Play Book Tag discussion

Let's hear it for ZOMBIES!

I hereby declare September the month to celebrate zombies! Those disappointed that zombies lost the tag vote, or anyone who just wants to join the fun, can here discuss and recommend zombie books they read or are currently reading. We will do it the same way we did Reading Andy Weir in January: pick whatever zombie book you want to read and post a review once done, or chime in on a discussion of any. Use spoiler tags.

I really hope someone decides to read and discuss Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Though I read it a couple years ago, would love discussing it.

As for me, I am pretty sure I have a cozy mystery or two in the TBR with a zombie or two in it. Oh, yes, these! Bimbos of the Death Sun and its sequel Zombies of the Gene Pool available for $1.99 in combined ebook Bimbos & Zombies: Bimbos of the Death Sun / Zombies of the Gene Pool. I have paperback copies here somewhere and remember reading and enjoying Bimbos a lot but Zombies lurks deep in the TBR.

🙌🎉🧟‍♀️💗

Love this idea, and thanks for kicking off the Month of Zombies!

I am torn on what to read.
I'm going to give it some more thought, but I think I would like to finally finish Pontypool Changes Everything.

Theresa wrote: "I really hope someone decides to read and discuss Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Though I read it a couple years ago, would love discussing it. ..."

I would love to join in, but it will likely depend how much time I have left with fitting in all my other challenges.

If I do join, it would likely be P&P&Z.

I have already requested Cell by Stephen King from the library. :)

I'm in! I will be reading Deathless Divide.

OOH this is shaping up to be a lot of fun!

It's September 1st and Zombies are arriving! I've expanded this Buddy Read to cover September and October because some of hte cozy mysteries with zombies books I am finding are set around Halloween thus fitting Flurries which start in October.

For those like me who prefer the lighter funnier zombie reads - cozy mysteries specifically - I'm providing short list I created the other day:

Nearly Departed in Deadwood - first in a whole series set in Deadwood with zombies. Covers must be examined.

Undercover with the Undead - I think only one in that detective series with a zombie theme.

Night of the Living Thread - only one in series with zombies.

I will definitely read some of the Deadwood ones this month.

I read P&P&Z recently and thought it was pretty good. I liked the way the Bennetts largely kept their original characters and the way attitudes to the undead were linked to morals and manners. Plus the interpretation of Lady Catherine de Bourgh was great!

My library system has an e-audio of Nearly Departed in Deadwood! I've made a note to get it in October for Fall Flurries.

I just finished one! XOM-B has been on my home shelves for a while. I had read and enjoyed the author’s Island 731 which was a science thriller in the mode of The Island of Dr Moreau.
Lots of zombies in Xom-B but with a bit of a twist. I found it hard to sort out who/what everyone was as the basic theme was conflict between humans and robots. Interesting but confusing and some of the “science” was way beyond my understanding.

I finished Cell by Stephen King. It was an interesting approach to a zombie story. It was a long book, which for me took away some of the thriller and horror aspects of the story line.

Lyn wrote: "I finished Cell by Stephen King. It was an interesting approach to a zombie story. It was a long book, which for me took away some of the thriller and horror aspects of the story line."

I didn't realize The Cell was a zombie story.

I suspect I will not get to a zombie book this month. I'll be lucky to get to all my regular challenges. I started the month with a fat book (I'm still not half way), and my shorter book still took a long time to get through. Finally finished the shorter one yesterday and have moved on to another shorter one (that is also going faster). But I think it's unlikely I'll be able to fit in an extra this month.

I read Fudge Bites which is not about actual zombies but rather a murder that takes place during a zombie walk. It was the next book in a series I had not read for awhile and it was a fine read but not very exciting. I gave it 3 stars.

My zombie book may get bumped to October as well but still excited to read it.

In a rare instance I got ahead of my book club so I have some downtime to read whatever. I think I will start Pontypool Changes Everything this weekend.

My zombie experts - can I count Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir as a zombie read?

Theresa wrote: "My zombie experts - can I count Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir as a zombie read?"

It's an absolutely fabulous mind twist but no real zombies that I remember. However the next one, Nona the Ninth mentions zombies. I'm #3 for the library hold and cannot wait!

ETA: 13 people have tagged Harrow as zombies so maybe I'm misremembering! Please read, there are some fabulous scenes!

Jen K wrote: "Theresa wrote: "My zombie experts - can I count Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir as a zombie read?"

It's an absolutely fabulous mind twist but no real zombies that ..."

I will be reading it. It is just a question of when I fit it in.

After about 15 years on the tbr and 2 or 3 tries, I finally finished Pontypool Changes Everything! Wow, I feel so accomplished, seriously :-) I probably wouldn't recommend this for anyone in the group. It is weird to the point of being almost impossible to understand at times.

My review is linked below"
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I finished Dread Nation . Thanks to whoever on here mentioned it. I had it on a tickle list but had forgotten about it then found it on shelf at the library. Not terribly zombie focused- they’re kind of a background menace for the most part. It was interesting to have the zombie apocalypse arising during the Civil War as I love historical fiction. This story which takes place about 20 years later was much more about racism than the zombies as Black and Native American children have been sent to schools to learn fighting skills and are then sent out to protect whites from the still threatening “shamblers”. Ending was a set up for the next volume.

I have now just gotten another zombie book: Death Warmed Over subtitled a “Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.” book. It seems to be a typical private eye novel with Dan taking cases involving werewolves, vampires, ghosts etc after an event called the Big Uneasy released all these creatures into the human world. After being shot dead on a case, human PI Dan Chambeaux returned to his business as a zombie. Looks to be quirky fun. There are 6 books in the series. This first one has brief blurbs from Charlaine Harris and Jonathan Mayberry.

I downloaded World War Z. I hope I didn't get it too early because I haven't finished the new Stephen King book yet. I remember his books as being fast reads, but they're not anymore.

I still have vivid pictures in my mind from the Pride & Prejudice & Zombies movie. So I can discuss it a little.

In a surprise move, I am joining the Zombie read with the same book as NancyJ, World War Z. I have heard good things about it. I am not a paranormal fan, but I always enjoy joining this group's buddy reads when possible. :-)

@Phair - the Zombie PI series sounds right up my alley!

I am behind on reading - barely read anything in last 10 days - work so busy. But I have a couple lined up that also fit October Flurries!

On Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I am someone who disliked the book but found the movie adaptation terrific. The book read too much like the joke of adding 'in bed' on the end of chinese fortunes or here 'zombie' stuck into Austen. Very little writing skill in evidence and poorly done parody. But the movie with the post apocalytic world was fab.

I agree with Theresa that the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie adaption was better than the book. The book was entertaining, but the movie is well worth watching!

Finished Death Warmed Over about the zombie P.I.. it was surprisingly good. Lots of humor. Dan had many cases to unravel but everything seemed to come together in the end. There was decent world building. Dan is sort of in the hard boiled detective mold and narrates the story in that introspective style. I would definitely read more of the series if there weren’t so many other books out there calling to me.

So now I have read a science fiction type zombie story, a YA/historical fiction take on zombies and a mystery featuring a zombie detective. Nice variety but nothing really scary which is fine by me

On my flight home last night I read this non-scary funny cozy mystery with zombies. Pretty certain it is self-published under the Amazon program, but worth the $2.99 I paid for the ebook. 💀

Undercover with the Undead by Susan Harper

2 stars rounded down from 2.5 stars

Don't be put off by my review. I really did give this 2.5 stars, then rounded it down, plus most of my complaints about the book are most likely because it's in the middle of the series and I have not read any others. It was fun and I suspect I will read more starting from the beginning. I did enjoy this!

Felicity, who has suffered a major emotional loss that happens in a book earlier in the series, runs an event planning business in the town of Senoia, someplace in the US I presume (that's one of my complaints - geography is an important part of a plot for me -- even if made-up - is it southern US or Pacific NW? I have no idea from reading this one). Senoia is also the location where the popular TV series Zombie Zone is filmed and Felicity is hosting an event for the Zombie Zone production team at the set, with all the servers wearing zombie make-up. Of course, murder occurs at the party and the cast member victim's face is painted with zombie makeup after death.

Felicity, who has a reputation as a successful amateur PI (as evidenced by 6 previous cozy mysteries in the series), is hired by the show's producer to investigate and solve the murder as he has no faith in the local police.

This is really novella length and actually a lot of fun if somewhat thin on plotting. The whole Zombie Zone setting and fandom revealed is a hoot. As are the shenanigans of Felicity's parents. There's a really cute kid in it too. It only needs a dog or cat with personality and a bit more sophistication to the plotting.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks - 4* - My Review

I do not read zombie novels; however, I had heard good things about this one. So, in the spirit of “never say never,” I gave it a try. This book is an oral “history” of the zombie apocalypse. As the story opens, it has already occurred, and the narrator is interviewing participants from across the globe. My main complaint is the way women are portrayed. Other than that, I have to admit being pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the storyline. It will not, however, become standard fare in my reading list.

I read this for the “scary” tag, fall flurries, and the “zombies” buddy read.

Finally finished my Zombie book, Deathless Divide.

My review: Part 2 of Dread Nation. Summerland has fallen to the shambler/ zombie horde with Jane and her crew just making it out of the city and headed to the fabled Nicodermus to regroup and decide next steps. The remaining white population of Summerland also arrived in Nicodermus causing tension from the start. Unfortunately tension does not work with hordes of undead around. The ultimate journey is to find Jane's mom in California and the journey is look with many lost, found, hard choices made and lessons learned.

I really enjoyed the characters and that the ultimate relationship was friendship rather than a romantic one. The characters were great though some had twists that were unexpected and some a bit odd. It read quickly with the adventure and I enjoyed the ending.

It has been fun seeing everyone's reviews here. I ended up with little reading time these last couple of months which means I still have 3 or 4 zombie books in the TBR Towers.

Maybe we do a sub-flurries Zombie buddy read in 2023?

Theresa wrote: "Maybe we do a sub-flurries Zombie buddy read in 2023?"

You know I love that idea 😈
Do you mean like for next year's fall flurries?

Yes. It would be a sub-October flurries read -- if the zombie book didn't fit into October somehow, you'd just not get any points like this year. I just think it a fun buddy read without being committed to a particular book.

I'm hardly a reader of a lot of horror or zombie genre books but cozy mysteries frequently dip into the zombie arena. I do have those.