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)

I loved it!

This book is quite literally everything I ever wanted in a zombie story! I just wish there was an interview with one of the LMOE (Last Men On Earth) and how they came to turn a store into an epic base over the years. other than that, the book was perfect.

zombified

one of the most exciting, hair-raising books of all time, zombies, people running and screaming, what more do you want the only thing better than killing zombies would be killing Nazis

Surprisingly brilliant!

My husband and I were looking for a good listen for a 500 mile drive. Our nephew recommended this book as his all time favorite. He loaded it on Audible for us and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just wonderful

Couldn’t stop listening. Oh my gonna listen to it again as soon as I write this review!!!

The best version of this audiobook

Try to seen out for this version with Mark Hamill & other all Star Cast and the full version of the book.
For some reason there are many options, with different actors and shortening of the story.

All Star Cast

Great story with amazing performances. I will definitely be listening to this one again and again.

Fantastic! Great audiobook if this is your first

Just wanted to say this book makes a great start to audiobooks if you're used to watching movies or shows. Would make a great gift to somebody who isn't normally into books! It is acted out by a different actor for each character, many of which are stars from film, such as Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), John Torturro (Butler from Mr. Deeds) and Alfred Molina (Doc Oc from Spider-Man 2). It's told interview-style, with the author of the book playing a fictionalized version of himself writing a report on the Zombie War after-the-fact, with each character telling an important part of their personal story as first-hand accounts of important points in the War throughout the world.

This is a great book! There is a lot of variety in the types of stories told, from military action set-pieces to personal civilian accounts. It can be funny, jarring, horrifying, disgraceful and hopeful, along with many other emotions. The writing is very good, and I'm sure this is the kind of book that was really fun to write, as each story serves as an exercise in writing from different first-hand perspectives in a way you don't normally get from a book. It is very personal.

If you're on the fence, don't be! This book is worth anyone's time! It's broken up into small chunks, with each story taking no longer than a few minutes to be told. I think the longest is 30 minutes. Some are only 5 minutes.

Get this book for yourself or someone else! This is an absolute must for zombie fans! Also just a great book for any fan of tension, horror, or just good writing and execution. Thank you, Max Brooks!

p.s. this book is absolutely nothing like the movie in almost any way. They are both about zombies (albeit different types of zombies) and they share the name "World War Z". Other than that, they are completely different. I know it's cliche to say the book is better than the movie, but this is one of the cases where you can like them both separately. Even the author said they were so different that it didn't even bother him. But... the book is better than the movie :)

A true masterpiece of alternative history, I hope.

I hope it is alternative and never comes to ...death. The performances are excellent, the story unfolds a little scattershot but that emphasizes the total world war that it portrays. Max Brooks creates a world that is once horror and damned interesting. I listen to books while I walk for exercise. I found myself walking an extra two hours a day because I just had to continue on with the book. I would only stop because I realized I wanted to save the rest for the next day. Every one of the cast was brilliant, their voices imparting their part of the story as authentic and real. Highly recommend this to anyone with a sci-fi or horror interest.

Excellent

I highly recommend this book. The story has eerie since of reality now, because of COVID-19. A lot of fun to listen to.

The new stories didn’t add anything

I gotta be honest. I could have done without some of the stories, and I could see why they were removed originally. Still loved it though