Review: The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World - Brian Keene

Title: The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World

Author: Brian Keene

Publisher: Delirium Books
Pages: 215
Reading Time: 3 days (15/06/2009 to 17/06/2009)

Rating: 8.5/10

I told ye all that I would be reading this book as soon as it arrived at my house. Well this is a combination of several short stories (thirty-two) that are interlinked and shared the same mythos with the previous Brian Keene's books The Rising and City of the Dead.

I must say I read this book a long time ago (and I also got a comment by the author himself) and so I forgot several things... I remember the plot and the different zombies Keene used but the name of the characters have already flipped from my mind...

Well now the short stories... All of them if I am not incorrect don't exceed the 1000 words. They are almost all of them 5/6 pages. The ones who are more are divided in two short stories (There are two situations but both short stories can stand on their own...

Highlights... (each story is one day so the number that appears before is the day the story happenend)

1. Don's Last Moch - It tells the story of a guy who goes to a metal concert trying to have a moch but instead it's bitten by a girl (he was flirting or trying to) who was killed in the concert. Here Keene's interest in metal bands is evidential... Unfortunally as mostly americans the Metal they hear is not the same as we hear here... Well some are but the metal in that side of the atlantic evolved for one way and ours to another. I think he deslikes Black Metal... Oh well we can't be perfect...

2. Family Reunion - A story about two gay guys who wait for the arrival of the members of the one of them. This story as nothing much to offer but I thought about the location they were was a good one... As before I talked about being in the artic but an island in lake is a good posibility as well... It can be easily defended to human zombies... if the zombie plague pass to the birds and fish then they are doomed.

6. Watching the World End -This story turns out to be as the reaction of the human psyche in terrible conditions.. aka zombies. How crazy people can become and this example is a good one... and I think would happen to alot of people... Most people crack in life and death conditions... I liked the story. I don't know why but like Bentley Little, Brian Keene kills cats too often but dogs no... It's an aversion of horror writers against cats?

7. The Fall of Rome - I liked the story. One man against an horde of zombies. On a bell tower killing zombie after zombie. After killing all he could kill he killed himself. Rather good story... I wish I was that guy...

8. 20 Walkabout - Two part stories - Great story of human love and dedication... but as other stories it doesn't end well...

9. Hellhounds on my Trail - Again another story of sacrifice and what people do for love... Two lovers are trapped over a double decker tour bus.. The zombies try making a deal that they will have a quick death if they come down... Instead of that the boy split the girl's head (so she don't turn into a zombie) and lit a light with a propane gas killing the zombies trapping them... Nice love story...

10. Spoilers - Dark comedy... That's the reason I enjoyed. A man trapped a zombie and instead of killing start talking to it. It asks his opinion on books and on videos but the zombie is limited to the knowledge of what the "owner" of the body knew... In the end the man starts talking of a book but other zombies enter the house and kill the man freeing their brother. As the body is decaying fast the zombies ask the captive if he wants that body destroy so he can go to another... The zombie says that he do but they must wait because he is waiting for another brother revive in that body so he can hear the rest of the story of that book.

13. Pocket Apocalypse - How a person can redeem themselves... I llike this story. Human mind at the work and while some crack others reveal themselves for what they are...

15. If you can see the mountain... It's a story of human surival. First when the leave the wounded... some disaproove but don't do anything to help them... It's the law of survival at it's best... I like this story.

16 You only live twice... At night I imagine what I would do in a apocalypse... And most of them I think I would leave somewhere with my cat and my 1500 books... maybe now I had the time to read them all... This story is about that. I enjoyed it because it's what I think.

25. Zombie Worm - Again another dark comedy story... I laught with this story and felt sorry for the zombie. It was a good story.

26. The Night the Dead Died - Another good story and the first that talked about the end of the first part of the invasion and the coming of the second... Elilum.

28. March of the Elilum -Another good story of survival and bitter end. Again I liked this part of the invasion even if this is too hopeless... If we can run away from zombies how can we run away from insects and plant zombies?

29. Best seat in the house - again another good love story and of Elilum. I enjoyed it even if it was a bid sad...

30. American Pie - Survival insticts at the maxim... This story describes a way to survival I talked before.. Cold!

31. Two suns in the sunset - There is no hope is the only thing I can think of... Good story.

32. Other worlds than these - A good story that connects other books by Keene and leaves hope several doors to more books in the mythos. I enjoyed it.

In the end was great read and I really hope he returns to this mythos. I don't give more than 8.5 because some short stories are not that good... they are not awful but some of them were rushed. I think he had a wordcount limit of 1000 words and I think some stories could have much more. Some of them could be told in a book...

I just want to say that he gave me some ideas and I will try write a short story... or a couple. Thank you Brian Keene. Keep up the excelent work.