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| World War Z, by Max Brooks, 2006, published by Three Rivers Press |
This is an incredibly fun story. It is not a tense or scary book; the war is over, after all, and mankind won. But it is a very interesting and entertaining thought experiment, in which Brooks makes some pointed criticisms of contemporary society and our disposable consumer lifestyle. As the zombie plague spread across America, a secure zone was eventually established in California, where an interim government was established, tasked with rebuilding American civilization and organizing an offensive to retake the country. One interview with the government's Director of Strategic Resources explains the difficulty he had with human resources: 65% of the civilian workforce had no useful vocation or skills. Lawyers, executives, analysts, and consultants were of little use in world that needed carpenters, masons, machinists and gunsmiths. Brooks makes an interesting point that so many people in contemporary society have no practical skills; many, in fact cannot even grow their own food or undertake simple home repairs - skills that would have been taken for granted just a generation ago.
World War Z is a 'must read' for anyone interested in zombie fiction, and highly recommended for its speculative approach to survival in a post-apocalyptic environment.
I rate it 3 out of 5 pumpkins for a scary Halloween read, and 5 out of 5 pumpkins as an original and highly thought-provoking zombie story.
4 comments:
Probably my favorite genre book (fantasy/scifi/horror) of the last decade.
Ever since reading it, I've thought one could run an awesome campaign based around the tactical teams that the U.S. was futilely deploying in the early months of the outbreak - doing search and destroy and containment missions at first, dealing with politics and propaganda, and perhaps following the PCs along as society breaks down and they abandon the rule of law in favor of mere survival. I also loved the idea of the phenomenon of living people "going zombie" (I forget what the disorder was called). Makes perfect sense.
The only bit where Brooks's politics got on my nerves and interfered with the story was, I thought, his bit with Israel, making it the golden savior of the Middle East, etc. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but...nope. Turns out Israel's just awesome!
(Not that Israel doesn't know a thing or two about survival and practicality, but I thought the whole thing was just a bit too...pat, I guess.)
Yep, brilliant story; and you're right, it would make an excellent premise for a campaign.
Excellent book. I really enjoyed this and the Zombie Survival Guide.
Great book. I blew through it in about a week. Listened to some audio book stuff as well - Mark Hamill did the soldiers voice from the Battle of Yonkers!
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