A review by paulabellman
Dark Recollections by Chris Philbrook
4.0
I originally read some of this book in blog form a few years ago. One of the zombie fiction groups I belong to shared the blog address. I spent a lazy Sunday during football season reading about 1/2 of Dark Recollections, which was called Adrian's Undead Diary on the blog. Then my computer died and I lost my browsing history. I had stupidly not bookmarked the blog address.
I won an audio copy of Dark Recollections before Christmas. I was wrapped up in the audio version of Dragonfly in Amber and it took FOREVER to finish. I was so happy to finish with that mammoth and move onto something fun, like a zombie novel. Once I started listening, I realized it was Adrian's Undead Diary's blog. I was pretty happy to rediscover this story since I had only gotten 1/2 way.
I work at a private boarding school out in the country. Adrian's descriptions of how his campus is a good place to hole up during the ZA are some of the same thoughts I've had myself about the campus where I work. The parallels are very similar, except we're all girls instead of a co-ed school.
There are no over the top escapes from a zombie horde. There are no ridiculous attempts to cross the country to find one's child/spouse/parent/cure. There are no raiding parties into a large metropolitan city which always end with an over the top escape or the death of a favorite character. There is common sense, thought put into long-term surviving, and humor in the face of horror.
I like the way this novel is written in diary form. There are a few flashbacks to people who are not survivors with Adrian. There are several diary entries dedicated to "that day", the day the world died with a bang. Many diary entries focus on the day-to-day tasks that one must do to keep safe during the ZA and the aftermath. Poor Adrian, living all alone. I want him to meet more people.
The narrator of the audiobook, James Foster, does a great job of bringing Adrian's voice to life. I think I enjoyed this book more via Audible than I did when I read it via the blog. Mostly because I don't like reading books on a computer laptop screen.
I think perhaps the only thing I didn't like about Dark Recollections is that it didn't end. Of course there is a part two. I'll have to see about picking up the rest of the series. Hopefully James Foster continues to narrate.
Thanks, Chris Philbrook, for gift of Dark Recollections and for writing such an engrossing zombie survival novel.
I won an audio copy of Dark Recollections before Christmas. I was wrapped up in the audio version of Dragonfly in Amber and it took FOREVER to finish. I was so happy to finish with that mammoth and move onto something fun, like a zombie novel. Once I started listening, I realized it was Adrian's Undead Diary's blog. I was pretty happy to rediscover this story since I had only gotten 1/2 way.
I work at a private boarding school out in the country. Adrian's descriptions of how his campus is a good place to hole up during the ZA are some of the same thoughts I've had myself about the campus where I work. The parallels are very similar, except we're all girls instead of a co-ed school.
There are no over the top escapes from a zombie horde. There are no ridiculous attempts to cross the country to find one's child/spouse/parent/cure. There are no raiding parties into a large metropolitan city which always end with an over the top escape or the death of a favorite character. There is common sense, thought put into long-term surviving, and humor in the face of horror.
I like the way this novel is written in diary form. There are a few flashbacks to people who are not survivors with Adrian. There are several diary entries dedicated to "that day", the day the world died with a bang. Many diary entries focus on the day-to-day tasks that one must do to keep safe during the ZA and the aftermath. Poor Adrian, living all alone. I want him to meet more people.
The narrator of the audiobook, James Foster, does a great job of bringing Adrian's voice to life. I think I enjoyed this book more via Audible than I did when I read it via the blog. Mostly because I don't like reading books on a computer laptop screen.
I think perhaps the only thing I didn't like about Dark Recollections is that it didn't end. Of course there is a part two. I'll have to see about picking up the rest of the series. Hopefully James Foster continues to narrate.
Thanks, Chris Philbrook, for gift of Dark Recollections and for writing such an engrossing zombie survival novel.