Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Reapers Are the Angels

I was lucky enough to get a copy of The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. I must say that I am very glad I did. Ever since I was a little kid and I first saw Night of the Living Dead, I've had fascination with zombies. The scarier the better.

This book, however, isn't scary. Despite having zombies in it, I wouldn't really classify it as horror.  That's okay though, because it's still a great book and who says zombies have to be horrifying? It's written entirely in the present tense, except for a few flashbacks, which normally annoys the hell out of me. That's okay too, because it's done in a way that I don't actually care about that. There are quite a few nit-picky concerns, like why is there still edible food in abandoned stores 20 years after a zombie apocalypse, and why is the power still on in so many places, and how is it so easy to find a working car, and why are the roads still passable instead of clogged with weeds and crumbling? That's okay, too, because the narrative is great enough that while I noticed these things, I was able to ignore them.

The only thing that I didn't like so much was the ending, which kind of came out of the blue, and in theme at least, kind of reminded me of the original ending to Brian Keene's The Rising, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I really like this book. a lot.

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Saturday, June 26, 2010

Zombies vs. Unicorns Day 5: The Last Zombie

I haven't read it yet since it isn't out yet, but I might as well use the final day of my Zombies v. Unicorns Week to plug Brian Keene's upcoming comic, The Last Zombie. The first issue is scheduled to be released next week.  It's the story of what happens after the zombie apocalypse ends. The last zombie in the title is one of the main characters, a scientist on a journey across the country who has become the last person to be infected with the zombie plague and just wants to see his wife one last time before he turns. That;s pretty much all I know about it, since it isn't out yet, but I can say that I'll be reading it, and you should too.


Edit  6/26/10: Coolness. Brian was nice enough to give me a copy of The Last Zombie #1 at the Commix Connection Creator Cookout today. It is a freaking awesome comic. The story promises to be exciting, and the artwork is terrific. If you like zombies, you don't want to miss this!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Zombies vs. Unicorns Day 4: Some Zombie Videos

My stomach's been feeling a bit queasy all day, so I'm not quite up to doing my usual little book "review," but rather than abandon Zombies Vs. Unicorns Week,I thought Id share a few of my favorite zombie videos from YouTube.