Review the chaos.

Of my two co-hosts, I'm probably the only one who actually reads recreationally on a regular basis (hey, you wanna write professionally, you gotta surround yourself with lit, even when pictures and spider-man aren't involved). One of my good friends, Teagan, lent me her copy of World War Z by Max Brooks, and its one of the best books I've read in a while.

World War Z is not a conventional zombie tale; in fact, it's not that conventional of a novel at all. The story deals with the advent of a Zombie outbreak that takes the world by storm, but deals with it in an oral history narrative, with the tale being told in hundreds of short vignettes from fictional characters that experienced the war as it happened. Because of this, the reader doesn't just get a story that moves forward, we see what lifestyle changes and challenges all the world had to go through in this hardship. One man had to develop castles as a fortress, another was soldier that barely escaped the biggest zombie conflict alive, one was just a humble suburban family that had to witness his family being torn apart in front of his eyes. That's what's most striking: You will believe that a zombie outbreak did occur a few years ago thanks to how startlingly realistic this work feels.

I really enjoyed this book. It follows the mentality that I think all zombie stories should follow: Focus on why the zombie outbreak would affect us as people, not how scary this would be if it was happening. If you create an immersive enough tale, the scares will come on their own.

-Julian