Welcome to Deadland

By: Zachary Tyler Linville

Narrated by: Paula Andrea

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

"An intricately woven, fresh take on the zombie genre that keeps you guessing until the very end. Genre fans will absolutely love this thrilling tale of survival, and what it means to be human." (Rachel Heine, editor in chief, Nerdist)

In a thrilling debut from Nerdist, a ragtag group of survivors struggle to hold on to hope.

A widespread disease has ravaged humanity. Symptoms include animalistic rage, violent outbursts, and a ravenous hunger for human flesh. The few people left are thrust together to fight for their lives before the world becomes overrun by the infected.

Asher, Wendy, and Rico try to reach an abandoned theme park, hoping for sanctuary. Although fear of the infected is ever present, the group find themselves facing some very human concerns as well as new adversaries. Asher is Wendy's only friend, and she fears that she'll lose him if he ever discovers the dark secret she's been harboring. Reeling from heartbreak, Asher clings to Wendy as he struggles to heal. Rico is a 17-year-old rebel used to ditching school and partying all night - but can he outgrow his debauched behavior in order to protect a six-year-old boy who has suddenly fallen under his care? These three will have to overcome their own demons in order to save not only themselves but the last vestiges of humanity.

©2016 Zachary Tyler Linville (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Honest and No Spoilers

I'm 35, female, and I read a lot of horror, thriller, psychological, mystery, etc. I'm educated but I prefer books that entertain without getting too caught up in symbolism and that stuff. I hope that gives you a good basis for understanding my review. I really liked this story. I listened via audible (which makes my 1.5 hour commute to work tolerable) and I was hesitant about this book at first. I'll start with the two things i DIDN'T like (NO SPOILERS!) 1. Considering the two main narrators are men, I don't know why they picked a woman to narrate. It's kind of annoying. 2. I wish I had known that this was going to be a series. All of a sudden the book ended and I was like, "WTF?!" Particularly because I don't care for series. Moving on... I saw a lot of people post that the book was juvenile. I don't agree. It's not trying to be a literary masterpiece and I think it has a lot of adult situations. It just doesn't graphically describe sex scenes and it doesn't try to make you feel stupid (like a lot of "new classics" I've read). The style is unique, at least to me. It's well written and appropriately descriptive. And the story is definitely engaging! If you just want to be entertained and escape into fiction, this is a great choice. If you want to feel like you have a better understanding of the meaning of life... maybe go with something else. Overall, a solid zombie read and I'm definitely impatient for the second book.

More than zombies

This book is written in a past & present viewpoint which I believes keeps the story interesting and you thinking! Really looking forward to the next book in the series! Very easy to listen to!

couldn't finish it

the story is good but the narrator ruins the scene the author is trying to set. it's a zombie apocalypse, things should feel intense. the way the narrator talks is very light hearted even when characters had just engaged in combat with a zombie, she makes them sound calm and almost happy. also the way she emphasizes certain words ruins what mood I think the author is trying to convey. and for some reason a normal conversation between 2 guys she makes sound sexual as if there is this insinuated sexual tension between them when all they are literally talking about is getting this drunk girl home. I might read the book rather since I do like where the story is going, it's just this narrator is terrible at conveying the appropriate mood. narrator's are a big part of making audio books good and they did not pick a good one for a zombie apocalypse.

I was duped!

Read the publisher's summary. I did. Then I listened to the book. Then I reread the summary to see if I missed something. This book is NOT as advertised. They say it's all about a zombie apocalypse and how different people deal with it. Part of the book is about that, yeah, but most of it is about teenagers doing teenager things, which is no fun for a 40 year old to listen to.

The story is presented in a time-shifting fashion where the chapters go back and forth before and after some major event, in this case a zombie virus outbreak. I generally don't like that style of book as much as I like a straight story told from start to finish, but I understand for the sake of revealing things it's sometimes helpful to tell a story in a broken way.

But there was no reason to present the book this way. There's no great revelation as the outbreak was happening at the end of the book that couldn't have been told where it belonged in the middle of the book. In fact, I personally don't think any of the before stuff was relevant to the advertised story. And the before stuff comprised at least 50% of the total text. Granted, there were a few storylines that maybe could have been put in as background stories during the telling (not going to spoil anything here), but for 50% of a zombie outbreak book to be set in a time before zombies?? That's false advertising.

It's like the author wrote the story and then the publisher suggested they lop off the last half and shuffle it into the first half. The result is the actual end of the book (which turns out to be the middle), isn't an ending at all. It's like the story just stops in the middle of a chapter and you have to then think about the "after" chapters throughout the book to assemble the completed story in your brain. There's no resolution. There's no climax. There's no denouement.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from this book. It was terrible.