Remains of the Dead

By: Iain McKinnon

Narrated by: Karl Miller

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

The world is dead, devoured by a plague of reanimated corpses. Cahz and his squad of veteran soldiers are tasked with flying into abandoned cities and retrieving zombies for scientific study. Deep in infected territory, hundreds of miles from their support vessel, the ever present dangers weigh heavily on Cahz's mind as he shepherds his team to make quick, clean extractions.

Then the unbelievable happens. After years of encountering nothing but the undead, the team discovers a handful of disheveled survivors in a fortified warehouse with dwindling supplies. Surrounded by hordes of ravenous corpses, Cahz is faced with the terrible responsibility of determining the five passengers who will escape in the helicopter. While those left stranded must continue to fight off the infected and starvation long enough to be rescued.

©2011 Iain McKinnon (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Believable characters trapped in a nightmare scenario. Remains of the Dead is a breathless, high-octane zombie thriller. [McKinnon has] written another great book here." (David Moody, author of Hater and Dog Blood)

"Absolutely superb." (Joe McKinney, author of Dead City and Quarantined)

"Sure to please fans of The Walking Dead." (Walter Greatshell, author of the Xombies series)

Too short!

It was over before I knew it, even if its actually an hr longer than the first. If you read "first book" domain of the dead the first chapters are a replay of the that.

The story and characters were just kinda dull. One was Ali and half his time was being stuck outside on a balcony. Then there was the "three men and a baby" group which was about changing diapers. There was no pretty woman anywhere which usually adds something to a story. Character development was just kinda dull. Relationships; two soldiers, an old lady, a baby and a some dude. Not much happening there.

I didn't like the story much, didn't seem to be getting anywhere and it didn't. I don't like it when stories and characters do nonsensical things. So what a building a burns next to them, so they have to leave the entire city full of the living dead?! I'd take my chances with a fire...plus, it rained! And why not use the big guy to hold back the door with a hundred zombies behind it?

Why didn't anyone think of going back to the safe warehouse where the civies came from with about a month left of supplies there? Heck, why didn't anyone think of the helicopter making two rounds and dropping one group there before taking the other group back to the ship? If it wasn't for all the stupid chit chat while the zombies closed around them, the helicopter could have had time to take one group to a roof somewhere and gone back to the first group and delivered them to the warehouse.

And then they all die. Oh you know they do, if you read the first book, you know the author doesn't like happy endings. I'm not much for sad endings, makes your time listening rather pointless.

Over all its "ok", at least compared to the other zombie junk out there, and narration was pretty good, no complaints there.

good stuff

Any additional comments?

read domain of the dead first, which is a good book itself. remains of the dead is the other half of the story. however, they're two different types of survival stories. dod is a slow boil; whereas rod is a hard boil with a few well-timed intervals of downtime. with dod, you could forsee where it was going. in rod, it's flee, find a temporary safe place, take a breath, plan, and escape the hoard.

i really enjoyed both books. the whole story takes place over a couple of days. cahz and cannon give up their seats in the getaway chopper so some civilians can get away. however, there are still to many people so a few civilians have stay with cahz and cannon and wait for the chopper to come back. the zombies are coming and they have to flee, but they need to find a place where they can hold up and signal the chopper when it comes back.

the zombies are shamblers. what they lack in speed and strength is made up by their sheet number. ian's descriptions of the zombies are excellent- different states of clothing and rot.

the characters are put in believable situations. ok you can hold a door closed b/c a zombie can't turn a handle and push the door open against your strength. however when the zombies start swarming the door and pushing against each other and the door, how many zombies does it take to push a door open? sounds like a joke, but it's a believable situation.

this story describes how certain people survive a hoard of zombies. ali, one of the survivors, runs towards the chopper, but he gets cut off from the main group of survivors running through the hoard of zombies. he can't make it so he has to try to climb up the side of an apartment building. he's not an action hero. some reviewers complained about ali's part of the story, but i enjoyed listening to how an average person would struggle climbing up the decks of an apartment building. it's also interesting what he goes through being alone now after being in a group so long.

the other group, cahz, cannon, elsbeth, and ryan have their own dynamics. elsbeth is carrying her granddaughter and ryan's daughter. after ryan's wife died in childbirth, he drank every day. elsbeth cared for ryan's baby while he just drank the days away. elsbeth was bitten on their way to the chopper. the baby has a scratch down her face. how long can they let the infected in their group survive? as long as their useful? before they become a threat? this book delves into those decisions and the emotions behind them.

there are powerful and sad scenes in this book. i enjoyed this aspect of the book b/c most of the other zombie novels i've read didn't affect me on an emotional level. yes, i'm a guy in my 30's, and i said that. do i get a badge or something? lol

ian is a fantastic writer the way he weaves words together. i wrote down a few sentences in my review of domain of the dead.

overall, i'm very satisfied with both books. a third seems on the way, and i hope so. the only problem i had was the narration. i've listened to quite a few audiobooks lately and have definitely heard better narrators. but don't let that turn you off or you'll miss two good zombie books!

Great follow up to Domain of the dead

Would you consider the audio edition of Remains of the Dead to be better than the print version?

Yes I can listen cooking, travelling and working and a good narrator turns it into a movie in your mind.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Can`t pick a favourite all are so determined to survived.

What does Karl Miller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

a great voice fleshing out the characters.

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

Surviving the dead takes patience and resolve.

Any additional comments?

Read this book, but read Domain of the dead first.

Domain Of the Dead, what happened to the others!

If you could sum up Remains of the Dead in three words, what would they be?

It's what happens to those forgotten in the Domain of the Dead

Any additional comments?

Good writer and well read

zombies, zombies everywhere

Ryan is annoying but because hes holding the baby I guess he gets to live, or maybe it was the narrators voice depicting him?yet the story kept me listening to the end it was action all the way except for when ryan talked. Still get the book I enjoyed the suspense.