Empire

Empire #1

by David Dunwoody

The outbreak began in 2007. It's now 2112.

The crippled U.S. government is giving up in its fight against an undead plague. Military forces and aid have been withdrawn from the last coastal cities, leaving those who choose to stay in the "badlands" defenseless against hordes of zombified humans and animals.

It's been a hopeless battle from the beginning. The undead, born of an otherworldly energy fused with a deadly virus, have no natural enemies.

But they do have one supernatural enemy... Death himself.

Descending upon the ghost town of Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana, the Grim Reaper embarks on a bloody campaign to put down the legions that have defied his touch for so long. He will find allies in the city's last survivors, and a nemesis in a man who wants to harness the force driving the zombies--a man who seeks to build an empire of the dead where America once stood.

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Dystopia

293 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

David Dunwoody writes subversive horror fiction including HELL WALKS, THE 3 EGOS & the EMPIRE series, as well as dozens of short stories. His fiction has been published by outfits such as Gallery, Shroud, Dark Regions, Belfire, Evil Jester, Permuted and Chaosium.

Reviews

[harlequin {Stephanie} · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had so much potential. Death fighting zombies. What more could you ask for?

Where to start? I liked the beginning. The gore didn't really bother me and when death came on the scene I was giddy with what was gonna happen next.

Unfortunately death gets little time on the scene. The rest of the book was filled with shifting pov onto characters that were not memorable. In short, it was all over the place. I will probably read the second book out of curiosity.

[Иван Величков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Поне от три години се каня да я прочета тази книга, но бях поизоставил леко зомби тематиката. Най-вече заради повтарящите се ситуации, изкривяването на концепцията в търсене на оригиналност, или пък прекалено елементарното набиване на същата концепция (говоря за консуматорското общество) на читателя, или просто преразказ на съвремието със зомби елемент.
За късмет, тук нещата са изкарани от руслото в което ги вкара Макс Брукс и се връщат към оригиналните търсения на Ромеро. Запазена и двойствеността между плашещия ужас и тънките намеци към природата на съвремения човек.

Повече от век след настъпването на зомби-пандемията, Щатите все още се борят, но бавно се свиват във вътрешността на континента, губейки все повече земя пред ордите на ходещите трупове. В едно градче, което попада извън цивилизацията след поредното свиване, група хора все още не са се предали и се опитват да живеят. Безрезултатно, естествено, след като ги помита поредната орда мъртъвци. В същото време, в покрайнините на града има лаборатория в която социопатичен младеж прави експерименти с един по-различен вид зомбита. Той решава да „превземе” града, като го изчисти от малкото останки човечество. А из полетата на тази разсипана държава броди самият Смърт и започва да придобива нещо като съзнание, нещо като емпатия и с това да вижда немъртвите и техните горящи в синьо свещи. Съответно се надига необходимостта да ги унищожи, но това ще му коства много.

Ешънът е на макс и в единоборства, и в масовки, и в класическите сцени с ходещите трупове. Освен това романът е сигурно един от двата в които героите търпят развитие между страниците и един от петте в които човешките характери са чудесно обхванати в цялост.
Има продължение, та след изчитането му ще поразсъждавам повече, защото има за какво.

[Patrick D'Orazio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empire takes place a century from now, long after the rise of the plague that caused the dead to rise. These zombies are a bit different than what we have seen in other works though: the dead have always had the ability to rise up when near places that are a "source" of supernatural power, but the plague came because the power of the source was laced with a deadly virus that allows their bites to transfer their infection, allowing them to perpetuate it and carry it through the entire human population. These zombies are tougher--some are faster, stronger, and continue to regain near living physical capabilities as they feed on the living. You can't just shoot 'em in the head and walk away, you need to sever the head and burn them...always burn them.
The story takes place in Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana near one of the sources of supernatural undead energy and likely the origin point of the plague. The military has pulled out, giving up on yet another coastal community as the remnants of the US government continues to consolidate its shrinking power to the north inside walled in cities. A few citizen's choose to remain behind, ignoring the goverment's pleas to go with them as the city is abandoned. Those that choose to stay include a cop who wants to protect those who have decided to stay, a rock group that has traveled the country trying to offer a bit of a distraction from the plague for the troops and citizens who struggle onward, a man who believes he understands the true power behind the source and wants to tap into it for his own evil purposes, and a dark visitor, the grim reaper, who wants to put a stop to the undead who have defied his scythe for far too long.
David Dunwoody has created a vibrant and creative tale of the undead, fresh with new ideas and yet still unleashing the vast flow of gruesome goodness a fan of zombie fiction craves. The grim reaper is by far one of the most traditional symbols of death but tying him into this story was definitely interesting and unique amongst the zombie tales I have read over the past few years. That this story takes place over a century beyond the inception of the plague also provides us with a different viewpoint than the traditional outbreak tale, with the entire cast of characters having lived with the undead their entire lives--death is all around them, waiting for them everywhere they look. They have a resigned nature to them, an acceptance that they are living quite possibly at the end of days. Most of the characters just want to hold on to what little life they have left, even if they know their end is coming soon.
While I liked the creativity of this plot, I guess my one issue would have to be with what I would call the grand delusions of Baron Tetch. A mad genius communing with old world powers that ooze out of the swamp close to where he lives, he cuts a disturbing figure of man who wishes to control the dead and create his own empire where he stands supreme above them. His desire for power should have been more sweeping, more awe inspiring. Somehow I felt he was more of just a puny madman than a wicked sorcerer communing with the old gods in a way that would bring down the wrath of Death himself. But this is a minor issue and does not take away from this gritty tale of life, death, and afterdeath. We have characters that feel real and complicated--they understand what they face and that more than likely they won't make it out alive but they keep on fighting, clinging to every bit of living they have remaining in them while the world around them crumbles. I particularly liked the character Vorhees, who seemed tenacious and determined, willing to sacrifice himself to salvage the unsalvageable, to save anyone he could regardless of the massive odds stacked against him.
A good read and a new and creative slant on the traditional zombie tale.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what I expect from all zombie books. A rollicking good adventure with death and destruction and chaos and hilarity.

I loved this book. I loved how a sympathetic character - Weissman - turned out to be the rapist. I love that Death was an actual character. I love that the survivors didn't all survive.

I love that Death adopts a little girl, sort of. That, I've discovered, is one of my fiction kinks. Give me Death adopting a human, and I will fall in love with your book.

I love that there are regular people and crazy people and different kinds of zombies and I love that it seems like this is just one book in a bigger story.

Of course, it had its problems. POV shifts weren't all that clearly marked, so it'd take a paragraph or two to figure out that there was a shift. There were some scenes that made me cringe at the phrasing in them, and some scenes that needed to be elaborated more.

But overall, this was a superb zombie novel, so awesome that I finished it in a day and I'd read the fuck out of it again.

[Thee_ron_clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting novel about my favorite film and literature object; the living dead. The story takes place over fifty years after an outbreak of the living dead. America is losing the war against the walking corpses and continues to move all its citizens to more populated and secure areas.

Outside of the main plot, the story follows a few groups: a spoiled and crazy young man and his pack of domesticated zombies, a group of people who were stranded in a community or chose to remain behind while the others went to more secure areas, a group of special operations soldiers, and Death (the Grim Reaper himself).

I felt some areas jumped around a bit too much and that some sub-plots went unfinished or not properly explained. Over all, I enjoyed the read and am looking forward to more full-length zombie goodness from this author.

[Alex McConnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

So in a book with a solid plot, pacing and Death himself as a main character, why only one star?
Empire is simply not a good book. The plot should be entertaining but isn’t, opting instead to introduce us to tons of meaningless characters, give us their pointless to the narrative backstories and then gorily kill them immediately.
Death is a protagonist which should be mega badass but who somehow comes off as a lost sissy. Seriously he gets killed twice by the zombies. Which is really something considering he only shows up in about six chapters. He’s apparently there because he’s offended by the zombies but like everything else in the book it’s never explained satisfactorily.
The pacing jumps all over the place so you can’t get involved or interested in any character at all. The characters themselves jump all over the place without rhyme or reason. The bad guy murders a main character viciously and then literally the next page is across town on the roof of a building attacking the last group of survivors. No explanation how at all. You think a character is important only to have them killed pointlessly to the point i spent the book wondering who the good guy actually was. Theres a whole group of soldiers for god in a side story that makes no sense and does nothing for the narrative.
This book should have been good. It could have been as evidenced by some solid chapters and overall skilled writing. It’s sunk totally by his indecision to assign likeable qualities to any character and follow logical narrative pacing. I spent the book saying “what was the point of that” every time something happened and once I finished it, I asked the book itself the same question.
Answer? None. The sequel will remain unread.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, there comes a novel that deals with the one victim of a zombie apocalypse that few ever consider: Death, the Grim Reaper, the dude with the big scythe. Just imagine, you're doing your job well for untold years - with nary a vacation day, I might add - and then suddenly all those dead souls you're supposed to collect just start falling off the radar. Over a century after the outbreak began, Death finally takes it upon himself to get up close and personal with the undead. While he may not be the central character in David Dunwoody's post-apocalyptic vision, Death does make for the most interesting one. Most of the action, however, centers around a small population of living survivors in and around Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana.

The year is 2112, and America has changed drastically in the 105 years since the zombie outbreak began. In the nation's increasingly shrinking borders, a state of proverbial martial law exists, with power centralized in a permanent body of Senators who are basically implementing a retreat and fortify campaign against the undead. Louisiana is among the territories now being abandoned by federal troops. Of course, some people refuse to leave or cannot leave for reasons beyond their control. Among these are a cop who sees it as his duty to try and protect those who remain, members of a rock group on a USO-like tour for the troops, a photojournalist, and several denizens of a homeless shelter. Then there is Baron Tetch and his "brothers and sisters" residing in a fortified manor house in the swamps outside Jefferson City. The swampland has special properties that make those reborn into death there somewhat intelligent, and Tetch has worked to train and control these special zombies to do his bidding. He dreams of a new empire built upon the ashes of the old civilization, to be ruled by himself and Lily, a teenaged girl he has raised and protected since she was a child. Of course, Lily is just blossoming into a woman and begins to have ideas of her own, and it is she who will forge the link between Death and these disparate other characters as the story plays out.

Dunwoody tends to jump around between different character groups, which was a bit disconcerting early on, and the fact that some minor characters tend to come and go rather quickly made it even harder to keep some of them straight in my mind. Also, particularly toward the end, transitions between different sections of chapters were not always identified, which became a little annoying. On the positive side, these pages are filled with violence and blood. A regular old mindless zombie is bad enough, but zombies who can use weapons and coordinate their attacks to some degree guarantee that many a character you meet along the way will not survive until the end. All in all, Empire is a great read and quite an impressive entry in the zombie genre. It's great to see someone besides Terry Pratchett include Death as a character, and I really liked that angle and the unusual viewpoint it provided. Zombie fans should eat this one up.

[Rhiannon Frater · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I devoured this book in two days. I was hooked from the very beginning. I am a big fan of David Dunwoody's works via the two short story collections I recently read by him. I have also enjoyed his short stories included in anthologies, but had yet to read the novel he is praised for. I own both editions of Empire. The original Permuted Press edition was personally signed for me at Horror Realm, and I ordered the new S & S Gallery version as soon as it went on pre-order. So as you can imagine, I had high hopes for this novel.

This is a strange mix of a story. It isn't just a zombie story. It contains elements of supernatural horror, post-apocalyptic/survivor adventure, and gothic horror. It has plenty of suspense, action, gore, and mystery. There is even a dash of romance. It is not just a zombie tale and these are not Romero's zombies. I can see how it could put off zombie purists, but they really should give it a chance.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, adventure, horror, and zombie gore in the story. The only thing in the novel that I felt was lacking (probably because I have read Dunwoody's most recent works that are rich with characterization) was that most of the characters didn't make a big impact on me. A few times I had them confused and some characters were no more than the sum of their name. But, that being said, I did genuinely enjoy some of the more vivid characters in the story.

I found the character of Death to be intriguing, but he hardly enters the narrative until the end of the story. This surprised me a bit considering he prominently features on the covers of both versions. I wish he had been involved just a bit more in events. Also, I felt he was overly handicapped with his abilities, probably in an attempt to keep him from being a superhero, but I always cheered when he showed up.

Overall, this is truly a kick ass book rich with originality and imagination. I'm definitely on board for Empire 2. I can't wait!

[Christiane · Rating 2 out of 5]

UGH. So much potential in this book and most of it wasted. The author seemed unable to decide whether he wanted the story to be: 1) supernatural and Lovecraft-like, 2) a gritty, military Band of Brothers tale, 3) a survival against the odds, 4) commentary on the US government or 5) Death (the horseman) shows up and takes back the world from the zombies. It feels like he just threw all of these ideas against a wall and hoped that a coherent story came out of it. I'm sure you could guess how that went.

Also, violence against women: can we quit using that as an insta-sympathize card? It just felt gratuitous and completely unnecessary. The character that experienced said violence was already in a terrible situation without that added to it. In the same vein, why was there not one, but TWO, pedophiles in this book? I could understand the writer's need to have the villain lean that way, but for the other character? Not relevant and added nothing to the story. Finally, some pointless death is acceptable (after all, it's a story about zombies) but there were several characters who were introduced only to die in the next, or sometimes even the same, chapter. Why am I supposed to care who lives or dies if they're all theoretically going to go for no good reason except to raise the body count?

The tragedy of this book is that there is a good story in the text dying (no pun intended) to get out. The Death plotline by itself was excellent. I found myself greedily reading through the chapters he appeared in and hoping he'd show up more. Most of the human characters were completely unlikable. I don't necessarily need someone to root for in the books I read, but when the only two decent human characters are a child (who is the epitome of naive and serves no real purpose but to move the plot along) and a reverend who has mostly lost her faith...well, out of a cast of about 20-25 characters, it gets tiring.

So much chaff, not enough wheat. I'll probably read the sequel, but only because I want more Death.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star.

I’m not, generally speaking, a zombie-lover, but the premise of Empire just sounded too good to pass up:

The year is 2112 and for over a century a hideous virus has plagued mankind, transforming almost every man, woman, and child into the living dead. And while that’s certainly a problem for humanity, it’s an even bigger problem for someone—or something—else, i.e. Death. That’s right. Death. The Grim Reaper, the Fourth Horseman, the Collector of Souls himself is about to start a war on the undead. Because he can’t do his job if people won’t stay dead . . .

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, it’s not. Because the story’s execution—sorry! no pun intended—leaves a lot to be desired. Empire is neither smart nor funny nor particularly scary, and Death, the best part of the novel, isn’t even in it all that much. Instead, Dunwoody focuses on a rag-tag band of survivors in Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana, a—dare I say it?—fatal mistake. Focusing on humans is fine and dandy, but not at the expense of the best character!

Dunwoody would have been far better off employing Death as a narrator, much like Meg Rosoff in Just in Case or Markus Zusak in The Book Thief. Now that would have been a zombie novel worth reading.

[Xarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something was a little off with this novel. I think it had to do with the manner in which it was written. There were numerous times when the author would suddenly change the subject on what was happening to a character or to characters. One paragraph would be about so-and-so, then it would suddenly change to what was happening with someone else not directly involved with the previous incident. There were a number of time when I would have to re-read something to understand what just happened.

I did find the story itself interesting in that Death was taking an active role in the apocalypse. I also found the idea of zombies reanimating and being able to perform close to what an undead person would be. I just found the execution poor and would have loved more background detail, less talk and action and more description, and coherent structure.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

During the profusion of low-budget horror films that was the late 70's came a film called "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats." The film's premise and indeed its summary can be found in its title. Some clips of this film exist on YouTube. It is pretty bad.
Empire is the "Death Bed" of zombie novels. Set one hundred years after an apocalyptic zombie outbreak, survivors still live off of old bags of chips and hundred-year old stale food. Death himself shows up as a hapless character, kills some zombies and gets pimp-slapped by others. With each character more hate-able than the next, I'm amazed I was able to get to the end. Perhaps there is something positive about reading a really bad book every once in a while if only to appreciate the rest more.

[Tony Faville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having finally gotten around to finishing this book, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will admit, when I first started reading the book I couldn't get into it. I have since gotten to know the author and felt compelled to give it another try. I did, I finished it and I truly enjoyed it.

It gives an interesting twist on the zombie genre, with the darkness from the swamps and so forth. The having to completely destroy them with fire is a different twist, but it worked with the source.

All in all, it is very well written and I truly look forward to reading more of David's work.

Thanks for the book David!

[Schnaucl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This supposedly takes place about 100 years after the zombie apocalypse but it certainly doesn't feel that way. It doesn't feel like the first few days of an outbreak but it doesn't feel more than months after the start, maybe a few years at most. If you want to see life after people got used to zombies done right, read Mira Grant's Feed.

I just couldn't really get into it. There was too much skipping around and the characters didn't really click for me.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up for obvious reasons: zombie stories are good. And as I read the first chapter, I was impressed by the writing and was excited to see where this story was going. Unfortunately, it wasn't going much of anywhere.

The author is definitely good at what he does. Each chapter was detailed and written well. The problem was, the plot was way confusing and too spaced out. Each chapter read like its own short story, which I hated. I have read other reviews saying the author was in fact a short story writer before giving a shot at a novel.

I think the story has a lot of potential, it just wasn't executed correctly. I got annoyed half way through and gave up.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may start off slow and it may tell a zombie tell in a way your not used to, but trust me. This tells it in a way that has a BIG impact on the story. First the book starts off by telling bits and pieces of other stories but in the end they all cross over. It is a book that will surprise you. It did me. Now I'm wanting the sequel, Empire's End. Just to see how the story turns out. I won't say this book is a must have but if you enjoy a good story, this book is worth it. I like it and I'm adding it to my collection.

[Trevor Oakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of action, horror, and suspense and good writing to boot. From the description, I figured the spectre of "Death" would play more of a role against the undead, but he plays more of a minor role. This ended up working very well. Recommended to fans of the genre!

[Batmanjohnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new take on the zombie Genre.

[Nelson Mays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. I was entertained. Liked everything about it.

[Dan Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite reading a lot of books loaded with action and/or violence, I usually skip most of said action and/or violence due to getting the point quickly.

[Estevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, one of the best zombie books I have come across.

[Ghoul Von Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Angel Of Death, zombies, and a creepy dude with a dog mask = win!

[Holly Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was not the usual Zombie book I was expecting but enjoyed reading it.

[Nerdvana Webcast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fun read. Nothing like Death and Zombies in the same novel!
You can read the full review here:
http://nerdvanawebcast.com/2013/09/19...

[Lynne Akers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good zombie novel with a bit of supernatural twist with the Reaper

[Ehson Divani · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first "adult" horror book and it really captured my imagination as a teenager. So many cool concepts: Zombies that can't be killed, eating flesh restoring the undead, zombies learning skills, necromancy, and of course Death himself coming to reap the undead! This book was awesome for teenage me.

As an adult in his late 20s, this book hurts a lot. As previously mentioned this story has a lot of awesome ideas and has the added benefit of limited plot armor, at least for the protagonists. The problem is that the characters are trash. There are so many characters in this story and 90% of them are either meat or ass-holes. I can count on one hand the characters that were both round and that I didn't want to see die. I get its the apocalypse but for the love of god can we get some redeeming qualities outside of not actively pushing for the extinction of the human race? Also, the sheer stupidity of these characters who have supposedly been living through this horror is staggering. The book establishes that the dead can't be killed early on and maybe a handful of characters act around that fact(only partially).

Also, the story structure is all over the place. I respect the desire to explain the lore of your world but we get entire chapters that have nothing to do with the plot and an entire subplot about a nutjob squad of soldiers that feels like it shouldn't even be in this book. The only reason this book doesn't get a 1 is due to the previously mentioned awesome aspects and a few really cool scenes.

If you want some extremely B-movie zombie action with some inspired world-building and don't mind reading about some of the worst people humanity has to offer then pick this book up.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too sure about this one. It's a little weird. It's a quick read with a LOT of characters.
The angel of death might have been one of it's more likable characters. It does have good action scenes. He's also not scared of killing off main characters.
I love a good zombie novel. I've read books by this author before. Just not sure this is his best.
2.5 stars

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had some really excellent moments and good heartless characters, but the motivations and overall arc made little to no sense. Certain characters took actions to move the plot forward because someone had to do it. Death as a character sounds cool on the synopsis but never explored in any worthwhile depth.

[Yazmeen Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a fun story. My only gripes are the constant name switching and lack of Louisiana realness. The only thing Louisiana about this was the swamp? Fun book though and I do want to read the sequel.

[Alroma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so fantastic.