Rot & Ruin - Jonathan Maberry
Zombies with heart
★★★/5

A great comic book read. Although it’s not from the point of view of the zombie, Rot and Ruin takes a kinder, gentler look at zombies and sheds a tear for the people behind the monsters. 

The characters are fairly flat and lack depth and motivation for their actions, and the pace drags a bit in the beginning, but in the end the adventure keeps you on the edge of your seat. If you’re a comic book fan, this one is for you.

The Girl with All the Gifts – M.R. Carey
Zombies with a Soul
★★★★★/5

If you loved the Walking Grey series, you’re bound to love this one. The premise and plot lines follow fairly closely, but where Grey Matters and Grey Knights are a zombie romance series, The Girl with All the Gifts, is more of a child/mentor zombie story.  Both share great character development around an infected heroine who has the zombie-like urges, wields some physical and mental enhancements, but with the help of a few compassionate sympathizers remains self-aware enough to navigate the narrow grey area between the zombie whacking militants and the ravenous decaying hordes.  The action scrambles agilely across zombie attacks and a lively quest through the post-apocalyptic world, juxtaposing the clinically, ruthless doctor with the kind and nurturing psychologist, but never overpowers the intricate weaving of the characters.

Evolving from the corpse, mechanically executing its voodoo-wielding master’s evil bidding, and even from the rogue mummy, resurrected and sucking the organs and life from unwary victims, the modern zombie symbolizes the mindless masses in a capitalistic society preying relentlessly and soullessly on the brains of the lucid few who refuse to be indoctrinated into automaton servitude.  Where the traditional zombie book focuses on survival in the cannibalistic state, the new age zombie book, like The Girl with All the Gifts, tends to insert us inside the head and soul of the infected character.  We get to see the terror of discovering the monster within and the fight to contain it.  The fight is intriguing and what appeals to me is the underlying recognition that we all have culturally instilled perspectives and prejudices that we have to actively and consciously fight in order to live in harmony.

If you’re looking to do a little zombie soul searching, this one will definitely drag you in.

It’s a niche genre. If you love it, you love it.  But if your tastes are a little more refined than the average brain dead carnivore’s, zombie books and zombie novels can be tricky--especially if you like a little brain with your blood, gore, and carnage. There’s an art to writing good zombie books. In the next few weeks, I’ll review some of my favorite zombie books and some of the popular zombie books. You’re not infected yet. Your choice doesn’t have to be mindless

Walking Grey Series: Book 1 Grey Matters.

"They bash our heads and chain us up because we’re different. Well, maybe knowing we would happily throw on a bib, rip out their guts, and devour them like hotdogs on a stick, without the stick--or the bib for that matter--probably has something to do with it. No one really wants to hang out with a girl whose idea of a Slurpee is grey matter and good splashed in the snow, hold the straw."

"Narrated with spunk and humor by a zombie who still has sex appeal, Grey Matters is a fresh take on the undead meme where the enemy comes from within, literally. One of the most original and shocking takes on zombie literature I've ever seen. Grey Matters is humorous, acutely terrifying, and thoroughly gripping from the first page to the last.”

Katherine Boyle, Veritas Literary

The Salt Lake Tribune featured this article on GREY MATTERS written by a lovely young reporter named Nicole DeCriscio.

Read the full article.

Only one week left of the Goodread Giveaway.  Sign up to win one of 5 free copies of GREY MATTERS.  Available at Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook for only 2.99$ or in paperback for 10% off for a limited time.

Great reviews for Grey Matters
"...Once you pick it up, you can't put it down !"
--Utah
"...you don't even have to love Zombies to love this book..."
--Texas
Read more or write your own  at Amazon.com

You've never seen zombies like these.  "Grey Matters" now available in paperback or ebook on  Amazon.com.

Look inside!

“Get off of me!” I hiss. 

“So you can kick me again?  I don’t think so.”  My body squirms underneath him.  This is humiliating.  “You’re going to listen to me, and then I don’t care what you do.  I am not the enemy.  The enemies are the Institute goons in black with guns, and the pale white sickos with body parts stuck in their teeth.  You and I, we’re the grey in the middle.  We’re on the same team; we’re friends.”

“I am not your friend.”

“Fine!  We’re on the same team.”    

We've seen the shambling, mindless wanderers; we've seen the fast, vicious, stalkers; we've even seen a few semi-dead romances.  But we haven't yet seen the sexy teenage zombie you'd give your right arm (or more likely your brain) to go out with.  Check out the excerpt on the "Grey Matters" page.