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)

Complete is Complete

First, this book is the complete text. Second, there's a lot more people in here than just listed - by having a separate cast for every narrator, it makes for a very refreshing read. Mark Hamill is superb as Todd Wainio, the veteran of the Battle of Yonkers, just as Rene Auberjonois as Andre Renard, who helped to clear the zombies out of the Parisian Catacombs.

Unique method to tell a story

Wow, I surprised myself in giving the story a 5, I seldom rate so high. But I liked the unique method of storytelling by having a character as a historian interviewing many different people such as soldiers, politicians, religious officials, civilian survivors, etc I liked the take of showing someone as a weakling or otherwise broken person finding courage, strength and resolution to stay alive. And also others who seemed to be so strong in different circumstances crumble under pressure. The take of people who were rich with intellectual jobs being classified as basically useless and those who were skilled labor as precious was masterful. Many different examples of turning the modern world, modern values on its ear. Love it!

Style, Format, and Quality of Narration

This was a really fun book. And one of, if not the best narrated and produced audiobook I’ve ever listened to. The entire cast nails it. This books lends itself to narration like no other.

It was a great overall production

honestly there wasn't anything I didn't like. I'm not going to say it was my favorite, but it was definitely in the top five

A Must Read

The interesting parts of the zombie apocalypse. All of the world events and how it spreads. You are guaranteed to love at least a few of the short stories, and it all flows together into a great single narrative. Absolutely beautiful story that anyone who likes the genre. It's a great book for people new to audiobooks too. The full cast really brings the story alive.

Like a documentary

Holy cow!! This was so interesting. I love hypotheticals and this guy went deep into most aspects of humanity and earthly life.

Great performance by all

The use of a great cast of different narrators really fits this book. Brooks did a fantastic job creating so many different characters with so many different and realistic perspectives. Highly recommend.

A Good Story with an All Star Cast but ABRIDGED

First off, I have to say I was “duped” into thinking this was finally the unabridged version of the book. I have a strong aversion to abridged books and probably would not have purchased this had I known it was not the complete work. Having said that, it was still a good listen despite the missing parts. If you never read the print version you probably won’t notice because the story is told in the style of firsthand accounts that are choppy by nature. Think Ken Burns doing a documentary on a worldwide zombie war. All-in-all it is a moving story that is less about zombies than the human spirit, good and bad.

The full book

Ok this book is not really related to the movie at all. Zombies don’t run is a key point of the book.

The book is entertaining with a great full cast audio. I have listened to this book well over 20 times.

This is a retelling of wwz or wwz1 as the narrator says is a bad title since it implys a wwz2. (Mind you I wish the author would do a sequel book) We are left with so many questions about the fall of humanity and I wish they would do more.

Meant for Audio

While last year's film adaption of World War Z had a few thrilling moments, it was still a pale, hollywoodized interpretation compared to Max Brooks' original vision of a world brought to the brink of total collapse. Inspired as much by the work of Studs Terkel as the zombie flicks of George A. Romero, the fact that the book is, as the subtitle notes, "An Oral History" cannot be emphasized enough. And it is this format, personal accounts as told to an interviewer, which makes World War Z a perfect story to tell in audiobook form. With military destruction and social upheaval occurring at a global level, a full cast (including Alan Alda, John Turturro, Simon Pegg and Martin Scorsese) allows listeners to hear the voices affected by the zombie apocalypse; to sit with their stories and reflect on the fragility of our own political and societal institutions.