Customer Reviews

World War of the Dead: A Zombie Military Thriller

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Over the years I've read numerous works from author Eric S. Brown and I've come to expect certain things from his stories. World War of the Dead broke my expectations, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The idea of a Nazi being potentially mankind's saviour didn't sit well with me at first, but Mr. Brown breathed life into these characters, developed them carefully and in the end, my own prejudices were changed. World War of the Dead is by far Mr. Brown's longest piece of fiction and is more character driven than any of his others. The usual zombie mayhem seemed to fall to the wayside for the superhero aspect and the character's development, but there was enough there to keep me entertained.

For any fans of Mr. Brown's fiction this is a must, and for any who have yet to read his works, this alternate history tale is THE place to start. Coscom has done excellent work with this one.

Highly recommended.

This was poor beyond reckoning, obvious, tired and ill crafted. I could not complete more than half before putting it aside.

I first became a fan of Eric Brown's work while reading Season of Rot. The action was so vivid, the violence so graphic, and the sweet despair almost palatable, how could a horror fiend such as I resist? I enjoyed Season of Rot enough to check out more of Mr. Brown's work. I scoured the web for his short stories, finding them all gory little jewels of zombie action. Mr. Brown is an incredible talent and I could never tire of reading his work. All that being said, I can honestly say I laughed manically when I found out I was getting to review "World War of the Dead".

I dove in head first reading first the introduction (by Taylor Kent, of Snark Infested Waters fame) and a brief introduction by Mr. Brown himself. Now this is the first I learned of the true scope of Mr. Brown's vision for World War of the Dead, not just another fantastic zombie novel but a "Christian Zombie Novel." I must admit here that I do not share any religious beliefs with Mr. Brown and have never been a fan of any kind of religion over all. You may ask if that in any way changes my feelings about World War of the Dead, and my answer would be "hell no." If a story catches me and takes me somewhere brutal and dark while I read it then I don't care if the author is purple-skinned and worshiping mounted road kill. Mr. Brown is a good Christian man that writes horror the way the good Christian lads in As I Lay Dying play heavy metal, with steadfast conviction and pure, brutal talent.

There is a strong message of hope in the story but, trust me; this ain't your grand pappy's bible study. The story itself is a tale of good versus evil on an apocalyptic scale; we're talking demons rising against God with the earth going to the winner.
The story offers an alternate outcome to World War II when in mid-battle all hell breaks loose due to a strange blue lightning flashing across the sky. In its wake the dead start to attack the living, forcing German and American forces alike first to their knees and then to their graves. A few soldiers on both sides of the war begin to exhibit what can only be referred to as "super powers" even though the real origin story of their new found powers is much more intense than common comic book fodder. The action starts immediately and intensely from the first page with battle scenes described from cockpits of fighter planes and deep in the trenches alike.

From there come the running, ravenous dead. The zombie attacks here are classic Eric S. Brown and as so, some of the best in the biz but the focus here is broader than a simple zombie story (with larger than life characters and an epic showdown you feel building from about the halfway point) and they aren't as rampant as they are in many of Mr. Brown's other stories. The dead are snarling beasts that never tire and manage to spread across the globe feasting on humans regardless of their wartime allegiances. Views are offered world wide from the humans facing the walking dead from America to Africa and the stories are bleak.
However, here lies the one major difference between World War of the Dead and any other zombie novel I've read, the strong sense of despair isn't always there. As some of the main characters realize the scope of the madness and their destiny in it they find hope in their savior, Jesus Christ. Now this hope isn't the normal fleeting and rare hope that is common in zombie fiction. It is a strong, confident hope that nearly bleeds from the pages leading to the earth shaking climax. As odd as it sounds World War of the Dead really is a work of zombie fiction that not only entertains the hell out of you but leaves you feeling positive and hungry for more. Basically, if a godless heathen like me enjoyed it this much; you should really check it out.

I am a big fan of the zombie horror genre and when I seen this book and its good reviews I thought why not give it a try as I have noticed his season of rot book many a times in the store and thought that that looked like my kinda thing also. Sadly this book is terrible, the storyline really got me interested as I thought great whats not to like by adding zombies to one of the most horrifying times in history lets see where he takes it etc but it just went nowhere, I thought I was still reading the blurb a few pages in as the writing style is so impersonal and blah also five or six different characters are introduced at once with no background. I thought the first instance of the zombies appearing would be an indepth thrill fest but it failed to deliver. So bad I couldnt even finish it dull and drab sorry to say.

I was searching the titles on Amazon.com like I always do. I came across World War of the Dead by Eric S. Brown. The cover grabbed my attention and I read the book's description. I was interested so I sent it to my wish list. A few days later Eric S. Brown e-mailed me and asked if I would interview him for the website [...]. I said yes, and he had the publisher email me a copy of World War of the Dead for me to review.

It is the 1940s the German army has spread through Europe like a wildfire. The Allied forces are meeting the army from Nazi-Germany head-on. Life in Europe is a living hell for the civilians. They are trying to survive while the two armies fight their war. In the middle of the battlefield lays a hidden terror from a time that has long ago been forgotten. An archaeological dig is underway to uncover a power the SS is hunting for.

The archaeologists are forced to flee the temple when an air battle erupts between the allies and the German army, a bomb explodes near the temple and strange blue lightning shoots up into the sky from the hole left behind from the blast, hitting units from both sides of the war.

Two days pass and the human race is no longer at war with each other. They are at war with the living dead. People that were hit by the blue lightning have strange new abilities that they cannot explain. The living dead are lead by a demon that has been released from his prison, and he has only two goals: to take back the powers stolen from him by the humans, and to destroy all life on earth. It is up to these new heroes to hunt and kill this demon before his army of the living dead wipes out all life on earth. He only has two goals and that is to take back the powers stolen from him by the humans and destroy all life on earth. It is up to these new heroes to hunt and kill this demon before his army of the living dead wipes out all life on earth.

I do not lie when it comes to reviewing books. I tell the truth even if I know the author. I try to be fair without bashing. This book is not something I would have read if I knew the plot. I am not big on comic book superheroes and that is what was going on in this book. The humans with super powers were nothing more then superheroes on their way to save the world. This book is also highly religious. It is easy to see all the Christian symbolism, Good vs. Evil type of writing. Christianity is clearly seen when a main character, Gabriel, is doing the "Jesus, please come into my heart to be my lord and savior" prayer. I could have done without reading the whole prayer Gabriel did and would have settled with, "Gabriel did his prayer and was saved by Jesus Christ."

I shouldn't be critical; this book has well thought-out writing. The characters are easy to picture in your head, even though there are a lot of characters. I've never liked stories where all the min characters are separated throughout the book, and having to read each individual story until all characters meet at the end. I have trouble following those types of structures but Brown did a terrific job; I was never lost, all the characters were easy to follow and the flow was awesome. The plot wasn't that bad it's just a genre I'm not interested in. I will say this; the writing was well presented, and despite disliking the religion pushing and the super heroes, it held my attention enough to finish.

Thinking about all the pros and cons I would say it is worth the read. World War of the Dead is well written and flows like a work of art. The characters are left up to the imagination. It was easy to picture them in my head. This story may not be for everyone but if you're in the religious comic book hero category then this story is for you. I will have to give World War of the Dead 3 Undead Heads out of 5.

okay this book was really good but it itnroduced the zombies way to fast. first there was gabriel who found a british piltot zombie and next thing you know zombies are taking over berlin. but the rest was brilliant.

"The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost. Their love and their hate, and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share of what happens under the sun."

Eric S. Brown begs to differ in this riviting book of the living versus the dead or should I say the "undead".

It is a great pleasure reviewing a book when a good writer becomes an excellent writer. Eric Brown has written an excellent, entertaining book. The characters, Gabriel, Jager, Merrick, Gretchen, and others, are written so that you feel their need, their terror, and their pain. The story is a satisfying portrayal of interlocking lives that are thrown out of balance by the unknown. I think this was a "can't put down" book. I recommend this book to all my "chosen" friends.

I am not much of a writer but let me just say that this book was outstanding!! Once I started reading it, it was very hard to put down. I really enjoyed the premise incorporating a number of subjects that I like, WWII action, Super Heroes and Zombies. I won't go to much into detail as I don't want to spoil it for others who may want to read it but I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys these subjects. There is some religious themes as well but I felt it's what propelled the story into an area I would never have thought possible. Good luck, enjoy and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

In the midst of World War II, as Nazi-Germany spreads its tyranny through Europe with the Allied forces meeting them head-on in battle, the SS is using some of its manpower at an archeological dig trying to uncover a power that may very well make Nazi-Germany a undefeatable powerhouse. Due to an unfortunate explosion near the site, which releases a strange blue lightning the Nazi's are unable to fully harness the power of the temple uncovered. A few days later and the chaotic world of WWII Europe is in even more upheaval as the enemy has changed and a select few have a new-found abilities they must learn to use in order to defeat this new enemy and save the world.

World War of the Dead has very well thought-out writing which flows into the characters and settings created by Eric S. Brown. The plot is very intriguing and engaging making you want to continue reading to find out what is going to happen. There are quite a few characters in World War of the Dead and they are not all together, so you jump from scene to scene learning what is going on in each group or individual character. Normally, I do not like this in a book as, for whatever reason, I tend to get lost in what is going on. This did not happen to me in World War of the Dead. Thanks to Brown's writing style I was able to easily follow along with the characters and their locations and happenings.

What I did have a problem with was more a matter of personal taste than anything else. I realize that in a lot of the reading I do there is a suspension of disbelief that needs to be allotted in order to enjoy the tale you are being told. I can do that...most of the time. World War of the Dead combines zombies, superheros (essentially) and Christianity into one book. Zombies? Rock on! Superheros? Up up and away? Christianity? All horror has elements of good and evil, so we're good here, too. However, all three of these elements combined? For me, it was just too many variables that I had to suspend disbelief on and I had a hard time doing so.

There is no doubt that there are other readers who do and will love this World War of the Dead, so please do not let my personal opinions sway you if you have an interest. It is a good book and I am glad to have read it, I just doubt that I will read it again.

this is a great book to read and helps you see the scnerio pardon my spelling. but it was kind of religiously inclined i felt it got in the way of the story later on, but didn't make it to taxing. if you had just kept out any real world religion and had created one i think it would have flowed with the story more but again great book recommend it you wont be sorry you bought it at all