World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

List Price: $14.95 Discount Price: $8.53

Customer Reviews:

Breaking the rules is okay if you know the rules [Posted on 2008-12-18]
This is a great book. You should buy it and read it. But the book has some built-in flaws, such as:

This is a story without a hero, without character arcs, without relationships and a whole lot of other basic things that most stories possess.

Having said that, the book is so well thought out, well written, engaging and original that it works. Problem is, the end of the book has no climax. No hero's journey equals no climax. A truly great story has a hero and climax.

Of course, Max Brooks knows this. And breaking the rules is okay if you know the rules, which he does.


James Roy Daley
Author of The Dead Parade
The Dead Parade

Everything You Wanted To Know [Posted on 2008-12-20]
Max Brooks' "World War Z" is an amazing book. Fantastic writing, excellent pacing and absorbing characters all make for a great read. The best part, for me anyway, were the points of view that Brooks decides to write from. Whenever I watch a movie where Zombies or some incarnation thereof are a focal point, I always find myself wondering about the bigger picture. The films tend to focus on the small group of survivors or the brave family or town defending themselves against the monsters. They're also almost always set in the United States or Great Britian. Brooks' novel takes a look at all the aspects of the Zombie plague you never get to see in the movies. The government's reaction, the military, and most especially, international points of view.

He also answers some of the niggling questions some of us may have developed while watching the old Zombie flicks. What happens when the Zombies reach water? How about winter? Brooks manages to answer these questions and more in a writing style that, while informative, still manages to pack an emotional punch.

World War Z [Posted on 2008-12-21]
Anybody who gives this less than 5 stars needs to have his/her head examined. Wonderfully original spin on the zombie genre. While not overly heavy on the gore, Brooks thoughtfully leaves this to the reader's imagination. Amazing character development for what is essentially a collection of short stories. I've heard there is a movie in the works; it will undoubtedly be a disappointment.

Cool!! [Posted on 2008-12-21]
This book was very creative and imaginative. It keeps you interested from cover to cover.

Imaginative, but flawed in its execution... [Posted on 2008-12-29]
I was very hopeful when I cracked this book open, but was ultimately disappointed by the lack of stylistic variation, which is crucial since the author is recounting stories from many different survivors of the Zombie War. Not only that, but there are several plot holes that are distractingly blatant. These, in addition to several typos (how does a book go through as many printings as WWZ and not have them corrected?) broke the "suspension of disbelief" that would be necessary to really become immersed in a book like this.

With these drawbacks, I still give World War Z three stars for being an imaginative new take on the zombie genre. But if you're really interested in a gripping, horrifying and engrossing zombie survival tale, pick up Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" from Image Comics.

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