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Welcome to Deadland
“An intricately woven, fresh take on the zombie genre that keeps you guessing until the very end. Genre fans will absolutely love this thrilling tale of survival, and what it means to be human." —Rachel Heine, Editor-in-Chief, Nerdist
In a thrilling debut from Nerdist, a ragtag group of survivors struggles to hold onto hope.
A widespread disease has ravaged humanity—symptoms animalistic rage, violent outbursts, and a ravenous hunger for human flesh. The few people left are thrust together to fight for their lives, before the world becomes overrun by the infected. Asher, Wendy, and Rico try to reach an abandoned theme park, hoping for sanctuary. Although fear of the infected is ever-present, the group finds themselves facing some very human concerns, as well as new adversaries.
Asher is Wendy’s only friend, and she fears that she’ll lose him if he ever discovers the dark secret she’s been harboring. Reeling from heartbreak, Asher clings to Wendy as he struggles to heal. Rico is a seventeen-year-old rebel used to ditching school and partying all night—but can he outgrow his debauched behavior in order to protect a six-year-old boy who has suddenly fallen under his care? These three will have to overcome their own demons in order to save not only themselves, but the last vestiges of humanity.
In a thrilling debut from Nerdist, a ragtag group of survivors struggles to hold onto hope.
A widespread disease has ravaged humanity—symptoms animalistic rage, violent outbursts, and a ravenous hunger for human flesh. The few people left are thrust together to fight for their lives, before the world becomes overrun by the infected. Asher, Wendy, and Rico try to reach an abandoned theme park, hoping for sanctuary. Although fear of the infected is ever-present, the group finds themselves facing some very human concerns, as well as new adversaries.
Asher is Wendy’s only friend, and she fears that she’ll lose him if he ever discovers the dark secret she’s been harboring. Reeling from heartbreak, Asher clings to Wendy as he struggles to heal. Rico is a seventeen-year-old rebel used to ditching school and partying all night—but can he outgrow his debauched behavior in order to protect a six-year-old boy who has suddenly fallen under his care? These three will have to overcome their own demons in order to save not only themselves, but the last vestiges of humanity.
350 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
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August 9, 2016
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/08/09/...
Welcome to Deadland is a zombie book, but it’s also kind of…not. The end of the world seems almost incidental in this novel pitched as Lost meets The Walking Dead, but in my opinion, its unique perspective also makes it a deeper, much stronger experience. Rest assured, readers will still get a good dose of the zombocalypse, but the predominant themes about growing up, coming out, and finding strength within yourself are what makes this one shine. If you’re in the mood to try a different sort of zombie story, you’ll definitely want to seek this one out.
The narrative focuses mainly on two major POVs: Asher, a college student from North Carolina, who with his friend Wendy have ended up in a post-apocalyptic Orlando theme park; and Rico, a drug-addicted teenager determined to see himself and his six-year-old brother Jayden to safety through a world strewn with death and destruction. In the “After”, all that matters is survival. But at least half—if not more—of the book also takes place “Before”, in the months leading up to the devastating effects of the zombie plague. With chapters alternating between the past and present, the story provides readers with plenty of backstory allowing us to follow the changes in the characters’ lives.
In the pre-apocalypse, everything changes for Asher on the night he meets Ellis at a house party. A spark immediately forms between the two of them, but there’s only one problem: Ellis already has a boyfriend. Add to that, Asher hasn’t actually told anyone he’s gay, but with the support of Ellis and his friends, he’s finally realizing he can let his secret go and be himself. For the first time in his life, Asher feels free and happy, but there’s also no denying the connection he feels with Ellis, who is already involved with someone else.
Meanwhile in another part of the state, a high school student named Rico is being arrested for drugs and disorderly conduct. As punishment, Rico’s father takes away his car privileges, but this simply becomes an invitation for the teenager to act out even further by skipping classes, dealing drugs, and going to all-night parties. Despite being a juvenile delinquent though, Rico is the hero of his younger stepbrother Jayden, and Rico loves the little boy in turn with all his heart.
Without a doubt, it’s the “Before” sections that constitute the meat of the story, which is why I described this book the way I did in my introduction. Zombie horror takes a secondary role to the trials and tribulations of real life, and just because the world has ended doesn’t mean that the past is erased. If you’re solely looking for the action and thrills of a pure zombie survival story, then this probably won’t be the book for you. There are scenes of blood, violence, gore and tension scattered here and there, but for the most part this one is a heavily character-oriented drama with the most interesting plot developments happening in the chapters before the zombie outbreak.
To keep things moving along though, Zachary Tyler Linville weaves together past and present, jumping back and forth between events that happened when the world was still fine and those that happened afterwards when everything has gone to hell. Still, while it was interesting and ambitious, I wasn’t entirely convinced this was the best structure for the novel because of the overall disruptive effect it had on the flow of the story. “Before” and “After” had a way of stepping on each other’s toes, and the plotting wasn’t quite tight enough to make me feel engaged with essentially four different storylines (pre- and post-apocalypse for both Asher and Rico). The POV switches were also distracting because I had to really make a conscious effort to remember what happened with each character when we last saw them.
Something had to give, and it was the “zombie chapters” that suffered, simply because I preferred the stronger, more compelling character development in the “Before” chapters. Framing it that way, Welcome to Deadland isn’t even a zombie book at all, but rather a narrative about human drama: family life, personal relationships, romance and sex, emotional conflicts, etc. Asher’s story almost had a “New Adult” feel to them, featuring themes like sexuality, leaving home, and college life. In the middle of it all is his relationship with Ellis, which is both a source of comfort and frustration to Asher. Much of his plotline involves Asher trying to sort out where he stands while Ellis carries on an emotional affair with him and then later becomes manipulative, playing with Asher’s feelings. Next, we flip over to Rico, whose story reads like a cautionary tale reminding us of the dangers of drug abuse among teens. The end of the world comes just as Rico hits rock bottom, and puts a whole new perspective on his life. With a young child in his care, Rico re-examines his habits and knows he has to be a better person for his little brother, so at least for him, the zombie apocalypse has a silver lining.
All told, I found Welcome to Deadland to be a welcome change from the typical run-of-the-mill zombie novel, though ironically, it was the non-zombie sections that really stood out for me. Despite the pacing problems and other minor issues like choppy writing and awkward dialogue, I really enjoyed the story overall and was amazed at huge amount of effort put into character development. That’s pretty unusual for a zombie story, and I found it very refreshing. It’ll be interesting to see what else this series has in store for our characters, because yes, Welcome to Deadland has all the trappings of a “book one”. Hopefully we’ll also learn more about how the infection started in the first place, since this was only mildly hinted at in the story. Ultimately, I rate this one 3 stars for being a solid debut effort with room to grow, and I genuinely believe Zachary Tyler Linville has a bright career in writing ahead of him.
Welcome to Deadland is a zombie book, but it’s also kind of…not. The end of the world seems almost incidental in this novel pitched as Lost meets The Walking Dead, but in my opinion, its unique perspective also makes it a deeper, much stronger experience. Rest assured, readers will still get a good dose of the zombocalypse, but the predominant themes about growing up, coming out, and finding strength within yourself are what makes this one shine. If you’re in the mood to try a different sort of zombie story, you’ll definitely want to seek this one out.
The narrative focuses mainly on two major POVs: Asher, a college student from North Carolina, who with his friend Wendy have ended up in a post-apocalyptic Orlando theme park; and Rico, a drug-addicted teenager determined to see himself and his six-year-old brother Jayden to safety through a world strewn with death and destruction. In the “After”, all that matters is survival. But at least half—if not more—of the book also takes place “Before”, in the months leading up to the devastating effects of the zombie plague. With chapters alternating between the past and present, the story provides readers with plenty of backstory allowing us to follow the changes in the characters’ lives.
In the pre-apocalypse, everything changes for Asher on the night he meets Ellis at a house party. A spark immediately forms between the two of them, but there’s only one problem: Ellis already has a boyfriend. Add to that, Asher hasn’t actually told anyone he’s gay, but with the support of Ellis and his friends, he’s finally realizing he can let his secret go and be himself. For the first time in his life, Asher feels free and happy, but there’s also no denying the connection he feels with Ellis, who is already involved with someone else.
Meanwhile in another part of the state, a high school student named Rico is being arrested for drugs and disorderly conduct. As punishment, Rico’s father takes away his car privileges, but this simply becomes an invitation for the teenager to act out even further by skipping classes, dealing drugs, and going to all-night parties. Despite being a juvenile delinquent though, Rico is the hero of his younger stepbrother Jayden, and Rico loves the little boy in turn with all his heart.
Without a doubt, it’s the “Before” sections that constitute the meat of the story, which is why I described this book the way I did in my introduction. Zombie horror takes a secondary role to the trials and tribulations of real life, and just because the world has ended doesn’t mean that the past is erased. If you’re solely looking for the action and thrills of a pure zombie survival story, then this probably won’t be the book for you. There are scenes of blood, violence, gore and tension scattered here and there, but for the most part this one is a heavily character-oriented drama with the most interesting plot developments happening in the chapters before the zombie outbreak.
To keep things moving along though, Zachary Tyler Linville weaves together past and present, jumping back and forth between events that happened when the world was still fine and those that happened afterwards when everything has gone to hell. Still, while it was interesting and ambitious, I wasn’t entirely convinced this was the best structure for the novel because of the overall disruptive effect it had on the flow of the story. “Before” and “After” had a way of stepping on each other’s toes, and the plotting wasn’t quite tight enough to make me feel engaged with essentially four different storylines (pre- and post-apocalypse for both Asher and Rico). The POV switches were also distracting because I had to really make a conscious effort to remember what happened with each character when we last saw them.
Something had to give, and it was the “zombie chapters” that suffered, simply because I preferred the stronger, more compelling character development in the “Before” chapters. Framing it that way, Welcome to Deadland isn’t even a zombie book at all, but rather a narrative about human drama: family life, personal relationships, romance and sex, emotional conflicts, etc. Asher’s story almost had a “New Adult” feel to them, featuring themes like sexuality, leaving home, and college life. In the middle of it all is his relationship with Ellis, which is both a source of comfort and frustration to Asher. Much of his plotline involves Asher trying to sort out where he stands while Ellis carries on an emotional affair with him and then later becomes manipulative, playing with Asher’s feelings. Next, we flip over to Rico, whose story reads like a cautionary tale reminding us of the dangers of drug abuse among teens. The end of the world comes just as Rico hits rock bottom, and puts a whole new perspective on his life. With a young child in his care, Rico re-examines his habits and knows he has to be a better person for his little brother, so at least for him, the zombie apocalypse has a silver lining.
All told, I found Welcome to Deadland to be a welcome change from the typical run-of-the-mill zombie novel, though ironically, it was the non-zombie sections that really stood out for me. Despite the pacing problems and other minor issues like choppy writing and awkward dialogue, I really enjoyed the story overall and was amazed at huge amount of effort put into character development. That’s pretty unusual for a zombie story, and I found it very refreshing. It’ll be interesting to see what else this series has in store for our characters, because yes, Welcome to Deadland has all the trappings of a “book one”. Hopefully we’ll also learn more about how the infection started in the first place, since this was only mildly hinted at in the story. Ultimately, I rate this one 3 stars for being a solid debut effort with room to grow, and I genuinely believe Zachary Tyler Linville has a bright career in writing ahead of him.
June 22, 2016
I received a free ARC copy of this ebook through Netgalley, Nerdist Publishing and the author in exchange for an honest review.
The world has changed. Humanity is on the brink of extinction thanks to the zombie disease that has now plagued the land. Only a few humans has survived it so far including four adolescents by the names of Asher, Wendy, Rico, and Jayden. As the infected continue their hunt for flesh, the teens must now find sanctuary and outrun the zombies before they become their next meal. Will they survive? Read on and find out for yourselves.
This was a pretty good read. It was a very interesting take on the zombie mythos. It was action packed, the character development was great, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Fans of Zombie lore such as The Infects , Z 2136 , World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Empty Bodies and more will enjoy checking out this Zombie horror survival tale. Check this book out when it officially releases in bookstores and wherever books are sold in August of this year.
The world has changed. Humanity is on the brink of extinction thanks to the zombie disease that has now plagued the land. Only a few humans has survived it so far including four adolescents by the names of Asher, Wendy, Rico, and Jayden. As the infected continue their hunt for flesh, the teens must now find sanctuary and outrun the zombies before they become their next meal. Will they survive? Read on and find out for yourselves.
This was a pretty good read. It was a very interesting take on the zombie mythos. It was action packed, the character development was great, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Fans of Zombie lore such as The Infects , Z 2136 , World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Empty Bodies and more will enjoy checking out this Zombie horror survival tale. Check this book out when it officially releases in bookstores and wherever books are sold in August of this year.
May 21, 2016
contains some spoilers for first 120 pages (spoiler warning added due to comment)
I thought this was going to be a book about surviving the zombie apocalypse but it spends so much time exploring teenage sexuality, romance and the ‘before’ that you essentially have two very disconnected narratives, neither of which end particularly satisfyingly and an ‘after’ which feels a bit too familiar.
It’s an interesting time to write a book about Zombies. In pop culture they have never been more popular thanks to the outlandish success of The Walking Dead which guarantees an audience but the flip side is it can be tough to conjure a situation that that audience has not already seen. I found that to be case reading this book. None of the zombie based scenes particularly thrilled me and I never found myself quite knowing what the rules were in terms of speed, intention, aggressiveness and strength. Now this is totally understandable as all zombies are unique individuals, in various states of decay or injury and at different points in their transformation but when I’m building an action scene in my mind I need to know some of the consistent physics so I can see it playing out.
We have two major POV’s in Asher and Rico with both being split into ‘before’ and ‘after’. We Let talk about Asher first.
Meet Asher. He works in a coffee shop. He is quickly asked out by Stacey. He goes to a party with her and meets Ellis.
Ellis extended his hand. When Asher shook it, he felt a shock like jolt shoot up his arm.
One minute later
His eyes moved from person to person in the circle and fell on Asher. “So what d’you say? Be my date?” Ellis smiled and batted his eyelashes.
Two minutes later they are skinny dipping whilst Asher’s date lies passed out and Ellis ignores any sense of personal space by constantly swimming up behind Asher and ‘surprising him from behind’.
So Ellis is gay. Yay. Asher is dating a girl but the author has expressly told me that he felt a jolt in his arm when he shook Ellis hand so he must be gay too. We’ll nothing moves things forward like answering a text from a relative stranger by giving him a nice visual of a dripping wet naked body and telling him you have just got out of the shower and are getting dressed. Is this Nightmare on Elm Street 2? Arghhh where are the zombies?
In the next scene Ellis is buying Asher smoothies and discussing movies insisting that “we’ll have to watch the rest then’ and then eating so much and declaring 'he needs to take his shorts off' and this is what I don’t understand. Just because Ellis is gay why does he have to be hyper sexual. Everything is a bloody double entendre and at no point has Asher thought to turn around and asked him to respect his relationship with Stacey, or even called him out for treating his boyfriend like crap.
The dialogue between supposed friends is clunky and does not ring true.
“You’ll mess up my kill ratio,” Mark said, refusing to pass the controller. “Whenever you play you end up shooting me, not the other players,” Derrick added “Dammit, sniper got me”
“That’s not true. Besides, I’m excellent with a gun,” Asher protested.
I’m not a writer but here’s my take on a scene like this where you have two roommates playing a Call of Duty style game.
“No. You’re crap,” Mark said, refusing to pass the controller. “Yeah whenever you play his k/d ratio goes to shit and he ends up with an eight year old from Peru telling him he sucks,” Derrick added. “ You camping sniping son of a bitch!” he yelled at the screen as he was forced to live out a replay of his head getting blown off by a player who was wearing bright orange fatigues that he had not even seen.
“Come on. Let me get the shotgun out and go do some work,” Asher protested.
The only reason I can find for these two side characters to exist is because them blowing stuff up gives Ellis a chance to make a joke about blow jobs. Anyway after 120 pages of innuendo Ellis shockingly confides in Asher that he is gay and decides that Asher is too and that he is going to expose him. What an awesome guy. Not content with respecting the wishes of Asher, giving him time and space to come out on his own or even entertaining the thought that he might be bi or just getting his shit together he just sets out to ruin his relationship with Stacey.
The other major POV is a guy called Rico. In his ‘before’ he is selfish and takes a lot of drugs, in his ‘after’ he is looking after a young boy and trying to keep him safe from the zombies. We later learn the young boy is his step brother and about the only thing that was good in his life. We see some signs of him having an abusive father but unfortunately just when this thread begins it is abandoned because Rico was high.
I’m not a big fan of romance in my books but I love Fantasy, Sci-FI, Action and Thrillers and there is always an element of romance. It’s something that can add a great deal too most stories. However when I picked up this book I had no way of knowing that more than a third of it would be dominated by a love story between two teenage boys, one of which is a manipulative stalker In all honesty if I had I probably would not have picked it up as that just does not interest me.
I received a copy of this book from the publishers and it in no way affected my review
I thought this was going to be a book about surviving the zombie apocalypse but it spends so much time exploring teenage sexuality, romance and the ‘before’ that you essentially have two very disconnected narratives, neither of which end particularly satisfyingly and an ‘after’ which feels a bit too familiar.
It’s an interesting time to write a book about Zombies. In pop culture they have never been more popular thanks to the outlandish success of The Walking Dead which guarantees an audience but the flip side is it can be tough to conjure a situation that that audience has not already seen. I found that to be case reading this book. None of the zombie based scenes particularly thrilled me and I never found myself quite knowing what the rules were in terms of speed, intention, aggressiveness and strength. Now this is totally understandable as all zombies are unique individuals, in various states of decay or injury and at different points in their transformation but when I’m building an action scene in my mind I need to know some of the consistent physics so I can see it playing out.
We have two major POV’s in Asher and Rico with both being split into ‘before’ and ‘after’. We Let talk about Asher first.
Meet Asher. He works in a coffee shop. He is quickly asked out by Stacey. He goes to a party with her and meets Ellis.
Ellis extended his hand. When Asher shook it, he felt a shock like jolt shoot up his arm.
One minute later
His eyes moved from person to person in the circle and fell on Asher. “So what d’you say? Be my date?” Ellis smiled and batted his eyelashes.
Two minutes later they are skinny dipping whilst Asher’s date lies passed out and Ellis ignores any sense of personal space by constantly swimming up behind Asher and ‘surprising him from behind’.
So Ellis is gay. Yay. Asher is dating a girl but the author has expressly told me that he felt a jolt in his arm when he shook Ellis hand so he must be gay too. We’ll nothing moves things forward like answering a text from a relative stranger by giving him a nice visual of a dripping wet naked body and telling him you have just got out of the shower and are getting dressed. Is this Nightmare on Elm Street 2? Arghhh where are the zombies?
In the next scene Ellis is buying Asher smoothies and discussing movies insisting that “we’ll have to watch the rest then’ and then eating so much and declaring 'he needs to take his shorts off' and this is what I don’t understand. Just because Ellis is gay why does he have to be hyper sexual. Everything is a bloody double entendre and at no point has Asher thought to turn around and asked him to respect his relationship with Stacey, or even called him out for treating his boyfriend like crap.
The dialogue between supposed friends is clunky and does not ring true.
“You’ll mess up my kill ratio,” Mark said, refusing to pass the controller. “Whenever you play you end up shooting me, not the other players,” Derrick added “Dammit, sniper got me”
“That’s not true. Besides, I’m excellent with a gun,” Asher protested.
I’m not a writer but here’s my take on a scene like this where you have two roommates playing a Call of Duty style game.
“No. You’re crap,” Mark said, refusing to pass the controller. “Yeah whenever you play his k/d ratio goes to shit and he ends up with an eight year old from Peru telling him he sucks,” Derrick added. “ You camping sniping son of a bitch!” he yelled at the screen as he was forced to live out a replay of his head getting blown off by a player who was wearing bright orange fatigues that he had not even seen.
“Come on. Let me get the shotgun out and go do some work,” Asher protested.
The only reason I can find for these two side characters to exist is because them blowing stuff up gives Ellis a chance to make a joke about blow jobs. Anyway after 120 pages of innuendo Ellis shockingly confides in Asher that he is gay and decides that Asher is too and that he is going to expose him. What an awesome guy. Not content with respecting the wishes of Asher, giving him time and space to come out on his own or even entertaining the thought that he might be bi or just getting his shit together he just sets out to ruin his relationship with Stacey.
The other major POV is a guy called Rico. In his ‘before’ he is selfish and takes a lot of drugs, in his ‘after’ he is looking after a young boy and trying to keep him safe from the zombies. We later learn the young boy is his step brother and about the only thing that was good in his life. We see some signs of him having an abusive father but unfortunately just when this thread begins it is abandoned because Rico was high.
I’m not a big fan of romance in my books but I love Fantasy, Sci-FI, Action and Thrillers and there is always an element of romance. It’s something that can add a great deal too most stories. However when I picked up this book I had no way of knowing that more than a third of it would be dominated by a love story between two teenage boys, one of which is a manipulative stalker In all honesty if I had I probably would not have picked it up as that just does not interest me.
I received a copy of this book from the publishers and it in no way affected my review
August 9, 2016
I enjoyed this read. I too was wondering how the ending will go as over halfway through I wasn't sure there would be enough pages to cover a compelling ending. Lo and behold a sequel!
So I will have to wait for the next installment to find out: what happened to Asher? What exactly is the deal with Wendy? What was behind the deal with Rico taking Jayden and not return?
In the meantime I will guesstimate and presume. Ugh!
So I will have to wait for the next installment to find out: what happened to Asher? What exactly is the deal with Wendy? What was behind the deal with Rico taking Jayden and not return?
In the meantime I will guesstimate and presume. Ugh!
August 17, 2016
I received a free copy of this from Netgalley for a fair and honest review.
I had to DNF(Did Not Finish) at 25%, because I just was not enjoying this. Why did I not enjoy this you may ask? Because I feel that the title and the story are misleading. You cannot call this "Welcome to Deadland" and then have the focus of the story be on teens relationships...perhaps it should have been named "Welcome to Dramaland". Aside from that aspect, I found the whole switching back and forth between time periods very annoying and ver distracting. Also there was very little zombie action going on, and it seemed that the relationships before and after world ending event were the focus. I have read better zombie fic from independent authors and I am really surprised that Nerdist would sponsor this....Did anyone from there actually read this before they put their brand to it? Being that it was sponsored by Nerdist I am very disappointed in this book. I really don't think a YA book masquerading as a zombie/horror novel matches the Nerdist brand.
I had to DNF(Did Not Finish) at 25%, because I just was not enjoying this. Why did I not enjoy this you may ask? Because I feel that the title and the story are misleading. You cannot call this "Welcome to Deadland" and then have the focus of the story be on teens relationships...perhaps it should have been named "Welcome to Dramaland". Aside from that aspect, I found the whole switching back and forth between time periods very annoying and ver distracting. Also there was very little zombie action going on, and it seemed that the relationships before and after world ending event were the focus. I have read better zombie fic from independent authors and I am really surprised that Nerdist would sponsor this....Did anyone from there actually read this before they put their brand to it? Being that it was sponsored by Nerdist I am very disappointed in this book. I really don't think a YA book masquerading as a zombie/horror novel matches the Nerdist brand.
February 10, 2017
4 Stars
Full Review:
*I received a free ecopy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I’ve continued to read the post-apocalyptic zombie genre, despite never being a big zombie apocalypse fan, because I’ve been determined to find some books that are really deeply character-focused rather than zombie-killing-focused, and this was definitely one of those books.
The absolute best thing about this book was how so very real the characters were. I honestly felt like I was reading about real people. Main characters, side characters—they all came across as three-dimensional. And even though I hadn’t been in the specific situations any of them were in, I still found myself relating because the emotions and relationships and actions and reactions were so realistic and subtle rather than forced or dramatically exaggerated. The characters weren’t all likeable, and they didn’t always do good things, but that was part of what made them so real.
There was also some focus on important topics, like drug use and LGBT struggles. There was a lot of relationship stuff, but it’s not a book I’d classify as romance, and even though these heavy topics were addressed, there were still light, funny, and sweet moments too.
The way this book was written was kind of unusual though. First of all, there were multiple POV characters, which is something I like, so no complaints there. But the whole book also jumped back and forth between the present, showing the characters surviving the zombie apocalypse, and the past, showing their lives leading up to the end of the world as they knew it, for both Asher and Rico’s POVs (Wendy’s was only in the present). And while I thoroughly enjoyed both the past and the present scenes, I’m not sure how I feel about having two storylines going on at the same time for each main character (though Asher and Rico did eventually end up in the same present storyline).
I also felt like the plot in the “after” meandered a bit, but that seems to be common with zombie books since the goal usually seems to just be “don’t die.” The plot still kept my attention, and it did at least have a pretty action-packed climax.
The only thing that actually disappointed me was the ending. I don’t mind cliffhangers that lead you into the next book after the events of the current book have all been wrapped up, but this one left questions hanging from this book’s events that I feel should have been addressed. And even though there was a climax and a wrap-up to the present in Wendy and Rico’s POVs, I felt that the past storylines and Asher’s POV in the present ended in abrupt spots. I decided not to knock off any stars since I still enjoyed the book, but you might want to wait for the next one to be out first if waiting for answers is going to bother you.
Overall though, despite the issues I had with this book, the things I liked (i.e. the realistic characters and situations) made up for everything else and made the book really gripping and enjoyable for me. This was a book I didn’t want to put down, and I look forward to the next!
Recommended For:
Anyone looking for a very realistic, character-focused, YA zombie book that also addresses the topics of LGBT struggles and drug abuse.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
Full Review:
*I received a free ecopy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I’ve continued to read the post-apocalyptic zombie genre, despite never being a big zombie apocalypse fan, because I’ve been determined to find some books that are really deeply character-focused rather than zombie-killing-focused, and this was definitely one of those books.
The absolute best thing about this book was how so very real the characters were. I honestly felt like I was reading about real people. Main characters, side characters—they all came across as three-dimensional. And even though I hadn’t been in the specific situations any of them were in, I still found myself relating because the emotions and relationships and actions and reactions were so realistic and subtle rather than forced or dramatically exaggerated. The characters weren’t all likeable, and they didn’t always do good things, but that was part of what made them so real.
There was also some focus on important topics, like drug use and LGBT struggles. There was a lot of relationship stuff, but it’s not a book I’d classify as romance, and even though these heavy topics were addressed, there were still light, funny, and sweet moments too.
The way this book was written was kind of unusual though. First of all, there were multiple POV characters, which is something I like, so no complaints there. But the whole book also jumped back and forth between the present, showing the characters surviving the zombie apocalypse, and the past, showing their lives leading up to the end of the world as they knew it, for both Asher and Rico’s POVs (Wendy’s was only in the present). And while I thoroughly enjoyed both the past and the present scenes, I’m not sure how I feel about having two storylines going on at the same time for each main character (though Asher and Rico did eventually end up in the same present storyline).
I also felt like the plot in the “after” meandered a bit, but that seems to be common with zombie books since the goal usually seems to just be “don’t die.” The plot still kept my attention, and it did at least have a pretty action-packed climax.
The only thing that actually disappointed me was the ending. I don’t mind cliffhangers that lead you into the next book after the events of the current book have all been wrapped up, but this one left questions hanging from this book’s events that I feel should have been addressed. And even though there was a climax and a wrap-up to the present in Wendy and Rico’s POVs, I felt that the past storylines and Asher’s POV in the present ended in abrupt spots. I decided not to knock off any stars since I still enjoyed the book, but you might want to wait for the next one to be out first if waiting for answers is going to bother you.
Overall though, despite the issues I had with this book, the things I liked (i.e. the realistic characters and situations) made up for everything else and made the book really gripping and enjoyable for me. This was a book I didn’t want to put down, and I look forward to the next!
Recommended For:
Anyone looking for a very realistic, character-focused, YA zombie book that also addresses the topics of LGBT struggles and drug abuse.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
August 9, 2016
Mediocre zombie "thriller"
There has been a worldwide pandemic and a good portion of the population are either dead or are meat-hungry zombies. Sound familiar?
Most of the book ends up being about one of the characters who recently "came out of the closet" though. The gay character is the only one of the characters really developed into a believable character.
This book would have been much better if the author had focused on one or the other - zombies or LGBT issues. And I think it should have come down to being a LGBT story. The sections of the book about this character were well done and, I thought, believable.
Character development, as I mentioned, was almost non-existent. I would have liked to know more about quite a few of the characters in the story, especially since the story is told in alternating chapters - alternating between characters and between before and after the pandemic hit.
And I thought this was a standalone book but it ended in a terrible cliffhanger with tons of unanswered questions - some of which, in my opinion, should have been answered in this story.
This ended up being a hodgepodge of ideas thrown together with many unresolved storylines. And I definitely didn't consider this to be too much of a horror book.
I received this book from Inkshares through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.
There has been a worldwide pandemic and a good portion of the population are either dead or are meat-hungry zombies. Sound familiar?
Most of the book ends up being about one of the characters who recently "came out of the closet" though. The gay character is the only one of the characters really developed into a believable character.
This book would have been much better if the author had focused on one or the other - zombies or LGBT issues. And I think it should have come down to being a LGBT story. The sections of the book about this character were well done and, I thought, believable.
Character development, as I mentioned, was almost non-existent. I would have liked to know more about quite a few of the characters in the story, especially since the story is told in alternating chapters - alternating between characters and between before and after the pandemic hit.
And I thought this was a standalone book but it ended in a terrible cliffhanger with tons of unanswered questions - some of which, in my opinion, should have been answered in this story.
This ended up being a hodgepodge of ideas thrown together with many unresolved storylines. And I definitely didn't consider this to be too much of a horror book.
I received this book from Inkshares through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.
May 14, 2016
I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of the book prior to it's upcoming release.
Zachary Tyler Linville sets the stage for his series with the debut novel Welcome to Deadland. The book is written in a unique fashion, splicing character chapters between a timeline set after a global catastrophe and beforehand. This style of writing allows for some of the most amazing 'Aha!' moments and fantastic reveals as the conspiracy and setting unfold within the characters journey.
Speaking of characters, it is hands down the greatest strength of the author. Bringing forth gut-wrenching moments of an extremely diverse cast of characters, this story is a wonderful character study of everyday people making... very real choices to the chaos around them.
The last thing to mention is the setting. Lifting the veil and showing a behind the scenes look at amusement parks, I found some of the settings absolutely fascinating. From this point on, I'll always be curious at just what goes on behind the glam and color of the parks we all go to for enjoyment.
All said, you can't go wrong with picking up this debut novel and experiencing a street-level look at global catastrophe!
Zachary Tyler Linville sets the stage for his series with the debut novel Welcome to Deadland. The book is written in a unique fashion, splicing character chapters between a timeline set after a global catastrophe and beforehand. This style of writing allows for some of the most amazing 'Aha!' moments and fantastic reveals as the conspiracy and setting unfold within the characters journey.
Speaking of characters, it is hands down the greatest strength of the author. Bringing forth gut-wrenching moments of an extremely diverse cast of characters, this story is a wonderful character study of everyday people making... very real choices to the chaos around them.
The last thing to mention is the setting. Lifting the veil and showing a behind the scenes look at amusement parks, I found some of the settings absolutely fascinating. From this point on, I'll always be curious at just what goes on behind the glam and color of the parks we all go to for enjoyment.
All said, you can't go wrong with picking up this debut novel and experiencing a street-level look at global catastrophe!
June 6, 2017
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
DNF.
I need more zombies and survival and less teen drama boredom.
Nerdist, I didn't expect you to disappoint me for the first time. (And with ZOMBIES no less!)
DNF.
I need more zombies and survival and less teen drama boredom.
Nerdist, I didn't expect you to disappoint me for the first time. (And with ZOMBIES no less!)
March 9, 2023
Pretty good, got a bit slow, especially all the flashbacks. Cutting some of them would have quickened the pace of the story and made for a better read.
June 7, 2016
This book is not what I expected. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. I expected a Zombie book full of violence and gore, but found that it focused mainly on the humans and how the outbreak had changed them from who they were before.
It was refreshing to have a diverse cast of characters each with their own unique voice and attitude. It was interesting to see how people from such different and separate pasts could come together in order to survive. Each character was struggling to survive substance abuse, dysfunctional families, emerging sexual identities, issues of race, disabilities, etc. before the outbreak, but those issues evolve into something entirely different when they also have to fight for their lives.
The book does end on a significant cliffhanger that indicates that here is much more to follow. I need to know what happened to these characters that I grew to know and love. I’m looking forward to the next book!
It was refreshing to have a diverse cast of characters each with their own unique voice and attitude. It was interesting to see how people from such different and separate pasts could come together in order to survive. Each character was struggling to survive substance abuse, dysfunctional families, emerging sexual identities, issues of race, disabilities, etc. before the outbreak, but those issues evolve into something entirely different when they also have to fight for their lives.
The book does end on a significant cliffhanger that indicates that here is much more to follow. I need to know what happened to these characters that I grew to know and love. I’m looking forward to the next book!
December 11, 2016
Welcome to Deadland is a character-driven exploration of what it means to be human in conditions far less than humane. This well written, paced, and plotted story guides readers through the twists and turns of this surprising and compelling tale.
July 28, 2016
Yep. Zombies. I might as well go ahead and face it: I'm an addict.
I used to think I hated post-apocalyptic stories. I'm not sure why. I have since come to realize that the concept is one of my favorites. I love the start of it all, when a writer has to address the reactions of ordinary people to extraordinary circumstances – what I described in another review as the period when people are still standing there watching creatures who used to be friends and family shambling closer and closer, wondering why cousin Jimmy is so pale, and why is he growling; when the media is still active and the authorities are still trying to get a handle on things – and then they're not anymore. I love all the machinations of survival in a depopulated world, in the beginning clearing out stores and abandoned homes and finding shelter and weapons in previously impossible places (like, why don't more people claim swords or medieval weaponry from local museums and collections in The Walking Dead?), while assessing and either assimilating or fighting off other survivors. I love the later stage, when supplies are scarce to nonexistent and new ways of feeding survivors have to be found. I love the forced rediscovery of forgotten skills, and the double threat of "kill the dead (or whatever the menace is), fear the living". Oh, and then there's the whole cause of the end of the world: the how, and the why, and maybe the who, and what do the heroes of the book do about it, if anything? Therefore – yep, zombies.
I also used to hate present-tense narrative… It's still not my favorite, but I get it. Immediacy, urgency, action, You Are There… I don't know that it really has that effect on my reading experience, for the most part, but I understand the concept.
The third thing I still don't care for is gory violence. I'm just not interested in fight scenes. To be honest, during these detailed bits of books where the author is painstakingly describing how A struck at B and B hit A and A ducked and swiped and B dodged and rolled … I'm usually skimming, wondering how writers choreograph this stuff in their heads – do some people just pick a fight from a film and crib off it? Do people have martial arts experts read the scenes to make sure they're practical and possible? – and pondering the fact that if I ever pick up my writing again there probably won't be any detailed fights in any book I ever write because they bore me silly …
This is all those things I used to hate, or actually do hate – post-apocalyptic, present tense, violence. And it's all in there – friends and family fall, and heroes flee, new alliances form, and talk about taking shelter somewhere which would have been impossible: the little group of survivors finds a larger group - - in Disneyworld. Which is actually a great idea: the park was evacuated as the strange illness began to take hold, and obviously is going to be pretty thoroughly fenced in (in halcyon days, to keep out those who haven't bought tickets; in the post-apoc, to keep out zombies and bad guys), and there will be food for thousands onsite. The odd thing is that I don't believe the word "Disney" was ever used. Legal matters, I assume, but I still find it odd; it's obvious what is meant.
Back there when I said I enjoyed the beginnings of apocalypses? That is very much what you get here. The book begins well before Patient Zero pops up, and explores the personal lives and personalities of the people who will become the survivors we follow through the story:
There's Asher, who has a rocky romantic life in the months before The End, what with recognizing his own homosexuality and working through that revelation with his family and friends, and the ups and downs with his first boyfriend – looking back on which makes me wonder why on earth I gave this four stars. I was ready to throw said first boyfriend to the zombies long before it was even possible in the story, because his treatment of … everybody was unconscionable, glossed over with a very cute and charming surface.
And then there's Rico, a drug-addicted teenager who (like, I feel compelled to say, Nick of "Fear the Walking Dead") is pretty much saved by the end of the world: he finds himself guardian of his very young half brother, whom he loves. To keep him safe, he holds it together and straightens out. His back story was interesting – very rich father whom he loathes, hard-working mother, intelligent but destroying himself with all sorts of drugs, learning the hard way that dealing drugs is not something to be engaged in casually… I liked him, despite all of his self-destructive tendencies.
The beginning of the end was nicely done, if slow in coming. I think others were frustrated by what was, in a way, a long prologue, in which Asher engages in his m/m romance novel and Rico spirals downward, but I kind of liked the slow burn of the long fuse of the oncoming apocalypse: there's a news story here, and a "did you hear?" there, and then a couple more – and then it basically explodes. I was surprised at some of the characters who died on that first day – those story lines that the author took so long to build just get snipped like Atropos went on a bender, and that resulted in a feeling of disorientation which wasn't much fun, but which I suppose worked in context.
And, yes, the book is told in the first person, which I don't think has the impact it's supposed to, but I'm reconciled to it.
The writing is serviceable, and of course suffers from all the usual maladies of not-the-right-word and all that. There are times when the tone comes off a bit juvenile ("a scuzzy film"?); there is perhaps more vomiting than is strictly called for… and for the love of God if you're going to write a zombie novel make sure the word "horde" is spelled correctly throughout – that it's not "hoard" sometimes and not others. Please.
There is a sort of a cliffhanger at the end of the book – actually, no, an almost literal cliffhanger, in which something happens to a main character and the reader is left uncertain as to whether this person might have survived – and I hated that. Is there going to be a second book? If so, when? It's a bit iffy for a brand-new author to leave a character almost literally up in the air. But, except for that and the sadly inevitable writing hiccups, the book was enjoyable.
The main selling point for the book is, I have to say, that it comes from the (I think) brand spankin' new Nerdist publishing enterprise. Not that that guarantees awesomeness, but it does lead to high expectations. I find it utterly extraordinary that a book from possibly the geekiest place on earth (see what I did there?) is available right now for preorder in hardcover only… So odd.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
I used to think I hated post-apocalyptic stories. I'm not sure why. I have since come to realize that the concept is one of my favorites. I love the start of it all, when a writer has to address the reactions of ordinary people to extraordinary circumstances – what I described in another review as the period when people are still standing there watching creatures who used to be friends and family shambling closer and closer, wondering why cousin Jimmy is so pale, and why is he growling; when the media is still active and the authorities are still trying to get a handle on things – and then they're not anymore. I love all the machinations of survival in a depopulated world, in the beginning clearing out stores and abandoned homes and finding shelter and weapons in previously impossible places (like, why don't more people claim swords or medieval weaponry from local museums and collections in The Walking Dead?), while assessing and either assimilating or fighting off other survivors. I love the later stage, when supplies are scarce to nonexistent and new ways of feeding survivors have to be found. I love the forced rediscovery of forgotten skills, and the double threat of "kill the dead (or whatever the menace is), fear the living". Oh, and then there's the whole cause of the end of the world: the how, and the why, and maybe the who, and what do the heroes of the book do about it, if anything? Therefore – yep, zombies.
I also used to hate present-tense narrative… It's still not my favorite, but I get it. Immediacy, urgency, action, You Are There… I don't know that it really has that effect on my reading experience, for the most part, but I understand the concept.
The third thing I still don't care for is gory violence. I'm just not interested in fight scenes. To be honest, during these detailed bits of books where the author is painstakingly describing how A struck at B and B hit A and A ducked and swiped and B dodged and rolled … I'm usually skimming, wondering how writers choreograph this stuff in their heads – do some people just pick a fight from a film and crib off it? Do people have martial arts experts read the scenes to make sure they're practical and possible? – and pondering the fact that if I ever pick up my writing again there probably won't be any detailed fights in any book I ever write because they bore me silly …
This is all those things I used to hate, or actually do hate – post-apocalyptic, present tense, violence. And it's all in there – friends and family fall, and heroes flee, new alliances form, and talk about taking shelter somewhere which would have been impossible: the little group of survivors finds a larger group - - in Disneyworld. Which is actually a great idea: the park was evacuated as the strange illness began to take hold, and obviously is going to be pretty thoroughly fenced in (in halcyon days, to keep out those who haven't bought tickets; in the post-apoc, to keep out zombies and bad guys), and there will be food for thousands onsite. The odd thing is that I don't believe the word "Disney" was ever used. Legal matters, I assume, but I still find it odd; it's obvious what is meant.
Back there when I said I enjoyed the beginnings of apocalypses? That is very much what you get here. The book begins well before Patient Zero pops up, and explores the personal lives and personalities of the people who will become the survivors we follow through the story:
There's Asher, who has a rocky romantic life in the months before The End, what with recognizing his own homosexuality and working through that revelation with his family and friends, and the ups and downs with his first boyfriend – looking back on which makes me wonder why on earth I gave this four stars. I was ready to throw said first boyfriend to the zombies long before it was even possible in the story, because his treatment of … everybody was unconscionable, glossed over with a very cute and charming surface.
And then there's Rico, a drug-addicted teenager who (like, I feel compelled to say, Nick of "Fear the Walking Dead") is pretty much saved by the end of the world: he finds himself guardian of his very young half brother, whom he loves. To keep him safe, he holds it together and straightens out. His back story was interesting – very rich father whom he loathes, hard-working mother, intelligent but destroying himself with all sorts of drugs, learning the hard way that dealing drugs is not something to be engaged in casually… I liked him, despite all of his self-destructive tendencies.
The beginning of the end was nicely done, if slow in coming. I think others were frustrated by what was, in a way, a long prologue, in which Asher engages in his m/m romance novel and Rico spirals downward, but I kind of liked the slow burn of the long fuse of the oncoming apocalypse: there's a news story here, and a "did you hear?" there, and then a couple more – and then it basically explodes. I was surprised at some of the characters who died on that first day – those story lines that the author took so long to build just get snipped like Atropos went on a bender, and that resulted in a feeling of disorientation which wasn't much fun, but which I suppose worked in context.
And, yes, the book is told in the first person, which I don't think has the impact it's supposed to, but I'm reconciled to it.
The writing is serviceable, and of course suffers from all the usual maladies of not-the-right-word and all that. There are times when the tone comes off a bit juvenile ("a scuzzy film"?); there is perhaps more vomiting than is strictly called for… and for the love of God if you're going to write a zombie novel make sure the word "horde" is spelled correctly throughout – that it's not "hoard" sometimes and not others. Please.
There is a sort of a cliffhanger at the end of the book – actually, no, an almost literal cliffhanger, in which something happens to a main character and the reader is left uncertain as to whether this person might have survived – and I hated that. Is there going to be a second book? If so, when? It's a bit iffy for a brand-new author to leave a character almost literally up in the air. But, except for that and the sadly inevitable writing hiccups, the book was enjoyable.
The main selling point for the book is, I have to say, that it comes from the (I think) brand spankin' new Nerdist publishing enterprise. Not that that guarantees awesomeness, but it does lead to high expectations. I find it utterly extraordinary that a book from possibly the geekiest place on earth (see what I did there?) is available right now for preorder in hardcover only… So odd.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
April 10, 2017
Complete garbage. Interesting idea on how to approach a zombie story but then becomes a weird, boring, and cumbersome chore. Anyone going into this should know it is really a book about a broken teen homosexual relationship and another teen relationship involving excessive drugs and a potential rape... delightful.
I guess the publisher got what they wanted, a bait and switch leaving me with a very bad book. Likely will be hesitant to read anything from "Nerdist" in the future on account of the disingenuous way they have treated the customer in promoting the book. Had I not been on vacation with only this book to read, I would have quit early but alas, I read it all.
(While a book about crappy and abusive relationships is not my cup of tea, it might be yours... you will still be hard pressed to get past the mediocrity of the writing, dialogue, and characters.)
I guess the publisher got what they wanted, a bait and switch leaving me with a very bad book. Likely will be hesitant to read anything from "Nerdist" in the future on account of the disingenuous way they have treated the customer in promoting the book. Had I not been on vacation with only this book to read, I would have quit early but alas, I read it all.
(While a book about crappy and abusive relationships is not my cup of tea, it might be yours... you will still be hard pressed to get past the mediocrity of the writing, dialogue, and characters.)
July 4, 2020
This book has all you need. Zombies? Check. Queer? Check. Theme parks? Check. This is a fun read that kept me turning the page to find out more.
August 14, 2016
I was hesitant to delve into this book purely based on the premise of it being about zombies. But once I did, I quickly learned it was so much more. Welcome to Deadland is a story WITH zombie-like threats, but it isn’t a story ABOUT zombies. Because let’s face it, books and shows ABOUT zombies have been done to death. They’re usually stories about two-dimensional characters that are ripped to shreds over the course of a couple hundred pages and character/storyline development are sacrificed for gore and carnage. That gets old.
Instead of constantly reading about slow-moving, braindead flesh-eaters, we get a story told from three diverse points of view about characters trying to come to terms with their pasts, whom society tried to make them before the outbreak, and who they are now as they fight to survive. The book is split evenly between past (before the outbreak) and present (after the outbreak), allowing us to watch the characters develop into their own roles while the rest of the human race is decimated around them.
After the outbreak, the characters struggle to survive on new terms, in new places, and in a new world without laws. The zombies are a persistent threat; they're no match for the survivors when they attack one-on-one, but when they appear in swarms, they can do some serious damage. The characters are intelligent, self-aware, and ready for different levels of danger – a refreshing change from stories where the characters themselves are as mindless as the zombies.
When the protagonists reach the park, it’s abundantly clear that humans are the more serious endangerment to each other. Food supplies are dwindling, trust is a luxury nobody can afford, and shelter isn’t a guarantee for safety. And many of their pre-outbreak prejudices rule their post-outbreak actions. Issues of sobriety, race, sexuality, disabilities, and power are the driving forces as survival slips away and the characters sacrifice elements of their own beings to live on to the next day.
Much to my surprise and my pleasure, Welcome to Deadland isn't a story about zombies at all; it's a story about humanity and what that means to the individuals now staring in the face of death. Well done, Mr. Linville. I am sincerely looking forward to a sequel.
Instead of constantly reading about slow-moving, braindead flesh-eaters, we get a story told from three diverse points of view about characters trying to come to terms with their pasts, whom society tried to make them before the outbreak, and who they are now as they fight to survive. The book is split evenly between past (before the outbreak) and present (after the outbreak), allowing us to watch the characters develop into their own roles while the rest of the human race is decimated around them.
After the outbreak, the characters struggle to survive on new terms, in new places, and in a new world without laws. The zombies are a persistent threat; they're no match for the survivors when they attack one-on-one, but when they appear in swarms, they can do some serious damage. The characters are intelligent, self-aware, and ready for different levels of danger – a refreshing change from stories where the characters themselves are as mindless as the zombies.
When the protagonists reach the park, it’s abundantly clear that humans are the more serious endangerment to each other. Food supplies are dwindling, trust is a luxury nobody can afford, and shelter isn’t a guarantee for safety. And many of their pre-outbreak prejudices rule their post-outbreak actions. Issues of sobriety, race, sexuality, disabilities, and power are the driving forces as survival slips away and the characters sacrifice elements of their own beings to live on to the next day.
Much to my surprise and my pleasure, Welcome to Deadland isn't a story about zombies at all; it's a story about humanity and what that means to the individuals now staring in the face of death. Well done, Mr. Linville. I am sincerely looking forward to a sequel.
March 8, 2017
I did not find anything new or even very interesting in Deadland. The three main characters, Asher, Wendy and Rico, never really connected with me. The chapters are titled after characters with the notes of "- before" or "- after" indicating where in the time line that section falls. The fluidity in time lines in a novel can be done if executed well. Deadland used past tense verbs for before and present tense verbs for after. I found it jarring going from each section to the next. Reading a book is like dreaming. A noise can knock you out of your dream and wake you up. Books can have issues where you are kicked out of your imagination and return to the real world. The truly great books keep you trapped within them. Unfortunately Deadland did not.
I received a copy of Deadland from NetGalley in return for a honest review.
I received a copy of Deadland from NetGalley in return for a honest review.
August 31, 2016
I liked the book. However, why couldn't the author just finish it instead of trying to create a series? I feel like I just put the book down in the middle. A book should have an ending; even if you intend on making a series, there should be a clear ending to each book. This author is clearly looking to make money more than he is looking to entertain his readers. Next time just finish writing the damn book before you publish it.
February 11, 2017
Please shoot me! The choppy before/after, the featured hetro & homo love triangles that take up way to much time... why did I keep reading this idiotic story? Looking for a character to be redeemed or eaten, I guess
August 15, 2016
I cannot wait to get this book and dig into it with all my friends--probably going to start a book club with them so we can all read and have wine and talk about it!
May 11, 2016
Fantastic read! Welcome to Deadland is a riveting novel that keeps the characters relatable during conditions that are not. It's a really refreshing take on the zombie genre.
January 18, 2016
I am so stoked to read this book!! Just a few short months and I finally can!
December 22, 2016
2.5 with a bump for being a basically crowd-funded book that i like to support for new authors.
i wouldnt really qualify this as horror...it really didnt have all the dynamics to really meet that criteria for me. it was more like human emotions/relations story and sometimes zombies show up?
major issues Characters:
--i hated most of the dialogue. specifically the emotional yet very constructed and "too perfect" understanding of perspectives between the main character and his relationship with his boyfriend. i got the feeling it was supposed to be tense and complicated yet every conversation ended on a postive note and understanding, its just not realistic
the main characters development i also felt was super rushed. he went from being straight, to questioning, to being out with an extremely short amount of time and being fully comfortable with it, and there wasn't any real description or understanding for the reader on how the character made it. i think it just hit surface topics for a gay main character and didnt delve into real motivations and thus it just seemed very 2 dimensional.
other characters had similar flaws, all very superficial and 2 dimensional.
storyline--
ok i like the setup of before/after, but really it just glossed over how the two-time dimensions met.
the zombie scenes, very very cliche and bad action movie vibes. it didnt relate of gravity of the situations or fear or tense it was just "and then there was a zombie hoard so i took my ax did some cool moves and here i am covered in blood but unharmed, although some unmentioned people didnt make it"
all in all i like the concept but i think it could have been written better.
i wouldnt really qualify this as horror...it really didnt have all the dynamics to really meet that criteria for me. it was more like human emotions/relations story and sometimes zombies show up?
major issues Characters:
--i hated most of the dialogue. specifically the emotional yet very constructed and "too perfect" understanding of perspectives between the main character and his relationship with his boyfriend. i got the feeling it was supposed to be tense and complicated yet every conversation ended on a postive note and understanding, its just not realistic
the main characters development i also felt was super rushed. he went from being straight, to questioning, to being out with an extremely short amount of time and being fully comfortable with it, and there wasn't any real description or understanding for the reader on how the character made it. i think it just hit surface topics for a gay main character and didnt delve into real motivations and thus it just seemed very 2 dimensional.
other characters had similar flaws, all very superficial and 2 dimensional.
storyline--
ok i like the setup of before/after, but really it just glossed over how the two-time dimensions met.
the zombie scenes, very very cliche and bad action movie vibes. it didnt relate of gravity of the situations or fear or tense it was just "and then there was a zombie hoard so i took my ax did some cool moves and here i am covered in blood but unharmed, although some unmentioned people didnt make it"
all in all i like the concept but i think it could have been written better.
May 28, 2019
As a species, we seem to be obsessed with the end of the world. Whether it be nuclear annihilation, some pissed off space rock or the dead that return to feast on the living, we love to consume tv, books, movies and video games that portray a post-apocalyptic world where only the strong willed (or painfully lucky) survive. The ideas of zombies as a world ending scenario is nothing new; a virus or infection has ravaged millions, turning most of the earth's population into flesh hungry fiends whose appetite can only be satiated with a swift blow or bullet to the brain. The stories told in this specific genre are much about how humanity tears itself apart, survives and hopefully rebuilds as it is about the goriness of experiencing someone being devoured from head to toe. The way relationships are built in such stories are important to make believable and genuine so readers and viewers can put themselves into characters and care about their struggles for survival. Zachary Tyler Linville's Welcome to Deadland has its own spin on the pacing of a story of friends surviving the end of the world.
You can read John's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
You can read John's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
November 29, 2016
I enjoyed this book and disliked it.
The writing was enjoyable. I liked the structure of narratives from two main protagonists telling their stories before and after things go bad. One is a drug-addled high school student and the other is a college student grappling with his sexuality. I found each interesting, but I didn't particularly like them. That means I didn't really care if the zombies got them. That's bad.
The fatal flaw is that the book just ends. Nothing is tied up. There is no resolution. The author is clearly leaving loose ends to lure readers into sequels. That left me disappointed with a book that could have been better.
The writing was enjoyable. I liked the structure of narratives from two main protagonists telling their stories before and after things go bad. One is a drug-addled high school student and the other is a college student grappling with his sexuality. I found each interesting, but I didn't particularly like them. That means I didn't really care if the zombies got them. That's bad.
The fatal flaw is that the book just ends. Nothing is tied up. There is no resolution. The author is clearly leaving loose ends to lure readers into sequels. That left me disappointed with a book that could have been better.
April 8, 2018
I appreciated how much the author focused on character development to make it easier to relate to these characters so I enjoyed the book throughout. I also thought that most of the characters seemed very realistic.
Around page 290 I started to think maybe we are spending TOO MUCH time with the characters pre-outbreak, but I was willing to continue.
However, I am tempted to drop my rating from 4 stars to 2 stars because the ending comes SO ABRUPTLY and teases that this is the beginning of a series.
In the end, I really enjoyed 90% of the book but the way that it ended left me frustrated and angry.
Around page 290 I started to think maybe we are spending TOO MUCH time with the characters pre-outbreak, but I was willing to continue.
However, I am tempted to drop my rating from 4 stars to 2 stars because the ending comes SO ABRUPTLY and teases that this is the beginning of a series.
In the end, I really enjoyed 90% of the book but the way that it ended left me frustrated and angry.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It follows a core group of four, by focusing on two main characters, Asher and Rico. The storyline alternates from before the outbreak to after, and is done cleanly and it's easy to follow the timeline. The plot is about how these two sets of people cross paths and how they are surviving. While a zombie book, it really focuses on the people which makes this an engaging read. I liked the characters of Asher, Rico and Wendy. They are complex and you clearly see them evolve both in the flashback and especially in the present.
March 22, 2018
This wasn't a bad Zombie Apocalypse novel, but it was WAY too focused on the lives of the people before everything went down. It was fairly boring until it got to the very last pages when it became clear what was going on and the people had to start to deal with the end of the world.
I'm always more interested in how people deal psychologically with something like this. It wasn't until the very end that we started seeing the outbreak and the consequences. I guess this is going to be a series, but I'm not sure if I want to read any more of these books.
I'm always more interested in how people deal psychologically with something like this. It wasn't until the very end that we started seeing the outbreak and the consequences. I guess this is going to be a series, but I'm not sure if I want to read any more of these books.
August 24, 2017
No prose style, the worst dialogue I've ever read, characters who are a collection of traits more than actual people, stock action sequences, and apparently, no editor. Reads like a sophomore creative writing class entry. I don't review many books here, being content merely to assign them a rating and move on, but, wow, this deserves special mention. Avoid at all costs.
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