shan198025's review against another edition
2.0
To say I'm disappointed in this book is understating my feelings. I throughly enjoyed the first 3 books along with the short stories. This book picks up 8 years after the end of Apocalypse of the Dead. We follow characters we met in that book. Which is usually good in a sequel but the characters we're following aren't the compelling ones we met in the previous book. In fact ALL of the characters I liked from that book
are DEAD! And what's more we're not told how they died. It's alluded to vaguely but it's a sad ending for such great characters. When I finally (and I say finally because I was still hoping we'd have at least a cameo flashback appearance or something) realized my favorites weren't going to make an appearance I almost stopped reading because I didn't care about ANY of the people I was reading about. I also didn't care about the conflict going on in the story. I mean seriously?!? No one thought to take the guy out by sniper before? Really? I think my biggest disappointment was the ending though. This is the final book in the series. And it just sorta....
Yup just like that.
are DEAD! And what's more we're not told how they died. It's alluded to vaguely but it's a sad ending for such great characters. When I finally (and I say finally because I was still hoping we'd have at least a cameo flashback appearance or something) realized my favorites weren't going to make an appearance I almost stopped reading because I didn't care about ANY of the people I was reading about. I also didn't care about the conflict going on in the story. I mean seriously?!? No one thought to take the guy out by sniper before? Really? I think my biggest disappointment was the ending though. This is the final book in the series. And it just sorta....
Yup just like that.
jrobles76's review against another edition
4.0
I had been waiting a long time for this book to come out. I was not disappointed. The last book ended on a kind of hopeful note (they had found a vaccine thanks to the guy who was immune). I say kind of in that the compound was overrun and tons of people were left dead. However, that was years ago, as this book starts. Things haven't gotten any better, in fact they seem to have gotten worse. The kid who holds the key to the zombie vaccine is near death himself and has no idea what to do with thumb drive that holds data. Also, the Zombies have advanced to a stage where they seem a little smarter. They are able to use other zombies as bait or to fake being slower than they actually are. There is even one alpha zombie (the Red Man) who can control other zombies. The survivors seem to have set up a few pockets of humanity, but they seem to be on the ropes.
I don't want to go too into the plot because it would be too easy to spoil things. I do have to say this book is very good. I've always liked that Joe McKinney seems to have a Joss Whedon like ability to allow his characters to be killed if it advances the plot. No one is safe. Which is as it should be in a story about the Zombie Apocalypse, you would live in mortal danger every second of every day.
Speaking of pop culture geeks, I thought there was one scene at the market that reminded me of Obi-Wan and Luke chartering of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: New Hope. Come to think of it, there's kind of a scene where they rescue a "rebel princess" that can handle herself just fine. You could probably make other comparisons (as I am doing in my head).
I'm a huge fan of this series and hope Mr. McKinney hasn't run out of stories to tell yet.
I don't want to go too into the plot because it would be too easy to spoil things. I do have to say this book is very good. I've always liked that Joe McKinney seems to have a Joss Whedon like ability to allow his characters to be killed if it advances the plot. No one is safe. Which is as it should be in a story about the Zombie Apocalypse, you would live in mortal danger every second of every day.
Speaking of pop culture geeks, I thought there was one scene at the market that reminded me of Obi-Wan and Luke chartering of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: New Hope. Come to think of it, there's kind of a scene where they rescue a "rebel princess" that can handle herself just fine. You could probably make other comparisons (as I am doing in my head).
I'm a huge fan of this series and hope Mr. McKinney hasn't run out of stories to tell yet.
mountainblue's review against another edition
4.0
Joe Mckinney's Dead World series are one of the best zombie apocalypse books out there and each book is even better than the last. I picked up the first book [b:Dead City|8690326|Dead City (Dead World, #1)|Joe McKinney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402841310s/8690326.jpg|87414] on a whim and almost quit reading due to lack of interesting characters coupled with a simplistic plot. It seemed to be similar to many other zombie horror books I've read but I decided to give the series a chance and I'm glad I did.
The second and third books in the Dead World series were even better. Each book had a new central character, a new setting, more complex plot and looks at the Apocalypse from a different angle. I love the strong yet realistic female characters here, the multiple POV, the variety of other characters and how they are connected, the well paced plot and heart pounding action and general atmosphere evoked by by the authors writing style. I can't wait to reread this series in the future and discover more of Mr Mckinney's books.
The second and third books in the Dead World series were even better. Each book had a new central character, a new setting, more complex plot and looks at the Apocalypse from a different angle. I love the strong yet realistic female characters here, the multiple POV, the variety of other characters and how they are connected, the well paced plot and heart pounding action and general atmosphere evoked by by the authors writing style. I can't wait to reread this series in the future and discover more of Mr Mckinney's books.
trike's review against another edition
1.0
I'm just going to come out and say it: I think this book was ghostwritten.
It doesn't feel like McKinney's other books in any way. The language is repetitive and full of errors, the characters are one-dimensional, the intelligence level of Nate The Immune Guy veers wildly all over the place, from a stupor-like idiocy to eloquent rhapsodies, and the characters are incredibly difficult to injure or kill... until it comes to time to injure or kill them for no apparent reason.
The other option is that McKinney is starting that long slide into dementia, as we saw with Agatha Christie, as her writing became simpler and her plots broken.
Here we have a character straight out of a Stephen King novel, the Red Man, who somehow has psychic control over all the zombies everywhere. (Which is actually a key aspect of other, better zombie novels, such as [b:Monster Island|44190|Monster Island (Zombies, #1)|David Wellington|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309520282s/44190.jpg|1405943] by David Wellington.) One of the (horribly-written) main characters, reporter Ben Richardson, actually lampshades this by exclaiming, "That's not consistent with this world!" But drawing a big red arrow over the problem without answering the question is amateur-hour fan-fiction.
Then there's the issue of Ben's iPad, which he's been carrying around recording interviews on for 8 years. Again, this is lampshaded when someone looks at it and marvels that Ben somehow found a way to charge this device in a world without electricity. Well? How did he do that?! I mean, you're only looking through his knapsack, which contains everything he owns. Surely the answer is in there.
Nope.
The problem is simple: you can't lampshade something badly, because that just raises more questions. People often use the terms "lampshading" and "red flag" interchangeably, but I distinguish between the two.
In a story -- novel, movie, play, TV series, whatever -- that is self-aware and has meta-commentary on both the real world and the fictional world we're presented with, you can lampshade away, because the audience is already there for the comedy and in tune with the silliness. A great example occurs in the Disney movie The Emperor's New Groove where, after a lengthy chase sequence, the bad guys (chasers) beat the good guys (chasees) back to the secret lab and one of them asks, "Wait a minute! How did you get here first?" And one of the bad guy pulls a chart out and shows their paths, remarking, "I don't know. Logically it makes no sense."
That kind of lampshading in that type of movie is fine. Here, in this book, is goes from lampshading to red flagging. It completely throws you out of the story.
Typically audiences will go for one or two big "buy-ins" on a story. Your armor protects you from harm? Okay Iron Man, I'll buy that... even when you fall out of the sky and slam into concrete at 100 miles per hour, which should've turned you into paste. But once you start heaping more and more impossible things onto the character, audiences lose their willing suspension of disbelief.
To sell the Big Impossibility, you need to get the Little Realities correct.
In Mutated we're already buying into a pretty big gimme with a zombie novel. Pushing us into the idea that zombies are evolving -- or mutating, as the title suggests -- and there are different stages of the zombie virus which results in different kinds of zombies, including regaining some limited cognition and becoming fast-moving again (after decaying and being damaged plus diseased for nearly a decade) is another pretty big demand on our willing suspension of disbelief. But I think most people will go with that. Until you pile on with the ridiculous Red Man and his psychic powers, and the magical iPad, and the temporary invulnerability of characters... now you've broken my WSoD.
There are lots of other things about this book which are just dumb. The hyper-competent character of Niki Booth, for example. She's supposed to meet with Dr. Fisher at sunset at some small town in three days so they can... what? I have no idea. Sylvia claims Niki knows of a cure, but Niki never says that. Nate is the guy who is both immune to the virus AND has the flash drive containing the government's vaccine formula on it, and Niki didn't even know about his existence until more than 5/6ths of the way through the book. And how were Niki and Dr. Fisher arranging this meet-up? Did they, too, have working iPads whose Facetime apps still worked just fine? (Well, no, since Dr. Fisher enjoys seeing an iPad again after so long. Maybe they had Android phones?)
The fact that these are things we're just supposed to accept because it's a zombie novel (which is my guess as to the rationale here) is spurious. We've seen time and time again that people reject this stuff, so why is it being tried here?
I dunno. I see a lot of 4- and 5-star ratings for this book, which proves H.L. Mencken was probably right: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
It doesn't feel like McKinney's other books in any way. The language is repetitive and full of errors, the characters are one-dimensional, the intelligence level of Nate The Immune Guy veers wildly all over the place, from a stupor-like idiocy to eloquent rhapsodies, and the characters are incredibly difficult to injure or kill... until it comes to time to injure or kill them for no apparent reason.
The other option is that McKinney is starting that long slide into dementia, as we saw with Agatha Christie, as her writing became simpler and her plots broken.
Here we have a character straight out of a Stephen King novel, the Red Man, who somehow has psychic control over all the zombies everywhere. (Which is actually a key aspect of other, better zombie novels, such as [b:Monster Island|44190|Monster Island (Zombies, #1)|David Wellington|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309520282s/44190.jpg|1405943] by David Wellington.) One of the (horribly-written) main characters, reporter Ben Richardson, actually lampshades this by exclaiming, "That's not consistent with this world!" But drawing a big red arrow over the problem without answering the question is amateur-hour fan-fiction.
Then there's the issue of Ben's iPad, which he's been carrying around recording interviews on for 8 years. Again, this is lampshaded when someone looks at it and marvels that Ben somehow found a way to charge this device in a world without electricity. Well? How did he do that?! I mean, you're only looking through his knapsack, which contains everything he owns. Surely the answer is in there.
Nope.
The problem is simple: you can't lampshade something badly, because that just raises more questions. People often use the terms "lampshading" and "red flag" interchangeably, but I distinguish between the two.
In a story -- novel, movie, play, TV series, whatever -- that is self-aware and has meta-commentary on both the real world and the fictional world we're presented with, you can lampshade away, because the audience is already there for the comedy and in tune with the silliness. A great example occurs in the Disney movie The Emperor's New Groove where, after a lengthy chase sequence, the bad guys (chasers) beat the good guys (chasees) back to the secret lab and one of them asks, "Wait a minute! How did you get here first?" And one of the bad guy pulls a chart out and shows their paths, remarking, "I don't know. Logically it makes no sense."
That kind of lampshading in that type of movie is fine. Here, in this book, is goes from lampshading to red flagging. It completely throws you out of the story.
Typically audiences will go for one or two big "buy-ins" on a story. Your armor protects you from harm? Okay Iron Man, I'll buy that... even when you fall out of the sky and slam into concrete at 100 miles per hour, which should've turned you into paste. But once you start heaping more and more impossible things onto the character, audiences lose their willing suspension of disbelief.
To sell the Big Impossibility, you need to get the Little Realities correct.
In Mutated we're already buying into a pretty big gimme with a zombie novel. Pushing us into the idea that zombies are evolving -- or mutating, as the title suggests -- and there are different stages of the zombie virus which results in different kinds of zombies, including regaining some limited cognition and becoming fast-moving again (after decaying and being damaged plus diseased for nearly a decade) is another pretty big demand on our willing suspension of disbelief. But I think most people will go with that. Until you pile on with the ridiculous Red Man and his psychic powers, and the magical iPad, and the temporary invulnerability of characters... now you've broken my WSoD.
There are lots of other things about this book which are just dumb. The hyper-competent character of Niki Booth, for example. She's supposed to meet with Dr. Fisher at sunset at some small town in three days so they can... what? I have no idea. Sylvia claims Niki knows of a cure, but Niki never says that. Nate is the guy who is both immune to the virus AND has the flash drive containing the government's vaccine formula on it, and Niki didn't even know about his existence until more than 5/6ths of the way through the book. And how were Niki and Dr. Fisher arranging this meet-up? Did they, too, have working iPads whose Facetime apps still worked just fine? (Well, no, since Dr. Fisher enjoys seeing an iPad again after so long. Maybe they had Android phones?)
The fact that these are things we're just supposed to accept because it's a zombie novel (which is my guess as to the rationale here) is spurious. We've seen time and time again that people reject this stuff, so why is it being tried here?
I dunno. I see a lot of 4- and 5-star ratings for this book, which proves H.L. Mencken was probably right: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
shh_reading85's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up in a GoodWill, not realizing there were others before it. I'm glad I sought out the other books before reading this one but you don't need to read the others to understand the meaning behind this book. I actually didn't really like this one this time. The mutated, getting their senses back was a little too weird for me. If they're dead, they're dead. Don't try to give them human qualities and try to reason with them. They're dead predators for a reason.
Anyways, 3 stars. Meh, it was okay.
Anyways, 3 stars. Meh, it was okay.
mountainblue's review against another edition
4.0
Joe Mckinney's Dead World series are one of the best zombie apocalypse books out there and each book is even better than the last. I picked up the first book [b:Dead City|8690326|Dead City (Dead World, #1)|Joe McKinney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402841310s/8690326.jpg|87414] on a whim and almost quit reading due to lack of interesting characters coupled with a simplistic plot. It seemed to be similar to many other zombie horror books I've read but I decided to give the series a chance and I'm glad I did.
The second and third books in the Dead World series were even better. Each book had a new central character, a new setting, more complex plot and looks at the Apocalypse from a different angle. I love the strong yet realistic female characters here, the multiple POV, the variety of other characters and how they are connected, the well paced plot and heart pounding action and general atmosphere evoked by by the authors writing style. I can't wait to reread this series in the future and discover more of Mr Mckinney's books.
The second and third books in the Dead World series were even better. Each book had a new central character, a new setting, more complex plot and looks at the Apocalypse from a different angle. I love the strong yet realistic female characters here, the multiple POV, the variety of other characters and how they are connected, the well paced plot and heart pounding action and general atmosphere evoked by by the authors writing style. I can't wait to reread this series in the future and discover more of Mr Mckinney's books.
amisner's review against another edition
3.0
I feel at this point in the series that the writer is starting to lose focus somewhat in original plot ideas. What I mean specifically is that there is an over reliance on coincidence, especially in the final chapters. I won't give away the details of course, but it's very disappointing...
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