Recommend some good zombie books

Posted on March 5, 2010 by David Forbes

I was on Twitter recently and said that I thought zombies worked better in movies or shorter works of fiction than they do in novels. To me, there doesn’t seem enough for zombies to do to have them be the bones of a story (ha ha!) that will carry on for a few hundred pages. My online Twitter friend @zombiejoe disagreed and thought there were some zombie-ish novels that were great. One he mentioned was Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. I recently reviewed Boneshaker and loved it, but I don’t consider it a zombie novel. It’s a steampunk book first and foremost — the zombies are part of the backdrop but not really a central part of the story (though they are an ongoing menace).

I realized I hadn’t really read much long-form zombie fiction. I bought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the beach last year and while I appreciated the idea of the mash-up, I just couldn’t get into it and put it down without finishing it.

I thought about it some more and perused my bookshelves and came to the conclusion that I have not read any zombie novels.

I really have nothing against zombies. I said to Zombiejoe that I thought they probably worked better in movies than they do on the page, but that may be coming from my own lack of exposure and inability to imagine a good zombie book than a failure of the zombie genre.

Zombieland Rule#1: Cardio

I love movies like Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, and 28 Days Later (and it’s sequel). I thought Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead was pretty killer, and I’d been prepared to despise it since the original was one of the seminal movies of my teen years. I guess I’ve always preferred to watch zombie mayhem than read about it.

So I’m going to ask for recommendations. What should I read? What are some good zombie novels out there that you think hold there own over a few hundred pages? I’m vaguely familiar with World War Z and a book called Xombies (though i guess barely aware would be more accurate). Tell me what you think are the books at the top of the genre (or sub-genre, or niche, or whatever) so I don’t have to do any work and figure it all out for myself. Use the comments here to let me know what you think are the best and why.

Let the recommendations commence!

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  • http://www.jerismithready.com Jeri Smith-Ready

    I read several zombie novels last year as I prepared to introduce them into my vampire series. I wanted to see what had already been done.

    The best by far was WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks. It’s brilliant science fiction (though it was labeled general fiction, which kind of pissed me off, that publishers assume anything with wide appeal couldn’t be sf, but I digress). He shows a worldwide zombie apocalypse from dozens of points of view, in a journalistic interview style. Every angle–medical, military, social, environmental–you could possibly think of is covered.

    The WALKING DEAD graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman et al is also wonderful. It shows what happens after the zombie apocalypse, featuring a band of humans trying to survive. Fantastic ensemble cast and stunning art. It’s like LOST with characters you don’t want to strangle.

    I also really liked BREATHERS: A ZOMBIE’S LAMENT by S.G. Browne. It was told from the POV of a zombie trying to get by in today’s world–he goes to a support group, falls in love, finds out that eating human flesh makes him look and feel human again. It’s funny and sad.

    FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan was also very good. The setting is a medievalesque village rather than a contemporary city, which was a nice change in pace. The sequel, THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES, is coming out next month, I think.

    I haven’t read P&P&Z–it was on my stack, but I’d burned out on zombies by that point.

    Hope this helps!

  • David Forbes

    Excellent! Thanks for the recommendations, Jeri!

  • http://zombiejoe.wordpress.com/ ZombieJoe

    Jeri beat me to a few of them.

    World War Z is definitely one that tops the list. Probably one of my favorites of all time. My son even read that for history in high school. They had to read one non-fiction and one fiction with historical elements.

    Walking Dead is probably the best graphic representation of a zombie movie I can think of. Later in the series Kirkman goes to a very dark and scary place. Seriously, it was uncomfortable for me to even sit through it.

    Forest of Hands and Teeth (and the soon to be released Dead Tossed Waves) is/are not only a wonderful example of a zombie book, but a great representation of YA that does not have to pander to the emo. Nothing sparkly about these books, but they are awesome! I am giving DTW a free pass here as I have not read it yet.

    The Amanda Feral series by Mark Henry is not your average zombie book. There are Romero style zombies in it, but only when a “full” zombie doesn’t finish their dinner. Those are cleaned up pretty quick. Dark, disturbing, but also very intelligent and funny. Not a series for everyone but if you like dark humor you will love this series. Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead and Battle of the Network Zombies. One of my favorite series ever.

    David Wellington’s Monster series (Monster Island, Monster Nation, Monster Planet) is a pretty sharp series where it draws the zombie out and uses them as main characters. Not 100% on the final one, but I really liked the first two. Book three is worth the read, but I felt like it jumped the shark a bit.

    That is what I can think of off the top of my head. I know I am missing a couple. I will come back later with more. ;)

  • http://zombiejoe.wordpress.com/ ZombieJoe

    Oh yeah. Zombie Queen of Newbury High was given to me. Have not read it yet, but have heard good things.

    Also there is the YA book You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay. My oldest granddaughter is reading it and loves it. She has to loan it to me for me to get her the next one though. :)

    I think the anthology I have is called Land of the Dead. Like 30+ short stories in it. Maybe not that many, but it is huge. There are some great shorts in there.

  • http://www.brainsbrainsbrains.org/ zman

    If your looking for some good ZOmbie books give these a shot
    a) Day by Day Armageddon by JL Bourne
    b) Dying to Live by kim paffenroth
    c) Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection by don roff

  • David Forbes

    Thanks for all the recs, everyone! I see I’ve got some books to buy …

  • Zombie lover

    the teen book never slow dance with a zombie is a really good book, even if it is for teens

  • maggie

    I just read David Moody’s Autumn series and I couldn’t put them down! The world he creates is so well done and so scary, it was better than any zombie film I’ve seen. some of his stuff can be downloaded free on his website so you should definitely check him out!

  • David Forbes

    I haven’t heard of those but I’ll have to check them out. I tried World War Z and gave up pretty quickly when I realized it was all a series of after-the-fact vignettes with no overarching through-narrative.

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