Tony Faville

Kings of the Dead is written in journal form, which is a style I particularly like in zombie and post-apocalyptic books, as it tends to reveal more of the human emotion and daily struggles of the writer. There are also some entries from other characters, which add a new perspective to their situations.

The majority of Kings of the dead is written by Cole, a survivalist who, along with his wife and friends, has prepared for the worst and escaped from the cities before it all goes pear-shaped.

To begin with, I did find this book to be quite run-of-the-mill – the characters seemed a little cookie-cutter (ex Marine for example) and the action sequences a little too similar to so many other zombie books.

However, Kings of the Dead did pick up, and posed some very important questions on what would happen to an ordinary person thrown into an undead world. Characters with medical conditions find their health improving and their ability to be self sufficient, and the idea of creating ‘channels’ around their safe-haven to ensure they only have to fight zombies a handful at a time, rather than being overrun by a horde is an interesting one that I have not come across before.

There is quite a bit of discussion over weapons which I do admit I skimmed – not because it was badly written or inaccurate, it just held little interest for me.

Kings of the Dead does delve into the darker side of the ‘human factor’ and there are several disturbing scenes, however these are necessary to the story and show the struggle that normal human beings have maintaining their moral and ethical standards in a world falling apart.

It’s not easy to write a book that stands out in a sub-genre that’s experienced such fast growth and popularity but Kings of the Dead holds its own. And the ending is just that, an ending! Hurray!… (meer)