The Good:
PLANET DEAD: bloodthirsty, the first installment of the Planet
Dead series by Sylvester Barzey is 200 pages of action that fly by as you
follow Christine’s struggle to navigate the zombie apocalypse in order to
reunite with her family. It is easy to see what inspired the author but this
isn’t a simple rehash of any one story. It takes place in Georgia and features
a trip to the CDC like The Walking Dead,
it has a psychotic clown loving family like House
of 1,000 Corpses, Romero-style back from the dead zombies, as well as 28 Days Later zoombies. The book isn’t
all doom and gloom, it does have its funny moments. It doesn’t begin to compare
to something like Shaun of the Dead
in humor. Instead, think Zombieland, which
is a movie whose sequel I am personally eager for, so the level of humor worked
for me.
Representation is a powerful thing and if you read some of
the comments about this book you can tell that people are really connecting
with and loving Catherine, which is a great thing for them and this series
going forward. It isn’t very often that a woman is chosen to lead a series like
this. The most famous would probably be Milla Jovovich’s Alice, from the Resident Evil movie franchise, and even
less often is that main character a woman of color. Michonne of The Walking Dead and Selina from 28 Days Later have a new heroin to
welcome to the club in Catherine, a lawyer, former military, wife, mother, and
all around badass. She is a good person who is being hardened by the world
around her but she still comes to the aide of others when push comes to shove
because she has to do what is right. However, she does not suffer fools, and if
you impede her search for her family, there will be consequences.
In the era of books being licensed before they are published
and Hollywood shying away from properties without a built-in audience, I think
it is wise to discuss how the story could translate to film. If they took the
manuscript and filmed it as is, with no improvements, depending on the budget
and cast, it could easily be on par with the later Night of the Living Dead or Return
of the Living Dead movies. With some polishing and input to give it the
kind of conclusion people would be looking for, it could be on the level of Zombieland or Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead. They wouldn’t be
reinventing the wheel, so it would be a stretch to say they could make a
classic, but a fan favorite could be within reach.
The Bad:
The book suffers from exactly what you may expect from a
self-published novel, including some typos and transposed or misused words that
a second editor would have caught. It’s not nearly enough to make the book
difficult to read, just a couple here and there, in fact, probably less than in
this review.
Reading this book is a bit like climbing a hill. The first
chapter is takes you uphill, introducing readers to Catherine and the new world,
at a slow but steady pace. The start of chapter 2 is the crest, and then it is
all downhill after that as Barzey races to the climax of volume 1. The biggest
fault with Barzey’s tale is how, instead of expanding his world, he chose to
shrink it by connecting every major character in an unnatural way. Sure, those
connections could happen, but that chances of them happening and then everyone
meeting up the way they do during the apocalypse is not organic whatsoever. The
only other complaint I can come up with is that volume 1 is too soon to have a
colon in the title. It should have been simply titled Planet Dead. However, if
it had to involve the colon, the author could have chosen something that was
more related to the story that we get in this installment. I would have chosen
something like, Planet Dead: Happy Meal, Planet Dead: Greatest Show or Planet
Dead: Mrs. Briggs.
Recommendable or Not:
While this book cannot receive the highest of recommends
from me because it is not a self-contained story, it is easily recommendable.
It goes by quick with enough action, danger and intrigue to make me interested
in volume 2. And if Barzey continues at this level, I will be excited for the
third. But if he can improve on what he
did here, and can stick the landing, the series could turn out very good. Until
then, I think I will go check out his other book, Terrifying Tales of Suspense.
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