Positive

By: David Wellington

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the best-selling vein of Guillermo Del Toro and Justin Cronin, the acclaimed author of Chimera and The Hydra Protocol delivers his spectacular breakout novel - an entertaining pause-resisting zombie epic that is sure to become a classic.

Anyone can be positive....

The tattooed plus sign on Finnegan's hand marks him as a Positive. At any time the zombie virus could explode in his body, turning him from a rational human into a ravenous monster. His only chance of a normal life is to survive the last two years of the potential incubation period. If he reaches his 21st birthday without an incident, he'll be cleared.

Until then Finn must go to a special facility for positives, segregated from society to keep the healthy population safe. But when the military caravan transporting him is attacked, Finn becomes separated. To make it to safety, he must embark on a perilous cross-country journey across an America transformed - a dark and dangerous land populated with heroes, villains, madmen, and hordes of zombies. And though the zombies are everywhere, Finn discovers that the real danger may be his fellow humans.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome meets World War Z and I Am Legend in this thrilling tale that has it all: a compelling story, great characters, and explosive action, making Positive the ultimate zombie novel of our time.

©2015 David Wellington (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

Twenty years on, everything's great. Or is it?

Twenty years after a zombie apocalypse, Finnegan lives with his family in Manhattan, a sprawling metropolis of 50,000. Everything's fine--if you don't mind constant gardening, fishing in the subway, and coping with paranoid members of the "First Generation" who lived through the worst of the catastrophe.

Things aren't very interesting. That is, not until Finnegan gets the "Positive" tattoo on his left hand, marking him out as Infected. Suddenly, he's an outcast, to be sent to a camp in Ohio. The military are supposed to come get him and take him there--but they don't make it.

So begins the adventure in this book that's less about the undead and more about survival, friendship, leadership, inspiration, and hope. That might sound like a lot for one book, especially a zombie saga, but David Wellington is talented enough to make it work. Positive reads more like Dickens: our hero explores the ravaged world, but also human behavior, and himself. While he's doing that, an incredible variety of secondary characters blooms and grows in the story.

Overall it's a very different take on the situation than the survivor-vs.-undead story. Most books in this genre don't focus on what might happen decades in the future, and Positive's scenario seems pretty realistic (if you can call anything with zombies in it "realistic.")

While the book shows great imagination, there are a few details that might annoy fans of undead chronicles--twenty year old canned food seems perfectly safe, for example, and at times I wondered if there was anything our hero couldn't do. Still, I found myself ignoring all that as I was swept away by the depth of the story and of the relationships between its many characters.

Nick Podehl does a great job as always, with different voices for all those many characters. I always knew who was speaking, no matter how complicated things got.

I've read a great deal of post-apocalyptic fiction, and I have to say this book, while clearly aimed at the "emerging adult" market, is one of the standouts. There's room for a sequel, and I hope that happens. Highly recommended for a fresh and chewy take on the apocalypse!

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Good - but not typical of other Wellington stories

In what seems to be a new trend in "Zombie" and other post apocalyptic stories, this one is set in the recovery period, a generation after the collapse. That's a good thing, as I think the stories of collapse are interesting but it would be a real challenge to find something fresh and new in that area. The recovery here is not as complete as in, say, Mira Grant's stories. That leaves a broad canvas for Wellington to tell his story and he uses it well.

I was excited to see another Wellington book. I thought "13 bullets" and the books that followed it were one of the most gritty, brutal, and dark takes on the monster genre I've come across. They reminded me of John Steakley's "Armour" (there's a guy who understands what fear is). Positive is different. In a lot of ways it feels younger, more hopeful, and it's definitely less graphic in its brutality.

There are some very hard themes here, and if you're sensitive to those you may want to give this a pass. Wellington addresses the vulnerability of young women and girls in a lawless society in a very direct way that may bother some readers -- though he is never graphic or puerile in those descriptions. For me, the balance was about right. Be warned, however. If you have a history with, or are particularly sensitive to, that kind of sexual exploitation the mention of it even without graphic descriptions could be upsetting.

Overall, I enjoyed the book even though it wasn't quite what I expected.

21 of 24 people found this review helpful

Not really a zombie book

More of a dystopian future. More people problems than zombie. Protagonist makes so many mistakes that it's almost difficult to like him. Great voice for narration. I noticed a couple similarities to the protagonist in Chimera which was disappointing. It was an ok book. I'd read a second installment.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Did we really need the pee scene?

I rarely abandon a book that I buy, but I’m not going to finish this one—and I think this is the first time I’ve actually written a DNF review. If it were a physical book, I’d probably toss it in the trash. While I may wonder why the author chose to do/write X, Y, or Z in a novel, I rarely think about the author him/herself—and I don’t want to. This is one of the rare occasions where I actually wondered, what kind of person would write this scene?

Our hero (19) and a teen-aged girl he doesn’t know are searching houses for things they can use. There’s an entire scene where she is peeing in front of him, his feelings about it, and her lack of feelings about it. Then she casually tells him how her the zombies got her sister, and an equally casual discussion of how she was raped. That was when I stopped listening because I knew that it would only get worse.

I should have read the reviews before buying the book and not after. Sigh.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Once upon a time, a bunch of stuff happened

I didn't find this book very entertaining. It didn't seem like the story live was week thought out. I was actually rooting for some of the characters to die so the book would end. I felt completely disconnected from the characters. Events would happen in the story abd were explained at tinge rather than building up to the events. No suspense. If someone needed food they would just suddenly find a store to loot. If they needed clothes they just would get it. It seemed very flat...

8 of 11 people found this review helpful

Positively Post-Apocalypse

I found myself purchasing this book as part of a twofer from audible knowing that it was a post-apocalyptic story and while not my preferred genre, I was hopeful based on the sample recording and my enjoyment of Nick Podehl's narration skills. Regrettably, it was a challenge completing it even given the narrator's proven talents. I would categorize this in the Young Adult range since most of the story revolve around youths in that age range.

The protagonist was not a very believable character in terms of his ability to overcome the ordeals he was confronted with. He was a 19 year old of average size, strength and intelligence yet with each adverse encounter, of which there were many, he would overcome odds that would be nearly impossible even for another more believably equipped and he would do it not by cleverness, preparation or guile but simply by his own force of will and luck. While one could accept this for a couple of instances, it happened so often that it would have been more believable if the author had gifted him with a guardian angel or some other meta-physical capability. The author also had written almost every harrowing situation (did I mention that there were many?) with so much angst that I found myself musing becoming one with the story and intentionally infecting myself with the zombie virus so that I would have a chance at off'ing him myself, it was that bad.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Entertaining camper through the apocalypse

A word of caution: this is more like an adventure than like a real novel. One thing happens after another as our hero tries to navigate his way to safety in a post-acolyptic world riddled by zombies. And yet, it is so well written that it turns out to be very entertaining. I can't wait for the next in the series as surely there have to be more coming.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

A plot driven by stupidity

What would have made Positive better?

Better protagonist and overall story. Delve further into the larger elements in the story, i.e. the rebellion of Anubis vs the remnants of the US govt. Get away from the idiot protagonist who is solely there to drive the plot through his sheer stupidity.

Would you ever listen to anything by David Wellington again?

Tough call. I really hated the protagonist in this story, so if his other stories and their plots are solely driven by stupid actions then it's unlikely I'll ever read anything by him again.

Have you listened to any of Nick Podehl’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Narrator performance was excellent, only reason I kept listening.

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

The narrator and the glimpses of a better story hanging out at the edges of the book, the war between opposing factions and the rise of a death cult in the US. Which sounds way more compelling then listening to Finnegan's farcical fantasy....

Any additional comments?

Not worth the credit.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

First 5 star I've given in a long time

this book is not only a great zombie book but just a generally awesome book to read in general. The beginning starts out a little slow but it picks up soon in the middle and then you can't put it down.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

RATS ARE SMART CREATURES

GO ALONG TO GET ALONG
Every now and then I will mention a writer that I connect with. A writer whose style, seems to be like mine, if I could write. Wellington is one of those guys.

For about every 20 zombie books, I read, I come across one that is unique and entertaining. This is one of those books. The Zombies are caused by a virus, but you can be infected for 20 years before you turn or you might turn in hours or you might not turn at all. Besides this being a unique concept, the characters are not military or supermen or preppers. The main character is in fact very unprepared for what happens to him, he has lived a sheltered life, not really even knowing what the world outside his commune is like and than he gets exiled.

Like most of these books, there is actually very little zombie action, but the human action against humans is what makes the book.

The narrator is great

Surely there will be a sequel and I will buy it.

24 of 40 people found this review helpful

I am positive that I enjoyed this book. 😊

I loved the whole idea of positives. It Is a interesting twist on the zombie story. It's set after the zombie outbreak, there are still some zombies around. The books main focus is on survival, not just from the zombies but what is left of mankind too.

Finn wants to make a better world than what is currently around. Unfortunately he does not understand the word he is currently living in.

A few chapters may upset some. To be honest In real life these scenarios would happen. So I kinda expected it.

I enjoyed the narrator and the different voices that he came up with. It was easy to tell who was talking at any time. This did give away one or two surprises. I'd rather that happened, to keep up with consistency, than a different voice being used. Very well written and read.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Well performed well written and very enjoyable

Loved this book. Really nicely written from a believable character with some really nice twists.

In a post zombie world, people are as much of a threat as zombies.

Great great great.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great read

I've read a few apocalypse books this is definitely one of the better ones. Well performed and enjoyed the writing style. I liked the characters and there was certainly enough interest in the story.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Unusual story

Good story but lead character too soft for zombie stories. Author isn't consistent with details and tends to forget what was previously described.

Even after an apocalyptic event, we can still be our own worst enemies....

Nice little dystopian ditty (if that’s not an oxymoron...), with a twist. It was a pleasant surprise not to be faced with the story ranging on about decomposing zombies. Or at least that not being the central premise. The idea of the young protagonists and the problems he faces is very good and surprisingly well written. At first I wasn’t enamoured by the narrator, however he grew on me and I have to admit, his delivery suited the age of Finn.

Gripped

A real twist in a zombie book, really good story and well narrated. I couldn't stop listening.

Promising but...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This book has pros and cons
Pros: Some of the ideas are great and a decent performance
Cons: The rise of the main character doesn't ring true and his character is not particularly well fleshed out.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes

Fantastic! !

I get so bored of the usual versions of these stories. This one was fantastic. Would recommend to anyone! !

well read gripping story

a well read and griping story of life and sorrows after the zombie apocalypse a young man's jurney to change his way of life and the effects on everyone around him the good and the bad

Overall an entertaining read but...

My biggest complaint is that the protagonist, particularly in the first two thirds of the book is in utter nitwit. The book picks up steam at the end, and has a somewhat ok finish but there are parts of it that are tedious and frankly really predictable.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful