As The World Dies: The First Days: A Zombie Trilogy

As The World Dies: The First Days: A Zombie Trilogy

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Editorial Reviews

Two very different women flee into the Texas Hill Country on the first day of the zombie rising. Together they struggle to rescue loved ones, find other survivors, and avoid the hungry undead.

Customer Reviews

estrozombie

Reviewed by Greg R. Squire, 2010-03-11

The beginning of this book was fantastic and got me to buy it but after finishing the first book and starting the second i found myself bored , bored ,bored ,bored! the action is few and far between after it gets started and then drags on with the characters love interest and fear of moving on after there loss. I did like the sex scene i felt like i was holding one of those cheap romance novels. lol

First Zombie Book that I true would read again!

Reviewed by Frankie Sutton, 2010-03-11

From the first page of first book to the last page of the last book , I was glued to it. All I can say is wow. First time in my reading history, I didn't want the stories to end. I cried for the charactors and cheered them on out load. I hope Ms. Frater returns to the story.

really good

Reviewed by walkingmydestiny, 2010-03-11


I bought all three books after a sneak read online of the first chapters....I got hooked and bought all three. I enjoyed reading them almost as much as world war z by max brooks now thats is a great read but back to these, if your into zombie books you should read these who cares if the lead charters are men or women its the scary story that is so zombie so read all three and enjoy.

The best of this series. And one of the better Zombie novels by "independent" authors

Reviewed by G. Smith, 2010-03-09

The struggle to survive is as much as internal as external.

Few writers of zombie fiction understand this vital subtext and explore it fully. Rhiannon Frater does and the result is this engrossing series. This book is, without a doubt the best in the series. With the most interesting character as Jenni - an abused wife and mother who struggles to redefine her independence and loss in the horrors the new world. Rhiannon Frater treats Jenni's struggle with identity with as much importance as her struggle for survival. Frater has keen awareness that the two are entirely dependent upon each other.

As a reader I enjoyed the contrast of the internal struggle and the external. The action sequences are well written and graphic and the internal conflicts are engaging and provoking. However, halfway through the series, most of the truly interesting internal conflicts get resolved or go away and are replaced by interpersonal conflicts of the survivor community. None of which are as thoughtful or compelling as the internal conflicts were. Many of which are shallow and familiar and resolved too conveniently. I was also distracted by the many references to Romero and Zombie fiction.

If there is a significant flaw in Frater's works it becomes most apparent in the final book. There is still lots of action and we are anxious about the characters we have spent so much time with. But the turns of the plot feel obvious and even contrived. Small contrivance is something that was apparent throughout the series but given the unique perspective and compelling struggles I went along with it. Sadly though, much of innovation that was so dominate early on in the series, is lost by the final book. And although things remain interesting, most of the situations dissolve to either familiar or ridiculous.

It very much feels as though the author didn't quite know how to end this series and maybe didn't quite have the heart for it. This is the case with most Zombie fiction. The problem with an ongoing survivors tale is that there is no end to the struggle. And to reach a definitive endpoint in the story you either have to kill everyone, leave for a zombie free area or have a huge final battle involving sort of supernatural goofiness. Twice King has written apocalypse scenarios and he never figured out how to end things without getting all flaky in the end. So it's hard. Maybe the toughest tasks in all of horror fiction.

I believe that Frater would be capable of producing a surprising and rewarding ending to this series but that she might have needed to wait a few years before attempting it.

This whole series rocks!

Reviewed by wolfen, 2010-02-14

I've been on a Zombie story reading binge the last couple weeks. This was the second author I read, and this whole series is great. I've read 3 other novels in this genre since this series, and they all pale in comparison.