Title - Empire
Author - David Dunwoody
Year - 2008
Stand Alone or Series - 1st of a Series
Pages - 293
Reading Time - 7 days (January 2011)
Rating - 4/10
Review and General Opinion
I've read nearly every zombie book out there I guess so I had to read this too. This was new to me. When I read the blurb I thought "This is new and interesting. Let us buy" (I usually don't speak as Gollum, but it's the mood). This could be a great novel. The ideia behind Death investigating why the dead are not coming and about the life in a city that is being abanonded by the military. We follow dozen of characters in fortish chapters (inbetween we have some entries in form of a journal and five chapters with a special force that really don't do anything beside seing the apocalypse rider and trying to find it and confirm his presence. Faith is important here where some people still believe in god and the zombies a form of punishment and others that really don't care. The Goverment is atypical of other goverments where they don't care about anyone except themselves. It's quite a cliche.It had some good premise but everting fails.First a cross-breading virus that makes thing undead. Not just people but also animals, fish and it's hinted insects as well. But would life still exist after 100 years? The zombies in the other end are a little better. As they feed on other animals they gain power and become runners or more powerful. The inverse what happen? They died? After 100 years is there any abundant life avaiable to them?
(More) Criticisms
- Too many characters: At times I could figure it out who was who or what they were. Until 3/4 of the book I tried to remember a couple of names and everybody else was confusing. And everyone dies and without purpose. They were cannon fodder.
- Dialogues & Writing: My god, what a mess. In one chapter we are with one character and without any indication in the next sentence another character in a different location is talking. It made the storyline falter at some points.
- Proff-reading and editing, anyone? Was it making a script for a movie/game or a novel?
- Pet Zombies & Zombies that just don't die. Interesting no? Well, no. How does a zombie survive without a head? Only a body?
Things that could be Good
- Death - Great character (the end where he made a choice that had dire consequences to him) but unfortunally it appears not so often to be good and it's not that well characterzied.
- It was in the year 2112 but with an unbelieveble scenario
- Maybe the sequel will be better but we will never see it because I won't be buying more.
Good
- Meh. Maybe chapter 41 where Death talks to someone in a higher place.
Conclusion
I pay almost 10 euros for a book for a tradepaperback with only 280 pages and with big letters. It would fit into a mass book with 200/220 pages easily. And unfortunally (again) it's the first of a series. I bought this one but I don't see myself buying the second. If you like zombies and read everything else then try this one. If you like Romero's movies or "normal" zombies or you are new to them then don't pick this book. There are a lot books out there greater than this one.
Comments