Android Karenina

Once again I was lucky enough to be a part of the blogsplosion for Quirk Classics. This time it is for Android Karenina. Besides giving us copies to review they are also allowing, you the blog readers, the chance to win 1 of 25 Quirk Prize packs which have copies of Quirk books, an Android poster and more (seriously - it is cool... go win it! Click here to go to their forum.

Now - for the book. As with any major Russian novel, it has huge amounts of explanation and character building - which is what the first 100 pages are. Looking back I know I was a little frustrated because I wanted to see how the robots in the society really functioned but the story really needs these first pages to set the tone and to also make the inevitable action all the more exciting. Ben Winters has done a great job of recrafting Russia into a robot assisted society with its "Iron Laws" to protect the citizens. Anyone worth anything has their companion Type III robot always around and helping. The backdrop of the society and the changes that the robots have made to the world really paint a vivid picture of how different this world is, and the humans, with their love affairs and fights show us how we will never change - regardless of how society is created.

There are some fantastic ideas for a robot supported society and I love how so many of these little things sneak in as a tiny element, but if you stop and think about it you realize - why wouldn't there be a robot teapot? If you go all the way, then all the servants and the proletariat are replaced by menial robots that do not need pay, just repair.

This is a wonderful example of how you can take a classic, shift the world it is in and yet have it still hold true to the original while being a completely new book. Quirk has done it again!

Go buy it today!

Monster Island by David Wellington

This is the first in a trilogy that was originally online. I had read most of it online as it unfolded and loved to find it at a local book store. The story starts with a group of Somalis arriving at New york to loot for medical supplies... a month after the dead rise.

There are some great ideas in here and some excellent additions to the zombie genre (riot police zombies are one - how do you get the head shot?).

Overall this is a fun read and develops a nice story arc while not sacrificing any of the other elements that will build into the next books.

Go grab a copy while you can!

ISBN - 978-1-56025-850-6

Dawn of the Dreadfuls - Advance Review

I was one of the lucky bloggers that got to participate in Quirk Classics great blogathon. I got an Advance copy of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.

Also, anyone who wants to win a load of Quirk goods can go to this message board and post about this blog - every entry gets you a chance to win a great pack of Quirk materials!

I will not provide any spoilers (beyond some general information).

The book:

Set 4 years before Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, we meet the Bennet family as a genteel country family beset with problems (no male heir for one) and suddenly the dreadfuls reappear - having been vanquished many years before. With a nod to George Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead they are slow to start but once they reach high numbers they can be almost impossible to deal with.

Now I know - you just want to know - "How was the book?"

It was great. It successfully brings together all of the elements of the "later" book while introducing the family straight from a normal life style suddenly thrust into the start of a zombie apocalypse.

Now, readers of this book who go straight into the original book will find some differences in voice. Dreadfuls has a certain sense of 'camp' and likes to make snide remarks (which are very funny) and reminded me very much of the Blackadder series while the original book (following the voice of Jane Austen) is of course a little more formal.

While we have many new characters (and a lot of ones that show up in the next book) - I do have to wonder if someone named Lumpley every was mean to the author. The descriptions of this character and his lack of one just make the reader smirk in the beginning and I must admit I do love the way that Capt. Cannon is portrayed (no other hints for you! read the book!).

All in all this book does a great job of starting the adventure that Lizze and her family later complete in the original book and it does so while keeping true to the source material and giving us a better understanding of how everything came to be and what made the Bennets such ferocious fighters.

Go buy it on the 24th! Go on... pre-order it... get moving!

Review - Day by Day Armageddon

I recently got my hands on a copy of Day by Day Armageddon by J.J. Bourne and I was happy to realize that this was the book I had followed on his site for so long. I lost track of the story years ago and recently found this book.

It is a very intense and introspective "found diary" type of document that shows the fall of the world and the rise of the undead from the perspective of an naval Pilot and how he travels around Texas. It has a good pace and plot and ends with a nice climax. It is a good beginning piece and you just want to know how the story continues.

Go and find it at your local store!

First Post

Inspired by my love of Zombies, undead, infected and more I will be talking about books, movies and anything I can find that has something lurchy in it!