World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

by Max Brooks

Let me begin by making a statement or two and saying this: I love the walking dead and almost any medium that they are present in. However, I am also very picky about my undead, in that they must have certain attributes that in the last couple of decades, most have lost. To me there is nothing scarier, more terrifying then a traditional Romero zombie. The slow and methodical shamble, the glassy lifeless look in their eyes and the unmistakable guttural moan that escapes their cracked, blood stained lips when they come across food, ie. the living, at the same time gives me goosebumps and also makes me wish that my crowbar was closer at hand.

So after reading The Zombie Survival Guide, also by Max Brooks, and finding that there was another living soul who shared my enthusiasm for this specific walking blight, needless to say I was elated. That feeling doubled after reading the preview for World War Z at the end of the Survival Guide, so much so that I pre-ordered the book on Amazon and counted the days and paced in my room till it shipped, much like a WoW player does waiting for the next expansion. (If you haven't figured it out by now, yes this is written several years after the hard copy was printed, and yes this moment is a bit of a flashback, and finally yes I do realize that the first WoW expansion didn't ship till after the book came out but I have seen WoW players pace and rant about expansions so take it easy!)

After waiting for what seemed like forever and re-reading the Survival Guide several times, a few of those while in the john, my hard cover arrived. Admittedly I was very fearful that a subject such as this, the zombie apocalypse, could ever meet my lofty expectations. However, my fears of disappointment were soon put to rest, as Max delivered on all levels and hit on issues that I hadn’t even thought to consider. Most notably of which is how the virus spreads so quickly around the world. I had always thought that the spreading of the virus would be rather simple: zombie bites human, human turns, rinse and repeat. However Max takes the whole idea of infection to a whole new level and leaves you with the realization that how the virus spreads worldwide is so much more complex. And this is just in the opening chapters of the book. Which brings me to an issue that is bound to annoy some people: chapters. Seeing as Max chose to write this as an “oral history of the zombie war”, there are no real chapters so to speak of. Instead the book is separated into sections each representing the different phases of the war, from infection to panic to resistance. Each section is then divided into interviews of various lengths with various people, which range from ordinary civilians to war criminals to soldiers and even to astronauts aboard the ISS. Now to some people that I've spoken to about the book, they find that the lack of a true main character and storyline is a problem and is the books main weakness. I on the other hand find this format to be the best, and perhaps the only, way to truly tell this story. Sure you won’t remember the name of every person that's interviewed, but that doesn't mean that they weren’t memorable, because its not so much as their name that's important as it is their story. Where were they? What did they do? How did they survive? Those are the important questions in the end and ones that Max answers repeatedly, and with truly horrifying visuals, that are really important.

Its those questions that left me wanting more. More adventures of survival; of the average joe rising to the occasion to defend his family. More views of our current society; and how it crumbles under the weight of the rotting undead foot. And most of all; I wanted more stories of how we rose up from the defiled Earth and retook what was ours, how we reclaimed our position as the dominate life form on this planet. And that's probably the greatest aspect of this book, that nagging feeling of wanting to know more. Which to me is what separates the great books from the mediocre. So overall even if your not a huge fan of the creeping death, I would still recommend this book to anyone as its just an amazing concept brought vividly to life, err death? I’m not really sure, but you get the idea. READ THIS BOOK!

And always make sure your crowbar is close at hand.

Rating: 4 out of 5 DAWG Bones

Up next: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Reading now: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand