Generation Z

By: Peter Meredith

Narrated by: Brian Callanan

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

It's been twelve years since the undead hordes swept over the earth forcing mankind to the brink of extinction. We now live like rats, scavenging in the ruins of our fallen civilization as the dead hunt us night and day. There is little left to scavenge, however. Grocery stores were emptied ages ago, gas tanks have long been dry and bullets are so precious that a man is lucky to have two to his name. Still, we survive. But for how much longer? Instinct and love have combined to turn Darwin's theory on its head. The strongest didn't survive in this world. They were the first to die, leaving behind a generation of orphans. It's a generation that's never had a full belly. It's a generation that has no idea what an Xbox did, or what algebra is for. It's a generation of children who never laugh out loud, and who have learned to cry softly because the dead are always near and the dead are always so very, very hungry.

©2018 Peter Meredith (P)2018 Peter Meredith

So enjoyable!

I have a tough time taking zombie apocalypse books seriously so I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this, the blurb however sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go. I'm really glad that I did, the book was very entertaining!

The characters are fantastic, Jillybean, Jenn, Mike & Stu are all very different and yet they all ft together really well and they're so easy to like. The supporting cast is also well crafted.

I was impressed by the world building it was vivid and believable and the description of the zombies is really well done. The changes to society are really interesting and detailed.

And if you're looking for action, you'll find a lot of that as well, especially in the second half.

The narration is excellent, I really enjoyed the character voice they were easily recognizable for the different characters and the delivery matched the emotions and activities during the story.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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Didn't Realize it Was a YA/"Tween" Title

You see the signs in Book 1 but by the time Book 2 gets going it's pretty obvious this series is targeted at the Tween/YA audience. Pretty much every adult is either a broken down, superstitious fool or a some sort of demented villain.

The relationships between the main characters are sub-juvenile and painfully silly.

The incredible ability of "Jilly Bean" (a super high functioning schizophrenic) is the epitome of the new wave of "Girl Powah!" writing.

Granted this is supposed to be post apocalyptic fiction but it really falls into the YA High Fantasy realm.

Not great.

It's a kids book about zombies, essentially. Basic, cartoony, cute. Not my cup of tea.

It’s all right.

It was...an amusing romp. The narrator was really good. The story was ok. It was a good story to listen to when doing other things.

Not bad

Not a bad zombie story. Somewhat interesting characters that grew with experience. Needs some back stories to explain a few things.

best of the genre

Meredith is masterful,Faultless rendition by Callanan,terrific entertainment.
No swearing, gut-wrenching, heat-pounding audible knock-out!

My disbelief is suspended not zombiefied

I have been noticing this selection for quite some time. The reviews were mixed and I don't trust the "stars" on any book. I passed on it continually, until it became available at a reduced price. I'm currently about a third way through this story. The book has made me curious about the author. There are so many problems with the storyline that I was convinced that it was written by a talented teen-ager. I thought, at first, to break my own pattern and address the writer in my review, instead of potential readers. Thoughts of how to gentle my overall tone were passing through my mind. Then, I googled him and realized he's well beyond middle school. Regardless, this is probably the most thoughtful review I've ever written. It's important (to me) that I be fair. I find myself taking a lot of time to choose my words, but it's not about hurting a young writer’s feelings anymore. Now, I hope that anyone attempting this genre will consider what I am planning to convey. It’s not that I know everything, but I know quite a bit. Books have been my life and I WANT more writers to share their stories with me, not fewer. And, if I can help at all, I want those stories to be well-done.
I believe that when an author takes on any scenario, there is an unspoken agreement with me, the reader. The writer asks, “Will you enter my imaginary world and suspend your disbelief?” and I answer, “Yes, but if you break rules, then you must provide a plausible explanation.” Often, it’s a terrific bargain. I have been transported, captivated and terrified because of this implied contract. Unfortunately, I’m not experiencing any of that with “Generation Z”.
Science Fiction and Fantasy writers are the bravest in the industry, in my opinion. They walk onto a cliff of illusion and build a bridge out of supposition. The story must bear the weight of these possibilities to get us to the other side; an acceptable conclusion.
In general, and according to my point of view, remember this:

Your character is performing a certain task. Will anything in this story cause the reader to question whether that could/would happen? If the answer is yes, then address that right away, or soon after.
You build a world with rules. Don’t violate them unnecessarily; never disregard your own concepts without a purpose. Your story will collapse because you have now asked me to stomp my disbelief to death. I just can’t go there.
Your world is populated with people I want to get to know. And, believe me on this, I plan to concentrate on them very closely. Things like, internal and external dialogue; behavior; decisions (including minor choices); and their reactions to these constructs will ALL matter to me. Please, don’t have a character behave in a way that is contrary to the personality you have created. Or, if you must make a person react in a way which would appear “out of character”, then do so in a way that doesn’t violate my sense of that “character”.
And finally, remember that, unless you are building a whole new world, there are hard and fast rules in THIS world. If you use the Earth as a starting point, then be consistent. Do some research. Facts and reality are not going to damage the fantastical and whimsical nature of a novel. Trust me on this. I have observed that the best falsehoods contain an element of truth. In life, this is a pity but in books this is the key to telling a brilliant story. Again, in my humble opinion.
Now to be specific: (This is where I give the warning about spoilers.)
Jen has, basically, been on her own since she was a six-year-old orphan. For twelve years she has been a “bad luck”, peripheral member of a group of zombie apocalypse survivors. Remember, in this world she has been ostracized and barely included. Mr. Meredith goes to great lengths to emphasize the degree in which the overall population excludes Jen. Despite her history, Jen is knowledgeable and has skills that are barely plausible in this scenario. How did she learn to shoot a cross-bow; build a fire; grow a garden; and bake a cobbler? How did she learn anything? Six-year-old children can be precocious. I agree. Unfortunately, nothing in the storyline brings me to the conclusion that this character is any sort of autodidact.
Next, there is a group of survivors on Alcatraz and an off-shoot of that group on the mainland. In one scene Mr. Meredith has a zombie ripping a car apart. The, I hesitate to use the term “zombies” (I’ll address that presently), have immense strength. And yet, the second group have defenses that don’t help me to believe their fortification could withstand even one encounter with a zombie. It’s described as plywood. Really? Their enclave is surrounded by spears and the plot suggests its’ true purpose is to repel raiders. What? Are the powerful zombies content to sniff at the plywood and walk away? And how did they get to the fence to begin with? Considering all those spears, why are there no zombie bodies surrounding the compound?
Next, consider the world and the rules it contains. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, gasoline wouldn’t even be a pleasant fantasy. Gasoline would not exist. Unless I heard that portion of the story wrong, one of the people was imagining the traders having gasoline. Nope. Writers of dystopian books shouldn’t go there in a sleeping dream, much less a daydream. Ammunition, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t be as scarce as Mr. Meredith supposes. Lots of gun-owners reload. More often than not, a person who shoots with any regularity will know how to operate a reloader. Again, what is possible? and what is likely? Answering these questions before the reader poses them is crucial.
I get it, a lot of the characters were either very young or not yet born when the world came to an end 12 years prior. The plot problem for me is that there are many adults still present in the population Mr. Meredith created. The characters are painfully ignorant and ridiculously superstitious. Did the author forget that books and libraries exist in the world? I was grinding my teeth over some of these people.
And lastly, the zombies. Truthfully, I’m not sure why this book has zombies that are better, bigger, stronger and faster than other zombie books. Most of the time they conjured thoughts of mutants in my mind. At this point, (again, I’m not finished with this book) I have no idea why this writer has chosen to populate this world with zombies that defy every other notion of what a “zombie” would be.
I plan to finish this audiobook. I don’t plan to finish the series.

An evolution of the Undead World series!

Generation Z takes place twelve years after the zombie apocalypse first reared its ugly head intending to destroy mankind. An aptly named title, as we will examine the generation of survivors born into the apocalypse. These children never knew the experience of shopping, never played a video game, or watched television. They only knew the pressure of growing up in an environment where they were on guard 24/7, where the slightest sound might bring death to their door. Unique to this story is that the zombies never stopped growing! For whatever reason the zombies continued to evolve; grow bigger, stronger, and faster. The characters are wonderfully developed and you may recognize some of them. Jillybean from the Undead World series is here, as this can be viewed as an evolution from that series. I was fully engrossed in the story and definitely look forward to book two.

Keeps me guessing!

I’m a fan of zombie books in general, but this series has blown me away so far! I bought the first book about a month ago and just finished the third. The story is original and keeps me on my toes. Just when I think I have JillyBean figured out, I’m shown how wrong I am. The narrator is awesome, too. It’s so easy to know who is saying what because his characters are so easily recognizable.

extremely disappointing

Peter Meredith's Apocalypse series is my favorite Zombie series of all time, but this book was garbage. It played on the fans love for Jillybean, so no real thought went into it since he knew it would sell if it had her name in it. Her turns our favorite character into someone no one can really like. It had good ideas that never went anywhere, 8-10 foot monster Zombies could've been awesome, but they don't do anything. The main characters are from a town with ZERO defenses that somehow managed to survive these huge zombies and all the slavers that plague the land. They talk about "signs" all the time which gets very annoying. The characters from that community have never heard of Jillybean, Capt. Gray, Sadie, Neil, etc. even though it's only been 12 years since the apocalypse started. You mean to tell me that in a world with no real entertainment that the story of a six year old girl who destroyed the most powerful dictatorships in the wasteland wouldn't have spread to everyone everywhere??? She would've become a legend that EVERYONE would have heard of. It's completely ridiculous. The narrator was terrible, the only voice he did that sounded good was Stew's voice, every other voice was extremely annoying. If you still wanna know the story because it involves Jillybean then I would suggest reading the book instead of listening to this audio book. I can't express how disappointed I am with this book, nothing happens, it's all about finding antibiotics.

Peter Meredith Always Delivers!

It is great to see Jillybean and Neil back in the fray. Peter Meredith paints a chilling portrait of a dying world, pierced by moments that make you smile and laugh and hope.

Good story,great performance of the narrator.

Im going to buy part 2.English is my second language but I could understand everything becouse the narrator is realy good.

horrible storyline imo

in a post apocalyptic world, people in this story believe in superstitions. for example 77 people left the colony, but she was 78, so was therefore hated. wtf!

trading women like slaves, " oh I've brought 3 women, ones 15." in reply the other asks " does she bleed" . what kind of backward story line is this? listened to first hour and then refunded title.