Posts Tagged ‘zombies’
Review: Brains: a Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker
Title: Brains: a Zombie Memoir
Author: Robin Becker
Release: June 1, 2010
Purchase this book: Amazon | Book Depository | Kindle Version
Goodreads Entry: here
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: 3 Stars
Convinced he’ll bring about a peaceful coexistence between zombies and humans if he can demonstrate his unique condition to Howard Stein, the man responsible for the zombie virus, Barnes sets off on a grueling cross-country journey to meet his maker. Along the way he recruits a small army of “super” zombies that will stop at nothing to reach their goal. There’s Guts, the dreadlocked boy who can run like the wind; Joan, the matronly nurse adept at reattaching decaying appendages; Annie, the young girl with a fierce quick-draw; and Ros, who can actually speak. United they embark on an epic quest to attain what all men, women—and, apparently, zombies—yearn for: equality.
Brains is a blood-soaked, darkly humorous story that will have readers rooting for Barnes and his zombie posse to the very end.
Brains offers an interesting take on the zombies, or at least I think it does. I have to admit, I don’t read a lot of zombie books… something about the rotting flesh that does me in. Yet, I had heard good things about this book and it was a quick read (only 182 pages) so I jumped on board the zombie train. Unfortunately, this book was just OK – it had it’s moments, but overall I was left wanting more.
Jack Barnes is a well educated professor who suddenly finds himself a zombie. Yet, he isnt a mindless brain eating zombie, he has somehow retained his ability to think and to write. He sets off trying to find other zombies like himself and ends up creating his own little zombie family, ready to show the world they can co-exist with humans.
Overall Jack is an interesting guy, if you can overlook the fact he comes across as kind of a jerk before he was zombified. His, and perhaps this book’s, downfall is the way he narrates the story. The narration is filled with pop culture references and one line zingers. Granted some are funny, but a lot of them felt forced just for the sake of trying to be funny and turned me off to his character. Add in that he is kind of a jerk when he talks about his wife and I soon found him to be a pretty unlikeable character. I did warm up to him as he warmed up to his new zombie family, but it was a little too late. What I enjoyed most about the story was the cast of characters he collects around him – they are a merry band of misfits and I would have love to get inside their heads and see some of the story from their perspective.
In addition to an unlikable main character, I found the story to be slow. I wanted more to happen… its only 182 pages but I found myself yawning at page 100. Even in the end, I felt the plot just kind of went pfffft. There was a small climax but it was more of a speed bump and all of a sudden the book was over.
So, I have am complaining about all of these things… why am I giving it a 3?? Well even with these faults it was a decent read. It was quick and there were some moments where I laughed out loud. Robin Becker is certainly a talented writer and the idea is one I would love to see expanded on with a bit better story line. As it is, I had some problems with it stylistically – but you may not. I can certainly see the potential for the idea and the writer behind it. The end is a bit open ended, allowing room for a sequel. If there is one I will certainly pick it up to see where it goes.
FTC Disclaimer: Book was given to me for review
Review: Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry
Title: Road Trip of the Living Dead (Amanda Feral, Book 2)
Author: Mark Henry
Release: March 1st, 2009
Purchase this book: Amazon | Book Depository | Kindle Version
Goodreads Entry: here
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I opened up Road Trip of the Living Dead and prepared myself to be entirely grossed out by Mark Henry’s sick and twisted sense of humor again. He did not disappoint and I quickly found myself gasping and giggling at Amanda Feral and her “pottymouth.” I mean how can one not love her?
I’m a total shoe slut. Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin: this is an open invitation. Feel free to run a train on me. The cost? Stilettos, duh.
In Road Trip of the Living Dead Amanda, Wendy, and Gil find themselves up to their supernatural asses in trouble and are forced out on the run (all because of some really gross ghost urine!). The gang uses the need to leave town as an opportunity to visit Amanda’s deathly ill mother. However, nothing is ever simple for these three and their road trip quickly turns into an adventure filled with action, danger, gold grills, and fleshlights (google if you must, but I warn you… do it when you are completely alone! its errrr interesting).
While I found book 1, Happy Hour of the Damned, to be heavy on the character plotting, book 2 was a nice blend of character and interesting storyline. If anything I think Gil and Wendy took a smaller role about halfway through and I missed them a tiny bit! The mystery and suspense was better and more to the forefront than the previous book. I was engrossed in the oddly developing story and simply did not want to put this one down! Mark Henry brings in some new characters that are sure to make you laugh, including a sexy new werewolf named Scott. We even got a smexy scene that will make you snicker!
I have only one itsy bitsy complaint (or I would have given this 5 stars) ~ I wanted more with Amanda’s mother. We get such a tiny glimpse of her at the end and I was slightly confused as to what happened to/with her. There was quite a bit of setup as to Amanda and her mother and that plot line seemed to take a bit of a backseat in the end. However Amanda did make a few comments that lead me to believe this was intentional and more is coming.
With Road Trip of the Living Dead Mark Henry had me once again laughing hysterically, out loud, causing the hubby to look at me like I had lost a few marbles. If you haven’t yet jumped on the Save Amanda Feral bandwagon, don’t worry, there is still time! Book 1, Happy Hour of the Damned, is being re-released as Mass Market Paperback on January 26th and you can pre-order it from amazon.com here. You can read my review of book 1 here. Book 3, Battle of the Network Zombies is being released on February 23rd.
FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the author.
Review: Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry
Title: Happy Hour of the Damned (Amanda Feral, Book 1)
Author: Mark Henry
Release: March 1st, 2008
Buy Kindle version: here
Goodreads Entry: here
Rating: 4 Stars
Making her way through a dangerous world of cloud-doped bloodsuckers, reapers, horny and horned devils, werewolves, celebrities, and PR-obsessed shapeshifters–not to mention an extremely hot bartender named Ricardo–isn’t easy. And the minute one of Amanda’s undead friends disappears after texting the word, “help” (The undead–so dramatic!) she knows the afterlife is about to get really ugly.
Something sinister is at hand. Someone or something is hellbent on turning Seattle’s undead underworld into a place of true terror. And this time, Amanda may meet a fate a lot worse than death…
Confession Time: Zombies. Totally not my thing and not sexy. I think this could be the very first zombie book I have read, but it won’t be the last! Contrary to popular belief zombies do not always walk around chanting brains. If they are lucky enough to be “made” zombies, like Amanda Feral, they can continue to function as they did before death, mostly. The exception being the devastating (and totally gross) side effects of eating real food, pale skin even a spray tan won’t fix, and the desire for human flesh. Other than those minor things, they can carry on with their lives as usual. Amanda Feral is trying to do just that, refusing to give up her designer clothes, power career, or warm blooded boyfriend just because she is dead. Unfortunately the afterlife isn’t so easy for her when one of her friends seemingly goes missing and she finds herself in over her head in someone’s attempt to stage a world takeover, one Starbucks at a time.
Amanda Feral and friends are quite possibly the most foul mouthed, snarky, and sarcastic group of characters I have come across yet. They are dirty ~ and I don’t mean “spank me” dirty, I mean “depends” dirty. Their brand of humor is not for the easily offended or light of heart. Living with an experienced master of inappropriate jokes and sarcasm, aka my husband, I figured I was up for the challenge. A few times I found myself cringing because Mark Henry holds nothing back, gore and bowels are not off limits. However, most of the time I found myself silently snickering and snorting along at bad jokes and hilarious storytelling. Mark Henry seems to have the unique ability of making the gory act of zombies eating humans perfectly normal, if not funny.
I have only one itty bitty complaint…footnotes. Happy Hour of the Damned is filled with footnotes, giving you little tidbits of info sure to make you snort out loud. Because I didn’t want to miss any of the funny, I wasn’t about to ignore their existence, but I did find them a tad distracting when reading it on the Kindle. Obviously, this is not the fault of the author, but this may be one of those series that are better off read in paperback where you can flip back and forth easily (*gasp* yes, I did indeed say that… mark your calendars!). Being a diehard Kindle lover who avoids dead tree books if at all possible, I did come up with a method that was workable and figured I would share because I am a generous girl like that.
Because of Mark Henry’s foul mouthed crew of comediens I give Happy Hour of the Damned 4 stars. It was fun to read an urban fantasy with main characters who were not battling with moral dilemmas and ethical questions. I can’t wait to see what else Amanda Feral can get herself into. Next up, Road Trip of the Living Dead.
FTC Disclaimer: This book was purchased by me.
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin
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