The Undead Haze

Undead, Book 2

By: Eloise J. Knapp

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

The apocalypse just got worse. When remorse drives Cyrus to abandon his hidden compound he doesn't realize what new dangers lurk in the undead world. He knows he must wade through the vilest remains of humanity and hordes of zombies to settle scores and find the one person who might understand him. But this time, it won't be so easy. Zombies and unpleasant survivors aren't the only thing Cyrus has to worry about. Not anymore.

Now a cannibal named Kevin who has a voracious taste for redheads, well-armed fanatic crazies, and his nagging conscience will prove to be his biggest enemies. Cyrus V. Sinclair. The "V" stands for.... Well, you’ll just have to find out, won't you?

©2013 Eloise J. Knapp (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

A pretty good encore for the first book.

What made the experience of listening to The Undead Haze the most enjoyable?

I like this narrator a lot. He did the first book in the series and it was one of the highlights. If you liked the first book than this one won't disappoint.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Undead Haze?

When (Gabe) the girl that was abandoned in the first book came back into this story. It was a surprise that she wasn't dead or a zombie.

Have you listened to any of Kevin T. Collins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

One of the best parts of the book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did listen to this book over the course of about 24 hours. I liked the first book and the zombie genre in general.

Any additional comments?

If you like zombie books than this is a good series to listen to. Make sure you read the first book before this one. This book takes place a couple month after the first one, and you are definitely missing something if you skip it. The entire plot is about saving a character he met in the first book, and the main character keeps reminiscing about prior events that happened in the first story.

Why does Cyrus have to turn into a bi*ch?

I don't like the direction the stories taken. the author is just turning him into a birch......or just a normal guy.

As realistic as a zombie book could be...

It is actually a bit better than book one. It is a mature, non-hack-n-slash zombie book - well, there is some hack-n-slash, but it is not so much against the zombies as it is against the other survivors.

In fact... it is almost like the zombies are just a side concern of the book. There is only interaction with them when necessary, and all the 'bad guys' here are other humans. Zombies are sorta treated like mosquitoes: very annoying, you try to avoid them, and kill them when they're close enough, but you won't be digging out the fogger to spray the forest around you.

Cyrus does spend a little too much time thinking about how sociopathic he is (or is not as the case may be), but I suppose that is also part of his narcissistic nature.

Is the, err, religous extremism realistic... no, not really, but it is as well written as such a theme could be. And these fanatics are as believable as anything else is in a zombie apocalypse. It is well-paced overall, and the characters are actually pretty well-fleshed.

The narration is very good, there is some swearing but overall, it is not particularly graphic or gory. I will keep my eyes open for more books by Knapp.

the "V" stands for .......

the books are ok .... but I just feel the story is missing something. I enjoyed the story but there are a lot engaging zombie books

Cyrus V. Sinclair, the V stands for 'very good'

What I liked about the first book still hold true in this second instalment: The mindless fun! The dark sense of humour of the main characters and the action...

This time round, Cyrus V Sinclair battles of all things ‘being normal’. It would seem that the zombie plague has finally brought out the normal in Cyrus.

This book feels more mature than the previous, by that I think it is takes itself a bit more serious than the first. Personally, I like the zombie genre because of the lack of seriousness… I like the comic book style violence and humour albeit a bit dark. I’m not in for lessons of self-awareness from this sort of story. It is just a personal thing and shouldn’t deter the listener from another instalment in the life of Cyrus V Sinclair. The ‘V’ stands for Virtuous. I wonder if the new ‘virtuous’ Cyrus thing just took me by surprise? If there is another one to add to the series, I do hope the V returns to ‘vile’ and ‘violent’ it suited him better.

Nevertheless I enjoyed the story greatly and once again the narration was brilliant! 1.25x speed is the sweet spot for listening and once again it is the type of story I found myself wishing to listen to in one sitting.

My buying advice is ‘yes, another one worthy to be in the library’.

If you like this sort of story I would also recommend:

Mountain Man series by Keith Blackmore
ZBurbia series by Jake Bible
Andrian’s Undead Diary series by Chris Philbrook
Z-Risen by Timothy Long

It has been worth the wait

The Undead Haze picks up approximately one year after the brutal end of The Undead Situation, the ending that I thought was a joke, because it made me want the next book so badly. At that time I don’t even know if there were plans for this sequel or not. This audiobook is all about Cyrus wanting to find Blaze who was surprisingly separated from him at the end of the first audiobook. I missed the original feeling that Cyrus gave me, because in this book he was preoccupied with his mission of finding Blaze and because of this much of his sciopahicness was gone. This audiobook started out with a bang of an encounter with a gang of cannibals and brought much of what I wanted, I only wish there were more. Now don’t get me wrong, Knapp despite changing Cyrus’ focus, still created a wonderfully original and creative continuation of a story that needed closure. I will be looking for the next audiobook in this series, in fact more from Knapp in general, and hopefully it will not be as long of a wait as this one was.

Kevin T. Collins is not your typical or maybe stereotypical is better, narrator. He does not have the overly deep and polished voice, he does not rely solely on the the written book to carry you mind through the torment. The Undead Situation was my first experience listening to Collins, he had me hooked, and I hate to say it but this is only my second time giving him a listen and almost regret it. Collins, in my opinion, did over half of the work making Cyrus successful, sure there was a great foundation to start with from Knapp but Collins pushed it over the edge. He has a way of jarring you with his ability, that make every instance within the audiobook knock the wind right out of you.

Good Zombie entertainment

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I like the writers story idea. And the story is good.
Exciting and credible enough for a book with the undead. The protagonist makes the story great.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It made ​​me look forward to the next book. I will definitely read that one too.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It did make me laugh.

Any additional comments?

The only thing that keeps me from giving the book a higher rating, is that the first book was better.

Excellent protagonist, bad love interest

I love Cyrus as a character, but Blaze is so completely, absolutely, unredeemably unlikeable that it ruins the entire motivation of the book. I understand, she's meant to be unlikeable, but it gets to a point in which she ruins what would be a great story otherwise.

Disappointing sequel

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Not the same Cyrus. I thought this was an interesting first book, a psychopath in a Z apocalypse. It became kind of a weird romance book, and Cyrus wimps out.

What could Eloise J. Knapp have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Keep developing Cyrus as a true sociopath.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It is a pretty quick listen, and is a light book if you are not looking for much.