I had to DNF this one about 75 pages in. It's got a good premise - two YouTubers survive in the zombie apocalypse - but the storytelling is disjointed and confusing, the characters are all unlikable, and I just couldn't follow what was going on.

Thank you to the Pigfarm Press for giving me a copy of this book!

Okay, there's some interesting concepts here, but none of them are carried out to their fullest extent.

Characters: No one changed during the course of this book. There were times where their personalities switched for a moment, but then for the most part went back to what they were. Lila or Nate didn't grow in this novel. Everyone was pushing this edgy personality on Lila, but when was she ever edgy? Liking horror does not make one edgy. Also the YouTube thing which intrigued me got dropped off a quarter of the way into the book. That was their whole thing and then it was dropped off like most of the concepts in the book. I wanted some kind of resolution to Doyle and Lila, but Doyle just got killed off. Lila's psychic powers never got explained fully. Her relationship with Nate was bland. I also think that if we just focused on Lila and maybe Nate and not any other perspective, there would've been a tighter narrative. The zombies were cool in how they weren't your normal zombies, but nothing was explained about how they can't die or why they're suddenly evil when they turn.

Atmosphere: We never stayed in one spot long enough to focus on the atmosphere.

Writing: The dialogue in this book is very cringey at times. Lila and Nate are around my age and say things that make me think a 50 year old man wrote this. The parents trying to match the lingo of them was the worst parts. On top of that, the switch in perspectives didn't help and was just confusing at times.

Plot: Things were just happening. Everything just ended suddenly. We're going to find our fans. Oh, we got split up. The fan's place got set on fire. We're going to our hometown now. We're going to stay in the police station. Oh now everyone is a zombie and now we have to go to this building to figure out who this person is that can possibly stop this. No one can save this? Move on to an underground compound. Book ends. Nothing is explained or fulfilled.

Intrigue: Lila's psychic powers, the zombies, Doyle, and Tommy were the things I found super interesting about this book, but none of them were explained. What was with the train? What caused Lila's powers? Why are the zombies the way that they are? How did Doyle come to have an army of headless zombies and a pack of dogs?
Why are the zombies afraid of the dogs?

Logic: Nothing seemed logical in this book. Nothing is explained therefore logic is nowhere. Since zombies aren't the same as normal zombies, you can't fall back on previous versions of zombies.

Enjoyment: When I realized nothing was explained or plots weren't going to be finished, my enjoyment went down. I like a good zombie book, but I also like to know what's going on. I was confused for a good portion of the book as to what was going on.

All in all, I'm giving this two stars according to my rating system. There's a lot to improve on here, but the ideas and concepts are there.

I love zombie stories and have read many good, bad and ugly. This one was the worst. I did manage to get past the 50% mark before I had to stop. It’s just incoherent. The plot, the ideas, the characters just don’t make sense. The writing… Ain’t much better.

I liked at first but then as I got more into the book the less I liked it. I am so sorry. But I know there will be other people out there that will fall in love with this book. But this book just isnt for me sorry :(.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy in exchange for my review.
Honestly, I was excited for this book, the cover and the title drew me in right away! I don’t usually read zombie books so maybe that is why I didn’t really enjoy it. But it just wasn’t for me, I had a hard time reading it because it just didn’t hold my attention. there were a few times that I had to go back and reread a section because I was not able to keep straight what was happening.

This was a great book. A lot of people found it confusing. Same here. A lot of characters, a little too much mystery (mystery is great, but us dummies need some things spelled out for them), some really gratuitous violence. Well-written, edgy, humorous with a dark undertone.

I would have to say the only real problem I have with this book is the lack of explanation as to what was really going on. I think I got the bare jist of it by the end, but it was really difficult to follow in some spots.

I will probably have to read this again to try to find the explanations as I go along. It seems kind of like one of those movies you can watch over and over and catch little things in that you never saw before.

Trigger warnings: Somewhat descriptive gory violence, swearing

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. The author grew up in Buenos Aires--tick. The author based the cemetery on one in Chacarita (I kept picturing Recoleta, so that would explain why)--tick. Zombie apocalypse--tick.

But, the writing needed another really good round of edits. There were incorrect words everywhere and the dialogue really left something to be desired. Considering there was more dialogue than exposition, that hurt what could have been a good book.

My other problem was the overwhelming amount of viewpoints. I know that can work, but it just proves I'm a reader who prefers character development and a slower moving plot that can result.

I will be honest and say this was not my favorite, I am a fan of anything horror and quiet easy to please and the whole concept of the book is very interesting, it was the execution that failed for me. I really tried liking it, and I did finish it, but throughout the whole book I was just honestly confused. While I do like the multiple POV thing, it was not very clearly separated.
It was maybe just not my cup of tea, I am sure there are people out there that will love it.

I love zombies. I really do. When I was younger, I'd buy every single zombie book out there, just to find a new, fresh take out there. I was hesitant about the idea of 'horror youtubers', but I had to remind myself... why? Why is this the take that gave me pause? Not Eat Brains Love? No, this was fantastic, and the characters felt great. I cared about the story, the stakes were never too high or too low - it felt like I was listening to a story from a friend. I loved it! Different from other takes, while still being familiar enough to keep me engaged the whole time.

This was a big one. If you like gore and zombies please pick this one up next. Old school zombie story with twist and turns galore. Terrifying!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

All the Tommys in the World by Javier Gombinsky

#dnf #arc

CW: zombies, death, gory violence, cemeteries

I was interested in the premise of this book, but the execution was off. The multiple timelines via multiple flashbacks with multiple perspectives in each was confusing without any clarification on when exactly things were happening. Also, are zombies different than dead slayers different than walkers different than ghouls? It seems as though the terms were used interchangeably, then they weren’t, and I couldn’t keep track of what monster was what. I didn’t care about any of the main characters because they were very flat and not fleshed out at all. Then all of a sudden there’s a time jump of several years in the middle of a chapter but they’re still in the same situation? I ultimately DNFed at 52%.

Thank you to @netgalley and Pig Farm Press for the advance copy. (Pub date 08/17/21)

This is one of those books where if I'm not sure if it's brilliant or not. It has an interesting concept - get a multiple viewpoint account of the end of the world from people alive, dead, and something in-between. But the storyline is hard to follow, the segues from one narrator to another is abrupt and the timelines aren't cohesive. It very much felt like a writing exercise where you have plot points that you have to connect but they weren't fully fleshed (sorry, bad zombie pun) out. It's not a bad story, but certainly not the best I've ever read. I really enjoyed Lilith, Nate, Lester and Yoshi, but everything else was just a little too farfetched for me.

#AllTheTommysInTheWorld #NetGalley

Zombies! Zombie apocalypses! Man I love them! But this? So confusing and hard to keep up with;
Not to mention the characters were hard to like-aging you tubers? Bleh.
Not enough to keep me going. Chapter 9 and I called it a day!

I love how this book jumps right into the apocalypse! The only zombie story I’m familiar with is The Walking Dead, so going into it, I figured it would be similar. But these zombies are more intelligent and quicker on their feet, which was even more unsettling. Expect twists and turns in this novel along with time jumps that can be a little confusing if you’re not paying close attention.

Thank you for the ARC and best of luck to the author!!

I was super into the premise of this story, but I think it fell a little flat. I couldn’t connect with Lilith at all, nor her forebodingly-named parents…maybe I’ll try again later.

I was drawn into this dystopian nightmare for probably the first half. It felt innovative and fresh, creative and cult-like. But then I became confused and felt like I had missed some vital pages in order to follow the plot. It started to pick up towards the end but essentially it never reached the heights that I envisioned for it.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a huge fan of zombies and horror in general. And for the most part I think I am fairly easy to please, which is why I really didn't want to write this review. I hate leaving a negative reviews, and even more I hate when I give up on a book, but that's what I did with All the Tommy's in the World. I forced myself to continue on several times but finally at the 30% mark I had to call it quits. And I really really hate to do that. I respect anyone who puts in the effort to create and I wish Mr. Gombinsky well, but this book just didn't work for me at all. I loved the concept, a couple of Youtubers in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. And yet that wasn't what got delivered. It was mentioned very early on they were Youtubers, but that was it...a mention. They weren't running around with cameras, videoing the chaos, it was merely mentioned that they had a channel where they reviewed horror movies and such. Fine we don't get the Youtubers in action, we still get a great story, right? Nope. In fact the third I read was confusing as all get out. Scenes seem to jump one from the other without any explanation, felt like we were missing much of the story. But what I found must frustrating was the fact t that not one of the characters acted in consistent way. Now I know in many horror movies and books we see people act stupidly, those characters we yell at 'what the heck are you thinking' but that's not what I am talking about. The characters don't act in a consistent manner. One minute they are huddling in terror, the next they running into the middle ope the chaos for no reason. It honestly left me scratching my head. I appreciate the effort and I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of the book, but this is not a book I'll be recommending to any of my friends.

“All the Tommy’s in the World” by Javier Gombinsky is an original zombie thriller that is both chilling and unsettling as readers are pulled into a world that offers a fresh take on what it means to live in a world overrun by the living dead.

A novel where the zombie apocalypse descends upon the human population and they aren’t trying to figure why the hell the dead aren’t staying dead and how this mess even started? Yes, please! “All the Tommy’s in the World” presents a zombie apocalypse in which no one is truly afraid of the flesh-eating creatures roaming their streets. Having seen all of this beforehand in popular media, humankind is ready to face the threat firsthand. Shoot to kill, bash in their head with whatever handy weapon is available, or get the hell out of dodge.

Readers and characters alike are lulled into a sense of security by following the age-old tropes that worked for every fictional zombie fighter known to man. When those tricks no longer work, everyone’s understanding of what a zombie is becomes flipped upside down, and an apocalypse like none other ensues.

There are moments when the book is confusing which usually happened when there were shifts in time or a perspective change to someone other than the two main characters Lillith and Nate. While some of that confusion was never cleared up, it didn’t detract too much from the overall chaos of a good ‘ole zombie outbreak. A good chunk of that is due to Lillith and Nate who narrates a majority of this novel with events from their past and present. The two of them are horror enthusiasts who use the zombie apocalypse as a chance to enjoy diving head-first into chaotic situations while simultaneously trying to save humankind from extinction.

This is definitely a novel fans of zombie horror should pick up! The writing is fresh and original along with the plot and characters. A lot of what feels predictable or overdone in the genre is met with unexpected twists or turns fans will enjoy. There’s a lot of great witty humor along with some gory scenes one can usually expect in a zombie apocalypse. I highly recommend checking out this novel on its expected publication date of August 17th, 2021.

Thank you Netgalley and Pigfarm press for providing me with a free e-arc and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

It kind of reminded me of the mean ghouls (Rotten Apple#1) by Stacia deutsch. It was really cool to read the zombie apocalypse , albeit being a new plot and all, it is really vague and ambiguous. It would have been better book if story is developed well. Apart from that ,the premise , the characters are good. They fit in so well with the plot.

Recommendation: For Zombie thriller genre fans , it would be an enjoyable read , it is fresh and new.I would definitely recommend it to both the rotten apple and poison apple book(s) fans.

2.5 / 3
This is a different sort of zombie book. When we begin the zombie apocolypse is alread underway. Lillith and her boyfriend Nathan are youtubers who watch horror movies, when after a visit from her parents Lilith decides they need to get out and see the zombies for themselves. While everyone thinks the zombies are like those from the movies.. dumb, slow, and just need a good head shot to take them down, her father swears that he saw one running. So they maybe smarter than they seem.. As they are out and about they get seperated and Nathan finds himself at a hospital with a bunch of children with cancer, and Lilith ends up meeting up with her parents who are trying to take her back to the town where she grew up.
Thats kind of where it lost me.. There are the zombies, the slayers are taking care of them.. but they seem to be getting smarter, or maybe they were always smart and they were faking being like zombies from the movie.. Lilith is being pushed to return to her hometown for some reason that has to do with the zombies. There is some big bad "Thing" that wants Lilith to return there for some reason..
Honestly this book was way to long, I ended up skimming through alot of it. So Im sure I missed some of the things that explained what what going on.
The parts with the zombies and one scene in particular with Liliths parents were really good and creeped me out. I think I would definitely check out other books by this author in the future.
I think that other people will really like this book, this one just wasn't for me.