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The Undead Road
Nothing brings the family together like a zombie apocalypse … Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Beretta. And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her. After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.
- GenresHorrorYoung Adult
295 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
22 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
David Powers King
5 books42 followersDavid was born in beautiful downtown Burbank, California where his love for film inspired him to write. His works include the internationally published YA Fantasy Woven, The Undead Road: My Zombie Summer, and Full Dark: An Anthology. An avid fan of science fiction and fantasy, David also has a soft spot for zombies and the paranormal. He now lives in the mountain West with his wife and four children.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 17, 2016
The Undead Road
What a great book! Great characters, fantastic plot and what an ending! I am hoping for a series here. So worth reading!
What a great book! Great characters, fantastic plot and what an ending! I am hoping for a series here. So worth reading!
May 23, 2017
Hood story.
I couldn't stop reading wanting to see if they survive. Glad jewel got saved. I liked that kaylinn was a good zombie.
I couldn't stop reading wanting to see if they survive. Glad jewel got saved. I liked that kaylinn was a good zombie.
November 3, 2016
Great read, zombie lover or not.
January 17, 2016
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Beretta. And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her.
After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.
MY TAKE
King has done it again. While The Undead Road is a very different story from Woven which he coauthored with Michael Jensen, it's still an engaging tale nonetheless. While it's a tad bit graphic (it IS a Zombie Apocalypse story after all), it's full of dark humor.
I found the characters engaging and fun. There's some tough stuff that happens--again, no surprise--and some wins and losses for the characters. This is the first in a series, but the story arc for this book is complete. I'm really looking forward to reading the next one.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Beretta. And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her.
After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.
MY TAKE
King has done it again. While The Undead Road is a very different story from Woven which he coauthored with Michael Jensen, it's still an engaging tale nonetheless. While it's a tad bit graphic (it IS a Zombie Apocalypse story after all), it's full of dark humor.
I found the characters engaging and fun. There's some tough stuff that happens--again, no surprise--and some wins and losses for the characters. This is the first in a series, but the story arc for this book is complete. I'm really looking forward to reading the next one.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
January 28, 2016
This book was written by a friend of mine, so I might be a little biased, but "The Undead Road" was pretty awesome.
David is the co-author of a nationally-published book called "Woven", which I recently reviewed. If you've read "Woven", you'll see that while his works are generally geared toward older YA audiences, the writing is smooth and easy to read. I found myself reading a page and a half or two pages per minute. Granted, I read pretty fast anyway, but I digress.
"The Undead Road" had a neat take on zombies that I hadn't ever seen people in any type of medium that features zombies. DISCLAIMER: My zombie experience is limited to having read World War Z and watching The Walking Dead and Night of the Living Dead. Still, the elements introduced in "The Undead Road" are new to me.
First off, the word "zombie" is only used a handful of times. Rather, they're called "Vectors", and there are three categories of them: Runners (Stage 1), Stalkers (Stage 2), and Crawlers (Stage 3). Also, in most zombie stories we are pulled into an alternate world that has never seen or heard of zombies (i.e. The Walking Dead). That's not the case with "The Undead Road". Instead, the main character, Jeremy Barnes, is trapped in a world where the nightmare comes to life around him.
This book also had a ton of foreshadowing that leads to a really momentous twist.
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Undead Road" and will definitely be reading the next installment.
David is the co-author of a nationally-published book called "Woven", which I recently reviewed. If you've read "Woven", you'll see that while his works are generally geared toward older YA audiences, the writing is smooth and easy to read. I found myself reading a page and a half or two pages per minute. Granted, I read pretty fast anyway, but I digress.
"The Undead Road" had a neat take on zombies that I hadn't ever seen people in any type of medium that features zombies. DISCLAIMER: My zombie experience is limited to having read World War Z and watching The Walking Dead and Night of the Living Dead. Still, the elements introduced in "The Undead Road" are new to me.
First off, the word "zombie" is only used a handful of times. Rather, they're called "Vectors", and there are three categories of them: Runners (Stage 1), Stalkers (Stage 2), and Crawlers (Stage 3). Also, in most zombie stories we are pulled into an alternate world that has never seen or heard of zombies (i.e. The Walking Dead). That's not the case with "The Undead Road". Instead, the main character, Jeremy Barnes, is trapped in a world where the nightmare comes to life around him.
This book also had a ton of foreshadowing that leads to a really momentous twist.
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Undead Road" and will definitely be reading the next installment.
February 12, 2016
Jeremy Barnes and his family are driving across country to their cabin in Colorado, a place they believe will be safe now that the zombie apocalypse has happened. Along the way, they meet a teenage girl named Kaylynn who can expertly wield a baseball bat and wins over Jeremy's heart quick. Kaylynn has a secret, though. One that might be the death of them all.
A fun and fast-paced YA zombie apocalypse read. Jeremy's fifteen year old voice is captured exceptionally well. He's a smart kid who gets way too distracted by a cute girl. And who can blame him? Kaylynn kicks butt. She tries to keep herself isolated so no one learns her secret, but Jeremy eventually figures it out. He sticks by her still. Hot girl, after all, and yeah, he's loyal with a good heart. Jeremy's family was awesome too. His mom's a nurse and his dad's a gun dealer and his little sister kicks butt too. The family unit is tightly knit and drawn genuinely throughout the story.
It reminded me of The Walking Dead at the beginning, but the zombies, or Vectors as they call them, are something very different here. An interesting twist to the typical zombie story. A solid 4.5 rating, and one highly recommended to zombie fans.
A fun and fast-paced YA zombie apocalypse read. Jeremy's fifteen year old voice is captured exceptionally well. He's a smart kid who gets way too distracted by a cute girl. And who can blame him? Kaylynn kicks butt. She tries to keep herself isolated so no one learns her secret, but Jeremy eventually figures it out. He sticks by her still. Hot girl, after all, and yeah, he's loyal with a good heart. Jeremy's family was awesome too. His mom's a nurse and his dad's a gun dealer and his little sister kicks butt too. The family unit is tightly knit and drawn genuinely throughout the story.
It reminded me of The Walking Dead at the beginning, but the zombies, or Vectors as they call them, are something very different here. An interesting twist to the typical zombie story. A solid 4.5 rating, and one highly recommended to zombie fans.
January 21, 2016
THE UNDEAD ROAD is a wonderful story of family, courage, friendship and loyalty, set against a backdrop of a post-apocalyptic zombie world. Well written, strong characters, believable plot—if you like speculative YA, you’ll like this—even if you don’t like zombies. The dialog is clever, funny at times, always spot on. The plot was fast paced and moved smoothly from point to point. I had trouble putting the book down because I really wanted to know what happened next. The mood was not despairing—even though things looked hopeless from time to time. Part of the ending was sad, because sometimes your love for others demands huge sacrifices. But the characters never gave up. If I ever end up in a situation where I’m running from zombies, I want Jeremy and his family on my side! Read my full review at: http://bit.ly/1nbuj6C
January 23, 2016
This book had it all! Plenty of action (just when you thought things might be okay for a moment, the conflict was ratcheted up), tons of humor (kept me laughing from the very first page), some surprisingly sweet romance (yet not mushy at all-- very world appropriate), some wonderful family moments (loved that they were dealing with this zombie-apocalypic world as a family, and looked out for each other so much), and fantastic character development with characters that I was rooting for every second of the way. Would recommend to anyone who loves a good action adventure story, and especially to all those who are a fan of zombies. Excellently done!
May 19, 2016
Zombie fun?
An enjoyable read with plenty of surprises, including a main character who a as good with humor and sarcasm as he is with a shotgun.
The tale of Jeremy and Jewel, a brother/sister zombie-fighting team, had plenty of interesting characters to meet as they traveled the Undead Road in search of their parents. The zombie they encounter aren't your typical mindless dead- there is more to them than a clumsy attempt at eating humans. I can't wait for book two. I foresee a super hero twist coming!
An enjoyable read with plenty of surprises, including a main character who a as good with humor and sarcasm as he is with a shotgun.
The tale of Jeremy and Jewel, a brother/sister zombie-fighting team, had plenty of interesting characters to meet as they traveled the Undead Road in search of their parents. The zombie they encounter aren't your typical mindless dead- there is more to them than a clumsy attempt at eating humans. I can't wait for book two. I foresee a super hero twist coming!
February 2, 2016
I enjoyed this book very much, and that's saying a lot, because I don't usually read MG, YA or zombie novels. The pace is brisk, and the characters are well developed. Some of them are a tad bright for the situation, but the story starts after they've adjusted to their new reality, and their banter lightens what would be an extremely dark plot otherwise.
Don't worry, there's plenty of gore and killing and death, and several poignant moments that will wrench your heart. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait for book two!
Don't worry, there's plenty of gore and killing and death, and several poignant moments that will wrench your heart. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait for book two!
February 1, 2016
Kept my interest from the first page to the last page!
Most books take a few chapters before you really get interested in the story but I was really into this story from the first page. It was really well written and didn't have a bunch of misspelled words. I can't wait to read the second book!
Most books take a few chapters before you really get interested in the story but I was really into this story from the first page. It was really well written and didn't have a bunch of misspelled words. I can't wait to read the second book!
March 24, 2016
VECTORS the new Zombies
This was a surprisingly good Zombie tale! I really liked the characters, Jeremy is also the narrator of the story! It has all the elements of a well written Zombie tale, fear,hope,love,action-lots of it! Humor is also part of it. I highly recommend that you give this book a try, I believe that like me, you will be anxious for book two to arrive.
This was a surprisingly good Zombie tale! I really liked the characters, Jeremy is also the narrator of the story! It has all the elements of a well written Zombie tale, fear,hope,love,action-lots of it! Humor is also part of it. I highly recommend that you give this book a try, I believe that like me, you will be anxious for book two to arrive.
Read
January 2, 2016A fun and easy read for a rainy Saturday. I enjoyed many of the story twists. A few lines were a bit predictable but that's not always a bad thing.
Rot and Ruin will forever be my favorite zombie books but definitely pick this one up if you like the genre.
Rot and Ruin will forever be my favorite zombie books but definitely pick this one up if you like the genre.
February 3, 2016
A fun zombie tale that features superpowers and killer bees. The only negative is that this book has obviously not had much proofreading done, which probably doesn't concern other people as much as it concerns me.
March 7, 2016
Nice Story
This is a good read. A little light, but entertaining. The characters don't really get a chance to develop seeing as it is only one book long. I'd still recommend it for a quick read.
This is a good read. A little light, but entertaining. The characters don't really get a chance to develop seeing as it is only one book long. I'd still recommend it for a quick read.
March 20, 2016
The Undead
Enjoyed the book very much. Was fast moving and kept me wanting to see what was around the next corner as it held my attention very well. Would like to see another book added to this.
Enjoyed the book very much. Was fast moving and kept me wanting to see what was around the next corner as it held my attention very well. Would like to see another book added to this.
January 7, 2016
A good zombie book. I give it 4.5 stars.
January 7, 2016
If you like zombies, zombie movies, zombie shows, zombie books, pick up this book! Intriguing story from beginning to end with LOTS of twists and turns. And possibly romance...
March 16, 2016
I really enjoyed this book was a little nervous being a teen book but it was so well written and it had all the good stuff Love friendship family badass kids
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews