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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent gory sequel, but let down a bit by the ending, 27 Sep 2007
Keene continues his assault on people who may well be weak of stomach with his follow up to the excellent zombie novel 'The Rising'.
As I have said in my review of 'The Rising', Keene writing takes the form of writing a novel around everyday characters, whilst trying to fill his book with as much intestine ripping gore and cause offence to people who would fine the mutilation of children and rape within its pages disturbing. But I still loved it - guess it makes me a bit disturbed character too ! Anyone who put this kind of writing in for a school project would either get expelled or be seeing a psychiatrist within a week.
The basic premise of this book is that Jim has now been re-united with his son, and has been transported to 'Ramsey Towers' , a New York Skyscraper that is so far holding the encamped zombie army at bay. Here he makes new friends and tries to start a normal life as possible with his son, whilst all the time under the leadership of the 'GOD' minded owner 'Ramsey'. Meanwhile OB - leader of the Zombie Army - masses his troops for a final push at the tower, before pushing on to storm the gates of Heaven !
Readers may also draw similarities with the movie 'Land Of The Dead' and may well be picturing Dennis Hopper as Ramsey ! I would certainly like to know if the script for LOTD was wrtitten before this book - or vice versa.
The only problem I have with this book was the ending - and I ask anyone that has not read the book to stop reading my review now. What makes an apocolyptic type book interesting to me is the feeling that mankind can and does survive everything thrown at it, wether it be zombie, nuclear war or aliens. This book ends with everyone on the entire planet dead and the looming death of earth itself !! And that runied 700 odd pages of excellent gory zombie fun as far as I was concerned. I feel Keene should re-write the ending, or re-write the plot that the Siqqusim only had a limited time to kill all life on the planet before being cast back into the void, hence that was why they were in a rush to kill everything. It would also have given the humans something to hold out for.
This book also could also have been made into more books and the series panned out over longer. Some tales are just too short to tell in two books, and if this is every made into a movie or TV series I just hope he re-writes the ending !
I guess I was just left feeling at the end of the book that Jim's son would have been better of starving to death in the loft, than being 'rescued' by his dad and seeing all the death and mutilation of the new world before being eaten alive by zombie rats !
With a different climax I would give this 5, but as it is now....sorry Mr. Keene only a 4.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
357 pages of blood drenched zombie action!, 19 Aug 2006
Brian Keene's `City Of The Dead' is the sequel to the post-apocalyptic zombie novel `The Rising'. The novel begins by reliving word for word the last chapter of `The Rising'. This is because the novel takes off from exactly where `The Rising' ended (with its nail biting cliffhanger). From here on in, the novel races ahead with building tension as the survivors join up with others within a massive fortified building.
New characters are soon introduced whilst others are soon killed off. Keene manages to inject a vivid personality into each `important' character, creating a desperate situation which the reader feels part of.
The building is soon compromised by the huge attacking army of zombies lead by the undead character Ob. The story becomes packed with blood-filled action as the survivors try desperately to fight off this ever growing army.
The origin of the zombies is explained more fully within this novel, developing the basis of the whole storyline. This adds nicely to Keene's original take on the whole zombie genre.
Again, the reader is treated to plenty of zombie animals, with undead birds and rats becoming a massive threat as they pack together.
All in all, this novel forms a great sequel to Keene's "The Rising", delivering fast paced action, nail biting horror and blood drenched gore that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
OB STANDARD, 26 Jul 2005
What's fast becoming a habit with me - I seem to pick up books that are either part of a series or a sequel and not realize it until it's too late. I've looked all over the cover, the back cover, the inside pages - pretty much anywhere and everywhere the book could possibly tell the reader that this is a direct sequel to THE RISING - but it's not there. But does that matter? In the case of CITY OF THE DEAD - it turns out to be something of a plus when it comes to reading it. All the build up, backstory, break down and plotting of the first book is all in the past by the time the first few pages fly by (although some backstory, problems and unresolved issues do crop up in later chapters) leaving the reader with just "the payoff" - an outright battle between the teeming masses of the dead and the remaining few of the living. The largest plot point from the previous book - THE QUEST TO FIND DANNY - by his father Jim is resolved early on, from that point on Danny becomes dead weight. He's just along for the ride now and adds nothing to the story - in fact, it must be a bit of a dissapointment for Danny to turn out to be nothing more than just a kid. Having not read THE RISING - I'm sure much of the book was eaten up by the quest of Jim to get to his son at all costs. To have him just be part of the background then is a waste. I kept thinking that had Danny been older, been able to handle a weapon (although he does wield a baseball bat very well), or had some kind of story of his own he might have helped to move the story along a different track. As it is, this is a very linear story filled with often brutal violence and gore that we've all come to expect (and even to love). Some novel twists abound in the book and you get what you pay for - Action! Action! Action! But in-between all the action(!) there's still something of a story to tell and for the most part it falls flat. Pretty much everyone is made from the same gore stained and torn cloth laid out by Romero's DEAD series. We are given a central zombie here to "boo and hiss" at by the way of OB - and he chews up the pages pretty much the same way he does people - he's over the top, too borad, boastful, loud and self assured (he's almost a Bond Villain) - nothing we haven't seen before in these kinds of books (or movies), but OB does stand out from others that have come before him (such as FLAGG from King's THE STAND) by doing one thing and doing one thing very well. While most Zombie Lords or Elder Gods would waste their time (and yours) talking you to death - OB manages to not only talk you to death, but takes action as well. He acts, reacts, moves, organizes and actually achieves his goals. The book ends on a serious down note here people - but at the same time a kind of high as well since we do have a clear cut victory. Great work there - unexpected, and much appreciated on this end. In the end there are some great moments here (some lifted directly from DAWN OF THE DEAD - you'll know it when it happens - and a tone and feel found in John Skipp and Craig Spector's works - there is a THE BRIDGE vibe going on by the end of the book. I think there is also an homage to a short story by King called HOME DELIVERY as well), and if you're a fan of zombies, action(!), gore and dark endings - then CITY OF THE DEAD has a room ready and waiting for you.
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