Max Brooks' World War Z is hands down one of the best books in the zombie genre written in the past decade. Survivors of a ten year war against the hordes of living undead tell their stories of survival in a world overrun with zombies. Written as a series of first-hand accounts of the events preceding and following the zombie war, this novel presents an eerily realistic depiction of the political, military, and societal response to a zombie plague. The zombie war, called "The Crisis", sees entire countries overrun as fear paralyzes citizens and governments fail to defend their borders against the plague. It's a riveting account of a global human effort for survival. If you're looking for tips on how to survive a zombie apocalypse, check out Max Brooks' previous work, The Zombie Survival Guide : Complete Protection From The Living Dead.
David Wellington's Monster trilogy is an inventive take the zombie apocalypse tale. The first book, Monster Island, takes place in New York City years after the rise of the undead. The majority of the world's population has perished at the hands of flesh-hungry zombies, countries and governments as we know them have collapsed, and small pockets of fighters are the only resistance against the undead. A former U.N. weapons inspector and small band of teenage-girl soldiers are sent to New York City to search for the rarest of commodities in the new zombie world, medicine. To succeed in their mission they must escape the million zombies that occupy Manhattan Island. They soon discover not all zombies are as brain dead as they appear. Monster Nation is a prequel chronicling the first months of the zombie outbreak in the United States, and Monster Planet continues years after Monster Island as the thinking undead continue to amass power and threaten to exterminate what remains of the human race.
Zombie Anthologies
Whether you prefer zombies of the classic George Romero variety (moaning, sluggish ghouls aware of nothing but their unending hunger for human flesh), or with a new twist (the speaking, thinking, planning undead), The New Dead and The Living Dead has something for everyone. Featuring such giants of the zombie, fantasy, and horror genre as Stephen King, Max Brooks, Clive Barker, and David Schow, these are exceptional short story collections. Lazarus from The New Dead and This Year's Class Picture from The Living Dead are some standouts of the collections.
Submitted by Kristina @ MPL Central
