As The World Dies: The First Days: A Zombie Trilogy [Paperback]

Rhiannon Frater (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 14, 2008

Two very different women flee into the Texas Hill Country on the first day of the zombie rising. Together they struggle to rescue loved ones, find other survivors, and avoid the hungry undead.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The First Days

Best Zombie Book of the Year: Explorations

Dead Letter Award for Best Novel: Mail Order Zombie

“‘This world is fragile.’ This truth lies at the core of Frater's intensely compelling first novel. This outstanding first effort, the first book in a trilogy, will appeal greatly to zombie fans, but the undead are merely the catalyst for a far more disquieting tale of societal collapse.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“The First Days is a lean, mean read. You'll blow through this faster than a herd of undead at an all-cheerleader buffet. Buy this book now so you can say you liked Frater before she became the Next Big Deal In Horror, because that's where she's headed.”  —Dread Central

“This is a world where zombies existed in media before they became ‘real’ and there are a ton of little easter eggs throughout for zombie fans. Romero’s films are references, as is The Zombie Survival Guide.”  —BuyZombie

“Katie and Jenni are first drawn in short, sharp sketches and fleshed out as the story progresses. By the end of the book I was laughing at their jokes and feeling what they felt, excited to see what happened next. The First Days plays on deep-seated fears and pushes the limits constantly.”  —Café Libri

“From literally the first page, Frater pulled me in and never let go. The First Days had me thrilled, excited, sad, and happy. If you love strong characters, exciting plot and of course zombies then I'm sure you will love this.”  —Book Chick City

“From the first page, the reader is plunged into a terrifying but riveting nightmare. Frater does not shy away from depicting the story in all its gory detail, never forgetting a healthy dose of black humor to keep things from sinking into bleak despair.”  —So I Read this Book

“Everything felt so real and haunting. Beautiful. I really, really enjoyed this book. It reminds me of The Walking Dead in terms of the pace and the story progression. This is good stuff! Zombie fiction fans, this is definitely for you.”  —Reading Good Books

“Every scene is packed with action, conflict, and zombie killing goodness. All the secondary characters Jenni and Katie encountered, from the husband and wife survivalists holed up in their gun store methodically sniping their infected neighbors, to the Reverend who saves Katie’s life and his dog’s at the expense of his own, were fantastic.”  —All Things Urban Fantasy

“Terrifyingly realistic and vividly horrifying, this book is feverish and electrifying—amazing in every sense of the word.”  —The Bookish Brunette

“Rhiannon Frater’s much-heralded debut novel The First Days—the opening salvo in her As the World Dies trilogy—combines two of my favorite genre fiction elements: zombies and the Apocalypse.  The compelling narrative and endearing duo of female protagonists make this a ‘must read’ for anyone who considers themselves a fan of zombie fiction or apocalyptic fiction. Jenni and Katie are like Thelma and Louise of the Apocalypse. There is definite social commentary at play here and a healthy dose of zombie-powered pop culture references as well—but, for me at least, the thing that makes this novel so remarkable is Frater’s ability to draw the reader in to the minds of the two protagonists and experience the end of the world—and the beginning of a new one—through their eyes.”
—Unabashedly Bookish

“Holy smokes! This book was a wild ride of awesome. It reminds me a lot of The Walking Dead, with the heavy emphasis on survival and character relationships, and a healthy dose of zombie terror. All the secondary characters were glorious and each played an important role in the progression of the story. Jack the German Shepard made my heart sing with joy. Recommended for any Zombie fiction fan or those looking for a great character-driven postapocalyptic survival story.”—Smash Attack Reads

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Rhiannon Frater lives in Austin, Texas with her husband. She has previously written two different columns for Central Texas magazines covering the underground music and film scene. She loves zombies and Texas.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 298 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (August 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438250800
• ISBN-13: 978-1438250809
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #823,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author of the AS THE WORLD DIES ZOMBIE TRILOGY. The first novel in the series, THE FIRST DAYS, won the 2008 Dead Letter Award for Best Book (Fiction). The second book, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE won the 2009 Dead Letter Award in the same category.

Originally self-published, the As The World Dies books were purchased by Tor. The first book will be released July 5, 2011.

Also, the series is optioned to become a possible TV show in the future. You can also check out my vampire novel Pretty When She Dies, which has been optioned for a possible film. My book for the younger zombie fans, The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters, has been optioned for film and the director hopes to start filming soon.

I previously wrote for The Edge Magazine and Rank & Revue (renamed Reloaded Monthly) in the mid-00s, before dedicating myself to my fiction writing.

I am represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry Literary + Media agency.


Contact me at rhiannonfrater at gmail.com

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#63 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#63 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 77 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Thelma and Louise meets The Walking Dead...ruined for me by infuriating characterizations June 17, 2011

By Abigail VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'm so torn as to how to review this book because it had several things going for it that I flat out loved, but...it also had one thing that made me want to chuck it across the room several times while reading.

THE FIRST DAYS is basically Thelma and Louise meets The Walking Dead. Jenni is a young battered wife who is about to be eaten by her husband, son, and baby when Katie, a stranger, pulls up in a truck and rescues her. The women quickly bond over their respective losses. Katie lost her wife, and Jenni nearly her whole family. They meet several interesting characters on their escape from Houston including the reluctant leader of a band of survivors they join named Travis. *WARNING* The first scene is one of the most upsetting things I have ever read. Mothers are especially cautioned. *Spoiler* It involves a woman watching her zombie husband eat their baby out of a crib and later what is left of the baby, now a zombie too, tries to get to the mother. Later a different zombie baby, this one an infant, has it's skull bashed in. *End of Spoiler*

The story is so good. It was initially written as an online serial, so every scene is packed with action, conflict, and zombie killing goodness. And I couldn't ask for more from a zombie infested world than I got in THE FIRST DAYS. It's terrifying, chaotic, and full of misinformation and seemingly insurmountable odds. All the secondary characters Jenni and Katie encountered from the husband and wife survivalists holed up in their gun store methodically sniping their infected neighbors, to the Reverend who saves Katie's life and his dog's at the expense of his own, were fantastic.

I wish I could just stop there and give this book a glowing recommendation, but I can't, and it's mostly because of Jenni.... She has the maturity and decision making skills of a thirteen year old. She starts out as one of the most tragic character ever, but quickly shifts into an entirely different person who I wanted to strangle in every scene. The day after her husband eats her baby in front of her, she decided to give lesbianism a try. The day after that, she starts flirting with Travis, smirking when she catches him watching her, getting jealous when she thinks he might like someone else. A character who lived through what she lived through should be barely functioning, not worrying about landing a new boyfriend or giggling about a jerk getting eaten by zombies. Every scene she was in (and as a main character we're talking half the book if not more) was more ludicrous than the last. Her thoughts, actions, dialog, and facial expressions became a new form of torture to me.

I don't believe Jenni or Katie would be anywhere near the realm of even beginning to have the slightest inkling of a romantic awareness with anyone yet both women respond the second they meet Travis which is less than two days after surviving an unimaginably horrific loss. Like I said, Jenni should have been catatonic, but Katie's response was almost more shocking because, up until this point, she had repeatedly proclaimed herself to be a lesbian. Turns out she's bisexual which is convenient revelation so both women can test the the bonds of their new friendship when a guy comes between them. I'm getting angry again just writing about this.

Overall, certain aspects of THE FIRST DAYS like the worldbuilding and plot, were amazing, while others, like the characterizations, were infuriating to point of ruining the book for me. The second book in the As The World Dies: A Zombie Trilogy series is called FIGHTING TO SURVIVE and will be published on November 8th 2011.

Sexual Content:
Kissing. References to homosexuality and a discussion of bisexuality. References to gang rape. A brief sex scene. Read more ›

74 of 89 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Zombie apocalypse with a twist: a women's perspective October 7, 2008

By Patrick S. Dorazio VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I guess I should apologize. This is the tenth review of this book and the first one that is not giving this book 5 stars. Nine in a row with all five star reviews is a pretty solid streak and my four star review should not put a damper on things that much. It is just that I cannot provide a review that is filled with as much overabundant praise as the previous reviewers.
Rhiannon Frater has gone where...well, many men have gone before, but very few women. In fact, as I scan my bookshelf that is filled with all sorts of zombie stories I can't really see another female author that pops up there. A few short stories, for certain. When I look at vampire titles there are plenty of women involved in the mix, but as far as the walking dead are concerned, it has been pretty much the boy's club up to this point.
The author provides a fresh, female perspective to the zombie apocalypse. No worries, zombie fans, this is no "girl power" feminine manifesto, though going into this story I had my concerns. The two main characters are certainly two characters that could have fallen into that realm: an abused housewife who is set free by both the advent of the zombie apocalypse and by a ultra confident lesbian attorney who hits the road with her in a desperate attempt to escape the mass slaughter going on around them.
The author does a good job of taking two characters that could have easily been turned into stereotypical archetypes and fleshing them out into real people. Beyond those two characters we also are provided with a variety of strong male and female secondary characters as well. These two fit into this mixed up world of zombie apocalypse, yet they don't overpower it.... They grow stronger and there is a bit of a Thelma and Louise-ish quality to their story but they are certain much more than that.
Yes, I freely admit that it is my own fault that I might have jump to some conclusions in advance of getting very far into this book but I also never hesitated to dive into it. I must say I was pleased I did.
The author has a solid writing style and given that this is an inpendent book there is surprisingly few typos throughout. A few but if you have ever read any other independent zombie fiction you certainly will appreciate the level of quality that went into the editing of this novel.

The overall story here runs parallel to many other zombie novels, with the author's own variation on the theme. We land in this story as Jenni, one of our main characters, has just seen her family wiped out by her abusive husband, who was bitten by some bum the night before. Turns out he was infected and overnight has turned into a zombie, killing everyone but his wife, who escapes with Katie, another woman who just witnessed her wife, Lydia, turned into a zombie as well. They escape into the Texas hill country and meet up with other survivors until they come upon a town that is being turned into a fortress. The story is filled with a lot of high powered action and fast moving zombies. There are romantic undertones that are nicely done (something that rarely seems to be the case in most zombie novels...most authors who write this style of book don't do a very good job on that level). In this, the first of a trilogy, we get to see the characters evolve and get to meet several other solid characters. It is a book well worth reading if you are into the zombie genre.

So, with all that said I can comment on why I did not give this book five stars, like so many other reviewers before me. It has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the story. It is solid, well told, and I am looking forward to the second and third installments.
It would be served well to go through a round of professional editing even as solid as it is. I give high praise to anyone who can write and do not get me wrong, but this story could be pushed into something far greater with another person taking a look at it.
The introduction to Travis, one of the main characters in the book, was a bit overwhelming. The author makes it abundantly clear that is is the protypical handsome hero with some of the more fervent discriptions of him. Both of our tough females, who up to this point have been rock stars in dealing with all sorts of adversity, melt in his presence. It was a real "all men fear him, all women adore him" type moment. After the initial introduction the author does a good job of making him more real throughout the story but I thought the initial introduction was a tad bit over done.
A minor gripe I have with this book is when the author inserts references to the zombie survival guide written by Max Brooks in the story a few times. One of the characters is respected as a expert on the subject of zombies because he has read the guide several times and provides others with survival tips based on what the guide has said, although he gripes that the zombies in this story are somewhat different than the ones in Brook's book. Maybe it is just me, but the reference seemed a bit too obvious. That said, I do appreciate, as many zombie fans will, the effort the author went to in attempting to create a safe haven away from the zombies as the residents of the town our two main characters end up in attempt to build a fortress to live in safely as the zombies scratch at them at the outside walls. Envisioning how you would survive a zombie apocalypse long term certainly comes into play with some of her ideas.
I did like how the author dealt with the challenges people would face in dealing with having to kill the infected before they rise from the dead. I am not sure how easy it would be to declare that anyone bitten must immediately be put down but that is addressed here in this story. I think all of us would want to believe we could easily take someone out who has been bitten and has no chance to survive, no way to avoid becoming something that is no longer human, but there is something to be said for giving someone every last minute of humanity they can get before pulling the trigger and snuffing out their lives. Perhaps the author, who does a fine job of exploring this topic in this book, will continue to develop the topic in the second and third book.

In using the rating system that Amazon has, I liked this book. I liked it a lot and encourage other fans of zombie fiction to give it a shot. Is it perfect in my estimation? No, but nothing is. Does the overall trilogy have the potential to be tremendous? Yes, it does. I look forward to finding out what happens next in the second installment. Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A realistic zombie story? June 6, 2011

By K. Nettles VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I couldn't give this book four stars for reasons that other reviewers have well-covered: a checklist plot line and some aspects, such as the romances, are forced. (Seriously, a couple weeks into survival mode is way too early for anyone to be worried about getting a new dad.) And yet, the book is worth reading because the author explores human cognition and reactions to the initial event in ways that are more realistic than most books. For example, the government is not in evil cahoots with the zombies, but is giving out some initially bad advice based upon their own poor understanding of what is happening; family members refuse to leave their homes because they still love and have faith, not because they are stupid; some choose to wall up in fortresses of their own making rather than head for the larger community safe-haven. In other words, everyone figures out the danger at their own pace and each chooses what they perceive to be the safest path. The interesting part is seeing how those decisions work out for everyone.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying Start to New Trilogy May 16, 2011

By Ursula K. Raphael TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

As fate would have it, Frater's book, The First Days, appeared on my list of offerings by Amazon's Vine Program, so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to broaden my apocalyptic horizons. The First Days actually began as a series online and now has the potential to become a TV series - watch out Walking Dead. The main characters are two women, Katie and Jenni, who meet up in the suburbs, and together they flee the waking nightmare of their infected loved ones trying to kill them. The story takes place in Texas, and Frater's knowledge of the landscape really lends itself to the descriptions of the survivors' settings. It was Jenni's personal story that won me over in the first chapter. Frater's characters suffer some devastating losses that would make a lot of the male zombiephiles cringe and weep.

The two women are strong characters, but believably so. They are not uber-warriors, but neither are they weepy victims waiting for a guy in shiny ATV to roll up and rescue them. Frater finds the perfect balance that both male and female readers will be able to relate to on some level. The male characters are written just as well, with the kind of variety you would expect in a group thrown together by chance. As a matter of fact, one of the guys had the sense to consult a zombie survival guide when the outbreak first happened!

After their share of horrific obstacles trying to rescue Jenni's stepson from a remote camp, the two women finally take shelter at a compound built by some construction workers with the supplies and common sense to get fortified before the outbreak overwhelmed them. The storyline then includes the complexities of strangers working together to stay alive.... Of course, there's always someone in the group who takes everything for granted, and makes life difficult for the rest, and the book ends with more terrifying circumstances unfolding as a result.

The First Days is the first book in a trilogy, due to be released this summer, including Fighting to Survive (Book 2) and Siege (Book 3). I can't wait! Read more ›