Zombie War: An account of the zombie apocalypse that swept across America

I have not read World War Z and therefore can not compare it with Zombie War. I've read Mr. Ryan's other zombie series and enjoyed those books, Zombie War is completely different from that earlier series. The first chapters introduces us to the Iranian leaders and their Russian scientists who finally perfect a man-made zombie virus that they plan to let loose in the U.S.. It is spread from person to person within minutes and without an antidote should destroy the entire country within weeks. Thus, the battle began!Zombie War follows a reporter, John Culver, as he interviews members of the military and government - including the President himself, to record their responses to the virus, and the way our Armed Forces went to war to defend our nation. Many of the combatants - especially higher ranked officers, compared this zombie war to the trench fighting of WWI. As a result, the military had drawn a box on the ground from the Atlantic shoreline of South Carolina to the Gulf shores of Louisiana and designated it the final defensive trench line - hoping to contain the virus and limit the exposure to only the few south eastern states.The zombie advance had been stopped at the trench line. It's a year later, the interviews telling the story of this war from the viewpoints of military men and women as they fought for their lives to stop the spread and then push it back into Florida where it all began. Mr. Carver pushes the envelope during many of his interviews, sometimes angering the interviewees, to learn the truths of this year-long war. The author shows some redundancy when interviewing others about the same battles, but the different perspectives sometimes uncover truths that were missed earlier.The war was unique and a first for the U.S. military. Soldiers did not have to dodge artillery rounds, strafing jets, or fire fire from the advancing enemy. Their jobs were simple: destroy an unarmed enemy - former human beings - intent on killing them in hand to hand combat. Artillery and bombs were not effective...killing them required a bullet to the head. Unlike all wars since the beginning of time, this enemy did not stop to regroup, re-arm, retreat, remove bodies from the battlefield, plan their attack, call a truce or surrender - this enemy was relentless and continued their attacks until a bullet stopped them. The Civil War brings to mind a line of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder out in the open - exhibiting a disciplined rate of fire to stop the advancing enemy.America was extremely vulnerable during this war - Russia and China were sniffing at our heels and ready to take over the country when the time was right. There were no U.S. military assets stationed around the globe - all were pulled back to fight these battles in their own backyards, so it was a free-for-all, and the aggressive countries in Europe, Asia and Middle East expanded their borders without interferrence . As the interviews continue up the ranks, the view of the war and global overviews are seen from a much higher perspective - giving readers a better look at the overall picture and how our military and government reacted.Highly recommend Zombie War! Great job Mr. Ryan!John Podlaski, authorCherries - A Vietnam War Novel

I've read a lot of zombie apocalypse novels and they usually devolve into either super Rambo, ex spec ops guys who kill everything with a spoon or super prepper who, along with a small group of like minded individuals, holds off all comers. This is usually contrasted with the other side of the genre in which the hero is an everyman who has just gotten lucky and is making his way with a steep learning curve usually accomplished through dues ex machina.I went into this one expecting more of the same, perhaps a poor attempt at a World War Z rip off. I was expecting it to be poorly done, with either the super SeALs or a variation of the everyman, who just luckily finds that ladder to a secure location while being chased by a zombie horde, interspersed with plenty of red shirts and hot chicks who can fight better than most men and have passionate sex without fear of pregnancy, throughout the novel, boy was I surprised!I gave this novel my highest complement in that I DID NOT SKIM! I read it word for word from start to finish long into the night and had to force myself to put it down.The interview format was extremely well done, the scenario plausible, so much so that it was actually scary. The depth of personal angst and emotion brought forth during the process was very well done on the printed page. The military men and women, both officer, enlisted and operator were well done and accurate, I felt like I was actually reading an account that had happened. The part involving civilian interviews were the best, in my opinion. Not to give anything away but I was able to put myself in the place of the father as he was getting his kids to safety, it made the novel seem "real."For the price this is def. a must buy for any lover of the zombie genre and again, in my opinion only, is actually better than WWZ.My only criticism is that I felt the response to the infections point of origination was much to tepid, don't want to give away spoilers but I would not have been happy with our response and I don't think most Americans would have either.

This book lends itself to comparison to Max Brooks WWZ. To me it does not live up to it predecessor. The bulk of this book is interviews with military personnel. Right from the very first the reporter/interviewer puts the interviewee on defense. In nearly all of the parts with military people he gets them angry with him. Not only is this tiresome to me the reader, but a poor interview tactic. It was if he enjoyed pissing people off who could be a greater source of info had he not been so adversarial.Overall I liked the format, but I thought that the writer could have done more with it. I found myself skimming through blocks of overly descriptive text. It does not advance the story to spend several paragraphs telling me what a person looks like in such detail. The book was well researched and I can appreciate that if it translates into a fluid story. However this was not always the case, as the author got to bogged down in his descriptions of, well, everything. Another shortfall of the story was the lack of suspense. While you immediately get the impression that the US is not the same country coming out of this as it was going in, the author shows his hand with regard to the extent of the crisis in the first part of the book.I wanted to like this more than I do. I just can't.

It had all the right ingredients, it followed the world war z formula. But the fact that the author has a hard on for soldiers spoilt it. There are plenty of real book about combat with soldiers , This was just two one dimensional from the thick creepy journalist, the author was pretending to be, to the hard boiled army officers, and men with the 1000 yard stare.What made World War Z a great book, is i have no idea what Max politics are, and i don't want to, Fiction for me is escape life. This was to much tub thumping USA USA.And no i dont dislike soldiers even after being one for 20 years and serving along side the Americans. I find the over egging the patriotism or politics to cloying and distracting from the bookAs an aside putting the soldiers in trenches, if they broke through and got into the trenches it would be mass panic and slaughter. The tanks up front with canister, soldiers behind on raised platforms where they can shoot down into heads.

There seem to be lots of reviews comparing this book to world war Z, first things first it is not in the same league as that book. WWZ took a nuanced look at what could happen if a zombie apocalypse were real, and drew ideas from around the globe to excellent effect.This book focuses on a zombie attack on the USA and whilst it tries to follow a similar format, by being limited to only discussing veterans or the army protagonists it misses out on some of the magic that made wwz so good. Also towards the end it does become a little jingoistic, which as a UK reader did bore me somewhat!I did enjoy this book and found it a good couple of hours read. If you buy it from this point of view rather than seeing it as a successor to WWZ you will not be disappointed.I am intrigued by the author and may well find some more of his work to read.

Really don't think I have even the stomach for a review. Patriotic flag waving at its very worst, I read it and just about made it across the finish. The "enemies" are old ones, the "Soviet Union" (which doesn't exist anymore) and of course Iran. For a non American this was a shocking read. Not in the same league as Max Brooks.

It is exactly what it says, an account, or rather many accounts . More like a documentary film. Once I got my head around that it was quite good but having read dozens of these books it won't count in my top ten. Sorry

I would recommend this book to all the zombie heads(😁). A very good read. I hope Mr Ryan gives us more zombie v the World books