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Z is for Zombie #1

What We Left Behind

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Everyone has a different term for zombies. I call them Zee because that's the term my mother used before she turned, speaking about the whole horde as though it was just one individual. Grammar has no place in the zombie apocalypse…

Hazel is a regular teenager growing up in an irregular world overrun with zombies. She likes music, perfume, freshly baked muffins, and playing her Xbox—everything that no longer exists in the apocalypse.

Raised in the safety of a commune, Hazel rarely sees Zee anymore, except on those occasions when the soldiers demonstrate the importance of a headshot to the kids.

To her horror, circumstances beyond her control lead her outside the barbed wire fence and into a zombie-infested town.

“Five, Four, Three, Two—count your shots, Haze,” she says to herself, firing at the oncoming zombie horde. “Don't forget to reload.”

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2015

137 people are currently reading
353 people want to read

About the author

Peter Cawdron

78 books1,064 followers

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5 stars
130 (28%)
4 stars
181 (39%)
3 stars
107 (23%)
2 stars
31 (6%)
1 star
14 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
Profile Image for chucklesthescot.
3,000 reviews134 followers
August 30, 2017
This is an example of a dreadful MC putting me right off the story. Haze is a moaning faced, immature, whiny little bitch and I frankly hate her. She spends most of her time complaining about her friends and pointing out every fault they have and why it makes her so much better. She thinks she is more mature than Jane because she calls them zombies while Jane calls them monsters. Oh yes that REALLY proves your maturity.

Haze whines about being stuck inside a safe commune in the zombie apocalypse because she wants more out of life. She doesn't want to be stuck there doing boring jobs every day for the good of the community. Well take your whiny ass out there into the world where you have to fend for yourself and see how you enjoy the zombies! What an ungrateful little snot! Most people would be grateful to live in a safe commune away from the zombies but not Haze. Most people would realise that the community need to work together and share the load as that is fair. So the jobs might be boring but you do your share and get on with it! Haze is just lazy, spoiled and needs a good kick up the ass.

She is very snotty about preppers who are successfully living beyond the walls of their community, calling them 'sad lonely paranoid hermits' and then wonders why they don't like or deal with people like her. Um, maybe because you are rude and snotty? And now she decides she is going out into the world to collect a zombie sample to prove a scientific theory of her father? Oh yes that should be worth a giggle!

I really cannot stand idiot main characters like this in my zombie books.
Profile Image for Gregoire.
1,106 reviews48 followers
October 11, 2017
Pour les amateurs du genre voici l'histoire de 4 jeunes ados dans un monde post apocalyptique rempli de zombies affamés
Pour le thème, rien de nouveau sous le soleil me direz-vous ! mais voilà, Peter Cawdron prend la peine de trouver une explication plausible à cette question qui me taraude depuis longtemps :

qu'est ce qui fait que les zombies ne meurent pas (après tout, ils ne semblent pas se manger entre eux et leurs corps sont en putréfaction, état qui ne dure qu'un temps ....)

Qu'est-ce qui poussent des jeunes à vouloir survivre ? quel avenir peuvent ils envisager etc etc
Donc, non seulement What we left behind est un excellent récit zombiesque, bien écrit et prenant, mais en plus il tente de répondre, sans alourdir le récit ni ralentir l'action, à tout un tas de phénomènes, sentiments, situations que le lecteur lambda de récit post apocalypse ne manque pas de se poser sans vraiment trouver de réponse dans des séries comme The Walking Dead

J'ai retrouvé avec plaisir Hazel âgée de 17 ans (dans la nouvelle c'est encore une enfant) et beaucoup regretté l'absence inexpliqué de l'astronaute Jackson

Si certains lecteurs pourront trouver son comportement parfois irritant, qu'ils se souviennent de leur période "ados" énergie, révolte, hormones, amitiés etc etc Par ailleurs, le récit étant à la première personne, le lecteur n'a que la vision personnelle et "épicée" à la sauce Hazel

Bref, j'ai bien aimé et je lirai la suite

Profile Image for Satin.
Author 3 books55 followers
May 5, 2015
I received an early copy of this book because I voted for it in the Amazon Kindle Scout program. Every book I've read from Peter Cawdron has been exceptional. It's gotten to the point where my expectations are rather high when I buy one, and I'm happy to say What We Left Behind did not disappoint.

Hazel was eight when the zombie apocalypse took over the world. Eight years old is when one begins to form an awareness of the society around them and feel the urge to fit in. Children start developing opinions. They also become more independent and begin to form lasting memories.

Now, years later, Hazel is a teenager, and she's just old enough to remember how the world used to be. Lazy afternoons playing X-Box, pretty dresses, and being able to decide your own future. All the large and little things society has had to leave behind in the wake of zombies.

Some people are resigned to their fate. They put their head down and simply let it be enough to fight the zombies day in and day out. They've stopped questioning whether it will get better, or searching for a solution to the larger problem. Hazel's father is not one of these people. In fact, he has managed to continue studying zombies when everybody else has given up...and one day, he comes up with a hypothesis that may cure zombie-ism.

What happens next is for you to discover. I will say I felt the scientific explanation Peter Cawdron came up with made a lot of sense. I appreciate the examples he pulled from this world that could support an outbreak of zombie-ism.

I also loved the gentle, almost nurturing way Peter wrote about the characters in this age group. I feel he really captured the essence of what it meant to be a teenager. The sense of adventure, the awkward shyness, the recklessness, the vulnerability, the way everything can feel jumbled one moment and simple the next.

And the action! There was plenty of pure zombie scenes to leave even the most avid zombie enthusiast satisfied. At one point I was on my couch cringing, with my knees up, my hand over my mouth, saying, "No! No, wait, THAT can't happen! Aaaahhh!" Deep breath. "Okay, just keep reading...this CAN'T be how it ends. Trust the author. Trust the author..." My husband thought I was nuts.

Needless to say, you should get this book.
Profile Image for Myllady.
143 reviews6 followers
February 19, 2016
This was a really fun book. I enjoyed how the zombicalypse was explained and the quick set pace of the book, with barely a world building explanation and a very direct, full of action in-the-moment survival plot. It's really direct, we start right where someone did research for year and is pretty sure to have found a cure. From there it's basically a single quest, only focused on getting to the solution. It's a really quick read too.

One thing in the narration I really enjoyed was how well it conveyed the alternate states of blinding fear and terror, adrenaline and the euphoric relief of survival. I have absolutely no way to know how encountering zombies would really feel but I'd bet it'd be like that ;)

This book is not a 5 star though because the character building was a bit short on depth and... you had to spur you 'suspend disbelief' muscle into action to really believe these teens survived, although the action and fights felt credible. The thing is, the zombies are portrayed as really really dangerous and these teens as really really non-experienced and not really trained... I believe if even a pimple can get you infected... Some of the really close encounters they had should have infected them... Also, when 'the bait' survives... well, you'll see for yourslf :P

Really worth a read though !

3 reviews
April 7, 2016
Great Apocalyptic read

An interesting twist on the zombie formula, a quick and easy read, recommended if you love the zombie genre. Go Zee !
Profile Image for Jon.
26 reviews10 followers
October 18, 2015
An OK, shortish YA (Young Adult) novel. I enjoyed the limited scope of this one - following a few characters on a single journey from their safe commune to the town nearby. It kept things focused and clear, without meandering off into substories or flashbacks. Just a straight-forward 'fetch' plot. Also, the zombie science of how they operate was pretty plausable and well thought-out.

What i didn't like were the cliché characters. A tough 'alpha-male' who takes care of the situations, a sexy wild-boy with a troubled past and two girls who panic and fall over a lot and look to the guys to make all the decisions and help them out of scrapes.

So yeah, interesting concept, didn't overstay it's welcome, but severly let down by cliché characters and weak females.
Profile Image for Kellie.
1,352 reviews30 followers
November 1, 2018
I learned at the end of this book that the cover came first; that the author was inspired by the title to write his story.

Overall, I wasn't impressed. I felt the characters were a little flat and the catch-all term they used for the zombies just irritated me. I also felt annoyed that none of the characters, despite the peril and circumstances they found themselves in, died to the infection or the zombies themselves. Too "happy ending" for me.

Additionally, despite the fact it was Hazel's father that had the theory of how the sunlight was affecting the zombies, and even theorized about how a zombie could die locked in a dark room, it never occurred to Hazel that that was what was transpiring in the dark vet's office, and they proceeded to open the blinds anyway. *rolleyes*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
18 reviews
June 4, 2016
Hazel, Steve, David, and Jane live in a community in a zombie apocalypse. Hazel's dad thinks he found a cure but everyone in the community laughs at him. During a display her dad was giving another man named Feruson shoves him over and he falls onto his display. So Hazel and her friends go into the city to try to find the medicine that her dad said would cure zombies. This book wasn't that bad but it also wasn't that good. Even though I love zombies and my favorite bok is World War Z something about this book just made it knd of boring. So I give it a 3/5.
Profile Image for Litio Broie.
365 reviews2 followers
December 21, 2021
Insufrible.
Entiendo la situación y que las emociones de una adolescente pueden ser las descritas, pero... La escena se alarga y se alarga y una empieza a sentir frustración y vergüenza ajena. El final ha sido el colmo.
Le doy dos estrellas porque la idea no es mala y supongo que no estoy siendo objetiva, tal vez hay que leer esto cuando se tiene quince años, probablemente es Young Adult y no solo no me he dado cuenta sino que es el tipo de YA que de verdad es para YA (con otras novelas para chavales no me ha pasado esto).

Hay un detalle que sí quiero apuntar para quien quiera leer la novela: queda un asunto en el aire sin resolución.The Big Boss, y a nadie parece importarle lo que ocurre ni sus posibles repercusiones. Tal vez el autor se olvidó del asunto, tal vez le pareció irrelevante, pero yo no creo que lo sea. Y eso sí que es un fallo gordo objetivamente.

Finalmente: el autor dedica un espacio al trabajo que ha llevado escribir la novela, con los habituales agradecimientos a profesionales, familia y tal, y comenta que su teoría sobre el rollo zombi tiene su base real en la naturaleza. Esto en sí no es malo hasta que se mete con los gatos y la toxoplasmosis, hablando de ello como un auténtico imbécil que vive en el pasado. Hace tiempo ya que todo el que quiere enterarse sabe que tener un gato y estar embarazada no es incompatible, ni mucho menos. El autor o bien no ha querido enterarse o pertenece al selecto grupo de gilipollas profundos que aprovechan el embarazo para librarse del gato.

De corazón te lo digo, Peter Cawdron, me pareces un autor lamentable y como persona tampoco creo que valgas más que las caquitas de mis gatos, que además son más consistentes que tu narración pese a tener en común el irónico hecho de ser tan solo mierda.
Profile Image for JenBsBooks.
2,701 reviews69 followers
July 12, 2019
I've read quite a few different Zombie novels. Always interesting to see the different approaches an author takes. Hazel's dad has a novel theory ... that Zombies aren't actually "dead" but more taken over by a parasite. Interesting idea.

Hazel herself has her own way of talking about Zombies. She calls them, as a group or individual, "Zee" ... almost like a name, like John or Dan. Zee looked at me. Zee tried to eat me. The car crashed into Zee. Each "Zee" she is referring to is a different Zombie. According to the blurb, and to Hazel herself, she thinks this ZEE terminology is the coolest thing, and she's pretty jazzed if anyone else starts using the term. Personally, I found it annoying. I'm one that would refer to them as Zombies, or monsters, or walkers, or whatever, not naming them Zee.

In the second half, it was a little (or a lot) annoying to have our characters be in such dire straights ... we're going to die, there is no way we can survive. Look ... we survived. Oh no, NOW we are going to die, oh no ... look, we survived again. Oh there's NO WAY they will ever make it. Guess what ... they make it. Even when the unthinkable happens ... guess what? Yup ...

Another interesting tidbit at the end the author discusses how he came up with the idea ... after seeing a sample book cover that he loved. I personally didn't care for the cover, and the one pictured here is different than the one on my Kindle. Just interesting to note.
2,452 reviews
May 9, 2020
Look't me!!! I really, truly listened to a Zombie book... quite possibly my most detested genre, EVER!! Definitely as far off my go-to-list as it was possible to go! I've been known to not even read a blurb if I saw that the word "Zombie" used! 🤣
So what happened to my my strict "anti-zombie" policy? Well, Peter Cawdron happened! And I haven't found a story by Peter that I haven't liked! I also remembered that I'd read and enjoyed his short story Free Fall, and yes, it was really good and there were zombies in it, well it turns out that Free Fall was the prequel to this amazing story! Yes, this is me saying I loved it!
This is what happens when you mix a coming of age story with an apocalypse and then add Peter Cawdron into the mix. You end up with a plot driven, action packed, bombastic storyline that's also thoughtful. It's about what it means to be human, to have loyalty, and how love makes everything worth the struggle! So why did I give the book 4⭐'s instead of 5? well I felt that the climax was overly long and melodramatic, while all I could do was to sit there screaming (in my head, anyways) "Use Your Eyes and Look Around You, IDIOTS!!!
I loved Caitlin Kelly's performance finding it to be quite brilliant, and a new (to me) voice to be on the lookout for... Now onto book2 in this duology... Yum!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Profile Image for Christine Bishop.
525 reviews
October 10, 2017
A great new book to add to your zombie collection.

What We Left Behind is a great book to add to your zombie collection. If you enjoy reading zombie fiction then I definitely recommend reading this. It has killer zombies, bad ass teanagers, a little love, and some awesome survival scenes.
43 reviews
December 18, 2018
Interesting take on zombie apocalypse - this time caused by some virus. It's more mind control than undead or reanimated. But the story is from a young woman's point of view who has spent her entire life with zombies. She and her friends need to complete a daring and dangerous raid in the middle of the nearby town to procure some drugs for her father who might become a zombie if they fail.
Profile Image for Michael.
652 reviews9 followers
May 1, 2020
I am not really a fan of Zombie fiction or Zee as they are called here but Peter Cawdron is such an excellent writer that I thought I would give this book a chance. I am glad I did. Whilst it is written in more of a YA style (notwithstanding the Zombies!) it is an entertaining read and thoroughly recommended.
Profile Image for Anja Peerdeman.
324 reviews2 followers
September 13, 2020
‘What we left behind’ is a magnificent novel, telling us about an apocalyptic zombie-infested world.
The story is told by Hazel -or Haze- , a young girl fighting for her life. Fighting to survive, to not become one of THEM. To not let the man she loves become one either.
This is a tale of survival, fear, love, loss, and making wise, but terrible decisions.
Tense and suspenseful!
6 reviews
February 5, 2022
Not your typical zombie story

I have started to read a couple of zombie novels before, but I lost interest after a couple of chapters. I was really hoping that Peter Cawdron could work his magic into this book. He pulled it off beautifully! If you like his other work, you should give this one a go. There's a very good chance you'll like it.
Profile Image for Seamus.
285 reviews
October 21, 2017
A zombie triller with a difference. Great fun, then very tragic, then dramatic, then sad, then frustrating teenage stupidity. Bit of a roller coaster really but a rewarding tale!

The audiobook adaptation is top.
Profile Image for Teresa.
1,913 reviews35 followers
October 2, 2019
Not bad. A young adult read.

Not a bad story but I just couldn’t get into the 16 year old main character. I found her...irritating.
I wish that authors would write YA in bold print on their descriptions
49 reviews
February 1, 2021
I don’t usually choose zombie novels...

But I quite enjoyed this book. Peter always brings in some (or a lot) of hard science, which I greatly appreciate. Probably why I have read almost everything Peter has published.
Profile Image for Ray Smillie.
779 reviews
February 28, 2022
Disappointing by the usual standards of Peter Cawdron in a ten a penny zombie novel. Just glad that he found his niche in his varied first contact tales which are far superior to this barely adequate bore.
Profile Image for jboyg.
425 reviews4 followers
May 8, 2022
Excellent Zombie Novel + Happy Ending!

As usual, Peter tells a great story. Z tropes abound but leavened with strong characters one comes to really care about. Much murder and mayhem but ultimately a possible end to our sorrows. First rate!
Profile Image for Nannika.
262 reviews17 followers
September 25, 2023
Young adult genre is a mixed bag of nuts. I rolled my eyes so many times listening to this. Had to remind myself that's its children, they don't know better. But I will admit that this book was frustrating at times. Glad she got bitten though *chef's kiss* Was the best part of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sam.
2,616 reviews44 followers
June 7, 2020
I really enjoyed this story! Good ideas, well written, nice characters development! Liked the zombie adventures & that for once there maybe hope at the end! I will look for more work by this writer!
Profile Image for Michelle R.
76 reviews
November 1, 2022
It has somewhat of a decent zombie book potential in the beginning- but the ending was horrible and just so ridiculous.
22 reviews
February 23, 2024
Excellent twist on the zombie genre. Peter Cawdron is a wonderful story teller. I have yet to read one of his books which I did not thoroughly enjoy!
Profile Image for Thomas Christensen.
71 reviews11 followers
July 16, 2024
The main character was just too annoying. And the guys were all action and decisions, while the girls were insecure and weak - it was painful to read.
Profile Image for Laurentt Accio.
22 reviews
April 3, 2020
The book was enjoyable at the start and was very strong in the middle, I couldn’t stop reading. Then it was downhill from there. The ending was untidy and left me annoyed. It didn’t make sense that all of them survived. I liked most of the characters but hazel annoyed me sometimes. In all honesty there is no need for a second book and the author could have left the ending at that. I also do not appreciate the theory of a zombie queen as that seems even worse than a cliché. However, I did appreciate the elements of the story that weren’t cliché and really differentiated this book from other zombie books. Overall it was a decent read but what could have possibly been a four star read was ruined by the ending. Eh I may or may not read the next book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews