Customer Reviews

As The World Dies: The First Days: A Zombie Trilogy

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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.

First book I have ever read by Rhiannon Frater and I must say I'm very impressed. The book immediately starts with action. A woman is trapped in her house; her child and husband have both been infected. The description of her child being a zombie and trying to get to her is bone chilling. She escapes and teams up with another woman and together that make a great story. Surviving in a world that is being taking over by zombies, struggling to stay alive. Action packed female power! If you enjoy a different take on a zombie apocalypse story, I highly recommend this book. Can't wait to start reading the second novel.

It's an almost given in any zombie novel, that there's bound to be some quick reconcile to normal life that wouldn't be entirely realistic. Otherwise we'd be following around a bunch of characters moping about their dead family and friends. BUT. The turning point that made this book ridiculous, was when Jenni managed to utter that she was glad the world went to hell in a handbasket, because gosh darn it, she was stronger for it. She did manage to showcase a little bit of the required emotion for her two dead children with the constant reminder of seeing small fingers scrabbling under a rickity door without weather stripping, but otherwise.. Jenni seesawed violently from a tragic, broken woman to a spunky, carefree girl. The girl was so forlorn and beaten, she tried to smooch her lesbian comrade for some guaranteed protection, but when faced off with some manly construction men, she was diving head first into teasing relationships, and flirting carelessly. I just couldn't dig through all the character flaws to find her convincing.
The empty headed view of lesbians kind of threw me for a loop. The constant reminder that yes, Katie is gay, is aggravating. Jenni is a woman, and they show up together, so they must be a gay couple. It's really just a little over the top cluelessness for me. The fact that Katie can change from full bore lesbian to in the closet bisexual with the introduction of Travis, irritated me.
The story wasn't all bad, and I probably could have overlooked a lot of the characterization and silly plot twists. I just got hung up on the silly, awkward dialogue and the lack of any humanity. It's one thing to kill something trying to maul you or chase you down, but to wish the living dead were nearby so you'd have something to shoot is another. Another Jenni dilemma. Everyone was quick to turn mushy over their own lost, but they were just as quick to forget that the zombies used to be people. At least the majority. I recommend Mira Grant's Feed. I picked As the World Dies on a zombie high because of the cover. I wasn't surprised to learn it was self published. A little peeve, you'll eventually start to count how many times someone sighs in this book. It's as irritating as a public speakers "um's".

I'm a huge zombie-lore fan and an avid reader so I downloaded this to my iPhone for some light reading. I am now halfway through the second book and mostly enjoying it.

I've come to realize there is a difference between a good story teller and a good writer (prime example: Twilight series). The author weaves an engaging and fantastic story, but is a mediocre writer.

The story itself features some excellent gory zombie fighting scenes, and creates believable survivor situations. I was pleased to find that it is told in a more personal way (with more of the characters emotions expressed) than most zombie novels. The characters are well developed and likeable.

However, the writing itself had a somewhat juvenile style. Many phrases and adjectives are constantly repeated. The author didn't seem to push himself/herself to find creative ways to explain similar situations. For example, I think I've read the words, "exploded in a spray of gore" about 300 times so far. This book would have been a million times better if the author had bought a thesaurus.

Another thing that really bothered me - the book desperately needed a competent editor. There are misspellings, typos, grammar problems, punctuation errors, and, in some places, completely missing words. It literally looks like someone posted a first draft of their 28 Days Later fanfic. If I'm going to pay to read a novel, I expect it to be readable and well done.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and continue to enjoy it's sequel.

The beginning of this book was fantastic and got me to buy it but after finishing the first book and starting the second i found myself bored , bored ,bored ,bored! the action is few and far between after it gets started and then drags on with the characters love interest and fear of moving on after there loss. I did like the sex scene i felt like i was holding one of those cheap romance novels. lol

This trilogy is very imaginative, but the writer lacks good writing skills. Too many phrases used over and over again, uninspired descriptive passages. While the story was good, I found myself roadblocked by the bad writing. Authors like Stephen King or Dean Knootz can make you get lost in the story - while you are reading their work you feel like, no matter how outragous the story, you are living it. This author does not inspire that feeling. You find yourself picking apart her writing style when you should be lost in a good story. Read it for the idea of the story and not the execution.

I've been on a Zombie story reading binge the last couple weeks. This was the second author I read, and this whole series is great. I've read 3 other novels in this genre since this series, and they all pale in comparison.

This responce is short and sweet....this girl can write. Buy the trilogy if it is available because withrawls will set in at the end of each book. I read this series a year ago and enjoyed it very much.

The many glowing reviews of this book persuaded me that it would be a great read. Though I don't like knocking new authors, I wish I'd paid more attention to the minority of dissenting voices and I hope to do some other prospective reader a favour with this review. I hope.

First of all, let me say I loved the opening scene - the child's fingers questing under the door, the mother trembling on the porch, thinking irrelevant thoughts, unable to equate this with her life. Masterly.

If only the rest of the work had lived up to it.

I wanted to like the story, and it had some truly exciting moments, but just as I was getting into the swing of a scene or a character, I'd stub my toe on amateurish writing - too many adverbs, sentences that tell us with a clunk what we should be able to infer ('Jenni sighed contentedly, obviously relaxing'), flat-out typos and bad grammar and punctuation. Also there's the unbelievably irritating 'Gawd' thing and the childish, unconvincing Juan and Jenni love-hate relationship, which might have worked if there'd not been a sentence where it became apparent that we (or Jenni) are really supposed to believe she hates him. Or if they'd been characters from 'The Gilmore Girls'.

There's a sequence over pages 243-247 where almost every single movement of the characters is laid out for us - there are so many smiles (including sad, half and kind-of), winces, nods, frowns, sighs, fingertip-running, elbow-resting and food-shoving, that I almost threw the damn book across the room (angrily, sliding to my feet, but with a small, sad half-smile, of course). Micro-managed character-action does not add to character! It just gets in the way of story.

Another bone I have to pick is the Lydia theme. If a character is haunted by grief, the writer has to find a way to present it in a way that's interesting to the reader, not just repeat how sad and angry and regretful Katie is, at every opportunity.

On the plus side, some of the dialogue is zippy and funny, and the action scenes are exciting. The writer obviously had great fun writing her book.

As I see from the other reviews, many readers are OK with bad writing if there is an exciting story and characters they can identify with - that's fine, but if you're not one of those lucky people, I would avoid this one. I love zombie novels and they're just as easy to write well as any other, if the author has the skill. Ms Frater, I'm afraid, needs to hone her craft a lot more before I would ever read any more of her work.

I, who normally whiz through books at a pace I wish I could slow down, took months to finish 'As the World Dies'. I wanted a great, zippy read, but what I got was a book I could not stop putting down.

First off I like the initial storyline. I liked how this started of after the outbreak, not weeks before with painful detail leading up. You were thrown in head first. But then it got dull and turned into a love story with zombies in the background. Jenni is so unbelievably needy that you're almost hoping she gets bit. The author can't decide what other word she wants to call the zombies so tries on every zombie reference you can think of, even one point calling them Walking Dead. I would have thought she should try to avoid any reference to the comic as the story-lines are so obviously similar to the editions that covered life in the jail. The editing in this book was horrendous! It needed to be proofread at least three or four more times. The zombie scenes are decently written once you get past all the "oh my gawd"s and ridiculously written Jenni scenes. I managed to fight it out to the end of the book just to get what I paid for.