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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should Carry 18 certificate !!, 5 Sep 2007
Before I start my review, I would like to suggest for anyone intending on buying this book to think seriously about buying `City Of The Dead' by the same author at the same time. The reason for this is that this book continues in COTD, and I pretty much guarantee that readers will want to pick up the next instalment as soon as they finish `The Rising'.
I came across this author purely by accident when searching for Zombie novels on Amazon - for some reason I had the urge to read some good old zombie hardcore for a change ! And I am sure glad that I did. Keene's writing in my own opinion seems to take the form of a good story encased with as much gore and stomach churning detail that would be legally available for him to do before he would be encased in a padded jacket and locked in a cell. This book is certainly the most blood filled, intestine dripping story I have ever read and certain people out there may well be horrified at the pure amount of pages taken up by Keene's obsession almost of babies, children and other less unfortunates being mutilated and turning into the un-dead. But then it is not so shocking when you think that those less well able to protect themselves would actually be more susceptible than most.
Unlike Monster Island by David Wellington, I felt this book went into detail about why the dead were returning to life, and Keene also came up with a reasonable explanation for why the head zombie and major `bad guy' OB wanted to create his army of the dead. (More filled out in COTD).
The book is primarily about the struggles of one man to reach his son, who he believes is still alive and hiding out in the loft of his ex-wife's house, along the way meeting up with other travelling companions who aid him in his quest. The heroes in this book are not gung ho types but rather the down trodden and forgotten people that we all pass by in the street - a heroin addicted prostitute, an old preacher, a soldier with a conscience.
The other thing I really liked about this book was the reaction of the army to the outbreak. The general idea that the military would remain sane and unaffected by the momentous events of `The Rising' is clearly destroyed by Keene in this book. Indeed the zombies in this book would on occasion seem to be the better option !!
However, traditional fans of zombie novels and movies may well be disappointed in the amount of living dead - other than human - that populate this book. If you cannot stomach the thought of zombie bunny rabbits, mice, cats and dogs, squirrels, lions, apes, reptiles, boa-constrictor, deer, birds, bats, general road kill and yes..........even a herd of Zombie cows that I had joked about in my review of Wellington's Monster Island, then this novel may well not be for you. Zombies in this book can also talk, drive motorbikes and cars, aswell as firing guns and rocket launchers !
I would normally want to give this book 4 out of five, because I really do not like the idea of creatures other than humans turning into zombies - society I feel would be destroyed in days rather than weeks - but this book is just so addictive that I feel I have to give it the full five ! Incidentally an explanation as to why more than humans turn into zombies appears in the first 40 pages of COTD.
As much as I would like to say this is the best horror book I have read, I would be too afraid of men in white coats knocking at my door, strapping me to a gurney and wheeling me away. But it is an excellent read none-the-less.
Knock. Knock....
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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The new face of hard horror!!!, 31 July 2004
"The Rising" by Brian Keane may just be the best horror novel I've seen in several years. Following the trials of a father trying to reach his son across a post apocalyptic, zombie haunted America, "The Rising" impresses with it's originality (the Zombie Gold Fish and it's disturbing fishtank butting antics but being one example) and ability to genuinly shock the reader. Featuring a new spin on the Zombie mythos, the dead of the novel (being both human and animal) are merely vessels for lack of a better word, Demons, who unlike previous Zombies are given to bouts of severe sadism and the memories of the previous occupants of their now rotting bodies (useful when their using rocket launchers). These Zombies don't shuffle about making moaning noises, they gleefully torment and torture their victims leaving just enougth carcass left for one of their kind to possess. Perhaps more scary though is the moral collapse that follows the catastrophe amongst those still alive. What's left of the Military in effect turn into a pack of homicidal rapists, fighting against the dead, various militia's, dissidents and other unlucky individuals over the scant few resources left. A pretty picture this ain't. Punchy, fresh, disturbing and grim in the extreme, "The Rising" is in my view the first great viseral horror novel of the twenty first century. I expect great things from Mr. Keane. Share in my appreciation, buy this book (cheap as it is) and relax in the knowledge that there are still fresh shocks left to write.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Awwww .... Zombie rabbits!!!, 17 Oct 2006
I agree with a lot that the previous reviewer said - cliched characters and an unoriginal plot. But what on earth were they expecting - Shakespeare? It's a book about zombies: it's never going to be THAT original. But saying that, I think it's got enough originality to carry you through to the end ... zombie goldfish!! Zombie bunny rabbits!! Fantastic!!
See it for what it is - a rattling good creepy piece of horror fiction, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
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