Everyone loves a zombie!
Who doesn’t want to read about a dessicated heap of animated flesh lusting after your soft, warm innards?
Books about zombies are terrifying, they’re exciting, and they give you great tips on what to do (and what not to do) if a zombie apocalypse happens to hit your home town (or planet). You’ll get to spend hours debating your zombie survival plan with friends and family – just remember, don’t be too specific or that sailboat you were planning to escape in might be spirited away by a conniving cousin.
Here are three books that every undead enthusiast should read, ranging from a graphic novel to a quasi-historical report to a teen horror fantasy.
Quick links to the reviews:
The Walking Dead
Author: Robert Kirkland
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Issues: 70
Status: Ongoing
This graphic novel is absolute zombie perfection. Guts, gore, surprise deaths, a group of mismatched survivors trying to keep out of zombie maws, hope, despair – it’ll keep you at the edge of your seat from page one, and the only source of disappointment will be reaching the end of an issue.
This is the story of Rick Grimes, who wakes up from a coma to find that the whole world has gone to hell in a handbasket. Zombies roam the Earth and survivors are few, scattered and scared. Rick, a former cop, sets out to find his wife and son in the deadly wasteland that is post-apocalyptic America. Rick soon learns that the hordes of flesh-eaters aren’t necessarily the most terrifying things in a lawless world.
I absolutely love The Walking Dead. I’ve been buying the series in hardcover trades and cannot wait for the next one to come out – they all seem to end, frustratingly, in cliffhangers.
This is an intensely human story of love, loss, the relationship between human beings and the zombies that seem hell-bent on destroying them. There are moments of pure hope and pure despair in this series, and though you root for Rick and the other survivors wholeheartedly – sometimes you just can’t see how they could possibly make it.
The Walking Dead isn’t a gentle zombie tale – there are deaths when you least expect them, and no one’s favourite character is safe. There is heartbreak and situations that make you wonder whether or not it would be preferable just to give up and become a zombie because life is simply so hard.
Also, the art in The Walking Dead is great. The level of detail is sometimes so gruesomely amazing that you can’t help but stare into a maggoty eyesocket or a mangled limb.
All in all, The Walking Dead is a series that’ll make you think, feel, and truly care about the characters and their struggles against zombiekind.
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World War Z
Author: Max Brooks
Pages: 352
Year: 2006
The full title of this book is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and it is, without a doubt, one of the most terrifying books you’ll ever read.
The reason for this is that it is all written as a series of first-hand interviews compiled as part of a United Nations report on the zombie apocalypse.
It is written extraordinarily realistically, and sometimes it takes your entire power of logic to convince your mind that this simply is not real, and that no zombies are currently trying to break down your door in order to feast on your brains. This is a true pageturner, but it’s best to read it with the lights on and a shaolin spade at the ready.
World War Z follows the zombie pandemic from its apparent start in China to its terrifyingly fast spread from country to country and continent to continent. The book compiles accounts from around the world, including South Africa, Israel, Canada, the United States, India, Japan, Cuba and the United Kingdom.
It is absolutely fascinating to see how Brooks envisions each country dealing with the spreading calamity – China denies it, the United States produces a “vaccine”, Japan is evacuated, Israel builds walls, and the Canadians flee to the north hoping to freeze the zombies in their tracks… I won’t say how effective or ineffective any of these plans are – you just have to read this one for yourselves.
Brooks’ World War Z is chock full of social commentary and political criticism, but what you’ll truly come out with in the end is a creeping sense of unease. The atmosphere of this novel is so unrelentingly grim and violent that it made me anxious for days on end – and made me to quickly procure a copy of Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide to improve my chances.
I definitely recommend this novel, and guarantee that by the end of it you’ll be formulating a survival plan for yourself based on those of the characters in the book. My ideal plan is to find a deserted or sparsely inhabited island somewhere and defend the beaches of the seaborne undead. Anyone want to join me?
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The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Pages: 312
Year: 2009
Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth is something the world simply hasn’t seen enough of: a young adult zombie apocalypse novel. Honestly, when I started this book I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but once I started it I just couldn’t put it down.
Aside from the wonderful danger presented by the zombies, The Forest of Hands and Teeth has an overarching sense of mystery and foreboding that is almost palpable.
I’ve been recommending this one to all of my friends, and for all of those Twilight-phobes – this isn’t just another rehashing or formulaic supernatural love story – this is a very gripping, original and beautiful book (but don’t worry, there is some romance).
This is the story of Mary, who lives with her family in a village surrounded by a thick, seemingly impenetrable forest and a large, intricate chain-link fence.
The village is ruled by a strict religious order called The Sisterhood, who control every aspect of life with the help of their dedicated military order, the Guardians.
No one remembers what life was like before the fenced village, and before the Sisterhood expect for old, muddled stories that have been passed down of concepts like the ocean.
At the fence, thousands of ravenous zombies moan for the flesh of the villagers every second of the day…
The Sisterhood has told the villagers that there are no other humans but them, and that there is nothing beyond the forest except death and devastation. Nevertheless, Mary has always wondered if there could be anything more. When a mysterious girl comes from the Outside, the whole village is put into turmoil and Mary’s life is turned upside-down.
There is too much excitement to spoil in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, so my synopsis must be short. Needless to say, this is another edge-of-your-seater that is chock full of sympathetic characters, deep, dark mysteries, hordes of the “Unconsecrated,” tenuous and difficult relationships, and action. For those who love young adult fiction, this is a must-read and I defy you to put this book down before the bitter end.
Also, I believe there is going to be a sequel – I can’t wait!
What are your favourite zombie reads? Let me know in the comments!
THE NOVEL NEMATODE 