Customer Reviews

Blood of the Dead: A Zombie Thriller (Undead World Trilogy, Book One)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is the beginning of a trilogy and I felt after reading this story that 90% of it was a set up for what comes with very few pages left in this first book.

What we have is what is essentially a character driven zombie story where we are introduced to four main characters who end up coming together through the course of this novel to join forces to face off against the dead in Winnipeg, Canada. They have all survived a year after a grey soup of a rain fell and instantly killed many people, turning into zombies immediately. Most others died afterwards in the carnage but a part of the city remains safe, called Haven. Three of our characters live there, Joe, who sees himself as a angel of vengeance, having fashioned his own hand cannon to blast the undead back to the just dead. There is Des, a video game warrior who wishes he was a real hero but has spent most of his time behind a computer screen since the world collapsed, and Billie, a young punker girl with Pink hair who is also a net junky that has had little use for much in the way of human interaction. August is the fourth character here, an older man who was forced to kill his entire family when they all turned into zombies after they all fled into the woods an hour outside the city. Now he has returned and our four characters are thrust together when all the undead, which had mostly be relegated to the inner city have come searching for anyone still alive.

Much of this book is spent with the characters running and fighting the undead. It also is spent with many of the younger characters acting hyper moody with each other, which may be realistic given the grim circumstances but if I am going to be critical about this story it lies here. August is frustrated with God and wondering where he has been this entire time while these three young people barely seem able to get along long enough to help each other survive. After a while all their pouting and moodiness started to get on my nerves. But it did not kill the story for me. The author did a good job of fleshing out these characters and the pain each one of them are going through in this new undead world.

As I mentioned earlier, I got the sense that all of this was introductory effort on the author's part because we really get to the meat of what is going to make this trilogy tick in about the last thirty pages or so. I will admit it gets somewhat confusing, which of course just translates into a cliff hanger ending and a lot of unanswered questions that often come with a trilogy. I will not go into detail but suffice it to say we are exposed to some supernatural elements that will have to play a very heavy duty role in book's two and three.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. There is gore galore and plenty of action for those who crave that in their zombie stories. The author has unleashed a few variations on the zombie theme with hints and more obvious introductions towards the end of your not so regular dead human's brought back to life that I will be curious to see more of.

AP Fuchs does a good job in writing his story and he is able to build up the suspense quite well. There is enough here for me to be quite interested in part II and part III when they are published. I just hope that we do not have to wait too long for the next installment, since he does leave you hanging at the end of this novel.

Stereotypes galore and terribly predictable. The female lead is so weak and stupid that she never bothers to pick up a real weapon. She has lived in a world with zombies for a long time but goes to the apartment of the gamer geek without even a big stick.

I also find it hard to believe that the milk man kept delivering milk when the dead started walking.

The end felt like the author was a schizophrenic who went off his medication. It came out of nowhere, it made little sense, and I resent the money and time I spent on this book.

Others have already touched on the plot so I won't rehash it.

I will say that I loved this book. I found the characters extremely likeable and the action intense. Others had problems with the ending but I for one enjoyed it. It threw me for a loop, left me with questions and extremely eager to see what happens next.

The book was a fun read. It's not the be all and end all of zombie literature but it's definitely something different from your standard survival horror. There's tons of gore and zombie action but it's a bit breezier and not as oppressively serious as many others I've read in the genre. Some of the back-and-forth dialogue between Des and Billie is genuinely amusing, you don't find much humor in the zombie/survival horror field.

There isn't any cursing or sexual situations in the book so it would even be an enjoyable read for younger/teen readers, provided they can handle the violence.

A.P. is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love his Axiom-Man series and the Undead World series is shaping up to be just as enjoyable.

I have been REALLY lucky picking books by Bourne, Ibarra, Brown and now Fuchs. This tale of a post Zday world has exceptional plot and character development. This is the first book I have purchased from this author and I'll be reading everything he wrote immediately!

Moderate pacing, awesome action and a killer twist at the end will leave you wanting more!!! Get this book now!

If you like Zombie books, this one is a Must read! Keeps you hooked. Well written and you want more!

Loved it. And just finished Book 2 (Possession of the Dead). Am now anxiously awaiting Book 3.

Don't pass this Trilogy by.

I am an avid reader but new to the zombie genre and have now read books by Mr. Fuchs and some of his contemporaries and have come away most impressed by this book. I enjoyed the way the author developed his characters throughout the story. I have found that many authors that extensively develop characters as in this book tend to let down the action end of the story. Not the case in this book. I blew through this read very fast and will probably read it again. I can't wait to see what the next book has to offer. I highly reccomend this book to die hards as well as those new to the genre.

I'm sorry, I did not enjoy this at all. It might give small children nightmares, but I was just annoyed. And the ending just doesnt seem to even fit with the other 85% of the book, and it's just so frikkin cheesy I could throw up. I'm also pissed that the quality was so low, and the price was high, when there are other authors, like J A Konrath who have excellent novels that were never published now available for 1.99$, and the novel The Undead Situation, which was dirt cheap and a great read. I could write a better zombie novel than this one and I'm seriously considering it!

This book started out okay. It started to go downhill, but I kept reading hoping for a good ending. Sometimes a good ending will make it better. The ending was so bad. I am so shocked at some of these reviews! Before you plan on a trilogy, you should at least round up the first book! It didn't even make sense! I try to give new independent authors a chance, but this author needs to think hard about the ending. Really Ruined It!

Author A.P. Fuchs' latest entry into the realm of zombie fiction is his epic first installment of 'Blood of the Dead: Undead World Trilogy'. The book is a non-stop, action-packed romp through a post-apocalyptic dead world.

There's something here for the varying types of zombie fans, there's of course plenty of gore and splat sure enough to please the diehard gorehounds, though what I found most intiguing is the unique character dichotomy of the 4 main protagonists as they must cope and survive in a world that doesn't recognize them anymore. Each character posessing their own unrelative dispositions, which flavors the storyline with some unique story arcs unseen in zombie fiction.

There's depth and feeling to this story and it's all travelling at breakneck speed as only Fuchs could bring you a riveting, explosive zombie tale dripping in the Blood of the Dead.

It has some flaws. The writing, and some aspects of the plot could be a bit more polished. But what it lacks there, it makes up for in imagination and throwing all conventions away by the end for an odd "to be continued" conclusion. There's enough books out there which stick to the standard zombie formula. While it might fumble a bit trying to have one foot in that, and another outside, I'll give it a lot of credit for trying.