World War Z: The Complete Edition

An Oral History of the Zombie War

By: Max Brooks

Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, Rob Reiner, Mark Hamill, Alfred Molina, Simon Pegg, Henry Rollins, Martin Scorsese

Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, Multi-Voiced Performance, 2014

World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition): An Oral History of the Zombie War is a new version of Max Brooks' episodic zombie novel. The abridged versions of the original stories are now joined with new, unabridged recordings of the episodes that were not included in the original (abridged) version of the audiobook. These additional episodes feature a star-studded cast of narrators to coincide with the upcoming release of the film.

New narrators include Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, Spiderman star Alfred Molina, The Walking Dead creator Frank Darabont, rapper Common, Firefly star Nathan Fillion, Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg, and members of the casts of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and more! Max Brooks will be reprising his role as The Interviewer.

The original abridged edition, released in 2006, won an Audie Award for Best Multi-Voiced Performance. Original cast members include Alan Alda, Mark Hamill, Carl & Rob Reiner, and John Turturro.

In this new classic of apocalyptic fiction that feels all too real, the Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. The documentary-style oral history records the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time.

Featuring five more hours of previously unrecorded content, this full-cast recording is read by F. Murray Abraham, Alan Alda, René Auberjonois, Becky Ann Baker, Dennis Boutsikaris, Bruce Boxleitner, Max Brooks, Nicki Clyne, Common, Denise Crosby, Frank Darabont, Dean Edwards, Mark Hamill, Nathan Fillion, Maz Jobrani, Frank Kamai, Michelle Kholos, John McElroy, Ade M’Cormack, Alfred Molina, Parminder Nagra, Ajay Naidu, Masi Oka, Steve Park, Kal Penn, Simon Pegg, Jürgen Prochnow, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Henry Rollins, Jeri Ryan, Jay O. Sanders, Martin Scorsese, Paul Sorvino, David Ogden Stiers, Brian Tee, John Turturro, Eamonn Walker, Ric Young, and Waleed Zuaiter.

©2006 Max Brooks (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"What happens after the end of the world as we know it? Humanity rebuilds, and Kirby Impoinvil (Max Brooks) is there to help survivors make sense of what happened the day the zombies came. Helping author Brooks is a host of family friends, including Alan Alda, Nathan Fillion, Paul Sorvino, Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner, Simon Pegg, John Turturro, and many others. This audio production was released to coincide with the movie of the same name. That it’s a real drama is not surprising given the stellar cast. They don't just read the book, they act it out. And don’t think this is a teen thriller. The zombies serve as a backdrop to the larger story of how humankind reacts to such an unexpected and catastrophic invasion and the inevitable conclusion that millions must be sacrificed to save the rest. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2014. Audies Finalist." (AudioFile magazine)

Truly an audiobook masterpiece

This is a shining example of what an audiobook can be. The format of the book lends itself perfectly to the media.

Lovely story. Well throughout and human oriented.

I love it. it was insightful into human experience of not pnly the world Matt Brooks created but our own.

A Great Listen

Good for any Walking Dead fan to listen to. Multiple readers help make it seem like a real interview process.

Best mixed cast audiobook I've ever heard

Where does World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition) rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

High. Really high. 4 12 stars. Really really close to a 5.

What other book might you compare World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition) to and why?

This is what Harry Turtledove was trying to do in Worldwar: In the Balance (which I tried to listen to but got bored with and ditched) -- global warfare, strange alliances, it takes an alien threat to unite humanity. The interview format, the multiplicity of voices, makes Z a better book, in my opinion.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Oh, my, how can I choose? The diver. The guy with the dog. The astronaut. The most poignant -- the South African. Major kudos to Max Brooks for his job as the interviewser.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Forget good vs. evil -- it's life vs. death!

Any additional comments?

I'm not a zombie fan. I'm not a military sci-fi fan. I doubt if I'd like reading this book. BUT: this is a completely mesmerizing "listen". I came really close to doing it in a single day. I've read a lot of complaints that this is "abridged". Under normal circumstances, I won't even look at anything that's not unabridged, but I didn't feel like there were any continuity problems, and the length is exactly right.

amazing

one of the best written biographies ever produced. the interviews were strong, full of emotions and the strain and passion of the event.

Good Read.

Different from the movie as focus leaned on survival. Good to listen to a different take than the movie. good narrator list.

Chills throughout the whole thing! It was great

The two accounts that hit me the hardest was the soldiers enacting the Retichor Plan and the catacombs. I was really able to put myself in these scenes. The cast did an amazing job. After going through the whole story in a day, I am pretty paranoid about survival. I can't recommend enough

An awesome listen

The ensemble cast ties together the story like nature of each interview leading to a more impactful listen.

Excellent Story and Performance

Very well done by all cast members. The story is great, I’ve read it several times and it is suspenseful, realistic, and well-written.

You wont regret it

You know those books that are so good you feel like nothing else can compare? This is one of those. The narration is 10/10 so incredible. Ill be honest Zombies were not what I was looking for in a book but this book was so well written and narrated that it was amazing.