I tried finding a thread devoted to books here but I couldn't find one so if there is one that I missed sorry. I am going to talk about books here.
Right now I have finished the audio book of World War Z I am listening to the audio book despite the fact that I am completely sick of zombies and I have some problems with the story. I could go on and on about how stupid the idea that shuffling zombies who have to bite you to be effective could ever defeat armed troops in body armor is but the rest of the book is pretty well done. It's more about a complete breakdown of civilization then it is about zombies,you could replace them with just about any threat and it would be the same basic story. So over all I would say I enjoy it. Oh but the audio book with it's all star cast is the way to go. Martin Scorsese completely steals the show as the greedy asshole who made a fortune off of a drug that didn't work. Even if you only listen one part of the book make it that section because it is a laugh riot. Well that and Simon Pegg's attempt to sound like he is from Texas:)
Still there are logic problems that bug me that help me understand why some people can't stand this book if those sort of things bug you. For instance I have to ask, what sense does mothballing the whole airforce make? I mean I can understand that bombs didn't work but if there is one thing Zombies can't attack in any way it's a helicopter with a giant machine gun. I mean ground troops can get swarmed and yes I know the helicopters would not take out the brains on their first try but it seems to me once you don't have to worry about friendly fire all you would have to do is have a few helicopters hovering over any location and shooting zombies and those forces would be in zero danger. Sure as I said they may not hit the brains but at some point the zombies will be so full of wholes that they can't move and would no longer be a threat and you wouldn't lose a single person or gun doing this. It seems like Max Brooks has an in built bias in favor of the third world and just wrote this book to put down the united states militarty and it's people and try to bring some dream world of his to life where both are completely useless. The trouble is he nocks apart the logic of his own world to get there. For instance he doesn't want the zombie to run, okay but then how did they knock out two thirds of the military? We only hear about one battle lost, that battle could not have involved the inter military, why didn't they regroup and just switch the ammo and tactics? Also at no point is it even brought up that the zombies could be supernatural, it's a plauge in this story and that means they should obey the laws of physics. So then why doesn't freezing burst their cells? Why doesn't salt water corrode them? I corrodes battleships, shouldn't it corrode exposed flesh and organs? If the heat of the third world kills zombies why does the cold of the first world? How can they stand up to the intense pressure at the bottom of the ocean? Why doesn't that crush them? if they eat everything in sight and they are not smart enough to climb over walls then once all other food is gone why don't they attack other zombies? There is no indication that they have a hive mind or anything like that. We are told at one point the zombies don't freeze because they have no water in their bodies. Okay I can go with that but then how do they move and come to think of it how do they see? Eyes must be kept moist in order to function, that is why we blink, shouldn't all the zombies be blind? It seems to me the biggest problem with this book is a problem of in universe logic, the world is set up with a certain logic that works and draws you into it and makes you think about it in a logical way but then when it gets in the way of the story the logic is thrown out the window. The trouble is that by that point the reader has been trained to think about things logical so it really stands out when things stop making sense.
One other problem is one of basic style. These are supposed to be interviews and why some of the dialog is very good the descriptions are bit too poetic and detailed for me to believe it is a real person talking and not something written by a writer and that takes me out of the moment. For instance every person gives a very detailed description of what a zombie looks like. The trouble is this is supposed to take place in a world where everyone has seen a zombie so why would they do that. For instance if I am describing say an Asian person to someone in real life I don't describe in detail ever line on their face or look for a creative way to bring the person to life, I will just say something like "He's the tall Asian guy who works at Wal Mart." because the person I am talking to doesn't need it explained to them what an Asian looks like. the same goes for describing the action. People will get a little too detailed about sights and sounds and describe them in a way and use the type of phasing a writer does when trying to bring a scene to life for the readers. Now don't get me wrong these things do make for an intense read that draws you in at some moments but more often then not I found myself being draw out of the moments by the fact that it didn't feel like real people talking it felt like a writer writing.
Still it did sell it's self as a history book that felt like it was documenting real events and it does a good job drawing you into certain scene so it is as close as I have come to liking anything zombie related in a long time so that is something. As it stands I would say this is a decent book that has a good first two acts of set up but then falls apart in the middle. 5./10.
