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Among the Masses #1
Among the Dead and Dying
Game of Thrones meets The Walking Dead in this post-apocalyptic zombie series.
Thousands of years after a zombie apocalypse wiped out the majority of humans, the world is a very different and harsh place. It's safest to live behind the fortified walls of the Kingdom of Golden Rock, or it least it had been. Rumors of an army of dead led by a man calling himself The Scholar have proven true, and even the most secure cities are no match for his undead soldiers. The Scholar's goal is to crush the world of the living, but he also wants to capture a simple baker named Saffi, though no one seems to know why.
Saffi's father vows to protect his daughter, and flees The Scholar's path, only to fall prey to other evils of the world outside the walls. In just one day's time, Ward and Saffi's lives will be forever altered, and the secret about why The Scholar wants her will be revealed.
Thousands of years after a zombie apocalypse wiped out the majority of humans, the world is a very different and harsh place. It's safest to live behind the fortified walls of the Kingdom of Golden Rock, or it least it had been. Rumors of an army of dead led by a man calling himself The Scholar have proven true, and even the most secure cities are no match for his undead soldiers. The Scholar's goal is to crush the world of the living, but he also wants to capture a simple baker named Saffi, though no one seems to know why.
Saffi's father vows to protect his daughter, and flees The Scholar's path, only to fall prey to other evils of the world outside the walls. In just one day's time, Ward and Saffi's lives will be forever altered, and the secret about why The Scholar wants her will be revealed.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 2, 2014
354 people are currently reading
1188 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
June 15, 2018
I debated not even reviewing this book, but I feel compelled to.
The first character point of view we get is from a woman who quickly dies. This pattern is repeated over and over, often with grotesque detail paid to the manner of death. By the fifth woman in a row to die a vivid and violent death, I felt ill.
There are other hallmarks of a mildly misogynistic writer: There are almost no strong women. The one that is strong is emotionless, cold, and we know almost nothing about her. And although the main character is a woman, she doesn't do much other than pout and argue with her father. Very compelling stuff, I assure you.
Every active character is a man, from the bad guys to the good. And almost every side character is male as well, which just makes me wonder if the author meant to eradicate almost all the women from his world.
Aside from that glaring issue, the book was utterly lack luster. It touts itself as "Game of Thrones meets the Walking Dead", but I am fairly certain George R. R. Martin would burn every last copy of his books before agreeing to that statement. The world building is flat, poorly done, and detracts from the story rather than drawing the reader in.
The characters are also flat, except for when they are violently slaughtering someone or being violently slaughtered. The zombies are your basic garden variety shuffle-and-groan type, with nothing to set them apart from any kids movie ever made about the living dead.
The only unique thing about this book is the idea of half-dead, those not alive but also not mindless eating machines. It's a concept that might be better used in later books, but is more or less maltreated in this one and only serves to grab a readers' interest for a page here or there.
If I did not suffer intense guilt every time I put down a book without finishing it, I never would have made it through this horror show (and I don't use the term lovingly) and I would never recommend it to anyone, ever.
The first character point of view we get is from a woman who quickly dies. This pattern is repeated over and over, often with grotesque detail paid to the manner of death. By the fifth woman in a row to die a vivid and violent death, I felt ill.
There are other hallmarks of a mildly misogynistic writer: There are almost no strong women. The one that is strong is emotionless, cold, and we know almost nothing about her. And although the main character is a woman, she doesn't do much other than pout and argue with her father. Very compelling stuff, I assure you.
Every active character is a man, from the bad guys to the good. And almost every side character is male as well, which just makes me wonder if the author meant to eradicate almost all the women from his world.
Aside from that glaring issue, the book was utterly lack luster. It touts itself as "Game of Thrones meets the Walking Dead", but I am fairly certain George R. R. Martin would burn every last copy of his books before agreeing to that statement. The world building is flat, poorly done, and detracts from the story rather than drawing the reader in.
The characters are also flat, except for when they are violently slaughtering someone or being violently slaughtered. The zombies are your basic garden variety shuffle-and-groan type, with nothing to set them apart from any kids movie ever made about the living dead.
The only unique thing about this book is the idea of half-dead, those not alive but also not mindless eating machines. It's a concept that might be better used in later books, but is more or less maltreated in this one and only serves to grab a readers' interest for a page here or there.
If I did not suffer intense guilt every time I put down a book without finishing it, I never would have made it through this horror show (and I don't use the term lovingly) and I would never recommend it to anyone, ever.
October 7, 2014
As I started to read this book…I thought to myself that this is not a typical AR Wise kind of story! There were Kingdoms and Swords and Firsts and Seconds…there was even a Scholar! As I got further along the magical writing of Mr. Wise came through! Ah…there it is I thought! There is the action…the zombies…the story was quickly coming together and I saw where it was heading and I was loving it. The characters came to life as if I was watching a movie. I immediately loved Saffi and her protective father Ward…both who play pivotal parts in this. There is “The Scholar”…yeah…I’m not too keen on this guy and what he is doing and I really don’t like a few of his followers either. There are quite a lot of characters in this, some I dislike and some I really felt a strong like for. I also had quite a few “OH NO” moments but knew they were important to the story! I really enjoyed this new story which is the start of a new series and can’t wait until the next book comes out. The ending did hint at things to come and it definitely sounds intriguing. So…yes…I do recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of AR Wise or is someone looking for really good story to get into that will keep you reading and wanting more! Thank you Mr. Wise once again for building a new world for your fans to get lost in!
February 4, 2015
In "Among the Dead and Dying", A.R. Wise sweeps us into his post apocalyptic world and leaves us wanting more.Admittedly, at the beginning of this tale I did struggle keeping up with the names of all of the characters and locations, but this soon ceased to be an issue as the story developed and continued to gather pace.The "Among the Masses" series promises to be a real epic, full of intrigue and treachery - I would love to peek at Mr Wise's sepia coloured maps of this new world and its protagonists, and I cannot wait for the next instalment.
Download your copy for free from Amazon, Smashwords or Barnes and Noble.
Download your copy for free from Amazon, Smashwords or Barnes and Noble.
December 8, 2014
An interesting concept but there wasn't enough background to make want to keep reading this series
October 8, 2020
I’m rooting for the bad guy. Never a good thing.
October 9, 2017
Waaay too short...I was only just starting to be curious about the person who turned out to be the main character when all of a sudden there was no more book left! WTF? There wasn't enough charm to any of the characters to keep me interested in the next book, plus ending abruptly just makes me angry!
September 6, 2017
Awesome
Another A.R. Wise series I'm now hooked on. I can't wait to get to the next one to see what Saffi decides to do.
Another A.R. Wise series I'm now hooked on. I can't wait to get to the next one to see what Saffi decides to do.
July 15, 2016
I persevered through this book, hoping it would get better. It didn't. The premise is good, it just needs a decent editor to get to the root of the story. The book wasn't long enough for me to care about any of the characters and it felt more like a quick prequel to an established series than the opening number of what I assume will be at least a trilogy. It read like bad fanfiction with the numerous clunky exchanges between the characters and repetitive language throughout. Maybe the rest of the books will be better but I don't think I'll be reading them.
October 12, 2014
I devoured this book in one day, which doesn't happen often enough that a book captures my attention and keeps it! I wished it were longer, but I am glad that there will be more. I cannot wait to read the next one. There were so many characters that I connected with also. Great book :)
February 22, 2015
I loved this book. Very unique concept and setting. Characters came to life. I'm excited to read the next book in this series...definitely want to know what happens next.
May 4, 2017
I'm a lover of zombie stories that come from a different place other than the government/big science screw-up with snarky, first person accounts. When this book came across my BookBub feed as a free offering, I gave it a shot. What I got was something like Mad Max take on the zombie genre. Thus, I was in.
What we have is not the immediate downfall of human society from zombies, but an extended period downstream from it. Modern society as we know it is long since gone, replaced by walled cities, roving bandits, zombies, half-deads and humans. Anything remotely like a modern convenience has been banned from society by The Order who attempts to keep control over an almost mideval society.
We have the Scholar who is attempting to crush the known realms of the Five Cities and his quest for Saffi, a humble baker's apprentice who is not quite what she's been led to believe about herself. For me, it was hard to see the Scholar as the villain, mostly because he's erudite, reserved and almost calm in his desire to have Saffi alongside him.
There's a lot going on in this short book, but Wise makes sure that his chaotic world is fully explained for the amusement of the reader. There is much here to recommend going further into the series.
BOTTOM LINE: This is the Mad Max of the zombie genre, minus Mel Gibson.
What we have is not the immediate downfall of human society from zombies, but an extended period downstream from it. Modern society as we know it is long since gone, replaced by walled cities, roving bandits, zombies, half-deads and humans. Anything remotely like a modern convenience has been banned from society by The Order who attempts to keep control over an almost mideval society.
We have the Scholar who is attempting to crush the known realms of the Five Cities and his quest for Saffi, a humble baker's apprentice who is not quite what she's been led to believe about herself. For me, it was hard to see the Scholar as the villain, mostly because he's erudite, reserved and almost calm in his desire to have Saffi alongside him.
There's a lot going on in this short book, but Wise makes sure that his chaotic world is fully explained for the amusement of the reader. There is much here to recommend going further into the series.
BOTTOM LINE: This is the Mad Max of the zombie genre, minus Mel Gibson.
June 3, 2017
We had a little bit of a slow start while I waited for the plot to really get moving. But the groundwork laid in the preview and first couple chapters certainly came together quickly, and once we hit the action we never really stopped. There are still a bunch of (seemingly) extra characters wandering around and I'm not sure what their place in the plot is going to be yet, but I'm eager to know more about them.
I also like how the author doesn't stop to explain everything going on in the culture, because we spend our time in different viewpoint characters who don't have to explain their world to themselves. This means that sometimes I was left to try to get some background information from context clues, but that was better than having all of the action and diaglogue come to a grinding halt while characters provide information that they already know.
The further we got into the story, the more complex and nuanced the plot became, and I ended not entirely sure who all of the good and bad characters were supposed to be, which I also liked; not everyone in the world wears only a white or black hat. And in survival situations, things are likely to be a lot more gray. I'm very excited the read the next installment and find out more about Saffi's powers.
I also like how the author doesn't stop to explain everything going on in the culture, because we spend our time in different viewpoint characters who don't have to explain their world to themselves. This means that sometimes I was left to try to get some background information from context clues, but that was better than having all of the action and diaglogue come to a grinding halt while characters provide information that they already know.
The further we got into the story, the more complex and nuanced the plot became, and I ended not entirely sure who all of the good and bad characters were supposed to be, which I also liked; not everyone in the world wears only a white or black hat. And in survival situations, things are likely to be a lot more gray. I'm very excited the read the next installment and find out more about Saffi's powers.
October 2, 2022
Conflicted feelings on this one. Took a while to get into, then it started to get interesting around the halfway mark, but then the "Chosen One" started to do that naive and sheltered thing of endangering her life by needlessly being stubborn and annoying with people that will 100% kill her. At that point I was like, probably not going to read the rest of the trilogy. Btw, the third book isn't properly listed as part of the series here on goodreads, but it does exist in case someone is cruising reviews looking for info.
Anyway, it really felt like it was a third of a book that wasn't edited down to a proper 1/3 book size. The end of the book was the inciting incident. Maybe reading all three books will round out to a full book experience, but I won't ever know.
One last thing to mention: there was one character who made massively insensitive remarks about a guy who'd been a sex slave since he was a child and as a result didn't understand he was actually a sex slave. The character was immediately admonished, but every aspect of that exchange could be distressing for some people.
Anyway, it really felt like it was a third of a book that wasn't edited down to a proper 1/3 book size. The end of the book was the inciting incident. Maybe reading all three books will round out to a full book experience, but I won't ever know.
One last thing to mention: there was one character who made massively insensitive remarks about a guy who'd been a sex slave since he was a child and as a result didn't understand he was actually a sex slave. The character was immediately admonished, but every aspect of that exchange could be distressing for some people.
March 9, 2019
A hidden gem
I have spent the past 2 days reading this book in my free time and I don't really have words for it, none that would in anyway do it justice. I don't read a lot of zombie books normally because they seem pretty typical to me but this is so much more than a simple zombie book. It had me hooked from the first page and turned into one of those books that you simply can't put down till its finished. I admit the first day I started reading it a few hours later I went to visit a friend and any moment she would walk out of the room to help her kids with something or for whatever reason I would sneakily pull out my tablet and read till she came back. Mind you she was only out of the room for minutes but I was so into the story I didn't care because I could see what else might happen next in the book. I'm not even sure how I found this book but I'm glad I did. Enough reviewing now I got to buy the second book and start ASAP
I have spent the past 2 days reading this book in my free time and I don't really have words for it, none that would in anyway do it justice. I don't read a lot of zombie books normally because they seem pretty typical to me but this is so much more than a simple zombie book. It had me hooked from the first page and turned into one of those books that you simply can't put down till its finished. I admit the first day I started reading it a few hours later I went to visit a friend and any moment she would walk out of the room to help her kids with something or for whatever reason I would sneakily pull out my tablet and read till she came back. Mind you she was only out of the room for minutes but I was so into the story I didn't care because I could see what else might happen next in the book. I'm not even sure how I found this book but I'm glad I did. Enough reviewing now I got to buy the second book and start ASAP
June 9, 2018
This book turned out to be part of a series. Thousands of years after a zombie apocalypse wiped out the majority of humans, the world is a very different and harsh place. It's safest to live behind the fortified walls of the Kingdom of Golden Rock, or at least it had been. Rumors of an army of dead led by a man calling himself The Scholar have proven true, and even the most secure cities are no match for his undead soldiers. The Scholar's goal is to crush the world of the living, but he also wants to capture a simple baker named Saffi, though no one seems to know why.
I just did not get into this book, though I did finish reading it, not knowing it was a "to be continued". I did not pick up the next installment.
I just did not get into this book, though I did finish reading it, not knowing it was a "to be continued". I did not pick up the next installment.
May 11, 2017
3.5 rounded up.
Deadlocked series were my favorite series by A.R. Wise. It took me a bit to get connected to Among the Dead and Dying. It scored higher on the original story. It was a different type of zombies I've read in the past. The beginning and the middle of the novel, it took me a while to actually enjoy the novel, which caused several days for me to finish it. By the time I get to near ending, I liked it a lot enough to read the next book in the series. If you're looking for something original zombie novel, this is the one. It wasn't as exciting as the deadlocked was, but it was still a good read.
Deadlocked series were my favorite series by A.R. Wise. It took me a bit to get connected to Among the Dead and Dying. It scored higher on the original story. It was a different type of zombies I've read in the past. The beginning and the middle of the novel, it took me a while to actually enjoy the novel, which caused several days for me to finish it. By the time I get to near ending, I liked it a lot enough to read the next book in the series. If you're looking for something original zombie novel, this is the one. It wasn't as exciting as the deadlocked was, but it was still a good read.
January 18, 2019
I read this book as part of the Read Harder Challenge for books published before Jan 1, 2019, with less than 100 reviews. This had been on my kindle for quite awhile - I love zombie books. I was very disappointed in this book - it started out in first person with a character who was killed by the end of the chapter - the remainder of the book was in third person. A very strange way to start the book and it was hard to get connected. It jumped between different characters viewpoints frequently making it difficult to follow. And it was just boring. The characters didn’t have much depth, it took too long to get to the conflict in the book. I would not recommend.
March 21, 2019
Started reading this book for an easy read. I was pleasantly surprised to find an interesting take on zombie stories. Development of the characters is very good. I found myself interested in what happens to the people in the book. There is quite a bit of death and killing typical in this type of book. Saffi, the orphan, is an enigmatic character who leaves us with many questions about what she is. Those who join her on her journey are quite a mixture of people thieves, prophets, bakers and the half dead. I found myself interested in what happens to the people in the book and am looking forward to reading more about them.
January 24, 2021
Book 09/75: Among the Dead and Dying (Among the Masses #1) by A.R. Wise. This was a pretty neutral read. I guess zombie books need to be written in a certain way and this one just wasn't for me. I had a hard time sympathizing with the characters (various of them), keeping up with the story and feeling invested. Unfortunately, this one was not for me. I felt like a lot of back story was missing or perhaps I missed one of the other books.
March 23, 2020
Fun read. Wise created solid characters I cared about, an interesting plot with enough surprises to keep it fresh, and he moved the reader through it at a good pace. I'll pick up the others in the series.
September 12, 2020
Page turner
Took a wild shot at this book, and found it to be a great introduction into this world of horror and hope. Found myself reading on chapter after chapter, long past when I should have gone to sleep.
Took a wild shot at this book, and found it to be a great introduction into this world of horror and hope. Found myself reading on chapter after chapter, long past when I should have gone to sleep.
September 27, 2020
Nice cross of zombies hand fantasy
Good character development that is interspersed with unanswered questions to make me desire the next book in the series. Keep up the writing. It's keeping me up 😉
Good character development that is interspersed with unanswered questions to make me desire the next book in the series. Keep up the writing. It's keeping me up 😉
January 19, 2024
Meh
Pretty slow paced and drug out feeling to me. Ended on to be continued which is a major draw back. It did get interesting at the very end though. I'm undecided if I'm going to even look for the next in the series.
Pretty slow paced and drug out feeling to me. Ended on to be continued which is a major draw back. It did get interesting at the very end though. I'm undecided if I'm going to even look for the next in the series.
August 12, 2024
Haven't finished. Kinda moving at a slow pace but I like the writing. Enjoying a fairly new (to me) genre. This books feels like the RPG that I play which a touch of The Walking Dead. Only good zombie is a dead one. I could never be a Whisperer. Show mercy by putting them down.
June 17, 2018
A DNF at 10%
The prose is awkward and I can already tell the worldbuilding will be insufficient and the characters flat.
The prose is awkward and I can already tell the worldbuilding will be insufficient and the characters flat.
September 20, 2018
Wasn't terrible. Like others have said, kind of feels like it was a short story written to entice people to buy the series. Very quick and just abruptly ends without really resolving anything.
June 18, 2019
I really wanted to like this book, but 1/3 of the way through - I just couldn’t keep reading this nonsense. Sorry.
August 8, 2019
I actually really enjoyed this book and a bit of a different take on the whole zombie thing.
October 29, 2019
Hit and Miss.
It had its moments where I thought " oh yeah this is getting good" and then there where " why am i reading this?"
Not awful but not the best.
It had its moments where I thought " oh yeah this is getting good" and then there where " why am i reading this?"
Not awful but not the best.
September 19, 2020
Good start to a series
Enjoyed this! Interesting premise and good strong characters. Don’t get too attached to the characters- lots of them get killed!
Enjoyed this! Interesting premise and good strong characters. Don’t get too attached to the characters- lots of them get killed!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews