I don’t know that this book was necessary.

I’m sort of bummed to say that. I mean, I love the idea of a tribute to Romero, and I did like many of the characters, but…

The beginning was terrific. I loved reading about how things started. But eventually, all the different story lines felt unsatisfying. I also wanted a bit more of a world view of what was happening.

Kraus is a skilled writer. There’s an autopsy scene that’s either the most horrific or most erotically charged thing I’ve read. And the fact that I don’t know which makes it even more horrifying.

But, aside from a few…zombie aberrations (?) that come later in the book, it’s pretty much standard zombie fare. It’s just zombie fare over decades of time.

I did like it. I just didn’t love it and I so wanted to.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Besides the Goldfinch, this is the longest book I've ever read. Unlike the Goldfinch, it didn't feel like it. I'm not even a big "zombie aficionado" and this book sucked me in from page one. An amalgamation of dozens of stories told from multiple points of view, it's a study in humanity, the best and worst of us. I cheered at moments, cringed at gore, flipped pages faster and faster to inhale this story. Truly a great read and an absolute credit to the genre.

This is a damn good book. This deserves to be on the NYT bestsellers list. This deserves to be mentioned as the height of zombie fiction alongside 'World War Z'.

There is blood and gore for the hardcore zombie fan, but there is also a thoughtful, well-written, well-constructed look at how people pull together when things fall apart. The ending, especially, lingers with you long after you've set the book aside.

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It all started with George Romero. After all the films this book looked to be the final word from Romero. No budget restrictions or worries about box office. Unfortunately he passed away before it could be completed.

Thus lies the rub with this one. There are a lot of times it just doesn't feel like Romero. Whether he's rewriting the history of his classics or another author finished his work, who knows. The book begins in an almost mosaic fashion; with multiple characters and jumping back and forth amongst their stories. Just when one plot thread was getting good it was jump to another. The classic Dead trilogy was very isolated so plot threads like a Navy ship being overrun just got boring for me.

The second act takes a lot of the earlier plot lines and just keeps adding to them like a snowball. This is where I personally think Romero's story ended and Kraus took over. By the third act I was just exhausted. Again, when I saw this was originally intended to be George's vision it's kind of sad that it ended up being finished by someone else.

Kraus is talented and he took on a major task here. His author's note shows he did his best to finish this, but he never actually worked with George so it's all just a what if. The third act reads like every zombie clone we've gotten recently; no matter who much you want to make it it's own thing its really not that unique.

I look at this book like The Irishman. You should spend your time on it as a symbol of respect if you want, but it's a big time investment with little payoff.