Jan 6 - Jan 9, 2012
Day By Day Armageddon
J. L. Bourne
Horror
Published Sep 29, 2009
263 pages
8/10
A military man faces the Zombie Apocalypse, and must do whatever necessary to ensure the preservation of himself, and his soul.
This is one of the first zombie books I've read where the human protagonist isn't a complete mess of an idiot.
This guy is a military man, intent on survival and actually possessing the skills to make it happen. He knows how to handle guns, clear a room, fly a plane, and rescue others who aren't as adept at fending off the undead as himself. He's willing to take risks I wouldn't (Rescue trapped survivors? Well, those zombie hordes look mighty hungry, and my bunker here at Chapters is pretty cozy... maybe I'll just turn this radio off...) but this wasn't like most zombie books where I would find myself yelling, "Why are you leaving safety to look for your wife?! She was trapped in the city 100 miles away when this whole thing went down 3 weeks ago! You're going to get eaten, or lose friends who stupidly agree to go with you on this suicide mission, asshole! In fact, I guarantee one will get bitten but hide it from all of you until the last minute, and then make an idiot 'Noble Sacrifice' to save you all, but most of you will die anyways, until there's no one left but you and possibly a sexy sidekick! And your wife will probably be dead! Or happy to see you, but that'll make things awkward for your sexy sidekick that you probably shared a kiss with after everyone else died. Fuck. This book sucks." And though I probably just ruined every zombie book ever written out there (or ever will be written) you guys all know what I'm talking about. In fact, our protagonist chose NOT to go looking for his parents, because he knew it would be suicide. This is my kind of dude. Yes, he did go looking for survivors, but based on logic and planning, not stupid love.
Sure, the writing was a little under developed, the author repeated himself of occasion, and there were a fuckload of technical terms that meant little to me (I have never been in the military, after all) but it was such a quick easy read that all was forgiven. I was too busy burning through this to really focus on the negative aspects, which is how a book should go. If you're going to make a book draggy as fuck, make sure your writing skills are top-notch. If you're new to writing and maybe have some bugs to work out, make it non-stop action so no one notices if your character thinks the same thought twice.
Finally, a zombie book where I don't have to scream at it because the characters are idiots. I'm sure that'll make my bus rides a lot less unnerving for the other passengers...
Day By Day Armageddon
J. L. Bourne
Horror
Published Sep 29, 2009
263 pages
8/10
A military man faces the Zombie Apocalypse, and must do whatever necessary to ensure the preservation of himself, and his soul.
This is one of the first zombie books I've read where the human protagonist isn't a complete mess of an idiot.
This guy is a military man, intent on survival and actually possessing the skills to make it happen. He knows how to handle guns, clear a room, fly a plane, and rescue others who aren't as adept at fending off the undead as himself. He's willing to take risks I wouldn't (Rescue trapped survivors? Well, those zombie hordes look mighty hungry, and my bunker here at Chapters is pretty cozy... maybe I'll just turn this radio off...) but this wasn't like most zombie books where I would find myself yelling, "Why are you leaving safety to look for your wife?! She was trapped in the city 100 miles away when this whole thing went down 3 weeks ago! You're going to get eaten, or lose friends who stupidly agree to go with you on this suicide mission, asshole! In fact, I guarantee one will get bitten but hide it from all of you until the last minute, and then make an idiot 'Noble Sacrifice' to save you all, but most of you will die anyways, until there's no one left but you and possibly a sexy sidekick! And your wife will probably be dead! Or happy to see you, but that'll make things awkward for your sexy sidekick that you probably shared a kiss with after everyone else died. Fuck. This book sucks." And though I probably just ruined every zombie book ever written out there (or ever will be written) you guys all know what I'm talking about. In fact, our protagonist chose NOT to go looking for his parents, because he knew it would be suicide. This is my kind of dude. Yes, he did go looking for survivors, but based on logic and planning, not stupid love.
Sure, the writing was a little under developed, the author repeated himself of occasion, and there were a fuckload of technical terms that meant little to me (I have never been in the military, after all) but it was such a quick easy read that all was forgiven. I was too busy burning through this to really focus on the negative aspects, which is how a book should go. If you're going to make a book draggy as fuck, make sure your writing skills are top-notch. If you're new to writing and maybe have some bugs to work out, make it non-stop action so no one notices if your character thinks the same thought twice.
Finally, a zombie book where I don't have to scream at it because the characters are idiots. I'm sure that'll make my bus rides a lot less unnerving for the other passengers...
Just imagine that nice little old lady is a book, and that'll be a pretty accurate representation of me reading most zombie novels. For real. Don't ride public transit.
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