very good. This was a solid four stars almost the whole way through, but the final ten pages or so really spoiled it for me and were so jarringly implausible and disappointing that it did affect my enjoyment of the book significantly. 90% of it is great, but that ending - no. If it had been a bit different, it would have been so much better. I won't give anything away, but I'd suggest you stop reading when you get to the President's address. I think you'll find the whole thing much better if you do.
October 30, 2011
Blurb from Goodreads
Controversial plans to build on the site of an old church in South London releases a centuries-old plague that turns its victims into flesh-hungry ghouls whose bite or scratch passes the contagion on to others. Even worse, the virus may also have a supernatural origin with the power to revive the dead.
My review
I love zombie books and this one is different from most of the others I have come across in that it is accounts of how the outbreak starts and effects people and spreads via twitter, blogs, letters, diary entrys etc. I liked that it gives you how the outbreak begins and really liked the peoples experiences and how it spreads and their encounters.
However just under the last quarter of the book changes and becomes silly, silly songs about zombies, short stories being written by a survivor and a script about zombies for a movie, I mean as if you would be making stuff up like that during a zombie apocalypse. It actually really annoyed me and took the book from a 5 star rating down to 3. Definately worth reading but I think you might find yourself skimming as you get to the end of the book as it just isn't as good as the first 3 quarters was.
Controversial plans to build on the site of an old church in South London releases a centuries-old plague that turns its victims into flesh-hungry ghouls whose bite or scratch passes the contagion on to others. Even worse, the virus may also have a supernatural origin with the power to revive the dead.
My review
I love zombie books and this one is different from most of the others I have come across in that it is accounts of how the outbreak starts and effects people and spreads via twitter, blogs, letters, diary entrys etc. I liked that it gives you how the outbreak begins and really liked the peoples experiences and how it spreads and their encounters.
However just under the last quarter of the book changes and becomes silly, silly songs about zombies, short stories being written by a survivor and a script about zombies for a movie, I mean as if you would be making stuff up like that during a zombie apocalypse. It actually really annoyed me and took the book from a 5 star rating down to 3. Definately worth reading but I think you might find yourself skimming as you get to the end of the book as it just isn't as good as the first 3 quarters was.
August 25, 2017
I think 'complete arse' pretty much sums up this one. I'm not really liking the new trend in zombie books that are written using these combinations of email, survivor reports and blog extracts and this was the worst example I've looked at. I mean you just need to look at the first email where a guy is sending it to his mother:
'...I think this is why we started to paint and write in the first place, why we treasure old letters and notes, why the idea of a person's signature still means something even now so much has become virtual and digital. We trust in the things we can reach out and touch. We try to make our ideas and emotions as concrete as things are in real life, to stop the past breaking apart like a flock of birds...'
Who sends emails like that to their mother at any time, never mind during a zombie apocalypse????
This was seriously bad stuff.
'...I think this is why we started to paint and write in the first place, why we treasure old letters and notes, why the idea of a person's signature still means something even now so much has become virtual and digital. We trust in the things we can reach out and touch. We try to make our ideas and emotions as concrete as things are in real life, to stop the past breaking apart like a flock of birds...'
Who sends emails like that to their mother at any time, never mind during a zombie apocalypse????
This was seriously bad stuff.
August 1, 2018
This book caught me, pleasantly by surprise. I enjoy the zombie genre (books, comics & films) but I have come across films and novels that add nothing and feel like more of the same. Not this book as it manages to avoid being 'just another entry' while being thrilling and just good fun to read.
It was created by several authors and each separate section reads and feels like a separate short horror story and is just as effective on it's own but manages to add more to the world contained within these pages.
It's written in mosaic form. The story is told to us through emails, transcripts, diary entries and more which keeps the book fresh.
The standout sections (No Spoilers) are a 13 year old's diary entry.
An Australian Pilot's transcript
A typewritten manuscript from an elderly lady.
I'll definitely read the rest of the series
If you want something fun
It was created by several authors and each separate section reads and feels like a separate short horror story and is just as effective on it's own but manages to add more to the world contained within these pages.
It's written in mosaic form. The story is told to us through emails, transcripts, diary entries and more which keeps the book fresh.
The standout sections (No Spoilers) are a 13 year old's diary entry.
An Australian Pilot's transcript
A typewritten manuscript from an elderly lady.
I'll definitely read the rest of the series
If you want something fun
July 31, 2018
I actually really liked it. Some people complain about the many different writers and I can see where they are coming from, but to me, it added to the story every section in this book is written by someone else from a 13-year-old girl to an old woman to multiple military personals to doctors. The characters who are making these reports are radically different so having so many different people working on this actually makes sense in a way it definitely could have been done better actual page numbers would have been nice but I enjoyed the story. I already have the other two which I got before the first book and have not read because I like reading things in chronological order so that has been a little frustrating to be honest.
January 8, 2020
Initial thoughts: This was a good book that hit the spot for me as I was craving some zombies. I found it interesting, sometimes a bit sad, funnier than I expected and I did not expect it to end the way that it did. I had a good time with it.
However since I’m sensitive about animals being hurt I’ll give you a content warning for gruesome things being done to an animal at page... shit, this edition didn’t have page numbers, am I going to count them? Anyway, in what I think is the first police report, I’d say on page 18-19 in that report - not the book itself - in the entry during 03:24 and the last entry 03:28. After that the - to me - disturbing part was over. Just a warning if you are also sensitive to things like that.
However since I’m sensitive about animals being hurt I’ll give you a content warning for gruesome things being done to an animal at page... shit, this edition didn’t have page numbers, am I going to count them? Anyway, in what I think is the first police report, I’d say on page 18-19 in that report - not the book itself - in the entry during 03:24 and the last entry 03:28. After that the - to me - disturbing part was over. Just a warning if you are also sensitive to things like that.
July 17, 2020
Me, picking this up off the floor cause I was bored: “I’ll flip through this for kicks”
Me, SIX HOURS LATER, time I could have been spending reading ANY ACTUAL BOOK ON MY TBR, finishing the last page: “haha........why did I do that?”
However this was actually a fun read, even though half of it was utter NONESENSE and the other half hit too close to home. For example:
1: snippets of emails from HR departments with Q&As for how to report and handle positive diagnosis for the zombie virus that are just a tad to eerily similar to the COVID-19 email I got from work today
2: “Have you heard the new slogan the Prime Minister is going with?”
“No, I haven’t”
“Let’s Put the Great Back into Britain”
To think. Our apocalypse is so predictable it was published a decade ago.
Me, SIX HOURS LATER, time I could have been spending reading ANY ACTUAL BOOK ON MY TBR, finishing the last page: “haha........why did I do that?”
However this was actually a fun read, even though half of it was utter NONESENSE and the other half hit too close to home. For example:
1: snippets of emails from HR departments with Q&As for how to report and handle positive diagnosis for the zombie virus that are just a tad to eerily similar to the COVID-19 email I got from work today
2: “Have you heard the new slogan the Prime Minister is going with?”
“No, I haven’t”
“Let’s Put the Great Back into Britain”
To think. Our apocalypse is so predictable it was published a decade ago.
September 15, 2018
1 Star✨
The idea was SO GOOD! It could have been a more terrifying version of The Illuminae Files, the format was so similar and brilliant!
Alas, it was executed very poorly. The writing was awful and didn’t flow, and there was simply TOO MUCH SHIT THAT DIDNT MATTER!
Some parts were ok, and the concept of the Human Reanimation Virus was excellent. But there weren’t enough scares, and the amount of ideas that were stuffed into one book were too much, like they were running with too many batons that got lost along the relay.
I’m in desperate need of a good zombie book now!😑
The idea was SO GOOD! It could have been a more terrifying version of The Illuminae Files, the format was so similar and brilliant!
Alas, it was executed very poorly. The writing was awful and didn’t flow, and there was simply TOO MUCH SHIT THAT DIDNT MATTER!
Some parts were ok, and the concept of the Human Reanimation Virus was excellent. But there weren’t enough scares, and the amount of ideas that were stuffed into one book were too much, like they were running with too many batons that got lost along the relay.
I’m in desperate need of a good zombie book now!😑
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