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Humanity's last stand can't stand each other.In the near future, van-life millennial couple Grace and Suede wake up to find their world, which seemed headed to an AI and robotic paradise, now descending into anarchy. Their enemy – zambies – AI controlled zombie corpses from the masses of humans who had been jacked into the new tech. Their minds now dead and their bodies on the hunt for the remaining survivors.
And that’s just the first wave of terror #robotswarmingup.
Fleeing the chaotic city, Grace and Suede find themselves thrust into the lives of fellow survivors Colin the boomer, gen x mum Donna and her gen z daughter Ava. It’s the beginning of an alliance as strong and sure as their chances of survival. So, like, not really very strong or sure.
The action is as relentless as the laughs in this high-tech terror takedown of humanity from award-winning author Matt J Pike (author of Diary of a Survivor series, Zombie RiZing series, Starship Dorsano Chronicles series, Hart&Sol, The Apocalypse Survivors series). Strap yourself in for a wild ride of cyberpunk technothriller survival and adventure, dodging the undead, robots, drones and betrayal against an enemy that’s smarter, faster, more coordinated and driven than the humans it’s picking off. Almost makes you wonder why we invented super intelligence in the first place. Sigh.

From the early
"Masterfully combines elements of comedy, horror and science fiction, delivering a gripping narrative."
"Strikes the balance between horror and comedy. A thrilling read."
"A stand-out novel. Pike’s best yet."

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2024

12 people are currently reading
34 people want to read

About the author

Matt J. Pike

26 books54 followers
*Matt donates money from each book sold to find a cure for Rett Syndrome, a neurological condition his youngest daughter has*

Like the legendary R M Williams, Matt was born in Jamestown in rural South Australia. But that’s where the remarkable similarities between these two end. While Reginald went from bushman to world renowned millionaire outback clothing designer, Matt is a complete dag who was lured by the city lights of Adelaide. Kindergarten in the big smoke was a culture shock, but it is here he first discovered his love of storytelling.

In high school that love found an outlet in a series of completely unflattering cartoons about fellow students and teachers alike. He survived long enough to further his art into a successful career in multimedia design but, like a zombified leech, the lure of the written word gnawed at him, forcing him to pen his first novel, the award-winning sci-fi comedy epic, Kings of the World. It was followed the next year by Amazon Australia dystopian sci-fi best-seller Apocalypse: Diary of a Survivor.

Matt donates part-proceeds of each book sold to find a cure for Rett Syndrome, a neurological condition the youngest of his three children, Abby, has. As a gorgeous Rett angel, Abby cannot walk, talk or use her hands in a meaningful way. So, not only is each of your book purchases a ticket to fantastically rounded, character driven, hilarious and poignant sci-fi awesomeness, it wraps you in a warm feeling that you’ve made a difference to people who deserve your help the most. Like the zombified leech it’s a no-brainer.

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5 stars
15 (51%)
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9 (31%)
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3 (10%)
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2 (6%)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Dion Smith.
505 reviews3 followers
July 23, 2024
4.5 stars out of 5

I’m a sucker for a good Zombie story, and this one would fit right in with George A. Romero ‘Of The Dead’ series. I really enjoyed the banter between the character’s it helped keep the mood light.
A bit like the ‘why do I have to be Mr Pink?’ scene from Reservoir Dogs (1992).

I like the addition of the AI element, although I would have liked it explored a bit more, but I think that will be covered in the other book/s.

If you are a fan of Romero’s books and movies, then I think you will really love this.
Profile Image for Nikki Taylor.
772 reviews7 followers
August 1, 2024
Imagine a mix up of Zombieland/iRobot/War of the Worlds, but set into the land of Aus, with our Aussie humour and ways and even a boxing kangaroo who helps the fight.

I love the concept of AI Zombies - being someone who is very skeptical and doesn’t trust the world of AI and also Drones, this to me was an event I could envisage and being that is was in little old Adelaide, it was easy to imagine myself being one of the characters and going through this crazy event.

It was action packed and never a dull moment and the added humour in situations, really was so true to our Aussie nature and outlook and I did laugh out loud at times. I also enjoyed the realness of the fighting against everything, there was no fake unbelievable weaponry or anything over the top, it was real backyard everyday things/items that made it that even more enjoyable - the throwing of pastries in a servo got me good.

I have to give a special mention to the character of Colin - if I were part of this group trying to run, survive and fight alongside him, I honestly would have knocked him right in the path of a Zambie 😅 I would not have the patience for such a guy… but in saying that majority of the humour came from him and the story just wouldn’t be the same without him, so I’d say it’s a love/hate from me lol.

I’m left with sooo many questions that need answering and I can’t wait to see where this series goes.

Thanks again Matt for having me as a Beta reader and guys, keep an eye out for the launch of this new book in June!
Profile Image for Left-Handed Writer.
3 reviews1 follower
Read
August 5, 2024
Zambies! Coming at you from all sides!

Author Matt J Pike's latest offering for the fans is an eruption of zambie infiltration, causing mayhem in Adelaide and beyond. Zambies! is a clever sidestep to the traditional stories of undead lore.

The reader is thrust bang into the guts of an apocalyptic adventure, complete with jump scares. Zambies! is a horror/comedy with an AI takeover theme.

The main protagonists, Grace and Suede reluctantly assemble a motley crew of renegades as they battle end-of-the-world crosstown traffic and run to the hills. Crowds of descending zambies ensure the characters are paranoid and they are desperate to runaway before it’s too late. Ominous threats adding to a drooling and badly behaved mob of human zambies are the increasing numbers of drones, humanoid-bots and quadruped robots. Will they escape their zambie neighbours or is this the end? 🧟‍♀️🤖

Other bits: Reader advisory: swearing, death, violence (gun, knife), traffic accidents.

Reader Highlights: each chapter heading is your next music playlist! 🎶🎵🎧, themes of adventure, teamwork, hope, and a few laughs!

13yrs+ reading age, but young adults and not so young adults - this means you too! An all rounder for the ages 💪🏻 Give Matt J Pike a follow on GoodReads and Insta and be in the know when and where Zambies! will pop up for purchase, along with a few other Pike reading goodies! 🤩🫶📚
Profile Image for Sam.
2,553 reviews41 followers
July 20, 2024
This was very enjoyable, as daft at times as it is good fun to read! A mix of characters from varying age groups that face off the new zambie threat from the AI apocalypse! Wow what a great idea, well written & thought out plot, good levels of tension & at times action, lightly funny when needed, some angst which was on the edge of fun for me but overall a good fun read! A nice addition to the lighter end of a zombie apocalypse!
3 reviews1 follower
July 26, 2024
A new twist on the tale of the Zombie !! fast-paced with humor and action! characters were easy to relate to! a quick, entertaining read!!
Profile Image for Sarah.
253 reviews6 followers
July 16, 2024
Amazing! I love this take on zombies. I'm sorry, zAmbIes(couldn't change font color for the AI). I really enjoyed this story. It was very well paced. I find most times with zombie books that they are either too fast or way too slow, this one was perfect. I would like to say I had a personal hate for suede and wanted to shake him to try to knock his brain into place lol. I was left wanting more and with questions left unanswered in the best way. Highly recommend
Profile Image for Sammy McGregor.
187 reviews1 follower
June 17, 2025
The thing about Matt is that he makes situations that are entirely plausible and characters that are so real they could be friends, or could even be you! That's what makes this book both scary and hilarious! AI is everywhere, and it's starting to have a daily impact on our lives. How long before we become zambies?!
Profile Image for Ziggy Nixon.
1,155 reviews36 followers
July 12, 2024
One way or another, the world is about to change.

Well, crikey! As if Australia needed something else that was able to kill anyone and everyone it its path. But no, author Matt Pike has seen fit with his latest release "Zambies!" - a very funny and well-executed 4++ star offer - to unleash unholy hell upon an unsuspecting populace with waves upon waves of the undead, which at this stage I'll count as still being a safe word to use mind you. Only these aren't your usual face-chomping walkers or rotters or whatever you feel like calling them. No, whereas we don't know exactly the why of the whole situation, it just seems for sure that, quote, "anyone who has an implant has turned, from the plugged-in gamers to anyone with health tech, to vanity, augmentation, anti-aging chips, any of it." Which in this post-2024 world (we're only sure we're at some point beyond, well, now but no more than that!) doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room! But how YouTube has managed to survive all this is beyond me…

In case you didn’t get the memo this morning, everything’s fucked.

Now I will also repeat at this point (naturally all of you religiously follow my reviews) that I read more than what is probably my fair share of zombie books. It's like comfort food: every now and then I just need a good zombie yarn to help me unwind from my stressful life of doing a whole hell of a lot of nothing productive. And one thing I will then definitely give Pike with this offer is that he has at very least offered an extremely original angle to these kind of apocalypses (apocalypi?) that is missing in far too many other offers. But in this tale, we're looking at the potential of biotech and AI and blockchain and robotics and even armed drones running the show, using the undead masses as their first wave attackers - or as history books often correctly call them: fodder. As one currently minor characters exclaims about this new world order: "This isn’t just a situation. This is a chips-all-in play for control of this planet, our species… everything."

Well, it’s a new world. And morality ain’t what it used to be.

And yeah, sure, we have the requisite "see how low mankind falls while trying to survive" escape sequences and cross-country (cross-county? Australia's kind of big you know!) fleeing bits. But Pike also does some of his best work in this tale by bringing together an utterly mismatched crew of not only often violently opposed belief systems but also ages. It works out really almost to perfection (to answer the question: no, even if Colin is the only one even close to my age, I did not prefer him and in fact was ever-so-slightly peeved that he didn't get eaten… oops, that's a spoiler, isn't it?). But as the author says in an interesting Q&A bit at the end, he did all this on purpose and especially wanted their different generational expectations to make it hard to truly connect on any deeper level.

It’s sad to see boomers still boomering their boomerness all over the place.

Just to warn all potential readers though: this is not a stand-alone book and no, we do not get all the answers in just this first tome. Why are humans suddenly rushing (or stumbling) about with a taste for human flesh? Good question and it is one that is not answered. Who is behind the sudden uprising? Another unanswered question. We only know that intelligences that have most likely now exceeded their human "masters" - no, you know what, let's go with the word "counter-parts" instead - have somehow, somewhere flicked a switch and bang, turning all of these linked up and/or in folks into real dangers for the rest of us. It does get messy, that much we know, and there are more than a few scenes where our main players face truly dire circumstances!

Any chance you can maybe not cover me in brain goop next time!

In fact this last point was the highlight of the book for me. There is a rather long, well let's just call it a battle scene towards the end that really brings out the best and worst in the good guys and the baddies, respectively. Whether our heroes are facing once clearly organic threats or decidedly inorganic menaces gets very exciting but the provided mechanoid and drooling undead versus humans bar brawl is really top-notch. And how they (the humans, I mean, keep up!) fight back - not without pain and suffering mind you - is definitely worth the price of admission! And the fact that all this is tied with AI - say what screamed the audience! (look at the damn cover mumbled the reviewer) - makes it in the author's own words a "believable first wave attack in the circumstances." So very exciting stuff, I look forward to more details as they unfold in the coming chapters and/or books as well as getting to know more of the vanguard that is leading mankind to conquer their violent oppressors… or not. Still, this zombie (oops) loving fan knows it'll no doubt get even more squishy and that's perfectly okay by me!

We are facing a psychological, technological and evolutionary massacre.

My thanks to the author for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Emilia.
12 reviews
January 6, 2025
Such a fun and creative take on a zombie apocalypse story! I don’t think I’ll look at drones the same way ever again.
Profile Image for Billy Buttons.
Author 19 books192 followers
October 12, 2025
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Zambies!
Author: Matt J Pike

Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 15
Stats
Editing: 9/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 5/5

Of the 15 readers:
14 would read another book by this author.
15 thought the cover was good or excellent.
13 felt it was easy to follow.
14 would recommend this book to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 4 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
Of all the readers, 5 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
15 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
14 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.

Readers’ Comments
“I was drawn to this book by the excellent cover which I felt represent the book perfectly. I also thought this - It's going to get a whole lot worse, before it gets a whole lot worser – was hysterical. A highly amusing novel by an author who has spot on comic timing.” Female reader, aged 42
“Excellent premise, lots happening – a little horror, a little comedy – all good! I think most readers looking for a lighter take on a z-apocalypse will find this fun.” Female reader, aged 50
“Good author this. I liked his Apocalypse books very much. This novel is considerably lighter and, well, a good laugh.” Male reader, aged 17
“A clever mix of AI, monsters, and humour. It’s not literary in any way, but it’s well-written and fast paced, which fits the genre perfectly. If you enjoy blood and gore and a good chuckle, this is for you. Shawn of the Dead fans will love it!” Female reader, aged 55
“I saw from Amazon there’s another two books coming. Well, I’ll be reading them. I so enjoyed this book. Yes, it’s a bit confusing in parts, but it’s just so funny. In this crazy, depressing world we presently live in, it’s always fun to find an author who’s up for a good laugh. ” Female reader, aged 51

To Sum It Up:
“A thrill-a-page z-fest with plenty of belly laughs along the way. A BRONZE MEDAL WINNER and highly recommended!” Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Profile Image for Sabrina Ricci.
Author 13 books26 followers
November 2, 2024
Matt Pike has done it again! His books are always a great read, and full of mysteries and of course epic battle scenes.

In Zambies! we get a taste of what could happen if AI goes wrong, though we'll have to wait until later books to learn who or why is behind it all. There's a lot of humor as well, even with the terrors the main characters are living through—the group spans multiple generations which leads to lots of arguments and discussions on the best music, or what certain slang means.

I can't wait for the next book in the series, and to learn more about the mystery behind this apocalypse!
Profile Image for Rachel Joi Maples.
3,075 reviews35 followers
January 26, 2025
i appreciated the thought behind this zombie-hijacked world but had difficulty following in places … perhaps a reread is in order … am going to finish the others in the series 😉
2 reviews1 follower
November 26, 2025
I am glad I bought the second book at the same time!!
Profile Image for Stefanie Dawn.
Author 23 books48 followers
April 24, 2025
This book DOES. NOT. STOP. And it's awesome! I'm here for all the twists and turns, the huge amount of action packed into the story, and the quips of the characters. Looking forward to the next one!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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