Hey there people. It seems that while I was away, I had caught some nasty bug and it drives me insane. My throat felt dry, eyes watery and worse, my nose felt like it is on fire (God, I hope I’m not turning into a Zombie). However, I am not here to b*tch about it. Actually, I am here for a book review.
So, let us get straight at it. I am going to be as brief as possible and restrain myself from spoiling the stories.
Chances are, you never heard about this book before or this author for that matter, and because of that, I would like to bring Walter Greatshell’s Xombies to the spotlight. Does this book works? Before I move on any further let us have a look at the premise for the story.
In Xombies, we meet Louis “Lulu” Pangloss while she was tagging along with her mother in order to look for her father, which she had never known before. She actually felt bad for the man as her mother was going to give him a hard time.
Written in first person point of view, we were told that she suffered from Chromosomal Primary Amenorrhea. The rare medical condition suspended her menstrual cycle, giving her an appearance of a much younger age than she really was. Lulu hated how her mom used her to gain sympathy from debt collectors. However, she did not realize that her rare medical condition was what saved her from a mysterious plague called “Agent X”.
The outbreak of so-called Agent X, were unknown of its origin and the public were heedless of the upcoming disaster. It worked by turning all the female population into blue creatures that seemed to bend toward violence and lost all rational thoughts. Due to the nature of the virus attacking menstrual-age female, the term Xombies was used. These Xombies in turn attack the male population converting them into second generation via “kiss of death”.
When the whole were shocked and stirred by the news, Lulu and her mother were oblivious of it. It was not until her mother decided to get some supplies that she realized that the world had been turned upside down by the calamity. For all Lulu and her mother knew, humanity might had already been wiped out. From there the story picked off. Lulu searched for her father and found the man while she was in the midst of running for her life.
Mr. Cowper (Lulu’s father) was an ex Naval operator who possessed thick New England accent. Lulu then followed him upon surviving her mother’s attack after being converted into one of the ‘blue meanies’. Both of newly reunited father and daughter then trapped in heart-pounding actions of escaping and cutting through hordes of the Xombies in order to get to safety in a military installment.
Once there were in a military installment, more conflicts arose because of Lulu’s presence. Everybody seemed to hate her just because for being a girl. While they were busy debating and tossing remarks, the Xombies attacked the installment. All of the survivors were in great danger from being overrun. Mr. Cowper led a coup against the leader of the base and hijacked the only way out from there – a nuclear class submarine.
With the help of his long time friends in then navy, Mr. Cowper raced against time to guide as much survivors (especially Lulu) as he could to the sub. During the run for their lives, Lulu met several boys who then, later became her acquaintances. Lulu still had to face the same harsh treatment she had been getting at the base. Things get even more complicated as the survivor began to experience “cabin fever” due to enclosure in tight space of the sub for a very long time. Lulu tried to gain the trust from the other survivors and in the same time finding out what was really going on in the sub. One by one the mystery of the plague unfolded as Lulu began her own investigation of the matter. There were more to the plague than the survivors actually thought.
Will they make it? Will they find the last safe place on earth? Is there any hope for humankind to rebuild what was lost? Find out in Xombies as we follow Lulu and the rest of the survivors onboard USS No-Name, carrying what seems to be relics of our civilization and finding a safe haven.
Okay, that is as far as I can go without giving away too much. So does this book worth a read? Should you pick it up? If it helps, here is what I think about this book.
1. Very well written. Walter Greatshell knew what he was doing. The writing is solid. I am impressed by the sophisticated prose style and evocative descriptions, which is a joy to read. His vision of the world after the outbreak is scary. The detail of the sub is really in depth that you feel Walter must have been on one himself.
2. A fresh take on zombie apocalypse genre. The voyage on the nuclear sub indeed add depth toward the story itself rather than focusing solely on zombie actions or simply resorting to run and gun in order to impress the reader.
3. The character is very well developed. Lulu Pangloss is an enjoyable read. Her narrations had a non orthodox edge to it as she was not drawn from any stereotypical girlish character. She had her own unique voice not to mention hilarious too. There are many characters to like in this book and some you will really care for.
4. This is not really a zombie book. As I said before, this book is so much more. It plays more with human interactions, the interplay between the survivors, and emotions. As we know from loads of zombie literatures in the market, this is the core of a zombie story and Greatshell pull it off beautifully.
5. The only minus side that I find is that the book divided into extremes. What I mean is that it has highs and lows. When it is riding high, it is a very good book - fast, full of interesting ideas, good writing and clever twists. But, when it is low, it gets very low and then we are stuck with pages of info dumps that might throw off some readers.
There are many things to say about this book. If I have to sum it up, I would say that this book is a strange stew of genres (the apocalyptic virus tale, the macho submarine thriller, the zombie horror novel, the teen alienation novel, the Sci-Fi Big Statement novel, etc.) being mold together into a satire, then totally takes off in a different direction all together. Does it work? For me it works superbly well. I had a blast with Lulu and the rest of survivors.
Anyway, if you are a zombie story lover who does not mind a new take on the genre, or maybe you are just trying to find something new to read, try out Xombies by Walter Greatshell.
This is an alternate cover for Xombies, retitled and ready in prints somewhere during September. This is
not a sequel.
Entitled as Xombies: Apocalypticon, this
is a sequel to Xombies. The book
has been finalised and will be hitting the shelves soon. Since I've been following Walter's work for a while, before this artwork released at his site, he originally named the second book as
Xombierama which to me, sounds more exciting.
One of my favorite passage,
This is from a scene with Lulu and her mom just as soon she got home for Lulu.
Lulu's mom (after a hysterical fit);
"'Beware any agressive, unusual, or dishevelled-looking people' they said,". She giggled hysterically. "That's us, isn't it?"
This is Zombie signing out.
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