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)

So much more, (and better) than the movie.

The ensemble cast of celebrities delivers in every way. The detail in which the world collapsed under the weight of the Zombie apocalypse is amazing.

loved it

i work security duo there's just periods where I'm bored out of my mind and this audio book kept me awake and on edge loved it! had to keep reminding myself that it was a book.

Excellent listen

This book has been a favorite of mine since it came out, I bought it several years ago and got it in audio recently. The story is great and entertaining and the voice acting is excellent. Cliche as it may sound this is The War of The Worlds of my day. I hope my daughters will enjoy this with me someday when they are older.

Great expansion

Any additional comments?

World War Z is an exemplary piece of an ensemble cast story with excellent choices for voice actors. The story itself is a compelling and startlingly realistic vision of the how life might play out if some bizarre circumstance set forth the reanimation of the dead. There is also an excellent social commentary about modern first world and third world cultures. One could even go so far as to speculate that the Zombies represent the vast majority of our species in that we consume and consume, blindly devouring the thinkers, producers and creators for the purpose of our own insatiable hungry to devour merely because its there to take and often with no more effort than a shuffle stepping zombie. Ever see a long line at the apple store.. or how about a black friday sale? Other questions? do the zombies represent that lazy of our cultures? People who gain money, food or whatever they seek without working to earn it? Those who do not produce, only consume? Are these zombies like the people who mindless follow the call of one to another and, like lemmings, follow along with whatever the other zombies does? Lots of interesting social parallels and generally a fun book for a long cold nights drive.

Pleasantly surprised

I'm generally not zombie guy I have a lot of problems with The science of African rabies or whatever it is you wish to call it. However this book is exceptional speculative fiction exploring what would happen to various sectors of society under the conditions of it nearly unkillable foe.

exceptional

I was surprised by such a sweeping novel, not what I expected. Every aspect excellent.

Forget the movie!

one of the best AB I've listened to yet. Great cast. Hollywood massacred the story with the movie. I thought the book was so much better and this audio book made it great.

Awesome

I love the movie, I love the book more now that I listened to it. It was a great performance by the people reading it.

Amazing, wish they would make episodes.

each story was so amazing and independent of his own but connected in some way. if someone was to make tv episodes of this book someone be a billion!

This Performance is Outstanding!

After listening to this performance by the huge cast, I cannot imagine how boring it would be to read. My imagination just wouldn't have done it the justice. I highly recommend this creative, and different take on a zombie apocalypse.

If you didn't like the movie, it doesn't matter. The only similarity is the title.