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The Mammoth Book Of Zombie Apocalypse! (2010)

by Stephen Jones(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0762440015 (ISBN13: 9780762440016)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Running Press

series

Zombie Apocalypse!

review 1: *This review may contain spoilers*Stephen Jones is an English editor of a number of horror anthologies and is also the author of “Zombie Apocalypse;” a mosaic style of novel.Zombie Apocalypse is unlike anything I’ve read before. But my love of Zombies made me pick it up in the charity book-store I work in and I’m glad I did. I already have the sequel on my Amazon wish-list, the first was just so good.The story is told through text messages, emails, tweets, blogs, transcripts and so on and details the path of destruction the plague virus causes when the infected dead reanimate and become ‘zombies’ feeding on the living and turning them into the undead, too.I’m finding it difficult to review this book, or even to rate it, because it is so different to anything ... moreI’ve ever read before. I can’t really fault it; the story progressed well with the virus, and material, starting in London then spreading through the UK and out to Europe and the USA. By the end of the novel it was clear the virus had taken hold all over the world. Although we didn’t get chance to connect with the characters we met, most were eaten and reanimated, UK readers felt connected to the description of their country; the landmarks of London were described vividly, for example. It was hard to get the image of London ‘razed’ to the ground out of your mind after reading this novel. The use of medical reports, post-mortems and so on added horror and a feeling of dread to the reader’s experience with how feasible, legitimate and plausible they made a zombie apocalypse sound.The best bit of this book was, undoubtedly, the ending which was a total shock. Plot twist, much? In hindsight the shock ending makes sense when you look at the sequel, but I hadn’t thought of that at the time and so was completely taken aback.I’ve rated this book 4 out of 5; the only reason it didn’t make 5 stars was because I’m not completely sure I liked the format of the book. But it was a good horror; suitably scary, well told, good story-line even if not an original storyline (because the zombie apocalypse has been done to death, let’s face it, even if not wholly original.If you like zombies and like horror then read it; it’s definitely worth it and you won’t be disappointed.
review 2: It's pretty confusing at the start. I had to get used to the idea of reading a book that doesn't follow the traditional continuous prose, separated by chapters. It's pretty refreshing reading just bits of information, a letter here and there and a snippet of a tape recording.The beginning gave you a idea how bad it was and then drags you back straight to the root of it, when it's happening and you follow through, finding out information about how it happened, why and the cause.I particularly liked the diary entries because it was more casual and easier to understand and to the point. I'm just past my teenage years (20) and I liked the simpler entries.However, I found that when I got halfway (police notes), the story slowed right down. At first it was fine, just he police experiencing problems about then stumbling across cases of Zombies...I don't want to ruin it to anyone, but after that, I pretty much just lost interest and just skimmed the pages.I liked the story about the old woman too but I found that all these little side stories doesn't link. I was disappointed because I expected them all to link at some point.I mean come on, we need heroins!Anyway, don't expect a really happy ending with this one. Be prepared for disappointment. It does show a refreshing way of telling a (not-so-good) story though. :) less

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