25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horribly written. Total trash., April 12, 2005
This book is utterly sickening, and not in the good way that usually accompanies zombie stories. For example, page 8, paragraph 4, line 1: "Jim's extensive military training and lightening [sic] reflexes served him now as he quickly got his arms between himself and the bloody apparition, pushing him away." If you don't see at least a dozen things wrong with this sentence at first glance, then maybe this book is for you. But be warned: every sentence in the book is like this, and just as dry and uninspired as the characters it describes.
And you want to talk about plot holes? There comes a point early in the book where a woman wants to flee her home, but it is under siege by zombies. And, guess what, she can't take her car. Why? Because the keys (only keys, apparently) are in the pocket of her dead husband, who is now one of the zombies walking around outside. The book tells us that he was bitten and laid in bed, sick and dying, for TWO DAYS. The woman (his wife) was by his side the whole time.
Um... he was in bed for two days, fully clothed (apparently), with the car keys in his pocket the whole time? The author tries to skate around the issue by saying the woman was in a distraught state of mind and some other blah-blah, but he couldn't come up with a better excuse why she can't take the car? Say it was stolen or irrepairably damaged by rioters or something; don't skate the issue because you wrote yourself into a hole.
Let's talk about the cover of "Reign of the Dead." Looks pretty cool, right? A photo of a live zombie model gets the job done. However, on the back cover is the same model, full body shot this time, wearing his pristinely clean street clothes and only his head is painted.
What? Designer too lazy to use PhotoShop? Had an extra photo of the model so they decided to just toss it on the back cover? Puh-lease.
I've read better fan fiction than this. It's just floating out there on the internet, and it's FREE! So why pay hard-earned cash for this garbage? Intelligent people, stay away from this book. It's an insult. I'm sure the author's friends, the ones who write all the glowing reviews for this self-published book, will pick apart this review. But potential buyers beware. I wrote this review so you wouldn't get lured in like I did. I know there aren't many zombie books to pick from if you're a fan of the genre, but stay away from this one.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
No new twists to an old story, September 17, 2003
This review is from: Reign of the Dead (Paperback)
I admit that I love Zombie fiction. There are some great ones out there. I had high hopes for this story. I really felt this could have been fleshed out (bad pun - sorry) much better. All of the characters seemed to be sketched lightly and I had no real reason to care about any of them. The end of the preacher and his followers was almost an afterthought. All in all, typical end of the human race at the hand of zombies story. Nice addition to the collection but not a great story.
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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ho-Hum, February 18, 2005
This review is from: Reign of the Dead (Paperback)
The zombie novel resides within a genre context necessarily tightly bound by convention. There are almost always elements of siege and proto-fascistic aynrandianism among the novel's protagonists, but the absence of such dull factors would indicate the absence of zombies themselves and a possible lull in the action.
Numerous amateur writers on the internet have leaned on this genre structure to create a series of stultifying survivalist tales (though probably vicariously exciting to some). In each such tale, an intelligent, somewhat prepared protagonist steeped in the real-politique of the undead sets off with a band of survivors to try and outlast the zombie storm. Caches of supplies are often found, safe havens are carved out and our protagonists live, die and unlive nobly or ignobly, depending on what sheet of cardboard they are cut from.
Occassionally, professional writers-- and here I am thinking of David J. Moody in particular-- have taken the siege context of the zombie genre and churned it into a harrowing tale of survival as well as high pop-psychological fare. David Moody's "Autumn" series revolves around the segregation and alienation of victims of zombie plague, and how the survivors' notions of love, life and the human condition warp under the strain of the undead's constant attention. But Moody took three novels and a series of novellas and short stories to make his points clear. Most serious authors and screenwriters have of late strayed away from the tried-and-true, Romeroesque, Beau Geste staple of amateur zombie writing and plunged into more varied territory.
Len Barnhart's "Reign of the Dead", however, fits firmly within the amateur canon of zombie siege and survivalism. His characters, including hero Jim Workman (successful, perceptive, white middle class, tough as nails but yet empathetic and sensitive-- Herbert Spencer, anyone?), are all simply drawn and quite limited in their emotional and intellectual outlook on their savagely-alterred world. I was half surprised not to see fuzzy versions of Howard Roark or Dagny Taggart saunter through the protagonists' compound. The zombies are blandly written versions of Romero's undead. The action is meticulously described as to the details of surviving but quite low on gore, suspense or even atmosphere.
Mr. Barnhart is not a bad writer per se (even if the book itself is badly edited, and awfully bound). He has a spare, lean writing style. He keeps to an economical, carefully-considered narrative pace with repeated jolts of excitement to keep it moving. He even shows wicked sense of humor and effectively employs pathos and tragedy where necessary. In addition, his biography indicates a far-reaching interest in and a considerable amount of writing for both the horror and space opera genres. His enthusiasm is unbounded!
But "Reign of the Dead" is not worthy of his burgeoning talents, or any serious, adult reader's time. Frankly, I am surprised this novel even made the cut to be published, let alone earn Barnhart a contract to write a prequel and a sequel.
N.B. Parents who care take note-- for young adult readers, "Reign of the Dead" would be an acceptable horror novel to read-- language, gore/violence and sexuality are all kept to a comfortable level. This would not be as distressing to read as, say, Keene's "The Rising" or Rogers "The Dead" or as bewildering to read as Greatshell's "Xombies".
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