The Living Dead

love it!

When I first heard out there was an unfinished novel of zombies written by George Romero I knew it was a book made for me! This book starts off with an outbreak which has always been what fascinates me the most. How people handle the initial response. What do they do and how success and failure is defined very quickly. While there are a lot of characters, the purpose of them is there and their development is strong. While this book is about zombies, it's more so about people and humanity and what it stands for in the face of disaster. The overall storytelling of this book is incredible. While it was unfinished for George, Daniel Kraus clearly spent time researching Gerorge's information, notes, and anything he could get his hands on to better identify with this book. It really works. So while the book is a tad long for my taste it flows beautifully. I would highly recommend.

I like a good zombie book. My favorite one so far is World War Z. That one was able to get all the emotions and zombies and be a good length. The Living Dead was certainly interesting too but it is also really long and while I liked reading the different sections (how the book is split up) and ways people dealt with the uprising of the living dead (whether they rose to be better or became twisted, Like Father Bill or Richard), like the reporter Chuck Corso, the morticians Luis and Charlie with the first case, the girl, Greer, in the trailer park, the archivist, Etta or the navy officer, Karl Nishimura on the battleship, I think some of the details could have been cut and it would still work. I did like the sections from the viewpoint of a recently dead and risen again Scud and Annie Teller. I hadn't read that style before and it was fascinating with the hunger and the You that is all zombies. Certainly different. This is certainly not a zip through book, so be prepared to put a lot of hours getting through it. And definitely don't read it while eating if you have a sensitive stomach! There are many gory chewing entrails and eating your loved ones.