Mail Horror Bride

One Nation Under Zombies, Book 1

By: Raymond Lee

Narrated by: Mark Westfield

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From Russia, with love....

How do you destroy your enemy? Go for the heart then take over the brain.

The Z1219 virus, created by Russia's most skilled scientists, is the deadliest biological weapon in history. Harbored in the human bloodstream, it remains undetected until detonated. Once it's detonated, the host becomes a walking corpse with only one goal: eat everyone.

And now it is in America, packaged in the mail-order brides the Russians shipped over to destroy us all.

With the disease now running rampant and no cure yet discovered, it is every uninfected person for himself.

Homes are destroyed and the families inside them torn apart. Relationships can help or hurt, as those left uninfected discover they are not entirely untouched by the disease.

Follow a group of strangers as they struggle to do anything necessary to survive without losing their humanity in the process. Some will win this challenge. Most will lose.

It's a new world, and the zombies aren't the only monsters. They're just the easiest to recognize in a country gone horribly wrong.

©2014 Spirit Blizzard Press (P)2015 Spirit Blizzard Press

Mail Horror Bride

Book 2 needs to come out, like yesterday! Overall, one of the better zombies books out there. I can't wait to see where the author takes us in the next book. It took a bit to get used to the narrator's style. Once I did, I thought he performed well. I received this audiobook for free thru Audiobook Boom for my unbiased review.

Putin sent us zombies

If you are looking for a zombie book that isn’t the typical gory filled, prepper based, one man style go no further. I rarely dabble in zombie stories because they are the same story regurgitated by different authors with slightly different plots. What grabbed me for starters was the book cover, second was the premise, what hooked me on this story were the characters. The characters really make up this story and it is their development that this is about. While their story is about survival in a zombie invested world it almost seemed that the zombies are ancillary. I won’t say that this is a super unique zombie world but it is a different story in that it is very character driven and you could really substitute the zombies for lots of other creatures.
With the whole idea of the zombies originating from mail order brides, off the bat you get some crazy characters. There are few characters who are clearly insane, and the author really did a great job delving into their psyche and caused me extreme reactions to them. Even the sane characters thoughts on the other characters make for an interesting story about how everyone handles their specific situation within their group of survivors in a world, possibly just the US, full of zombies. It is clear that the author is heavily influenced by TWD as he references the show quite a bit and I would say the story being more about the characters versus the end game is clearly influenced by the show.
This is the first chapter in the series and there seems to be something going on in the overall series with a few of the characters. There are multiple story lines that converge and I’m excited to see where this goes and will definitely be in this series for the long haul. I hope this continues to focus on the characters and we get to see how they will continue to develop as their world crumbles.
I have to say that I am glad that there isn’t a lot of misinformed gun discussion in this. So many times I read zombie books by someone who has never touched a real gun and then tries to tell me about the guns each person is using in detail and gets every aspect wrong. Sticking to blades is a safe bet.
I liked the narrator. Again, since I felt this was more about the characters I didn’t mind that there wasn’t the usual excitement you expect to hear in narrator’s voices in zombie stories. I liked his portrayal of all the characters, his voices were excellent, and really hope he continues in the next chapter.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

❤️

I was a worried this would be kinda corny, boy was I wrong. Loved it. Well written. Well developed and relatable characters. This hooked me from the get go. Unique take on the ZA genre. Excellent narration. Definitely looking forward to book 2.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Russia’s Zombies

I did enjoy listening to this book. It had unique way for the spread of virus and good character development and great narration. Hope 2nd book comes to audible quickly. Recommend to anyone who likes zombie books. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you!

New Way To Introduce The Zombie Outbreak

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

We all know the cliché reasons for the zombie outbreak: a virus escaped a government lab, a virus mutated, some wealthy people want to create a New World Order, or even an alien plague from a meteor. In this case, the Russian government has implanted the virus in mail order brides being sent to hapless, lonely American men. The catch is that there is a trigger element that will spontaneously cause these women, and anyone they have had sex with (and those men too, like an STD), when the Russians decide the time is right. It is like the coordinated attack on the Knights Templar on Friday the 13th in 1307, when they were attacked simultaneously around Europe.

Being a zombie book, one has to accept certain stretches of imagination. The vast number of supposed mail order brides is a bit difficult to conceive of, and even with the number of men spreading the disease like an STD the outbreak seems a bit far-fetched, but take it for what it is and accept that in fiction these things happen. The outbreak happens, and then the virus is spread as usual, through bites.

This story is fun. There are several storylines which have more in common than survivor stories, but there will be no spoilers in this review. Each of the characters is flawed. There is no righteous individual the others can took to as a bastion of morality, regardless of how much some of them believe themselves to be. In that regard, the book has an element or realism. However, things go a bit too far regarding certain characters' flaws, skewing away from realistic people in some cases. In all, this story is definitely entertaining, at times distinctly engaging, though there will be moments that may cause raised eyebrows, if not rolling eyes.

The ending leaves the option for a sequel. In the likely event there is one, I am likely to pick it up. It is definitely worth continuing to listen.

Mark Westfield has a pleasant voice. He is easy to listen to, and though he uses subtle voice changes rather than distinct character voices, it was always easy to determine who was speaking. There are times though that his performance lacks urgency or passion. That is not to say his reading was robotic, just that during times of stress the dialogue remained similar in intensity to moments of casual conversation. The anger or fear of the words was not always matched by the delivery. That is the main criticism, which can hopefully be improved upon in his future work. Westfield can definitely be a solid narrator.

Interesting take on the zombie story

I've read a lot of zombie books and this one was really interesting. Loved the narrator and the direction it went in the end. Had a twist ending I didn't see coming!

I received this book for free in exchange for a honest review.

A good start for a new zombie series

This was a good first book in a new zombie series. Good characters that I want to know what happens. Hope the next book comes out soon. This book ended on a cliff hanger. I received this for free for an honest review.

Fun

Book was fun a good start for new series starting book 2soon thanks hope this helps

Character Based Zombie Apoc

If you're a fan of zombie novels that focus on the characters rather than the action, like me - you'll love this book.
The zombie outbreak is caused by the Russian government implanting a dormant virus into the women who will then go to the US as mail order brides. The virus remains dormant until activated but is still passed to others through sexual contact and through their genes to any children they have, so when the Russian government activates the virus.... all hell breaks loose.
I adored this concept of a zombie virus being used as a sleeper agent form of biological warfare, it also cracked the story wide open to examine the prejudices of the characters in this new situation.

The book was a bit of a slow starter, I thought that it would follow the journey of only two characters but it opens up to follow a wide range of different characters and their gradual journey to a central point at the end. Once it got going, I was hooked and listened to it in one sitting while baking a hideously misshapen cake (on a side note -the cake was DELICIOUS despite looking like a disaster, I blame it on the audio distracting me).

This book had plenty of action to keep the pace moving and the characters were wonderful, it didn't focus too heavily on their backstory but provided just enough to explain their actions in the present. It also raised some excellent practical points: what happens when prescription medications run out?  Is it better to go it alone or group up? Are children actually evil eejits?

This book includes a range of characters of different ages, genders and nationalities and Mark Westfield (the narrator) manages them all like a pro. He even manages a convincing Thai mail order bride voice, complete with accent, that didn't make me cringe so I was impressed!

The quality of the audio was excellent and definitely added to the overall atmosphere of the story, having a talented narrator in charge of the pace of this novel.

I would definitely listen to more of his work in future, especially if he's teamed up with the work of Raymond Lee again. Thumbs up for this winning combination!

Audiobook was provided for review by the publisher.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Great zombies!

I love zombies! I’m pretty sure I’ve made that comment with each zombie-related story I read or listen to. I don’t think there has been a zombie story that I’ve ever given a low rating to, not that I can think of anyway. Zombies are cool but scary at the same time. This was a great listen. It was fast-paced and held my attention the entire time; it was even hard to put down at times. I can’t wait to listen to book 2.

The narrator did a great job! I’d listen to him again. I wasn’t sure but was very curious to hear his “voices” once he started the dialogue parts because his narrating voice was so low, in my opinion. But he nailed it.

Question/Comments:

I don’t remember what chapter it was in, somewhere near the beginning though, but the reader/listener was told that Daniel, Mora’s ex, had a son but then nothing more was ever said about it. Maybe I was mistaken though…

I’d love to know what Mora had been like before Daniel broke up with her. When she was giving her final talk to him before she killed him, she was obviously crazy and just seemed to get worse as time went on.

I had an issue with Mora and then Jeremy, Mora specifically. I get she was crazy but I felt the author might have overdone it with all the delusional thoughts she expressed. Constantly talking about how she’d wanted to give him everything, how much she’d loved him (and more than his Russian bride), etc. I got it (and I’m sure everyone else did), the lady was a fruit loop! Then, it was like her craziness was killed off and up popped Jeremy and her own craziness over Cruz. I was glad when both of those characters died.

Speaking of crazy, I’m hoping the author goes into more detail regarding Angela and what went on prior to the zombie apocalypse given she had no problem killing people. Considering she changed into a zombie at the very end of book 1, I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing more about her previous life were mentioned but upset at the same time.
When Raven and Sky were in the hotel, the reader/listener learned the zombies could open doors, yet it was sometime later when one of the characters asked another character if zombies could do this and they had essentially said no. From that moment on, it was like the opening-door zombies never existed.