Plague of the Undead: Dead Lands, Book 1

Ok I have a confession to make: I have a life… not a real good one, but I do have one. Sadly, this life has got in the way of my ability to listen to audible books for the past two weeks. This life may have influenced my thoughts on Joe McKinney’s “Plague of the Undead” as I was forced to listen to this one in a lot more broken parts than I usually do. So I will do my best not to transfer my anger and bitterness of my lot to my review ;-)

I choose this book on a whim and a prayer. I didn’t read the publisher’s summary. There were no reviews and I had not listened to the author or narrator before. But it was cheap!

The first thing that struck me was how slow the narrator was. It is no problem listening to this one at 1.5x speed. In fact if you listened to it at normal speed you would probably end up pulling out your hair… oh dear no… now I am feeling depressed about my lack of hair on my head! Can anyone tell me why I am loosing my hair off my head but seem to be gaining it on my back?

The second thing that struck me was this is not your usual zombie book. It is really about a couple of key people from a town who have successfully cut themselves off from the outside world after ‘dead return’. It is those key people’s adventure out into the unknown. It is cross between a western/adventure/sci fi type deal.

I was constantly surprised by it all. Some of the ideas in it are brilliant, but on some levels poorly brought about. It almost feels like a story that hasn’t really been edited or had the time spent on it. But like I said, it might be the fact I wasn’t able to listen to this one in long sittings.

On a couple of occasions I felt like putting it down not to return. I didn’t like the stress caused by some of the incidents in which the ladies where involved. I’m not a fan of listening to rape accounts! But every time as I was about to give it up, the scene would end.

I get the feeling that this one could have been so much more! I suspect the next in the series could get better, but personally I am not spending money on it unless it is on special, and it would have to be a BIG SPECIAL! With the slow speed and the need to speed it up so much it certainly does not become value per hour listening.

Of the many "Undead" novels I have listened to and read, this is one of the few I might listen to again. However, as a rule I don't listen to any audiobooks more then once.

The characters were well developed and "Real!" Instead of impossible luck and kick-ass heros with impossible fighting or survival skills, what Mr. McKinnney gave us was characters who were believable. Characters who made bad, but not totally stupid, decisions. Characters who behaved in a way that I believe many of us might also behave in when faced with unexpected situations.

Nice voice adjustments for various characters. Also, his female characters didn't sound like idiots, which I have noticed some of other male voice over performers sometimes make the female characters sound ridiculous.

Yes, but I don't want to give it away. I like that Mr. McKinney is not afraid to kill off key characters.

I am an avid reader and started reading Zombie novels about 8 years ago, when the genre was just really taking off. This book provided everything I like in a good Zombie novel, and quite frankly I believe Joe McKinney is a truly talented writer. I will be looking for more of his future works.

This book should be on the top 10 worst zombie books of all time. The story is terrible and the narrator was even worse. I absolutely couldn't stand this book. I stopped listening when the story changed over to the beginning of the out break as it truly made me wish the zombie apocalypse started in my Jeep.

The entire story was badly written.

The performance was boring.

No it didn't

Don't buy this book.