The Rising & City of the Dead by Brian Keene, CFC

[stuclach]

This is a review of two Zombie novels by Brian Keene. I wanted to like this. I really did. The underlying story of a class of "demons" known as the Sissquism lead by Ob taking over the bodies of the recently deceased is interesting. Their goal is to wipe out all humans and animals in an attempt to defile/destroy all that God has created. Factions of society have attempted to protect themselves. One military group has created a haven in Gettysburg that has become the epitome of all that can go wrong as a result of martial law. Another group has locked themselves up in a sturdy skyscraper with a leader that is slowly being driven mad. This scenario serves as a backdrop as a group of survivors attempt to help a father save and then protect his son. The basic plot is very interesting, but the details and the way Mr. Keene ends the two books greatly diminished my enjoyment.

The first major problem I had with these books was the presence of zombie babies and zombie animals. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when the first zombie baby makes its appearance. Then zombie squirrels, zombie birds, zombie dogs, zombie rats, zombie deer, etc show up. I nearly had a heart attack from laughing too hard when a zombie lion attempted to speak. These are horror novels that contains vivid descriptions of rape, dismemberment, and beatings. In my opinion the seriousness of these books was entirely undermined by the ridiculousness of the zombie animals/babies.

The second major problem I had with these books was the endings. The first novel ends with an absolute cliffhanger. After some of the silliness in this novel I hadn't planned on reading the second, but since the first book doesn't have an ending I had no choice but to read the second. The end of the second book is even more disappointing. It builds up a tremendous amount of tension and then the book end abruptly with a perfectly clean resolution that seems forced (almost as if there was some page limit).

The Frankie character was the most interesting. She was in the worst possible situation at the beginning of the first novel, but turns into the most reliable "survivor" when it is all said and done.
Obviously, my least favorite characters were the zombie animals. They just felt so incredibly out of place in the context of the rest of the novel.

I give these books a 3 out of 5. The backdrop was excellent. The intelligence and reasoning of the Sissquism was interesting to read, but the sillier moments and the way Mr. Keene chose to end the novels kept me from assigning them a higher score. If you don't find the idea of zombie animals or babies humorous or silly then you will probably love these novels (if you can get past the endings).

[barryreese]

I found the inclusion of the babies and animals a nice bit of realism. You hardly ever see the effects on animals in zombie books. Didn't find it funny at all but I'm glad you enjoyed them overall.

[stuclach]

It was certainly innovative, but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief to that level. Perhaps if the initial baby scene had been structured in a different fashion I wouldn't have been so put off by them.

How did you feel about the endings?