World War Z (a novel)

Jarochai Alabaster · Post by **Jarochai Alabaster** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:20 pm

From the writer of the Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z takes place in the near future, written as a series of interviews with survivors of the war. I picked it up yesterday, and have barely put it down since (I'm on page 105 of 342). It's very well written, goes into a lot of detail and realistic assumptions about how individual people, communities, and governments reacted to a zombie outbreak.

From patient zero in a small village in China to the all-out military offensive against the hordes spilling out of New York, descriptions are haunting and plausible (Well, as plausible as zombies are, but the ZSG gives a very detailed explaination of how the virus slowly kills the body and consumes the frontal lobe of the brain while mutating the rest of the organ to survive without oxygen). One thing I've noticed and enjoyed is the fact that there are gaps in the chronological information, just as you'd expect in a real report. Pieces are missing, some of the interviewees give speculation as to how the infection spread globally, but much of it is left up to "we don't know for sure."

One thing I'm wishing there was is a direct timeline of events. It's hard to tell how much time had passed between the initial infestations in China and the outbreaks elsewhere. There's definitely a significant amount of time passed, as news of the plague had spread globally (Though its true nature wasn't understood, despite the warnings of many; it was commonly believed to be a mutated strain of rabies, and no one - not even government officials - would entertain the idea that the infected were actually dead until it was far too late to contain). But it is hard to tell if we're looking at a span of months or possibly a year or more. There are a couple big leaps; reports of enormous hordes without precursor reports of smaller outbreaks in the area. Of course, that's just another gap of information that's to be expected in any real global catastrophe, but I would have liked to have heard about the initial infections in a major city before the reports of massive hordes of undead roaming its streets.

All in all, I'm enjoying this book immensely. The farce-documentary style, while nothing particularly new, works especially well with this type of horror. The writer definitely seems to know his shit, or he at least has me fooled. Either way, it's a fun read and I highly reccomend it to any fan of zombies in film or gaming, or any fan of horror in general. I'd suggest checking out the Zombie Survival Guide as well, simply for the fact that it gives some technical details about this author's personal interpretation of the undead that are sadly lacking (At least, as far as I've read) in WWZ. While it's not at all crucial to read the ZSG before WWZ, it has slightly enhanced my understanding and appreciation of the book.

Select · Post by **Select** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:10 am

I might look into this. Zombies are a huge fear of mine, rational I know

I should be able to handle a book. I was always interested in zombie movies, but I always had to miss out.

Edit: So has the disease been stopped? Is it contained? I wonder what survivors of the war means for the war. Knowing might give me more of a reason to get the book.

If that info will ruin the book, don't reveal it

Jarochai Alabaster · Post by **Jarochai Alabaster** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 12:44 pm

I just found out it's actually being made into a movie.

If it's done right, this could be one AWESOME flick. Filming hasn't even begun yet. I don't think they've even cast any characters.

Basically, now that I've read a little farther a few things have become more clear. The war itself lasted years, I think nearly a decade. The book takes place another decade after victory over the undead had been declared.

There are, however, still zombies here and there. Especially up north, in the springtime thaws, people are out hunting, trying to eradicate the last of the ghouls. Consider that there were literally billions of undead all over the world. That's going to take one hell of a clean-up effort, and they may never all be found.

I wonder what survivors of the war means for the war.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Basically, the vast majority of the world's population was dead by the point of the war that was referred to as "the stalemate years." Most governments had safe zones; small secured aread within their borders that were effectively immune to being overrun by the undead. What some governments did during the late spread of the plague (before a stalemate was achieved) to ensure the safety and survival of their safe zones is...disturbing.

Though as twisted as anything in this book gets, the one thing creepiest to me isn't the zombies themselves, or what some people did to try and survive. It's what some people did when they gave up...

Minor spoilers up ahead...

Quislings, is what they were called. Quislings were people who had snapped, gone completely batshit crazy. They thought they were dead. Well, undead. They behaved like zombies, felt no pain like zombies, attacked and ate other living people like zombies. The living survivors, too, could barely tell the difference between a quisling and a fresh zombie. They couldn't be talked down or reasoned with, because the human part of their brain had just voluntarily shut down. That chapter creeped me the fuck out.

End spoilers

Anyway, I'm sure I'm giving away too much. I'm nearly 200 pages in now. It's great, because this is just a series of shorts that all paint one big picture. It's easy to say "okay just one more" after every "interview" I read.

Select · Post by **Select** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 1:16 pm

I was wondering exactly what type of war it was and what were the end results. The fact that they declared victory answers the question... So does the creepy stuff the governments did.

I wonder what happened when a Quisling met a real zombie...

Here comes the important question...
Did the zombies run or walk?

And number two...
Did they have any intelligence left?

Edit: The book doesn't seem ruined

Jarochai Alabaster · Post by **Jarochai Alabaster** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:27 pm

Quislings usually didn't last long, specifically because the real things would devour them. People had trouble telling the difference, zumbies didn't. Quislings didn't even scream, they just kept trying to get back up while they were being eaten alive.

The zombies walk, or more accurately shuffle. They're slow and clumsy, like the old-school Romero zombies. They're not weak at all though, they have the full muscle potential their bodies did in life, and they don't fatigue. They don't sleep, they decompose VERY slowly (The virus destroys ANYTHING living it comes into contact with, including the bacteria and other microorganisms that aid decomposition), and they're as dumb as rocks. They'll walk off the edge of a cliff if they see prey on the other side. They won't even use tools, just their bare hands. They can't be trained. They're about as intelligent and purely instinctive as insects, maybe even dumber. Remember, the frontal lobe of the brain is destroyed by the virus.

Since their bodies don't heal, naturally their muscles will eventually liquify, considering the nature of exhertion. The older they get, the weaker they get. As muscle fibers break down (Usually from physical strain), they lose much of their strength. It can take a while, however, for them to become pacified in this manner. Upwards of ten years. Considering that every person killed by a zombie joins the undead ranks, their numbers are only prone to increase considering their somewhat long "lifespan."

One last thing. The virus is natural in origin. It has never been found in any environment other than within a human body, however. The ZSG has reports dating back to ancient Egypt, and even one bizarre discovery in a prehistoric cave dwelling that is speculated to be a dumpsite for destroyed zombies. One of the more fun things about that book (ZSG) is the "historical accounts" it has listed, everything from single cases to all-out hordes throughout history.

I <3 zombies way too much.

Select · Post by **Select** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:19 pm

Interesting.

Hordes throughout history and they finally get us all in this day and age. Figures

Minute · Post by **Minute** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:41 am

The Survival Guide was freaking awesome. The detail and thought put into every detail was crazy. Stuff I never even thought of. I imagine this one would be equally impressive. Might give it a go.

UltraBurz · Post by **UltraBurz** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:07 am

Everyone knows you shoot them in the head...or give them a phoenix down.

Jarochai Alabaster · Post by **Jarochai Alabaster** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:45 am

Life/life 2 works as well. Or, in FF6, a Revivify (I can't recall, did later FFs have Revivifies?), which is most appropriate as it cures the "zombie" status specifically.

Riggen · Post by **Riggen** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:42 am

Jarochai Alabaster wrote: They don't sleep, they decompose VERY slowly (The virus destroys ANYTHING living it comes into contact with, including the bacteria and other microorganisms that aid decomposition),

One last thing. The virus is natural in origin. It has never been found in any environment other than within a human body, however.

So the virus can't infect other organisms? No zombie squirrels trying to gnaw on you? No plagues of zombie locusts?

Jarochai Alabaster · Post by **Jarochai Alabaster** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:51 pm

Nope, no zombie squirrels.

Although, after a decade breeding and being feral, stray dogs and housecats (Especially the cats, which they call f-lions) have become pretty massive, brutal beasts. I guess only the biggest, fastest and strongest of them were able to survive the urban zones, so the weaker genes got rinsed out of the pool pretty quickly. The cats were more of a danger to the military during the offensive efforts than the dogs.

So I've finished it now. Actually, I finished it about a week ago. Fucking sweet book. There's even an interview with one of the astronauts that was stranded on the space station during the war. He talks about hordes so massive they could be seen with the naked eye (Specifically, over central Asia and North America's midwest). Before too long, all the pollution from the burning cities worldwide and nuclear exchanges in the middle east blacked out the surface from orbital view.

One thing I'm slightly dissapointed with, and this may be a bit morbid, is the absence of undead children. There are a couple mentioned, including "patient zero," but considering the easy prey kids would make I'm surprised there wasn't more mention of them. There was plenty of talk of feral kids; little ones who had become orphaned and lost in the danger zones, only to be found years later as adults when we began pushing back into infested territory. There's even an interview with one of the ferals, after she had been somewhat rehabilitated, where she recounts the church where she, her mother, and dozens of other refugees were attacked. But I can only think of two instances of zombie kids mentioned in the entire book.

And what of infants? Once we began moving back into infested areas and sweeping them, I would have expected there to be the occasional "newborn" zombie writhing in its crib. Think about it. One or both parents try to hole up in the house, fearful of trying to make an escape with a screaming 8-10 lb weight. Either one of the parents had been infected prior to boarding up the house, reanimated and attacked the baby, or the house simply got over run and they all got devoured. Where's the zombie babies, dammit?!

Ok, of course the book holds up quite well without baby and children zombies. All in all, I fucking love this book. I've been going back now and then to read a chapter or two again. All the different social and cultural angles Brooks covers, all the different scenarios and solutions, I'm very impressed with the amount of thought and research that must have gone into this. I would say any horror fan owes it to themself to give this a read. At the very least, hit the book store and sit down with it for a chapter or two to see if it draws you in.

Select · Post by **Select** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:21 pm

The astronaut was probably the luckiest person alive to be up there.

Hrm, maybe the disease was too powerful for most children and babies. Maybe it killed them off too completely or they were eaten far too much to reanimate properly. At what point was a zombie dead? Could they move around without heads?

And how the heck does a feral child make it in the infested zones to adulthood. With zombie hordes you can see from space and with them actively looking for people, there's no chance. That has to be a pretty underpopulated area the kid came from.

Also, do the zombies just eat humans or will they eat other animals?

Jarochai Alabaster · Post by **Jarochai Alabaster** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:26 pm

Actually, the astronauts weren't very lucky. That long in a zero-g environment, without proper shielding from radiation, and they didn't last long after they got back to earth. The one interviewed was in bad shape at the time, and died a couple days later.

That's a decent theory on kids and reanimation. Maybe if the brain wasn't developed enough at the time of infection the virus couldn't properly mutate the organ to reanimate. And not all areas were so heavily infested. For the most part, the hordes move in packs, and individual zombies (As well as groups) are easily distracted by anything they percieve to be prey. A smart kid who knows to keep quiet could not only potentially sneak around an infested zone, but come up with safe places to hide and stockpile looted food/supplies. Even feral, people can be extremely intelligent.

A decapitated body will be truly dead, but the head can survive without the body and will watch you, open its mouth in attempts to moan, and bite if you get close. There's mention of zombies without faces, where the skin eaten off entirely before the corpse reanimated, and effectively all that's left is the skull and a little muscle tissue. As long as the brain is functioning, the zombie is "alive" and has control of any part of the body that's still properly connected to the brain.

Zombies will eat any living animal or person. They will generally reject carrion, unless it's pretty fresh, an hour or two old at most. When given a choice between human or animal prey, they will always pursue the human, even if he's farther away and harder to get to than the animal. Zombies were also known for digging ceaselessly, going after burrowing animals that they caught a glimpse or smell of. They will literally dig for days, until they either consume all the burrowers they encounter, or lose perception of the animal. I'm sure quite a few of them wound up burying themselves alive, or dug a hole so deep they couldn't get back out again.

Select · Post by **Select** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:18 am

Calculate Risk: http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/

39% although my father is in the Yonkers area

Saevrok · Post by **Saevrok** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:33 pm

32% chance of surviving.

Klast Brell · Post by **Klast Brell** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:25 am

28% Klast is going to have his face eaten

Harlowe · Post by **Harlowe** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:47 pm

I'm halfway through, pretty cool so far....makes for interesting bed time reading.